1. Project Overview

Robo.Op: Industrial Robots. Open for Creativity.

Robo.Op is an open hardware / open software platform for hacking industrial robots (IRs).
Robo.Op makes it cheaper and easier to customize your IR for creative use, so you can explore the fringes of industrial robotics.

There are three primary challenges people face when they want to use IRs outside of manufacturing settings:

1. They are PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE.
2. They have PROPRIETARY INTERFACES.
3. The KNOWLEDGE to use them is PRIVATE.

We built Robo.Op to bypass the expensive, proprietary software and hardware currently offered by robotics companies, and enable artists and designers to (a) develop affordable custom tools for creative robotics, and (b) share tools and knowledge across robotic platforms.

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Opening Hardware

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Opening Software

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Sharing Knowledge

Related Works

The following is an ever-growing list of projects that incorporate industrial robots in untraditional ways. Submit your project to be included!

Drawing

[Long Distance Art](http://www.creativeapplications.net/vvvv/long-distance-art-one-artist-two-robots-and-three-paintings-in-vienna-berlin-and-london/) by [STRUKT](http://strukt.com/2013/long-distance-art/) (2013)

**Light Writing**

[OUTRACE](http://www.outrace.org/) by [Kram/Weissahaar](http://www.kramweisshaar.com/projects/outrace) (2010)

[Robotic Mimicry](http://sy-lab.net/1511556/Robotic-Mimicry) by [Shawn Simms](http://sy-lab.net) & [Karl Willis](http://www.karlddwillis.com/) (2011)

**Projection Mapping**

[Box](https://vimeo.com/75260457) by [Bot-N-Dolly](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-20/bot-and-dolly-and-the-rise-of-creative-robots) (2013)

**Interaction**

[The Telegarden](http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/garden/Ars/) (1995-2004) by Ken Goldberg and Joseph Santarromana

[Double-Taker (Snout)](http://www.flong.com/projects/snout/) by [Golan Levin](http://www.flong.com/) (2008)

**Fabrication**

[Mataerial](http://www.creativeapplications.net/objects/mataerial-new-method-of-additive-3d-manufacturing/) by [Petr Novikov, Saša Jokić,and Joris Laarman Studio](http://www.mataerial.com/#about-us) (2013)

[Suspended Despositions](http://nstrmnt.com/#/suspended-depositions/) by Brian Harms (2013)

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