IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2017 - 112

will run for several years despite the
evolution of software environments.
All of this requires significant
effort. Imagine doing this for each of
your publications. Scared? Then move
to the next level: the hardware. In
robotics, mechanical and electronic
implementations can be a crucial ele-
ment in obtaining the presented
results, and reuse of the design is nec-
essary if one would like to check or
build on the results achieved with that
hardware. Publishing the hardware
design details brings us very close to
the very well known but not often
practiced field of open-source hard-
ware (OSH).
OSH shares most of the goals of OS:
diffusion, reuse, faster progress, and
exchanges. The spirit behind this
model is a bit different from the one
found in science: in OSH projects, peo-
ple collaborate on a common hardware
design, while researchers are in a more
competitive environment, even if sci-
ence should bring them together.
Moreover, OS seems to be pushed
mostly by the funding agencies, while
OSH is driven by communities of
developers. Despite these small differ-
ences, or perhaps to smooth over these
differences, OS promoters should rec-
ognize that they have an interest in pro-
moting OSH, and vice versa. Especially
in robotics, following the OS model
means adopting OSH. Still, the propo-

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nents of both approaches seem to
ignore each other.
In the European community, OS is
pushed through the Open Research
Data Pilot project, OpenAIRE, which
become compulsory for every Horizon
2020 research project starting in Janu-
ary 2017. The goal of OpenAIRE is to
make research data available, taking
into account issues such as formats, the
type of software used to process the
data, and its long-term reusability.
Hardware seems not to be on the
radar. On the other hand, OSH is suf-
fering from the exact same problems of
reusability: most computer-aided design
(CAD) software programs use proprie-
tary formats, their licenses forbid the
publication of the design made with
educational versions, and changes in
the software version may limit long-
term usability. (See "Bringing Robotics
into Formal Education" by F. Mon-
dada, M. Bonani, F. Riedo, M. Briod, L.
Pereyre, P. Retornaz, and S. Magnenat
in this issue.)
It would be great to use the pressure
of governmental funding agencies for
OS, to improve the situation in OSH
projects, and to use the experience
accumulated in OSH projects to help
OS progress more quickly. An example
of this type of synergy comes from a
negotiation between the Ecole Poly-
technique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
and PTC, the company producing the

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march 2017

Creo mechanical CAD. EPFL was
looking for a solution allowing both
OS and OSH in its National Center for
Competence in Research Robotics and
in the European project Animal and
Robot Societies Self-Organize and
Integrate by Social Interaction (ASSIS-
lbf). Thanks to strategic support from
the OpenAIRE project, PTC granted
EPFL the authorization to publish edu-
cational source files for commercial
use under the condition of having an
explicit OSH license, like the one
issued by the Open Source Hardware
Association (http://www.oshwa.org/).
This possibility of publication is helping
the Thymio educational robot project
share the source files of its design with
schools; it is also helping the ASSISlbf
European project share its research
results based on the design of a robot for
interaction with animals. This authori-
zation from PTC should extend to all
European projects.
This example shows that synergies
between OS and OSH are possible and
can be extremely beneficial for both. A
next step should go toward open-data
formats, which are still very difficult
technical and legal issues for CAD
tools. Let's hope that the OS and OSH
proponents will join forces in this
direction and that robotics will play a
crucial role thanks to the existing
expertise in OSH.

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