Call for Proposals: Willow Grove PR2 Beta Program
Willow Garage invites proposals from research organizations interested in using the PR2 to accelerate robotics research, drive open source robotics development, and contribute to the open source robotics community. Approximately ten PR2s will be made available to research organizations that will make rigorous and creative use of the robot in existing or planned research projects.
By making the PR2 platforms available to researchers and developers, Willow Garage’s objectives for this beta program are fourfold:
- enable scientific breakthroughs in personal robotics
- expand the open source robotics community
- develop reusable components and tools
- explore new applications for personal robots
Willow Garage’s goal is to facilitate progress in the area of personal robotics, and to develop a world-wide community of researchers and developers contributing to open-source. Willow Garage works to facilitate progress in the area of personal robotics by sponsoring community-building activities and events, internship programs and visiting scholars.
This Call for Proposals is the beginning of an important open source robotics community-building effort. It is our hope that the PR2 platform will focus attention and foster the sharing of open source code to enable the development of new robotics systems, tools and applications.
Important Dates
CFP Released January 15, 2010
Intent to Respond Due February 1, 2010
Final Proposal Due March 1, 2010
Download the Call for Proposals document
About Willow Garage
What We Do: Willow Garage develops hardware and open source software for personal robotics applications.
Vision: We see personal robots as the next paradigm-shifting personal productivity tool. By investing in open source and open platform adoption models, we aim to lay the groundwork for the use of personal robotics applications in everyday life.
Who We Are: Willow Garage is a team of experts in robot design, control, perception, and machine learning, with both a strong theoretical background and a demonstrated drive to produce practical systems.
Approximately one third of our team is made up of robotics researchers whose specialties include: grasping/manipulation, human-robot interaction, motion planning, perception, and task planning. Researchers provide an institutional expertise to ensure that Willow Garage stays at the technological forefront of the many depth expertise areas represented in robotic technologies.