Rosie the robot now a reality

February 2011 News

Scott Hassan, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur and early Google architect, is trying to fast-track innovation in the personal robotics world with his 50-employee company, Willow Garage. The first robot, the PR2, hit the market in September. Hassan hopes this will give the robotics community what the desktop computer provided programmers in the 1970s: a standardised tool for creating all sorts of applications.

The PR2 is equipped with open-source software code that lets users share knowledge and build on each others’ work. It also comes with heavy-duty computers, wheels, arms, cameras, range finders and touch sensors. Willow Garage wants to tap the power of crowd-sourcing – its vision is to spur smart people around the world to work together ready for the day that Rosie the Robot becomes a reality.

www.willowgarage.com

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