[daveguy]

Very cool. Thank you for the clarification. Is there a general name for these ROS kinect bots with the hardware and software combined? ROS is the general OS, right? Are there open source control systems on top of ROS or is ROS pretty much the control layer on a regular OS? I was under the impression that ROS is the framework bits to make the control software easier to write, but the control software is still diy (which is why I recommended robot researchers/enthusiasts). Expecting a smart robot off the shelf seems like a lot of people might set themselves up for disappointment.

[Jack000]

ROS isn't really an operating system but a framework to combine robotics-related code into one running system via a publisher/subscriber model. You'd typically run it on ubuntu as the actual OS

you actually can get an (90%) autonomous robot off the shelf, if you just want a differential-drive base with a lidar or kinect sensor. Most of the work is done for you in the ROS modules, it's just a matter of knowing which ones to use, installing them and getting them to communicate over the correct channels.