Gumstix adds Robot Operating System (ROS) support with introduction of a bootable microSD card (with preloaded ROS plus Linaro 12.11 LTS). ROS support satisfies demand to implement this popular open source solution with ease and flexibility as part of a broader trend in ROS development.

“Last June, Gumstix announced its TurtleCore expansion board as a platform for ROS development on the iRobot Create,” said Dr. W. Gordon Kruberg , president and CEO of Gumstix. “The ability to deploy an available ROS binary on our Overo line of COMs complements the goal initially set forth with the introduction of the TurtleCore: to provide the most powerful development system for roboticists in the smallest form factor. This image and the microSD release now provide that software with minimum development time and greater ease.”

Since ROS was first released in November 2007, there has been a growing trend of implementing ROS on Ubuntu-based systems to power robotic devices.

By October 2009, 50 organizations or individuals had publicly released ROS software in its indexed repositories, a number which has grown in the last three years to over 175 organizations or individuals.

“We welcome the support of Gumstix in our efforts to expand the open source robotics community,” said Tully Foote, ROS Platform Manager at Willow Garage. “We love what Gumstix has done to date, and look forward to working with them in the future.”