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Aldebaran Robotics To Open Source Nao Robot Control Software

Posted by timothy on from the raise-eyebrows-not-aibos dept.

mikejuk writes "According to an announcement at a robotics conference this week, Aldebaran Robotics is planning to make a significant portion of its code open source. The NAOqi embedded software is cross-platform and forms a distributed robotics framework. The Nao robot has come from a small start to become one of the standard tools of educational and research robotics and it is also a lot of fun. At the moment a Nao is still a little too expensive to be used as a recreational platform, but who knows? Currently it is claimed that there are over 1500 Nao robots being used in education and research."

26 comments

  1. Yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...does it run Linux?

    1. Re:Yes, but... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      Wiki article in the summary says "Built-in OS Linux"

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      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:Yes, but... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      ...does it run Linux?

      Are you a bot?

      10 print "Does it run Linux?"
      20 goto 10

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      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    3. Re:Yes, but... by jhoegl · · Score: 1

      Proving once again infinite loops are forever

  2. On Earth, too by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool, can't wait for the day when some company will make this on our planet, too.

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

    1. Re:On Earth, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, at least on a planet not under an imminent threat of destruction. I wonder if the risks section of their business plan contains a subsection about death by death stars.

    2. Re:On Earth, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      came for the Star Wars references, left satisfied

  3. What we need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What we really need is someone to open source a beginners to intermediate electronics course, Khan Academy style, complete will well made and complete 12 minute lectures, exercises and recommended reading that doesn't involve $300 text books.

    1. Re:What we need... by danbuter · · Score: 1

      That would be cool!

  4. Share and Enjoy by itsdapead · · Score: 1

    Aldebaran Robotics? So I guess someone has already trademarked "Sirius Cybernetics Corporation"...

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    In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
    1. Re:Share and Enjoy by Adambomb · · Score: 1

      well, it would make more sense to be Sol Cybernetics Corporation anyway

      --
      Ice Cream has no bones.
    2. Re:Share and Enjoy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      india will house the complaints division.

  5. Get off the reservation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "At the moment a Nao is still a little too expensive to be used as a recreational platform, but who knows?"

    The start of this sentence has some interesting information, but who knows... by the end it could be full of reservations.

  6. Am I the only one... by achbed · · Score: 1

    To misread this as "Alderaan Robotics" in the title and think they they were destroyed along with millions of other voices? Good thing they're open-sourcing their control code. Hate to see that get destroyed too.

    1. Re:Am I the only one... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 1

      I misread it myself. Definitely need to finish a cup of coffee before trying to read the news.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:Am I the only one... by digmshiphter · · Score: 1

      Right with you on that one. Of course, I secretly hoped someone had actually named their company using a Star Wars reference.

    3. Re:Am I the only one... by Nigel+Stepp · · Score: 1

      One of the preprogrammed demos is it acting out the scene where C3PO was telling a story to the ewoks. So there's a star wars person there somewhere.

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      4096R/EF7BAFA6 79E1 DF98 D09D 898F 9A11 F6F0 DDDC 23FA EF7B AFA6
  7. Open Source != Free Software by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

    From TFA:

    “We will release our software as OPEN SOURCE to allow researchers, teachers, and developers to adapt and extend our software according to their needs and knowledge."

    Basically, this means they will give you the source code so that you can make it better for them. They will not give you all the software needed to create your own robotics platform (only releasing portions of the code). The software is touted as being "cross platform", but rest assured that the copyright license restrictions will prevent you from making use of "their code" to power a robotics system not purchased from them.

    TL;DR: Pfffft. Let me know when it's released as Free Software.

  8. Can't wait for their green whiskey! by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 1

    Interesting article...... I wonder if they will branch off into alcoholic beverages manufacturing soon?

    --
    You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
  9. More GPL'd software to run on your Nao by RyLaN · · Score: 2

    Shameless plug time!

    I'm a student at Bowdoin College, and the current lead developer of the motion engine we run on our Naos to compete in the RoboCup Standard Platform League. The idea of the SPL league is that all teams use the same hardware (the Nao) so that the entire competition is about the software. My team, the Northern Bites has written our own omni-directional motion engine, vision system and behavior stack (the latter two in C++/ASM, the behaviors in Python). We recently hosted the US Open up at Bowdoin, and we're headed to Istanbul in early July for the world championships.

    The Aldebaran guys rock, and the Nao is an extremely cool platform for bipedal research (it runs a stripped down version of Debian).

    If you're interested, here's our public GitHub and YouTube

    --
    At least the war on the environment is going well
    1. Re:More GPL'd software to run on your Nao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its a dead end. It is physically incapable of producing the same behavior as humans or anything else in biology. The design is based on an inappropriate mechanical control methodology.

    2. Re:More GPL'd software to run on your Nao by cusco · · Score: 1

      Interesting. You're not allowed to make any mechanical modifications to the Nao, I take it?

      --
      "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
  10. They have to compete with Willow Garage by Animats · · Score: 1

    They're probably doing this to compete with Wilow Garage, which has their own open-source robot operating system.

    1. Re:They have to compete with Willow Garage by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

      Great news. :-)

      Maybe it will also help avoid the fate for an unemployed humanity Marshall Brain wrote about in the first part of "Manna" or I talk about in this youtube video:
          "The Richest Man in the World: A parable about structural unemployment and a basic income "
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p14bAe6AzhA

      To avoid more economic disaster, we need to transition to a gift economy and other socioeconomic models before robots can replace most people in most tasks as they are more and more doing... Example of the technology just coming out of robotics labs:
          http://www.hizook.com/blog/2009/08/03/high-speed-robot-hand-demonstrates-dexterity-and-skillful-manipulation

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      A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  11. Alderaan by cheeks5965 · · Score: 1

    Did anybody else read the subject, "Alderaan robots..."? Good luck, robots. You may want to outsource production really soon.

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    -- Flame me and I will happily flame you back. Bring it!