What’s a Relay Node in ROS 2

See how a relay node decouples control logic in ROS 2—and how Champion makes it production-ready.
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whats-a-relay-node-in-ros-2
Last updated: 
July 2, 2025

Sometimes you don’t want your simulation or UI talking directly to hardware logic. Enter the relay node — a clean middle layer that receives a message or service call, and passes it along.

Why use one?

  • 🔒 Decouple simulation from control
  • 🔧 Add conditions or filters before forwarding
  • ♻️ Swap underlying logic without touching the client

🧠 In Context of Services

In a service context, a relay node might:

  • Receive a service request (e.g., from Isaac Sim or a UI node).
  • Call a lower-level service (e.g., battery or actuator node).
  • Relay the response back to the original client.

This allows:

  • Separation of concerns
  • Easier debugging
  • Abstraction layers in your robot's software architecture

In our case:
Isaac Sim → Relay Node → Battery Node → LED Panel 💡

Keep your architecture clean. Relays are the routers of robot logic.

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