The newly formed Open-Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) wants to take robotics development into the future as fast as possible, and says it will support the development, distribution, and adoption of open-source software for use in robotics research, education, and product development.
Open-source robotics software already exists as the Robot Operating System (ROS), one of the most widely-used robot software platforms. Similar to Linux on a much smaller scale, ROS is an ecosystem consisting of modules, libraries, and tools, and the people who contribute and use them, Brian Gerkey, chief executive officer of the OSRF and director of open-source development at Willow Garage, told us.
The OSRF's role is a legal entity that can act as a steward of the ROS community, a focal point for people interested in ROS, and a nexus for government agency and corporate funding, said Gerkey.
A new foundation supports the development of open-source robotics software that will bring more sophisticated abilities like motion planning to industrial robots, such as the 15-axis, two-armed SDA10D from Yaskawa Motoman Robotics. (Source: Yaskawa Motoman Robotics)
Begun and supported by Willow Garage, ROS was designed for the research community. An example is the ROS-based, university-developed Raven II surgical robot research platform, which combines ROS-based software with university-developed hardware to help accelerate surgical robot development.
After satisfying the needs of that community, Willow Garage started looking at how to make the infrastructure useful to robot makers. "So we focused more on documentation, user interfaces, and more outreach to users in companies," said Gerkey. "Now there's a handful of companies shipping robots with ROS inside." The organization turned to industrial robot makers' needs with ROS-Industrial, which combines proven industrial robotics with open-source robotics code, such as standardizing the interfaces to industrial robot arms.
I watched the video and was a little surprised at the crudeness of the operation, and also with the large time gaps. I was wondering if this is typical or if it was just a crude demo meant to only show that it could be done. I am a hardware guy and certainly don't appreciate the complexities of the software art included in this demo, but can this be further improved by selecting a different level of accuracy and speed, or is this the state of the software now?
I wonder if open source for robotics will follow a path similar to that of Linux in the embedded world. Linux had tremendous appeal for many developers, and because it often turned out to be more difficult than it looked, a group of commercial versions of embedded Linux sprang up around it. Could we expect to see the same here?
Your quite welcome. Yes its great for stimulating creativity for young inventors. The free software tools like CADSoft Eagle makes it easy for creating circuit schematic diagrams and PCBs. Adafruit and Sparkfun provide tutorials and new library components for today's active and passive semiconductor parts. I'm currently using this software to develop kits for Jameco Electronics. Today it's really cool to be into OSHW. Checkout the link for CADSoft Eagle.
Thanks, MrDon, this is really helpful. I knew there were some things going on with Sparkfun, but I hadn't thought of it in terms of open source hardware. This is very encouraging. Does this tend to attract young inventors?
The Open Source Hardware (OSHW) movement is quite big today. Companies like Arduino (yes the company name is their product), Adafruit and Sparkfun Electronics are pioneers in providing all source code, BOMs and gerber files for anyone to manufacture their designs and products. Of course, they sell kits for individuals who just want to build some really cool gadgets. Here's 3 links explaining additional information about OSHW.
One thing that's interesting to me about this development is hearing about all the applications that industrial robot makers could start helping their robots accomplish, such as finely dexterous movements taken from surgical robot programming, or motion planning for unknown environments. That "pipeline from the lab to the factory" is a good image for how the open source process can work at its best.
This is a great idea. Open source software makes a lot of sense for robotics. But I didn't realize there was such a thing as open source hardware. Is it catching on?
Beth your right on target. The Open Source movement has turned into a Megatech industry. With software being the enabling Gate to New Product Developmemt, hardware has picked up momentum as well(Open Source Hardware [OSH]foundation). The ROS is good example of how collaboration between Universities and Tech Industries can produced cost effective solutions to solve challenging problems like Motion Planning.
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