Yes, I’m fine as well now. Thanks @gerkey for clarifying things. I knew some of the back story already, and I don’t have a problem with OSRF taking money from DARPA. After all, DARPA funds a lot of US robotics projects without a direct military application. I am also aware that this funding is what kept the core ROS and Gazebo development team afloat, and that any open source technology can be appropriated for military purposes.
I think where a line would be crossed (for me; everyone has to listen to their own conscience and draw their own line) would be if OSRF was directly contributing to weapons technology, or to a project with a thinly veiled pretense which would likely result in a weapon. That’s the part of @gerkey’s anwer that reassured me the most: that all of your technology (in the military context) remains open source, and that you’re judging each potential project on a moral basis. As long as you stick to those principles, there’s nothing to worry about. I think you really have to look at potential partner’s background to distinguish between a project that’s honestly trying to make a contribution to e.g. a Search and Rescue (SAR) robot, and one that’s pretending to develop a SAR robot with the intent of repurposing the technology for Search and Destroy.
The announcement of a dedicated “ROS Military” initiative sounded a bit nefarious, but I guess I’ll have to wait for ROSCon to find out.
Anyway, let’s not hijack this thread any further than we already have. It’s really about the ROSCon program, and it looks awesome! 