Wonder what open source robotics is like - Welcome to Willow Garage
I was just passing by the Robotics Lab at my university when it suddenly struck my mind that I have been reading and writing a lot about open-source but never ever came across the term "open source robots". After returning to my room, I immediately googled it and found about the brilliant initiative of this research based company "Willow Garage" to involve the world in personal robots development. After reading about them, their achievements and even some of the videos showing the demos I certainly became a fan. And I am proud to say that intiatives like this are going to make a huge change in the world of robotics development.
Before proceeding, let me make clear that this company doesn't build open-source and free robots. So, stop dreaming about getting a copy of their designed robots delivered at your home for free 
. Willow Garage actually deals with the development of open-source softwares for personal robotics applications.
This company founded by former googler Scott Hassan in 2006 with Steve Cousins as the president and CEO achieved its 3rd major milestone in January this year with the release of ROS 1.0, an opensource Robot operating system. The aim was to come up with a platform that could serve as a base for further development in robotics applications. The 2nd Milestone, my favourite, was teaching the personal robot PR2(actually this is what they call their robots, meaning Personal Robots) to look for an electric switch an plug itself in. Believe me, in addition to being funny, its a pretty fascinating experience to watch a robot searching for a switch to charge itself. Take a look at the video of them actually doing it.
In this run, the PR2 went through 8 doors to plug its cord into 9 outlets with a success rate of 100%, although there were a couple of failures but the brilliant failure-handling capability of PR2 allowed for the successful completion of all the tasks finally.
This company established on the idea of open-sourcing the development of robotics technology, is making a huge impact on the world-wide evolution of robotics development. The open-source Robot operating system ROS 1.0, recently released by the company is an example of its believe in the share and leech concept to provide a new level of innovation and transperancy in robotic technologies.
Further Reading:
Post new comment