IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2023 - 144

as few restrictions as possible to attract users to their projects
[155] and consider that many users would like to customize and
build upon the project.
SUPPORT
Previously, one of the challenges identified by users of open
source hardware was the lack of sustained support for technical
issues that users may encounter during the build process
or in later stages of operating the hardware. Although developers
should nurture ORH projects through updates that
resolve issues encountered by users, some of this responsibility
can be undertaken by an active user
community. Repositories or project websites
should at least allow users to contact
developers to report issues and suggest
modifications. But a thriving user community
can be generated if developers create
a forum space for users to log issues, ask
questions, share updates, and even offer
support to each other. Popular ORH projects
like iCub [55] have a strong community
forum, with many users of the iCub
robot participating in discussions ranging
from low-level software questions to
announcing new research conducted with
the robot [68]. The ExoMy [94] and
NASA's JPL rover [95] projects have similarly
set up forum spaces and message
boards for users to seek solutions to common
problems as well as invite contributions
to the project by proposing changes and updating project
files. Robotics toolkits and component platforms like Soft
Robotics Toolkit [102] and NMMI [103] in particular benefit
from highlighting opportunities to their communities to contribute
to their projects because these improve the collection of
modules offered on the platform. Several other ORH projects
like WoodenHaptics [122], InMoov [62], and FarmBot [120]
allow users to interact with each other through mailing lists,
discussion spaces, and blogs, which can lead to a more engaged
user base that subsequently helps the project stay relevant to
progress in the wider robotics community over a longer duration
through " cooperative development " [156]. These practices
facilitate the creation of a thriving and engaged user community
for a successful ORH, and discussion forums and message
boards are cornerstones in building and maintaining cooperation
in the project's community. Through these communication
channels, users can share feedback, frequently encountered
issues, contribute design updates and modifications, share new
project ideas and implementations, and offer support to each
other, all of which enhance the ORH's usability and compatibility
far more effectively in comparison to only the developer
working to sustain those ORH attributes.
THE FUTURE OF ORH AND CONCLUSIONS
With just the sheer magnitude of projects that are released
every year, the momentum behind ORH will certainly be
14 IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2023
4
"
ALTHOUGH DEVELOPERS
SHOULD NURTURE ORH
PROJECTS THROUGH
UPDATES THAT RESOLVE
ISSUES ENCOUNTERED
BY USERS, SOME OF THIS
RESPONSIBILITY CAN BE
UNDERTAKEN BY AN ACTIVE
USER COMMUNITY.
„
sustained over the coming years and still has the potential to
revolutionize access to new hardware in robotics [21]. That
said, releasing robotics hardware in an open source manner
is still far from standard, and trails behind open source software
and electronics. But robotics research can greatly benefit
if open sourcing hardware become a more common norm,
as is currently the case with published algorithms and software.
Computational researchers release their software code
for purposes of reproducibility, benchmarking, verification,
and more [157], and releasing hardware that can be replicated
by others would promote research in the same way. This is evident
in emerging fields of robotics, such as
social and soft robotics, where increasingly,
projects are being released open source.
Commercially available hardware is somewhat
scarce for these new fields, which
may also instigate researchers to release
their projects as well as seek out other
researchers' ORH. But even beyond these
novel areas, the proportion of ORH will
continue to grow, facilitated by an intersection
of the new domains with the established
fields of robotics, for instance, as soft
actuators make their way into grippers,
mobile manipulators, and assistive devices.
The future of ORH will also be fueled
by the shrinking barrier of entry for novice
users and the steadily improving quality of
available ORH. The practical challenges
of ORH, for both users and developers,
are already being eased up by technological advancements
on several fronts. First, new fabrication techniques are more
accessible than ever and are able to generate complex and
durable parts in a variety of material options, such as metals
and soft polymers. On-demand manufacturing services have
also helped outsource the fabrication step for users without
access to costly equipment, further boosting the accessibility
of ORH in many domains [135]. Second, free and open source
CAD software is becoming more feature rich, especially
cloud-based CAD, which makes creating and modifying 3D
parts significantly easier without the need for expensive computers
[158]. Next, communication spaces, like online forums
set up on Slack or Discord, are more ubiquitous today and
being used more often by developers, which encourages collaborations
and future development of the project [156]. And
finally, repositories for disseminating project files are being
more commonly utilized, and these platforms continue adding
functionality for managing and controlling versions of design
and documentation files. Even the more hardware-focused
platforms such as Thingiverse and Hackaday, which were previously
popular in open source communities, are gradually
being used for sharing new ORH projects [29], [48], [62], [77].
Although the quality and abundance of ORH are important,
future ORH projects also need to be supported for a sufficiently
long duration of time. The reliability of long-term access
and support is one of the reasons that drives prospective users
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