The Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) this week announced the launch of the similarly named Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA). This new initiative aims to sustain the development and maintenance of open source robotics projects, with a particular focus on OSRF's proprietary Robot Operating System (ROS).
First released in 2007 by former Bay Area incubator Willow Garage, ROS has played a fundamental role in robot development for decades. In a show of support, Nvidia and Qualcomm have signed on as “platinum” members of the new partnership, along with Alphabet's X spinout Intrinsic.
“Nvidia is developing with ROS 2 to deliver accelerated computing and AI to developers, researchers, and commercial applications,” Nvidia Vice President Gordon Grigor said in a release related to the news. I am. “As OSRA's first Platinum member, we will work together to advance open source robotics across the ecosystem by supporting development efforts and providing governance and continuity.”
In the same release, Intrinsic CEO Wendy Tan White said: Dear OSRC Corporation, we are deeply invested in the open source community and look forward to continuing to support the ecosystem as an inaugural member of OSRA. ”
Intrinsic acquired the commercial division of Open Robotics in late 2022. Former Open Robotics CEO Brian Gerkey (who currently serves as his CTO at Intrinsic) has been appointed to his OSRA board.
As far as hierarchy goes, this seems like a standard tech industry consortium thing. OSRF calls this a “mixed membership and meritocracy model” modeled after open source alliances like the Linux Foundation. Of course, the level and meritocracy presentation varies depending on the level of membership the organization commits to, but prices are particularly high based on the number of employees.
Along with ROS, OSRA is tasked with managing Open Robotics' Gazebo simulator and Open-RMF, which is designed to serve as a common language to increase interoperability of robotic systems between companies. Certainly, the participation of technology giants like Nvidia and Qualcomm should help strengthen such standards. Both companies are involved in the development of reference design robots that serve as the basis for various robot manufacturers.
Other members include Clearpath and PickNik Robotics. Silicon Valley Robotics acts as an associate member, and Ubuntu developer Canonical plays a supporting role.