ROS Turns 3, PR2 Rolls for 7 Days, Willow Garage Goes Crazy

Many new things happened at Willow Garage recently. So let's go ahead and have a look at all the awesome news.

ROS Turns Three

The Robot Operating System celebrated its third anniversary. It has come a long way since its beginning and should go even further in the future. See the video below for  a quick overview of all the cool things ROS is capable of. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cslPMzklVo

PR2 Keeps Going and Going

As reposted by the Continuous Ops department from Willow Garage, the PR2 was set to roam free around their office. After 7 days it travelled 70 kilometres, and on the latest news, it is up to 100 km. This is intended to demonstrate and improve the robustness or PR2's navigation capabilities. PR2 must recharge its battery whenever it runs out of power by plunging its charger into a regular plug (it has no fancy docking station). Also, it is allowed to text a human in case it got stuck, the human would then use a web interface to free the robot. So far the robot required a human twice. As a result of this long and awesome trip, the PR2 gained a bunch of stickers, a funky hat and a new sense of confidence.

Four PR2 Were Sold

Willow Garage has already shipped the shiny new robots to Samsung’s resarch center in Suwon, South Korea, the University of Washington in Seattle,  George Washington University in DC, and the CNRS Laboratory of Analysis and Architecture of Systems in Toulouse, France. After the primary eleven robots that were donated to universities, these are the first PR2s to sold and leave Willow Garage in order to enjoy a life of their own. If you are thinking about getting one, keep in mind that they cost 400 000$ each. The video below summarizes the PR2 beta program and the progress made by the PR2 in the last years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4UXnpLa9wU Via Willow Garage Blog.