The Willow Project: Open Source Robotics

[Michel Bauwens]

Via Matt (Digiblade):

The Willow Project is a seriously cool effort to bring robotics to the
masses: think of it as Lego Mindstorms all grown up. The project
makes all their hardware and software designs open source, so anybody
with the capability can take part, downloading existing designs and
uploading their own. You don't have to be Dr Robotnik taking a break,
either - the project includes tutorials and instruction, so all you
need is the desire to make awesome robots.

And if you don't have that we don't know why you're reading here.

Open sourcing robotics clears the way for all kinds of incredible
innovations. Some developments might not have the security or
stability of commercial releases, but you don't have to wait for a
million people to want something before it becomes profitable. The
internet has already shown that sheer love and hard work can create
the most amazing things, and now that same creative energy can be
directed into things that can then get up and walk.

As robotics technology evolves the homebrew programs will accelerate
to keep pace: don't be surprised to find "flesh{bot 0.1" available for
bittorrent in the next ten years. With advances in synthetic skins,
certain sectors of the web might be able to download entire behaviour
sets instead of just movies of people doing those things. As long as
they watch out for security. It's bad enough when your computer can
steal your bank account info - but when a robot can physically go
through your wallet, the best firewall in the world won't save you.


Cheers !

Matt

Sources:

Open source robotics:
http://ostatic.com/172525-blog/open-source-roboticists-on-a-path-to-c3p0

Willow Project:
http://pr.willowgarage.com/

[Michel Bauwens]

great to have you hear Matt!!

[Matt Boggs]

Ah, nice to finally get here and contribute. Thank you Michel for posting this.