The ROS-Industrial ecosystem aims to help develop more specialized industrial robot application software. Gerkey said:
There's only so much you can do with the existing embedded industrial controllers that these companies have spent years developing. Now you can keep that controller box, but add a connection to a PC, for example, with algorithms developed in a research lab.
One big area that could benefit is motion-planning software. When industrial robots are programmed, they must be moved with a joystick from one configuration to the next and programmed to remember each configuration, in a highly tedious and inflexible process. Since the robot doesn't sense where an object is, like the bin it's tossing other objects into, it does all this movement blindly.
Gerkey added:
In ROS-Industrial, we can add perception and motion-perception software for environments where there's variability in what robots need to do. This can be developed in a university lab, so ROS becomes the pipeline from the lab to the factory. Even if the factory needs to rewrite that software, now they have a new and different capability to use in an industrial environment.
To some industrial robot makers, ROS-Industrial gives the ability to patch in technologies that would otherwise be foreign to them. They can use another software suite that will solve the ability to create increasingly diverse applications, said Erik Nieves, technology director of Yaskawa Motoman Robotics, in an interview. "Where ROS shines is working in unstructured or semi-structured environments where you need more perception, where vision plays a much bigger role, and where that vision requires a more sophisticated response from the robot."
One example of developing for unstructured environments is the 3D mapping software created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to help robots autonomously navigate a constantly changing environment.
Watch videos of robot arms using ROS-Industrial here and here.
Okay, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but open source has a great track record fostering innovation around emerging technologies and encouraging the participation and co-development that's essential to building a market and propeling it forward. 3D printing is a great example. While there's been plenty of innovation on the private industry front, projects like RepRap were instrumental in breaking 3D printing out of its niche and putting it on the frontlines of innovation, not to mention, serving as a stepping stone for a lot of smaller innovators to get involved.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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 for this info, Mrdon. I would imagine this would be great fun for some of our younger Gadget Freaks. We're beginning to attract more and more young inventors. the gadget currently up (#216) was put together by a 15 year old.
Yes, prototyping platforms like I mentioned (LEGO Mindstorms and Arduino) make it very easy for young Makers/Inventors to create really cool projects. I was quite impress with the LED project created by the 15year Maker and the method he used to develop his product. Very innovated young person.
MrDon, we have more Gadget Freak coming up that use LEGO Mindstorms and Arduino. These tools seems to be this generation's Heath Kits or Erector Sets, only at a much higher technology level.
Hi Rob, that's awesome about the upcoming Gadget Freak articles. I have a LEGO Mindstorms -Arduino project that allows an Android phone to communicate with the prototyping devices using Bluetooth. I have a few more tests to conduct and then I'll be able to do a writeup for submission.
MrDon, you can look through our Gadget Freaks and find a number of projects that include Arduino tools. The LEGO projects are in the works, but they're coming.
Hi Rob, Its' amazing how creativity can emerge with the use of these electronic prototyping platforms. I like sharing these Gadget Freak projects with the Capstone Students at the School of Electronics Technology of ITT Tech to help stimulate design product ideas. BTW, I'm the Department Chair!
MrDon, thanks for sharing the Gadget Freak with your students. We work with a couple universities that turn class projects into Gadget Freak entries. Usually it's students working in groups of three or four. Since we pay $500 for each Gadget Freak, there's extra incentive for students to share their work.
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?
Chuck, so far it sounds like "commercial" software is likely to be on the order of drivers/interfaces for a specific company's own robots, such as those Motoman is currently developing. Or did you mean commercial versions of ROS itself?
I was wondering about that, Chuck. I was surprised that open source is being considered since I thought a lot of the robotic technologies would have been proprietary to the robot manufacturers.
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?
Warren, the video is of a very simple demo. From my discussions with sources, I understand that what it shows is pretty darn complex on the software end. ROS is currently being used in surgical robot development. There are several other complex robots using ROS, shown here in a rotating gallery: http://www.willowgarage.com/pages/software You also might want to check out the SWRI site on ROS-Industrial for more details http://www.swri.org/4org/d10/msd/automation/ros-industrial.htm
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