What’s Subsequent for Clearpath Robotics?

Now that Rockwell Automation’s acquisition of Clearpath Robotics and OTTO Motors is full (at one thing like US $600 million, in line with one supply), it’s extra necessary than ever to get at the very least some understanding of what the long run holds for these iconic yellow-and-black analysis robots. And it’s not nearly their robots, both: Clearpath Robotics was one of many unique champions of the Robotic Working System (ROS), and the corporate has supplied an enormous quantity of help to the ROS group over the previous decade.

On the IEEE/RSJ Worldwide Convention on Clever Robots and Programs (IROS 2023) in Detroit earlier this month, we spoke with Clearpath Robotics cofounder Ryan Gariepy to get a greater sense of the place issues are headed for Clearpath Robotics.

Now that you’re a part of Rockwell, what’s staying the identical?

Ryan Gariepy: Each Clearpath Robotics and OTTO Motors are nonetheless very a lot in existence. We’re nonetheless working with our personal highway maps, and Rockwell Automation has a need to maintain these manufacturers round. We plan to maintain the enduring Clearpath colours. Principally, we’re going to proceed enterprise as ordinary. As a lot as I respect individuals’s concern, we do intend to proceed constructing this for the long-term.

“We’re now in a world the place one of many largest industrial automation firms has determined that robotics is a strategic curiosity. We expect there will likely be lots of issues that the robotics analysis group will likely be enthusiastic about.”
—Ryan Gariepy, Clearpath Robotics

What’s going to be completely different?

Gariepy: We anticipate with the ability to take bigger dangers, with extra of a long-term view on a few of our services and products. Rockwell additionally has established international scale in gross sales, deployment, help, provide chain, every part. It’ll actually permit us to focus rather more on what we’re good at, somewhat than having to decide on between product growth and operations.

Rockwell presently does lots of stuff which is peripheral to the robotics group. They’re a worldwide chief in movement management, in sensing, in security—these are issues that could possibly be of nice curiosity. I feel any long-time researcher will bear in mind the times when sensor producers didn’t even help utilizing their sensors on robots, and also you needed to reverse-engineer these protocols your self. However we’re now in a world the place one of many largest industrial automation firms has determined that robotics is a strategic curiosity. We expect there will likely be lots of issues that the robotics analysis group will likely be enthusiastic about.

What about long-term help for present Clearpath analysis robots?

Gariepy: If something, an organization like Rockwell offers us extra stability somewhat than much less stability. They’re used to supporting their merchandise for a lot longer than us—the oldest Huskies are arising on 12 or 13 years outdated. Rockwell has merchandise which were in the marketplace for 20 years that they’re nonetheless supporting, so that they very a lot respect that. I do know that for lots of researchers, it looks like Clearpath Robotics has been round eternally, however we’ve solely been round for 14 years. Rockwell has been round for 120 years.

What about TurtleBot?

Gariepy: TurtleBot 5 could be a future highway map dialogue, and that’s extra within the fingers of Open Robotics than Clearpath Robotics. We do love the TurtleBot, we’re constructing as many TurtleBots as we presumably can, and we’ve got a long-term settlement with Open Robotics to proceed the TurtleBot partnership. That settlement continues.

How does Rockwell really feel about ROS?

Gariepy: Rockwell needs to work extra with ROS, and has positively been excited by the management that we’ve got with the ROS group. There are lots of issues that we’ve been speaking about on the way to construct on this, however I can’t actually get into any particulars. Actually, it’s because there are such a lot of good concepts we’ve got, that even with this bigger firm, I don’t have the individuals to drag every part off proper now.

Once more, it wasn’t that a few years in the past once you couldn’t get an API for a manipulator arm in order that you can even use it, a lot much less have the producer of that arm help ROS themselves. Issues have modified considerably, and now you could have an organization like Rockwell changing into very excited concerning the potential within the ROS group.

Clearpath Robotics has in fact solely ever been one a part of the ROS group—an necessary half, actually, however the continued success of ROS has (we hope) grown past what may be occurring at anyone firm. It’s a bit worrisome that a number of different necessary elements of the ROS group, together with Fetch Robotics and Open Robotics, have additionally been acquired comparatively lately. So with all this in thoughts, we’ll be at ROSCon in New Orleans later this week to attempt to get a greater sense of how the group feels about the way forward for ROS.