
The Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) Is Booting Up - tomh
http://ostatic.com/blog/the-open-source-robotics-foundation-osrf-is-booting-up?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ostatic+%28OStatic%29
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corry
Modular, open-source robotics running on ROS is clearly the way to go vs. the
expensive 'black box' proprietary platform / software. From the conversations
I've had with people in the industry, it certainly feels like robotics is
approaching a paradigm shift thanks to ROS / modular / open-source approaches.

For any robotics hackers out there, check out Clearpath Robotics' Turtlebot -
<http://clearpathrobotics.com/turtlebot>. I know the Clearpath guys,
definitely good people / good products / closely aligned to the open-source /
ROS movement.

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nickpinkston
Also of note here should be Redwood Robotics: <http://redwoodrobotics.com>
They'll be making the hardware behind all of this, and are a for-profit spin-
out of Willow Garage.

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Qworg
MEKA and SRI are their two other partners and are no slouches.

They have a difficult problem space that they're working in - it will be very
interesting to see if they can pull it off.

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nickpinkston
Thanks for pointing this out!

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fghh45sdfhr3
Yes, this is good stuff! Advanced robots today are often very expensive. But I
hope soon what happened to computers will happen to robots. Advanced robotics
becoming a very popular yet not expensive to participate in hobby would be the
first step in that.

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sliverstorm
If there is a roadblock for robotics, I don't think it is the hardware. Yes,
cutting-edge robots are very expensive, but more problematic? Control software
for anything advanced is crazy; not the sort of thing I expect a hobbyist can
write, whether or not he owns a super robot.

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Qworg
Part of it is hardware costs, part of it is human nature. Many robot hobbyists
I know fall into the "That part is $X? I can build it for $X/N!!!"

Soon they have no robot, and half a part.

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hugs
Well, that's been true, but there's hope. I'm a robot hobbyist and I need lots
of linear actuators (like dozens or hundreds) for a project I'm working on. I
can't believe how expensive they can be (between $50 and $150 a piece). So,
I've fixed that for myself that by starting my open hardware project -
<http://bitbeam.org>. My first stab at my DIY actuator:
<http://youtu.be/YO-7tiwibiY>

Doing it myself (with a laser cutter at TechShop SF), I'm able to get my own
linear actuator cost down to about $3 per actuator. Not perfect, but way
better. Next step will be to figure out how to make my own DC motors to drive
down costs further. :-)

As fab tools like 3D printers (MakerBot) get cheaper and tools get easier to
access (TechShop), more robot hobbyists will have robots _and_ cheaper parts.
:-)

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Qworg
You are part of the top 1% then. Most makers try to cobble something together
and don't approach it from first principles.

3D printers need to print high strength components and TechShops need to be
all over the country before I think we'll see this take off. =) Also, at
scale, things get cheaper - why not look at scaling your actuator production?
What would it take?

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hugs
What would it take? The biggest thing I need is knowing there's a market, how
big the market is, and who to market to -- classic customer development
activities. Right now, I know my actuators meet my needs for the stuff I'm
building, but need more data to know if I _should_ scale it. So... you want
one (hundred thousand)? :-)

