Download OpenJAUS v3.3 and Free Your Robots

Posted 18 Jul 2008 at 15:17 UTC by steve

Tom Galluzzo of the OpenJAUS team wrote to let us know that OpenJAUS version 3.3.0 is now available. OpenJAUS is a free software, open source software library and development kit that implements the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) reference architecture version 3.3 and SAE AS-4 (PDF format) data transport protocols. Support for the JAUS standard is mandated by the US Dept of Defense for all robots and unmanned systems including AUVs, UAVs, and UGVs. The standard exists to make sure robots used by the government can be made interoperable, scalable, and will remain open. The SAE is migrating the standard as AS-4 to ensure an open standard for use in civil and commercial robots. The OpenJAUS team says their latest code release "includes all the software and sample code that you need to JAUS enable a robot immediately". They further note that OpenJAUS offers comparable performance to proprietary products such as Microsoft Robotics Studio and Evolution Robotics ESRP. For more info, see the OpenJAUS FAQ, the OpenJAUS tutorials, or just download the code. Read on for the full text of their press release.

Contact: Tom Galluzzo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: 352/870-2230
Email: galluzzo@gmail.com

NEW OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE SPEEDS ROBOTICS INDUSTRY PROGRESS

OpenJAUS Robotics Toolkit Enables Developers to Quickly Implement Standardized Interoperable Systems

The OpenJAUS development group has announced the release of their latest code base, OpenJAUSv3.3.0. OpenJAUS is an open source development kit for creating interoperable robotic systems. It provides a cross platform framework that allows multiple organizations to integrate their robotic systems. This common methodology for command and control makes the systems capable of seamless interoperation. The latest code release has been in development for over nine months, and it has been in closed beta testing for the past three months with various groups from industry and academia. OpenJAUS is run by a collective of active members in the autonomous vehicle community that have a variety of experience as robotic system designers, implementers and software developers.

OpenJAUSv3.3.0 conforms to the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) (www.jauswg.org) reference architecture version 3.3 and SAE AS-4 data transport protocols. The latest release contains a complete message library that supports: dynamic discovery, mission planning, world modeling, robotic manipulators, various unmanned vehicle platforms, and more. OpenJAUS also provides a runtime node manager that allows the system to execute in a distributed computing environment by automatically discovering and routing messages to multiple nodes. A simple component framework API allows developers to quickly integrate their software into a new system. These features can be applied to predominant academic and civil robotics activities. OpenJAUS offers comparable performance to products such as Microsoft Robotics Studio and Evolution Robotics ESRP.

The original OpenJAUS codebase was released publicly in 2006 as a result of efforts by graduate students at the University of Florida who developed it for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. It has shown proven reliability and interoperability with many existing JAUS toolkits at various experiments coordinated by the JAUS Working Group over the past three years. OpenJAUS is released under a BSD-style license which allows for full integration with commercial products and imposes the least restriction on companies wishing to expand their market by including JAUS compatibility within their systems.

The new release is a vast improvement from previous releases of OpenJAUS as many more messages have been added and the node manager has been redesigned to improve modularity and performance. Code documentation is provided through online tutorials that show new users how to get started and migrate existing code. Please visit www.openjaus.com to learn more.