Open Robotics
{{short description|Nonprofit corporation in Mountain View, California}}
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{{Infobox organization
| name = Open Robotics
| logo = Openrobotics-logo-color.svg
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| type = 501(c)(3) organization
| focus = Open-source software
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| formation = 2012
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| headquarters = Mountain View, California, United States
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| region_served = Worldwide
| products = Robot Operating System, Gazebo simulator
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| subsidiaries = Open Source Robotics Corporation, Open Source Robotics Corporation Singapore
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| website = {{URL|www.openrobotics.org}}
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Open Robotics is a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California. It is the primary maintainer of the Robot Operating System, and the Gazebo simulator.{{Cite web |title=About -- Gazebo |url=https://gazebosim.org/about |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Gazebo}} Its stated mission is to support "the development, distribution and adoption of open source software for use in robotics research, education, and product development".{{cite web |title=Open Source Robotics Foundation |url=https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/archive/2019/organizations/5150988804030464/ |website=Google Summer of Code |access-date=5 December 2020}}
Open Robotics funds its operations through the contributions of various public and private organizations, some of whom also engage its services for the development of various robotics applications, robotics R&D and consulting.{{cite web |title=Open Robotics Home Page |url=https://www.openrobotics.org/ |website=Open Robotics |access-date=5 December 2020}} Notable sources of past and current funding include DARPA, NASA, Amazon, Bosch, Nvidia and the Toyota Research Institute.{{cite web |last1=Asay |first1=Matt |title=How AWS is helping to open source the future of robotics |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/opensource/aws-helping-open-source-future-robotics/ |website=AWS Open Source Blog |date=18 October 2019 |access-date=5 December 2020}}{{cite web |title=Sponsors |url=https://www.openrobotics.org/sponsors |website=Open Robotics |access-date=5 December 2020}}{{cite web |title=Deep Learning and ROS Collide to Bring New Levels of Autonomy to Robots |url=https://news.developer.nvidia.com/deep-learning-and-ros-collide-to-bring-new-levels-of-autonomy-to-robots/ |website=Nvidia |date=17 October 2016 |access-date=12 December 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Gerkey |first1=Brian |title=Renewed support from Toyota Research Institute |url=https://www.osrfoundation.org/renewed-support-from-toyota-research-institute/index.html |website=Open Source Robotics Foundation |access-date=5 December 2020}}
History
The beginnings of Open Robotics can be traced to Willow Garage, a robotics research lab and incubator created by Scott Hassan, an early Google engineer and billionaire technology entrepreneur. It was here that the first official Robot Operating System (ROS) distribution was released in May 2010, and quickly gained widespread adoption.{{cite web |last1=Cardoza |first1=Christina |title=Inside the Robot Operating System, the robotics industry and the Open Source Robotics Foundation |url=https://sdtimes.com/drones/inside-the-robot-operating-system-the-robotics-industry-and-the-open-source-robotics-foundation/ |website=SD Times |date=21 December 2015 |access-date=5 December 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Tellez |first1=Ricardo |title=A History of ROS (Robot Operating System) |url=https://www.theconstructsim.com/history-ros/ |website=The Construct |date=9 July 2019 |access-date=5 December 2020}} Willow Garage was gradually dissolved in the ensuing years into several spin-offs, including the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), which was created in May 2012 to continue to shepherd the development of ROS and the Gazebo simulator.{{cite web |last1=Ackerman |first1=Evan |title=Open Source Robotics Foundation Officially Announced |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-source-robotics-foundation-officially-announced |website=IEEE Spectrum |access-date=5 December 2020}}
OSRF's initial backers included Willow Garage and DARPA, which awarded OSRF its first contract to support open source simulation software for the DARPA Robotics Challenge.{{cite web |last1=Ackerman |first1=Evan |title=DARPA Awards Simulation Software Contract to Open Source Robotics Foundation |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/darpa-robotics-challenge-simulation-software-open-source-robotics-foundation |website=IEEE |access-date=12 December 2020}} In subsequent years, OSRF also provided support for NASA's Space Robotics challenge{{cite journal |last1=Hambuchen |first1=Kimberly |title=NASA's Space Robotics Challenge: Advancing Robotics for Future Exploration Missions |journal=AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition |date=15 Sep 2017 |doi=10.2514/6.2017-5120|isbn=978-1-62410-483-1 }} and the DARPA Subterranean Challenge.{{cite web |last1=Chung |first1=Timothy |title=DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge |url=https://www.darpa.mil/program/darpa-subterranean-challenge |website=DARPA |access-date=12 December 2020}}
In September 2016, a taxable subsidiary named the Open Source Robotics Corporation (OSRC) was created to foster greater collaboration with industry.{{cite web |last1=Gerkey |first1=Brian |title=Welcome to Open Robotics |url=https://www.osrfoundation.org/welcome-to-open-robotics/ |website=Open Robotics |access-date=5 December 2020}} Together with OSRF, these two organizations came to be officially known as Open Robotics in May 2017. In 2018, Open Robotics opened its first overseas office in Singapore,{{cite web |last1=Gerkey |first1=Brian |title=New office: Singapore |url=https://www.osrfoundation.org/new-office-singapore/ |website=Open Source Robotics Foundation |access-date=5 December 2020}} and announced its collaboration with the Singapore Government to work on robotics applications for the healthcare sector.{{cite web |last1=Sharon |first1=Alita |title=Minister Gan Kim Yong announces development of Singapore's first Robotics Middleware Framework at National Health IT Summit |url=https://opengovasia.com/minister-gan-kim-yong-announces-development-of-singapores-first-robotics-middleware-framework-at-national-health-it-summit/ |website=OpenGov Asia |access-date=5 December 2020}}
In December 2022, OSRC and OSRC-SG (the Singapore entity) were acquired by Intrinsic, a subsidiary of Alphabet.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-15 |title=Alphabet's Intrinsic Acquires Majority of Open Robotics |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/alphabet-intrinsic-open-robotics-acquisition |access-date=2022-12-15 |website=IEEE Spectrum |language=en}} OSRF remains an independent non-profit.
In April 15th, 2024 the [https://osralliance.org OSRA] (THE OPEN SOURCE Robotics Alliance) replaced the OSRC, the OSRC was sold to Intrinsic before the creation of the [https://osralliance.org OSRA] initiative, and both of those things are part of a single long-term plan by the OSRF to provide a stable future for ROS, Gazebo, Open-RMF, and the infrastructure that supports them.
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://www.openrobotics.org/ Official website]
- [https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-02-20/robotics-research-lab-willow-garage-shuts-down Ashlee Vance, Willow Garage's Last Days, Bloomberg Business, February 20, 2014.]
Category:Robotics companies of the United States
Category:Companies based in Mountain View, California
Category:Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area