[Tyler]

ERP: An Open Source Robot Design
     



It's always good to see more free software and
open source software
for robot builders and even better to see more open source hardware
designs. John Palmisano of the Society of Robots website
writes:
Most robot builders quickly hack up a not so well thought
out robot,
get it to mostly work, take a few pics and vids, then get bored of it
and finally start the next robot. Rarely do they work on pesky things
such as multiple iterations, documentation, manufacturability,
instructional assembly tutorials, etc. I made the famous $50 Robot for
beginners, and now I've
fully open sourced my Experimental Robot
Platform (ERP) for intermediate builders. The ERP is fairly modular,
in that a builder can just copy parts of it for their own projects,
such as the pan/tilt camera head, the robot arms, the vision software,
the 3D mapping software, and much more.

All the software used is free software licensed under the GPL or BSD.
The hardware designs don't explicitly state what license is used but,
when asked, John said, "Oh, my license is simple:
Free to use for anything, on condition that a link-back and full
credit is given." That sounds like freedom to me! The ERP robot
relies on the Blackfin SRV-1
camera, BlueSmirf
Bluetooth modem, and Axon microcontroller.
   

http://robots.net/article/2897.html