Open Robotics ROS is safe despite Alphabet buying OSRC, says Intrinsic
Summary
On the robotics front, Alphabet has a somewhat mixed history, too, as Brian summarized in this edition of the Actuator newsletter. So, I asked the duo whether ROS is safe in case Alphabet decides to run another round of layoffs akin to the 12,000 employees they cut earlier this year. “It’s up to us to actually make it work, but I think we’ve really got a shot,” Gerkey said, adding that he felt the acquisition was the right thing to do in order to continue growth and research. “Honestly, it was an opportunity for us to be able to really commit over the long-term to supporting all of that open source software and to do it not out of a sense of altruism or charity. It’s not something that’s specific to our software stack, but rather it’s something that people can use in a wide variety of settings.” You can see the full interview below: Correction: An earlier version of this article confused Brian Gerkey’s role as former CEO and co-founder of the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), and its distinct status from the Open Source Robotics Corporation (OSRC).