RODEO: Robotic Decentralized Organization

🏅 ICRA 2026

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This repository contains the complete implementation of RODEO (Robotic Decentralized Organization), a blockchain-based framework that integrates trust and accountability mechanisms for robots. This work demonstrates how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can enable trustless, transparent, and autonomous task allocation in multi-robot systems.

Abstract

RODEO presents a novel architecture that integrates Robot Operating System (ROS) with Ethereum blockchain smart contracts to create a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for robotic task management. This repo provides:

• RODEO Smart Contracts: RODEOs Smart contracts that are used to define the specific rules on how the organization is governed.
• DAO bridge: A programmable interface that allows robots and organizations to directly broadcast their operational needs and advertise their specific capabilities to the rest of the participants.
• Verification Oracle: A system component used ti verify that the robots physical actions (e.g., paths, sensor data), actually met the task specifications before the on-chain verdict triggers the release of the escrows.

Repository Structure

robotic_decentralized_organization/
│
├── blockchain-network/        # Blockchain infrastructure
│   ├── smart-contracts/       # Solidity smart contracts, tests, deployment
│   └── ganache-docker/        # Local Ethereum blockchain (Ganache)
│
├── dao-bridge/                # ROS-Blockchain integration layer
│   ├── ros-eth-bridge/        # Bidirectional ROS-Ethereum communication
│   └── org-web/               # Web console for DAO management
│
├── oracle/                    # Task verification oracle
│
└── quick-start/               # Demo scripts and tutorials

Quick Start Guide

This guide demonstrates the complete RODEO workflow using Docker containers.

Prerequisites

• Docker (version 20.10+) with Docker Compose V2
• Linux environment (tested on Ubuntu 20.04+)
• Git for cloning the repository
• At least 8GB RAM and 20GB disk space

Step 1: Start Blockchain Network

Launch the local Ganache blockchain:

cd blockchain-network/ganache-docker
docker compose up -d

# Verify blockchain is running
curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}'

Expected output: {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":"0x0"}

Step 2: Deploy Smart Contracts

Deploy the RODEO smart contracts to the local blockchain using Docker:

cd blockchain-network/smart-contracts/docker
./deploy.sh

To force a rebuild of the deployer image (e.g. after contract changes):

./deploy.sh --rebuild

Important: After deployment completes, note the contract addresses displayed in the output. You will need to update these addresses in all components.

Sample output:

IECoin deployed to: 0x3Aa5ebB10DC797CAC828524e59A333d0A371443c
Organization deployed to: 0x093e8F4d8f267d2CeEc9eB889E2054710d187beD
ServiceManager deployed to: 0xBa3e08b4753E68952031102518379ED2fDADcA30
TaskManager deployed to: 0xa85b028984bC54A2a3D844B070544F59dDDf89DE

The deployment addresses are automatically saved to deployments/1337.json.

Step 3: Update Contract Addresses in All Components

Quick Update Script (Optional)

For convenience, you can use this script to update all components at once:

# From repository root
./scripts/update-addresses.sh blockchain-network/smart-contracts/deployments/1337.json

Or see DEPLOYMENT-CONFIG.md for manual update instructions.

⚠️ CRITICAL: After deployment, you must update the smart contract addresses in the following locations:

3.1 Update Oracle Configuration

cd oracle/docker
nano .env

Update these variables with your deployed addresses:

ORGANIZATION_ADDRESS=0x...
TASK_MANAGER_ADDRESS=0x...
SERVICE_MANAGER_ADDRESS=0x...
IECOIN_ADDRESS=0x...

Reference: See oracle/docker/CONFIG-UPDATE.md for details.

3.2 Update Web Console Configuration

cd dao-bridge/org-web
nano .env

Update these variables:

ORGANIZATION_ADDRESS=0x...
TASK_MANAGER_ADDRESS=0x...
SERVICE_MANAGER_ADDRESS=0x...
IECOIN_ADDRESS=0x...

3.3 Update ROS-Ethereum Bridge Configuration

cd ros-eth-bridge/docker/configs
nano dao.yaml

Update the contracts section:

contracts:
  iecoin: "0x..."
  organization: "0x..."
  task_manager: "0x..."
  service_manager: "0x..."

Reference: See dao-bridge/ros-eth-bridge/docker/CONFIG-UPDATE.md for details.

Step 4: Start Oracle Node

The oracle validates task completion proofs:

cd oracle/docker
docker compose up -d

# Verify oracle is running
docker logs rodeo-oracle --tail 20

Expected output:

✅ Oracle configuration loaded from environment variables
Starting event watcher from block 0 (current: X)
Watching oracle requests and outcomes

Reference: oracle/docker/README.md

Step 5: Start ROS-Ethereum Bridge

The bridge enables bidirectional communication between ROS and Ethereum:

cd dao-bridge/ros-eth-bridge/docker
docker compose up -d

# Verify bridge is running
docker logs ros-eth-bridge --tail 30

Expected output:

[INFO] dao_listener ready — chain 1337
[INFO] dao_writer ready — chain 1337 sender 0x...
[INFO] dao_writer running

Reference: dao-bridge/ros-eth-bridge/docker/README.md

Step 6: Start Web Console

The web console provides a user interface for task and service management:

cd dao-bridge/org-web
docker compose up -d

# Verify web console is running
docker logs rodeo-org-web --tail 20

Access the console at: http://localhost:8080

Expected output:

✅ Configuration loaded via environment variables
Connected: True

Reference: dao-bridge/org-web/README.md

Step 7: Run Integration Demo

Execute the full workflow demonstration using Docker:

cd quick-start/docker

# First time (or after modifying the script):
./robot-emulator.sh build

# Start the emulator:
./robot-emulator.sh start

# Follow the logs:
./robot-emulator.sh logs

On subsequent runs (service already registered on-chain), skip registration:

# Edit docker-compose.yml and uncomment the --skip-registration command override,
# or stop the container and run with the flag directly:
docker run --rm --network host \
  -v $(pwd)/../oracle/proofs:/root/oracle/proofs:ro \
  robot-emulator-demo \
  python3 /root/robot_emulator_ws/robot_emulator_demo.py --skip-registration

The demo will:

1. Register a delivery service on the blockchain (check the web UI and you will see a new service being created)

2. Use the organizaation web console to create a new task!

   2.1 Navigate to the Tasks tab and create a new task with the following info:

   • Title: Package delivery
   • Description: Package delivery
   • Category: Logistics
   • Task Type: ItemTransport
   • Reward: 100

   2.2 After creating the task on the web console you will notice that the task has been assigned to the robot wallet

3. On the robot emulator terminal you will notice that the robot recives the task assigment and starts the task execution.

4. After task completition the robot submit a rosbag proof of completion

5. On the oracle terminal you can notice that new proof has been recived and is being validated. This can take some time since the oracle is replaying the rosbag and validating different steps. In the end you will see a screen that says:

rodeo-oracle  | Validation summary
rodeo-oracle  |   Base path: OK  total 10.956 m, min 0.100 m
rodeo-oracle  |   Arm: OK  net delta 13.4467 rad, tol 0.0500 rad, moves 952
rodeo-oracle  |   Arm top joints by change: shoulder:3.069, wrist_rotate:3.037, forearm_roll:3.036
rodeo-oracle  |   Disposal event: OK  correct flag seen True
rodeo-oracle  | APPROVED
rodeo-oracle  |
rodeo-oracle  | ----- validator output end -----
rodeo-oracle  |
rodeo-oracle  | Approved task 1
rodeo-oracle  |
rodeo-oracle  | Task 1 verified

7. Next check the web console, in the home tab you can see that the payment is released to the robot.

Expected output:

==============================================================
RODEO Robot Emulator - Full Integration Demo
==============================================================
✅ Action servers connected!

📝 Step 1: Registering delivery service...
✅ Service registered successfully!

🎯 Step 2: TASK ASSIGNED!
   Task ID: 1
   Reward: 100.0 IEC

🤖 Step 3: Executing task...
✅ Task execution completed!

📤 Step 4: Submitting proof of completion...
✅ Proof submitted successfully!

⏳ Step 5: Waiting for oracle validation...
✅ Task verified by oracle!
💰 Payment received!

Monitor the oracle logs to see the validation process:

docker logs -f rodeo-oracle

System Requirements

Minimum Requirements

• CPU: 4 cores
• RAM: 8 GB
• Disk: 20 GB free space
• OS: Ubuntu 20.04+ (or compatible Linux distribution)
• Docker: 20.10+
• Docker Compose: V2 (use docker compose, not docker-compose)

Recommended Requirements

• CPU: 8+ cores
• RAM: 16 GB
• Disk: 50 GB free space (SSD recommended)
• Network: Stable internet connection for Docker image downloads

License

[Specify License - e.g., MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL-3.0]

Contributing

This is a scientific artifact. For questions or collaboration inquiries, please contact milan.groshev(at)ie(dot)edu.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by project PID2023-152334OA-I00, funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, EU. It was also supported by the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RYC2023-043120-I, funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FSE+. Additional funding was provided by the 2024 Leonardo Grant for Scientific Research and Cultural Creation (LEO24-1-12086-CCD-CIA-1) from the BBVA Foundation. The BBVA Foundation accepts no responsibility for the opinions, statements and contents included in this publication, which are entirely the responsibility of the authors.

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Scientific Artifact Version: 1.0
Last Updated: March 2026
Status: Research Prototype