Tuning ROS 2 for Energy-Efficient Navigation: Empirical Insights from Costmap 2D Configurations

Abstract

Robots are increasingly used in diverse application areas, where autonomous navigation plays a central role. As these systems become more widespread, improving their energy efficiency is critical to extending operational time and reducing environmental impact. The Robot Operating System (ROS) is a widely adopted middleware for robotics, offering a rich set of configurable packages. However, this flexibility can result in suboptimal software configurations in dynamic environments, negatively affecting both performance and energy consumption. This paper investigates the impact of ROS 2 package re-configurations on the energy efficiency of mobile robot navigation. We conduct a controlled experiment in two warehouse-like scenarios (small and large) with varying obstacle layouts and Costmap 2D configurations (essential to the Nav2 stack). Through repeated trials, we measure energy usage, power profile, CPU load, memory consumption, and navigation performance. Results show that configurations must be carefully chosen for the specific robotic environment, and we were able to identify critical settings that lead to good and poor performance and energy consumption.