Communications of the ACM
Willow Garage to Give Away Personal Robots
Willow Garage's PR2 Beta Program will make available to research institutions approximately ten PR2 Beta robots at no cost.
Credit: Willow Garage
Willow Garage unveiled its PR2 Beta robot last week, and announced to research institutions around the world that they can apply to have one at no cost.
For the past couple of years, the company's researchers, developers and interns have used prototypes of the PR2 to build new capabilities for robotics. The PR2 program kickstarted development of ROS, an open source robotics platform. It also helped drive new capabilities in the OpenCV computer vision library. One year ago, it accomplished its first milestone: autonomous navigation with the PR2 robot for 2π kilometers (View a Video of the PR2 Milestone 1). Six months ago, it accomplished its second milestone: opening doors, plugging in, and 26.2 miles of autonomous navigation (View a Video of PR2 Milestone 2). The company is now completing its third milestone, which solidifies the ROS and OpenCV software platforms that form the basis of the PR2 software system.
For the past several months, the company's production floor was busy assembling the PR2 Beta. With the robots now coming off the line, Willow Garage announced the PR2 Beta Program, which will enable complete, production PR2 robots to leave the doors of Willow Garage for the first time. The PR2 Beta Program will make available approximately ten PR2 Beta robots at no cost.
Research institutions are invited to respond to the company's Call for Proposals, describing the open source and scientific contributions that they can make with a PR2. The Call for Proposals contains additional details on how the company will select the top proposals and distribute PR2s.
Willow Garage believes that the PR2 Beta Program will accelerate robotics research and drive open source robotics development. It is ready to work with research organizations around the world to move the open source robotics community forward.
Information about the CFP, including downloadable CFP materials, and the PR2 Beta Program, are available at http://www.willowgarage.com/pages/pr2-beta-program/cfp.
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