Decisions › D12
Keep the name RobotDiagnostics
Context
The working name was IO diagnostics. Zach liked the domain but found it long, and asked for 20 alternatives for the type, repo and domain name.
The decision
The recommendation that day was to keep robotdiagnostics: it scored 4.40 of 5 and beat all 20 alternatives. Keep ROS's own type names inside the package (DiagnosticStatus with its levels, name, message, hardware id and values), and let dependencies point one way: the diagnostics package depends on nothing, and the parts catalogue is never imported.
Why
“Robotdiaoginstics.dev I think is cool”
Zach Yamaoka, notes, 22 Oct 2026
“diagonistics word is special its a bit verbose but its very particular as well”
Zach Yamaoka, 22 Oct 2026
His own lean was to keep it. The analysis that day agreed: diagnostics is the one word a ROS person already maps to the whole thing, and practitioners have a mental model built around it. The cost was length and spelling. A day later he chose a shorter name.
Options considered
Five criteria: a ROS person recognises it (35%), it reads as Robot<Type> beside RobotPart and RobotDescription (20%), the domains and PyPI name are free (15%), it covers the whole scope (15%), short and easy to spell (15%). Top of the list; the other 15 are in the research page.
| Name | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|
| robotdiagnostics | 4.40 | Recognised at once; the cost is length. Recommended. |
| robotdiag | 4.15 | Best short form. |
| robotdiags | 4.10 | Every domain free, but it reads like slang. |
| robothealth | 4.00 | Plain English, but “health” means nothing specific in ROS. |
| robotobd | 3.95 | A car's on-board diagnostics port; it says cars. |
| diagnosticstatus | 3.80 | Literally the ROS message type; no “robot” in it. |
Dropped in the same pass because the .com was taken: robodiag, robotdiagnostic, robotdx (the note adds that Dx is medical shorthand for diagnosis), and several others.
Consequences
- The code name stays
RobotDiagnosticsafter the display name changed (see RobotDx).
Evidence
- Name research: 20 alternatives to RobotDiagnosticsContract doc, 2026-10-22. The scored list behind the naming decisions.