Radbot

Radbot is a modular autonomous robotic platform designed for research, education, and light industrial tasks. It emphasizes open hardware and software interfaces, allowing researchers to extend the platform with additional sensors, actuators, or software modules. The project originated as an open-source initiative in the early 2010s and has since been adopted by universities and hobbyist labs around the world.

Design and components: Radbot features a mobile base, a set of modular attachments for manipulation and sensing, and an onboard computer that runs standard robotics middleware such as the Robot Operating System (ROS). The system supports common sensors including depth cameras, LiDAR, encoders, and tactile sensors, and uses plug-and-play connectors for rapid configuration.

Software and interface: Radbot provides a middleware layer that enables autonomous navigation, mapping, and manipulation tasks. It supports simulation in Gazebo and hardware-in-the-loop testing in some configurations, and it provides tutorials and API documentation through community channels.

Applications and usage: The platform is used for education, research prototyping, and light automation tasks such as material handling or lab automation. It has been employed in robotics courses to teach perception, planning, and control, and also serves as a testbed for new algorithms before deployment on commercial systems.

Reception and status: As an open-source project, Radbot has fostered collaboration across institutions but has faced criticism for uneven documentation and varying hardware quality across revisions. Nonetheless, it remains a recognizable entry point for those studying mobile manipulation and robotics software integration.