OSRF is an independent non-profit organization founded by members of the global robotics community to support the development, distribution, and adoption of open source software for use in robotics research and education. The group oversees the development of the Robot Operating System (ROS), a flexible framework for writing robot software, and Gazebo, a 3D multi-robot simulator.

With the help of TRI’s gift, OSRF plans to improve the features and capabilities of ROS and Gazebo to stimulate further use in automotive applications. OSRF expects the forthcoming second generation of ROS, called ROS 2, to be used heavily in development of software and supporting systems for autonomous vehicles. Software developers can use Gazebo to help with simulated testing to ensure their systems achieve a high level of safety in operation. Over the past year, two major open source self-driving vehicle software systems were independently developed in the ROS community and released under an open source license.

In addition to this donation, TRI is in the midst of a two-year research agreement with the Open Source Robotics Corporation (OSRC), OSRF’s for-profit subsidiary, on a variety of projects.