Yesterday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) — in partnership with the Department of Defense (DOD), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) — announced $37 million in new awards to spur the development and use of co-robots, robots that work cooperatively with people.
The fundamental research in computing and engineering that has enabled robotics to develop in the US has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) since its inception. Yet despite these early investments in sensors, machine movement and computer vision, it wasn’t until 1972 that the first grant with “robot” in the title was funded in the US .
So, depending on who you ask, Willow Garage is shutting down, pursuing commercial interests, or changing direction. But things are not as dire as some may think: ROS is fine (the OSRF will support it) and there are many options for Willow Garage to explore. Personally I’m hoping it will be snatched up by Stanford or another academic institution and become a research institute. But given the number of robots they have out (and their price tags!), a commercial path into the future seems even more likely. In any case, I doubt that Willow Garage will disappear just like that.
What caused the changes is that Willow’s founder and funder, Scott Hassan, has decided that it’s time to wean Willow Garage from his private financial support.
January 18, 2021
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