open anvil robotics become a member
pittsburgh, pennsylvania open-source robotics foundation main

$ commit — 0001

this tool was never a product. it was a line other people drew from.

open hardware arm designs, a ros driver library, community build nights, documentation grants, and one contributor summit a year.

become a sustaining member → sponsor on github

branch / arm-designs

you can't buy it.
you can build it.

open hardware arm designs — cad, bill of materials, machining notes and wiring diagrams, published as they are made. every revision is a branch, and a branch only counts once somebody else pulls it.

  1. 01

    everything is parametric

    the arm is drawn to be re-drawn. scale it to the printer, the mill, or the scrap aluminium you actually have on the shelf.

  2. 02

    old revisions never get deleted

    someone out there is still running an earlier rev. their fixes are a fork, not a footnote.

  3. 03

    failure notes ship with the design

    what snapped, where it snapped, and what the next fork changed. the useful part of the repo.

A partly assembled open-source robotic arm on a workshop bench, with machined joint plates and loose wiring laid out beside it
rev in progress — bench, pittsburgh
sponsor the mill time→

branch / ros-drivers

drivers that outlive the demo.

a ros driver library covering every arm revision we publish, plus the launch files, message definitions and simulation hooks that let you run the thing before the metal ever arrives.

in the library

  • nodes for each published arm revision
  • launch files and configuration, kept current
  • message definitions shared across revisions
  • a simulated arm for testing without hardware
  • regression benches that run on every merge

what it needs from you

  • logs attached to bug reports, not screenshots of logs
  • a second set of hands on real hardware
  • people who read the source before filing

the boring parts are the promise. a driver that survives three revisions is worth more than a demo that survives one.

A laptop glowing on a dark workbench at night with a hand resting on the keyboard beside a robot joint
driver debugging — after hours

branch / build-nights

bring the part you can't get past.

community build nights in pittsburgh. shared benches, shared tools, and people who have already hit the wall you are standing in front of.

  • workbench time, not a lecture
  • tools you don't own yet
  • someone who has already made your mistake
People working together around a long workbench covered in tools, printed parts and cables at a community build night
build night — bring a project or bring nothing

come with a project

half-finished counts. most of what shows up is half-finished.

come with a problem

a joint that binds, a driver that drops out, a part that won't print true.

branch / docs-grants

the manual is a maintenance job.

documentation grants go to contributors who already know where the docs fall short — setup notes, failure modes, and the migration paths between one hardware revision and the next.

  1. 01

    point at the gap

    the page that cost you an afternoon, and what should have been on it.

  2. 02

    write it in the open

    drafts live in the repo. reviewers are contributors, not editors.

  3. 03

    it ships with the release

    docs merge into the same tag as the hardware, so the manual can't drift away from the revision.

fund a docs pass→
A hand writing in a notebook beside a keyboard and a mug under warm desk lamp light
docs pass — draft in the repo

merge → main

one weekend a year, the branches get in one room.

the annual contributor summit: sessions from hardware and driver maintainers, workbench time with the current revision, and a review track for pull requests that have been waiting on a second pair of eyes.

open to anyone who has opened an issue, pushed a fork, or written a line of the manual. that is the whole attendance policy.

A wide view of a dim room with contributors seated while someone demonstrates a robot arm at the front
contributor summit — workbench track

hardware review

the current revision on a bench, taken apart and argued about.

driver clinic

bring the failing branch. leave with a patch or a plan.

docs sprint

the gaps people pointed at all year, written down in one sitting.

fork it, break it, send it back better.

-- 01 --

become a sustaining member

monthly support that keeps the benches stocked, the build nights open, and the next hardware revision moving toward publication.

become a sustaining member →
-- 02 --

sponsor on github

recurring or one-time support for the repo you keep pulling, straight through github sponsors.

sponsor on github →