The most exciting news from the past week at Open Robotics HQ is that we received a generous $10K USD grant from the John A. DePizzo, Jr. Family Foundation! The foundation trustees were especially interested in our robotics education efforts, and we’ve been working hard on outreach to academia and potential partner organizations to support that work. Special thanks go to Vanessa for managing that process!
If you follow any Open Robotics blogs (like the OSRA one right here) or social media accounts (Xitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, and Linkedin), you’ve probably noticed an uptick in activity. We’re trying to do better at sharing the good stuff happening in the community, like this Cargo post and the FOSDEM devroom CFP, so please do let us know whether there’s something you’d like us to share or promote.
OSRA membership agreements renew at the start of the year, so last week the renewal ball started rolling with contacting existing members. We also will have new members to announce in January, and want to include your company’s name on that list. If you need help convincing them, just drop us a line and we’ll lend a hand.
Of course, there’s an awful lot of administrative work happening as well. Arranging contracts and budgets may not be as exciting as building robots, but it’s essential for the health of our community and our projects. Because that community is worldwide, it also means taking the time to get far too familiar with international finance rules and regulations. Admit it: you’re jealous that we get to have all the fun.
These have been some of the highlights from this past week for your Open Robotics leadership team.