In current era Open Source movement can be termed as an old wave with a new flair. World has a huge population of people loving and using open source software products either knowingly or unknowingly. From last decade Open Source Hardware is vigorously penetrating into the community with the introduction of low cost open source development boards like Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Open Source Hardware products have created a new movement in the community.Technologies, accessories, tools and community built around the open source products enables literally anyone to build products and applications, even though he/she has zero knowledge of the subject. Rise of such technologies have eased the task of prototyping for makers,hackers and engineers. It's also driving designers, artists, musicians and creative professionals to use these technologies and products to make their piece of work interactive. Open Source hardware products are also used in bringing children closer to learning science practically and interactively. Along with learning coding and physical computing, It's also encouraging non-engineers, hobbyists and amateurs to get into building things.
Open Source Hardware products like Arduino and Raspberry Pi are great! but there exist a wide diaspora of open source hardware which many are unaware of. These are not just prototyping boards or a technology to make learning easy but these are emerging technologies which are left open for the benefit of the people.
Here I have tried compiling 6 such Open Source Hardware Technologies which I think are Cool and one must not miss exploring them.
.RepRap 3D Printer
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| source: http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3 |
RepRap is a community is the creator of one of the first few low cost 3D printers. It has kept it's design open so that any body can make it, modify it and use it for their personal applications. They boast their machine as the world's first self replicating machine ie, the machine can print it's own parts and those can be assembled to create another 3D printer!. It's one of the popular 3D printer in the maker's community. Many companies have entered the market of 3D printers by building products by modifying the basic design of RepRap 3D printer.
SatNOGS
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| source: satnogs.org |
Website: https://satnogs.org
Group of engineers from Greece thought of creating a solution for massive automation of operator-less Ground Stations based on open standards while brain storming for an idea to participate for NASA Space Apps Challenge 2014.Thus Satellite Networked Open Ground Stations ( SatNOGS ) born. This is currently managed by Libre Spccae Foundation. SatNOGS was initiated to manufacture and deploy ground stations in bulk by giving the whole process a community approach.
Watch the video below to get what they are really upto!
Open Bionics, Open Hand Project
Website: http://openbionics.org/, http://www.openhandproject.org/
Open bionics and open hand are the open source projects on prosthetic robotic arms, prosthetic hands for amputees etc. Open bionics and Open hand Project are two different organizations working on the same same subject ie creating robotic prosthetic arms. Open Hand Project ( now managed by http://www.openbionics.com/ )has gone a steep further and it's creating robotic arms for amputees.
Open bionics and open hand are the open source projects on prosthetic robotic arms, prosthetic hands for amputees etc. Open bionics and Open hand Project are two different organizations working on the same same subject ie creating robotic prosthetic arms. Open Hand Project ( now managed by http://www.openbionics.com/ )has gone a steep further and it's creating robotic arms for amputees.
OSVehicle
Website: https://www.osvehicle.com
OSVehical is an Open Source Electric Car!. Their first product is Tabby which one can assemble within an hour as demonstrated by their team in a video put up on their website. The project has kept all the plans and blue prints open for download on their website. Interested people can also buy kits from them.
OSVehical is an Open Source Electric Car!. Their first product is Tabby which one can assemble within an hour as demonstrated by their team in a video put up on their website. The project has kept all the plans and blue prints open for download on their website. Interested people can also buy kits from them.
Poppy open source humanoid
Website: https://www.poppy-project.org/
Humanoid robots stand at the center of the stage whenever we speak about robotics and research activities in the field. Building one such robot is a robotic enthusiasts dream. Poppy project is one such attempt. The beauty of the project is it has used two more open source projects in developing it. All the parts of the robot can be 3D printed and they have different versions of robots powered with Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
Orb Swarm
Website: http://orbswarm.com/
Swarm robotics is one of the many emerging fields of the current century. Technologies like Unmanned vehicles along with the need of workforce in the critical areas like nuclear power plants and hazardous areas have pushed for the extensive study on large number of cooperative robots which can operate with lesser or no external instructions. Orb Swarm is an open source project which showcases six-semi automatic robotic spheres powered by arduino. This project is a mixture of swarm robotics and kinetic art.
Check out the below video to get a glimpse of the project.
Swarm robotics is one of the many emerging fields of the current century. Technologies like Unmanned vehicles along with the need of workforce in the critical areas like nuclear power plants and hazardous areas have pushed for the extensive study on large number of cooperative robots which can operate with lesser or no external instructions. Orb Swarm is an open source project which showcases six-semi automatic robotic spheres powered by arduino. This project is a mixture of swarm robotics and kinetic art.
Check out the below video to get a glimpse of the project.
Open Soucre Hardware movement is getting a lot of momentum.Companies like Sparkfun, Adafruit Industries have set up a whole industry in this space by creating open source products for makers and tinkerers . Autodesk has kept the design of it's production quality 3D printer ' Ember ' open for everyone. There was a time when secrecy was very important to grow big in the industry. Today it's very slowly changing. Many are keeping their designs open to encourage competitions. Open source projects are no more just research projects these are growing into real businesses allowing many to start their own and encouraging many including multinational companies to keep their projects open.
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