This Week at Open Robotics Headquarters (2026-08-17)

<p>First, a quick programming note: This post is going biweekly until after ROSCon. Not only do we need every moment we can scrape together for ROSCon prep, we’re also pretty sure you don’t want to read “yup, worked on conference stuff” every. single. week. You’re welcome. <img alt=":face_blowing_a_kiss:" class="emoji" height="20" src="https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/noto/face_blowing_a_kiss.png?v=15" title=":face_blowing_a_kiss:" width="20" /></p> <p>So, yup, we worked on conference stuff this week. An unexpected (but welcome!) grant arrived from <a href="https://www.destinationtoronto.com/">Destination Toronto</a>, allowing us to <a href="https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/regular-price-roscon-tickets-extended-until-august-27th/57652">extend regular ticket prices</a> but also causing a scramble to get that done. More companies want to have parties/events during ROSCon, which requires more coordination. There’s gonna be a <strong>LOT</strong> of options for attendees. Also? Somehow? More sponsors (and more coordination)! We love that so many organizations recognize that ROSCon Global is <em>the</em> place to be but can’t deny the work that comes with this recognition.</p> <p><em>(pssst…<a href="https://roscon.regfox.com/roscon-2026">register</a>!)</em></p> <p>Of course normal work doesn’t stop because ROSCon hype increases. The committee drafting a security policy has kicked off reviews on a prototype policy document. We helped a new <a href="https://discourse.openrobotics.org/c/local/filipino-users-group/131">Filipino user group</a> get going. The yearly audit slogs on <img alt=":face_with_bags_under_eyes:" class="emoji" height="20" src="https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/noto/face_with_bags_under_eyes.png?v=15" title=":face_with_bags_under_eyes:" width="20" />. We had many, many conversations with stakeholders and people interested in what’s happening here.</p> <p>Some of those conversations touch on some pretty important topics, including <a href="https://space.ros.org/">Space ROS</a>, <a href="https://osralliance.org/ros-keeps-evolving-via-physical-ai-sig/">SIG PAI</a> (<img alt=":pie:" class="emoji" height="20" src="https://emoji.discourse-cdn.com/noto/pie.png?v=15" title=":pie:" width="20" />), and learning ROS. There are also some existential-type discussions along the lines of, “Have you ever, like, <em>really</em> looked at an OSRA project, man?” It turns out defining what it means to be a capital-P Project is pretty hard, but we’ll get there.</p> <p>These have been some of the highlights from this past week for your Open Robotics leadership team. We’ll be back with our next update on August September 8th.</p> <p><small>1 post - 1 participant</small></p> <p><a href="https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/this-week-at-open-robotics-headquarters-2026-08-17/57665">Read full topic</a></p>