Robohub.org
Willow Garage changes direction
For many years now Willow Garage has invested in open source and open platform robotics. Their goal has been a reflection of the vision of it’s founder (and chief funder) to advance the state of robotic technology in autonomous devices.And advance the state of robotics it certainly did!- ROS (Robot Operating System) and ROS-enabled software packages and libraries can be found in most universities and research labs.
- The 50 PR2 research robots and development platforms around the world and at Willow Garage’s offices in Menlo Park have enabled countless roboticists and research labs to spend their time innovating instead of having to re-invent.
- The spin-offs abound as well: TurtleBot, OpenCV, Galapagos, ROS and ROS-Industrial, Suitable Technologies’ Beam Remote Presence System, HiDOF consulting, the detection and perception leading to the establishment of Industrial Perception, are all indicators of WG’s policy of spinning out entities with a sustaining business plan.
- Joint ventures like Redwood Robotics and Industrial Perception.
Today WG announced that they are changing direction and deciding to focus on additional commercial opportunities with an eye to becoming self-supporting. The generous funding from Scott Hassan will stop within three months, and WG employees have been notified. Late last year the writing was on the wall when Scott Hassan announced that he was to be the CEO at WG spin-off Suitable Technologies.
The PR2s around the world will continue to be supported and the recent establishment of non-profit organizations will continue the open source platform and libraries.What can we expect from Willow Garage in the future?
One can only imagine. Personally, after seeing Industrial Perception’s robot unload the back of a truck, understanding the complexity of what appeared to be a seamless process made simple by IPI, I foresee other products along the line of “see”, “sense”, “process”, and “act” done using ROS, tested on PR2s and rolled out commercially with the new credo of “fast and seamless”.
tags: ROS, Scott Hassan, Suitable Technologies, Willow Garage
Frank Tobe
is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Frank Tobe
is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Related posts :
Interview with Dautzenberg Roman: #IROS2023 Best Paper Award on Mobile Manipulation sponsored by OMRON Sinic X Corp.
The award-winning author describe their work on an aerial robot which can exert large forces onto walls.
19 November 2023, by
Daniel Carrillo-Zapata
Robot Talk Episode 62 – Jorvon Moss
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Jorvon (Odd-Jayy) Moss from Digikey about making robots at home, and robot design and aesthetics.
17 November 2023, by
Robot Talk
California is the robotics capital of the world
In California, robotics technology is a small fish in a much bigger technology pond, and that tends to conceal how important Californian companies are to the robotics revolution.
12 November 2023, by
Silicon Valley Robotics
Robot Talk Episode 61 – Masoumeh Mansouri
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Masoumeh (Iran) Mansouri from the University of Birmingham about culturally sensitive robots and planning in complex environments.
10 November 2023, by
Robot Talk
The 5 levels of Sustainable Robotics
Robots can solve the UN SDGs and not just via the application area.
08 November 2023, by
Andra Keay
Using language to give robots a better grasp of an open-ended world
By blending 2D images with foundation models to build 3D feature fields, a new MIT method helps robots understand and manipulate nearby objects with open-ended language prompts.
06 November 2023, by
MIT News