PR2 Robots Officially Graduate to Beta Sites

On Wednesday night, we officially kicked off the PR2 Beta Program with a party and robot unveiling.  Over three hundred guests gathered at Willow Garage, and watched as all 11 Beta robots were introduced.  Scott Hassan, the founder of Willow Garage, laid out his vision for increasing productivity by bringing robots out of the factory and into our everyday lives.  Keenan Wyrobek and Eric Berger, co-directors of the personal robotics program, outlined the PR2 hardware platform and ROS software platform, highlighting how excited we are about the rapid adoption of ROS within the robotics community.

After the robot unveiling, representatives from each Beta Site came forth to claim their robots.  Demos, photo ops and human-robot dancing ensued.

More photos

Coverage:

• CNET: Willow Garage rolls out PR2 robots
• Economist: Tech.view: A robot in every home: Helping hands
• SFGate: Pomp and Circuitry: Willow Garage's robot graduation
• Botjunkie: Willow Garage PR2 Graduation Party
• IEEE Spectrum: Willow Garage's PR2 Robots Graduate, How I Became a Texai Robot and Went Partying
• Singularity Hub: Up Close and Personal With Willow Garage’s PR2, Willow Garage’s PR2 Robots Dance
• Wired Gadget Lab: Willow Garage Holds a 'Graduation Party' for Its Robots