Opening of development platform to outsider?

Hello,

when will the development platform be opened for developers who can't afford the developer version of the build?

About myself: I am a wood construction engineer from Sweden (M Sc student), with a background in digital production, design and specialisation in wooden joints. Since the handibot solves some problems in the field of robotic production in the field I would like to join the development of the handibot by making extension to support the building process.

Cheers

W.J.

Hi WJ,

You can download the current ShopBot Control software from the following link:

ShopBot Control Software link

I purchased the Developer Edition thinking that there was extra developer resources available with that edition but it really is just a standard HandiBot with regular software.

The software link I provided has all the documentation included but it is located in various folders. Try the Help folder in the main install location.

There's supposed to be another "framework" available at some point but I don't know how soon. Things seem to progress slowly for the HandiBot.

Hope this helps,

Gil

Hey Gil,

thank you just checked it out and it looks ok. But how is it about that statment:

"The Software and Documentation are proprietary products of ShopBot. All patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright and other proprietary rights are retained by ShopBot."

and the actual idea that the handibot software will be opensource. Is the code for sb3.exe going to be released? If yes will it be under a FOSS licence or does every user/developer have to have those proprietary bits?

WJ

Hello WJ,

Yes ... it's taking us a little longer than we would like to get our first/introductory SDK out. But we're hoping it will be up on the Handibot site in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

A starting point is this link to ShopBot's transition roadmap to open-source hardware and software (you might also want to look over the ShopBot developers page just to get our naming concepts for CNC modules). We are fully committed to open source as a collaborative tool for building small and innovative businesses. At this point we have no plans for any proprietary components of our software. However, we do expect that application delivery ecosystem that we are developing will allow individual application developers the alternative of either selling their "Handibot Apps" or providing them openly to the community.

The code for Sb3.exe itself will probably not be released because, as explained in the road map, this system will likely become legacy software (and would just not be worth the effort to document). The new, G2 open-source motion system will allow tools to be run from relatively thin apps, readily developed in a wide variety of languages on a wide range of devices. We will create (and make open) something that looks like Sb3, but there will be many other alternatives as well.

What will be retained from earlier ShopBot work is the option of OpenSBP syntax for communicating a toolpath to a tool, be it a Handibot or a ShopBot. You will have the choice of sending toolpath files to the G2 system via either g-code, opensbp-code, or a lower level JSON style code. What this means is that though the specific interface is changing, the languages for describing cutting, drilling, machining, and generally moving a tool around are the same ones that we use for CNC tools now. Because most "Apps" will basically send a toolpath to the tool, it should be pretty straightforward to start initially fleshing them out with the software and CAD/CAM tools at hand.

Ted Hall, ShopBot

Hello Ted,

thank you for this detailled reply with your and the help of others Iam getting closer to understand the handibot concept, roadmap and possibilities for me as engineer and designer. I also found the github for the handibot: [github.com] is it the actual version?

However i will give it a try and make the skelleton on my tool here.

Thank you

WJ

Hi WJ,

Yes ... that is the actual version.

Ted Hall, ShopBot

Hello to those interested in developing Handibot Apps.

Our long awaited "Introduction to Handibot App Development" is now available on our Github site or from the Handibot site. Note that the document is a conceptual one that provides an overview of how we are thinking about Handibot App Development and what we are working on in terms of the hardware and software system that underlies it.

As described in earlier documents, the system builds on the evolving, core G2 motion system. This is an open source system that we believe will become a new standard for digital fabrication motion control. G2 is being developed from TinyG by the Synthetos team. It is not yet complete, but pretty far along and we are running tools with it. To G2, we are adding a fabrication "Engine" that provides the API for full control and monitoring of a tool and management of tool-path files. On top of that, we are developing a "Linker" module that will find and link to local Handibots using wired or wireless options from a wide variety of devices. These modules are components of what we consider a general purpose Digital Fabrication Motion Platform (FabMo for short). The functionality of the modules is not usable yet, but you can view their current status in repos on the ShopBot Github site. Our goal is to provide resources, libraries, and examples that simplify using the functions of these modules for Apps.

We appreciate that it has taken a while to get this all mapped out. While we look forward to input and contributions from the community as the software platform develops, we wanted to make sure that we had developed a comprehensive description of our plans for the hardware and software platform and details of how it would all work, before laying it out.

The introductory document also includes and example App that runs with the current Sb3 software to illustrate the Handibot App concept. Please appreciate that this is not intended to illustrate the new API or SDK but only to suggest how a Handibot App will need to generally interact with a user, create a tool-path file, and pass it to the tool. We hope to provide a couple of different simulation options for App developers while we await the prototype hardware.

[Note: I'll post this in a couple of threads where it is relevant.]

Ted Hall, ShopBot Tools