The ROS-Industrial™ Consortium (RIC) Americas is a network of participants in an open-source ecosystem that is collectively building and refining the ROS-Industrial (ROS-I) software. Each participant enjoys a reciprocal relationship with the consortium, leveraging fractional contributions to enjoy the full benefit of using ROS-I for its own purpose. The network diagram below attempts to capture the contribution and payoff relevant to each type of participant. It should be noted that, while the ROS-I code is open-source, consortium members have exclusive access to the full resources of RIC. Members-only benefits include:
- Eligible to initiate and participate in Focused Technical Projects
- Seat on the Consortium Advisory Committee
- Set priorities for membership-fee-funded research
- Access to project data and technical reports arising from consortium’s Focused Technical Projects
- Live technical support from experts in ROS, robotics, and general industrial automation
- Attendance at all events
- Annual training classes and access to class tutorials
- Participation in annual program review meetings
- Networking opportunities with colleagues, customers, vendors, and end-users
- Early access to the latest research in industrial robotics