OSRF launches Open Source Robotics Alliance to strengthen open-source software projects

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The Open Source Robotics Alliance is looking to partner with community stakeholders in the development of open-source projects. | Source: OSRF

The Open Source Robotics Foundation, or OSRF, last week launched the Open Source Robotics Alliance, or OSRA. With this new initiative, OSRF aims to strengthen the governance of open-source robotics software projects. It said the new alliance will also ensure the health of the Robot Operating System community for years to come.

The OSRA plans to use a mixed-membership and meritocratic model, similar to other open-source organizations such as the Linux Foundation and the Eclipse Foundation. 

OSRA invited all community stakeholders to participate in the technological oversight, direction, development, and support of the OSRF’s open-source projects, including ROS, Gazabo, Open-RMF, and their infrastructure.

At the center of the alliance is the Technical Governance Committee (TGC), which will oversee the activities of various project management committees, technical committees, special interest groups, and working groups. As a charitable program, overall responsibility for the OSRA will remain with the OSRF Board.

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Open Source Robotics Alliance announces inaugural members

Involvement from across the robotics ecosystem is crucial to this initiative, said the OSRA. Its inaugural Platinum membership group includes NVIDIA, Intrinsic, and Qualcomm Technologies. 

“NVIDIA develops with ROS 2 to bring accelerated computing and AI to developers, researchers, and commercial applications,” said Gordon Grigor, vice president of robotics software at NVIDIA, in a release. “As an inaugural platinum member of OSRA, we will collaborate to advance open-source robotics throughout the ecosystem by aiding development efforts and providing governance and continuity.”

“From the numerous contributions made by our team at Intrinsic across projects like ROS, Gazebo, and Open-RMF as part of the open robotics community, to our acquisition of the Open Source Robotics Corp., we’ve invested deeply in the open-source community, and we look forward to continuing our support of the ecosystem as an inaugural member of the OSRA,” added Wendy Tan White, CEO of Intrinsic.

The Platinum members are joined by nine other inaugural members at press time, including Gold members Apex.AI and Zettascale. Clearpath Robotics, Ekumen, eProsima, and PickNik Robotics all joined as Silver members. Silicon Valley Robotics joined as an Associate member. 

Initial supporting organizations include Canonical and Open Navigation. Incoming members include Bosch and ROS-Industrial, plus several others to be announced soon, the alliance said.

Memberships are now open for organizations and individuals interested in joining the OSRA. Instructions on how to apply and information on the member levels and benefits are available at the organization’s website.