The real Robonaut 2 was developed by International Space Station (ISS), which is considered a revolution in robotics as a ROS robot
Robots are pre-programmed machines when turned on, do a job repetitively. Robotic engineers use external sources software to program these machines, which leaves little space to manipulate the functionalities. Either the software has to be reprogrammed from scratch or approach software providers for the required functional-specific modifications. Welcome to the world of Robotic Operating System (ROS), an open-sourced operating system developed for robots, which lets the robotics engineers add features for additional capabilities. The real Robonaut 2 developed by International Space Station (ISS), which is considered a revolution in robotics belongs to this very breed of robotics. For robotics enthusiasts who are looking for versatile robots which can adapt to their changing requirements, the search ends here. Check these top 10 ROS based robotic companies listed out here.
1. Clearpath Robotics:
It is ROS robotic company basically known for making unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned surface vehicles (waterborne), and other industrial vehicles. Jackal UGV, Heron UGV, Husky USV, all the well-known names in UGV segment are developed by Clearpath Robotics. When you buy Clearpath’s robots, the ability to program the robot from the very beginning is a given, and therefore, they are very popular in like mining, agriculture, survey, and material handling services.
2. Fetch Robotics:
A leader in creating functional and equally affordable mobile manipulators makes fleets of robots, vastly employed for warehousing. Fetch is the first manipulator robot released into the market by the robotics company, mainly used for manufacturing, distribution, and research applications. Since they are designed with ROS framework, it is easy to employ them in different domains as service robots at homes and as large industrial cobots.
3. Pal Robotics:
It is the only company to sell human-sized humanoid robots in the world, which come in not one but three versions – the Reem robot, the Reem-C robot, and the TALOS robot. It also makes manipulator robots on the lines of fetch robots. The Tiago robots, enabled with ROS framework, combine human skills such as perception, navigation, and manipulation, and had walking controllers in the recent edition. It is most suitable for research in fields like healthcare and assisted living.
4. Robotink:
Robotink is the first company to build a ROS robot. Its expertise is mainly applied in designing mobile manipulators, UGVs, and mobile robots which can be used for industrial applications and logistics. By integrating third-party robotic parts, Robotink robots facilitate personalisation to a great extent. Easy to configure the design, a higher degree of autonomy, Omni directional movement, and an advanced user interface are some of the features that set these robots apart.
5. TurtleBot:
It is a US-based company whose range in turtle robots is well known in the world. They basically make low-cost, personal robot kits powered by ROS. They are extremely affordable and are easy to build. The turtle bots which can be driven around, are suitable for researchers and hobbyists equally. They come with amazing horsepower for creating exciting applications.
6. Robotis:
A major ROS-based robotic Korean company, known for its Dynamixel servos, makes Turtlebots and open manipulators, and integrates them with each other, to make a bot available for just $3. Robotics has made public all its designs for common access. Also, their hardware components are finding their way into the making of last-mile delivery drones, medical assistant robots, and search and rescue robots.
7. Shadow Robot:
The robotic company based in London is the only company that sells humanoid robotic hands. Shadow Robot’s humanoid hands are ROS programmable off the shelf. These robots are one of the kind autonomous robots with teleporting abilities, i.e., the design of a particular robot can be efficiently transferred to different other robots without hindering any of the robotic functionalities. These robots were selected by OpenAI company for their reinforcement learning experiments with robots that need to learn dexterity.
8. Husarion:
Husarion is known for its small and compact autonomous mobile robots called ROSbots. These small four-wheeled robots are equipped with functionalities of LIDAR, Cameras, and a point cloud device. Considered a good choice for research and learning, ROSbots can traverse different terrains as one of the best outdoor robots and can connect to the robots offline over the cloud, through the Husarion network.
9. Neobotix:
A renowned player in the mobile robots and robotics systems, with their customised robots and manipulators with full ROS support can support unique industrial requirements. The products range from small mobile robots to mobile robot arms to several omnidirectional robots. Care-O-Bot I is a special design robot by the company with a movable interactive touchscreen to enable intuitive interaction with a human user.
10. Gaitech:
It is a Hongkong Kong based company that deals in cutting-edge ROS-based robotics products. In collaboration with companies like Shadow, Rethink Robotics, Kinova, Robotnik, Clearpath, etc, it sources its expertise for integrating, distributing, manufacturing, and supporting a wide range of robotic services. RoNex, a Robot Nervous System for robots marketed by Gaitech is hugely popular across the world.
