What’s Subsequent for Clearpath Robotics?

Now that Rockwell Automation’s acquisition of Clearpath Robotics and OTTO Motors is full (at one thing like $600 million, in keeping with one supply), it’s extra essential than ever to get at the least some understanding of what the longer term 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 Robot Operating System (ROS), and the corporate has supplied a large quantity of assist to the ROS neighborhood over the previous decade.

At the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2023) in Detroit earlier this month, we spoke with Clearpath Robotics co-founder Ryan Gariepy to get a greater sense of the place issues are headed for Clearpath Robotics.

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

Ryan Gariepy, Clearpath Robotics: Both Clearpath Robotics and OTTO Motors are nonetheless very a lot in existence. We’re nonetheless working with our personal roadmaps, and Rockwell Automation has a want to maintain these manufacturers round. We plan to maintain the long-lasting Clearpath colours. Basically, we’re going to proceed enterprise as common. 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 corporations has determined that robotics is a strategic curiosity. We assume there will probably be numerous issues that the robotics analysis neighborhood will probably 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. Rockwell additionally has established international scale in gross sales, deployment, assist, provide chain, all the things. It’ll actually enable us to focus rather more on what we’re good at, moderately than having to decide on between product improvement and operations.

Rockwell at present does numerous stuff which is peripheral to the robotics neighborhood. They’re a worldwide chief in movement management, in sensing, in security—these are issues that may very well be of nice curiosity. I believe any long-time researcher will bear in mind the times when sensor producers didn’t even assist utilizing their sensors on robots, and also you needed to reverse-engineer these protocols your self. But we’re now in a world the place one of many largest industrial automation corporations has determined that robotics is a strategic curiosity. We assume there will probably be numerous issues that the robotics analysis neighborhood will probably be enthusiastic about.

What about long-term assist for current Clearpath analysis robots?

Gariepy: If something, an organization like Rockwell provides us extra stability moderately 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 previous. Rockwell has merchandise which have been 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 perpetually, however we’ve solely been round for 14 years. Rockwell has been round for 120 years.

What about Turtlebot?

Gariepy: TurtleBot 5 can be a future roadmap dialogue, and that’s extra within the arms of Open Robotics than Clearpath Robotics. We do love the Turtlebot, we’re constructing as many Turtlebots as we presumably can, and we’ve 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 undoubtedly been excited by the management that we’ve with the ROS neighborhood. There are numerous issues that we’ve been speaking about on the way to construct on this, however I can’t actually get into any particulars. Honestly, it’s because there are such a lot of good concepts we’ve, that even with this bigger firm, I don’t have the individuals to drag all the things off proper now.

Again, it wasn’t that a few years in the past while you couldn’t get an API for a manipulator arm in order that you may even use it, a lot much less have the producer of that arm assist ROS themselves. Things have modified considerably, and now you could have an organization like Rockwell turning into very excited in regards to the potential within the ROS neighborhood.

Clearpath Robotics has in fact solely ever been one a part of the ROS neighborhood—an essential half, definitely, however the continued success of ROS has (we hope) grown past what is likely to be happening at anybody firm. It’s a little bit worrisome that a number of different essential components of the ROS neighborhood, together with Fetch Robotics and Open Robotics, have additionally been acquired comparatively just lately. So with all this in thoughts, we’ll be at ROSCon in New Orleans later this week to try to get a greater sense of how the neighborhood feels about the way forward for ROS.