Aldeberan Robotics, makers of the popular humanoid robot NAO just announced during the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation that they will release what they claim as a ‘significant part’ of the software source code. The release is aimed at the research and educational community where NAO has already a substantial user base. You can read the official press release about the NAO open source software here (pdf). Aldeberan Robotics is also launching a NAO developer program for those who are interested on a more direct involvement.
RobotsPodcast recently featured Luc Degaudenzi , the Vice President in Engineering of Aldebaran and his colleague Cédric Vaudel who is the Sales Manager for North America. You can listen it here.