Last week, OSRF went to the Ground Robotics Symposium organized by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). Morgan was in a panel discussion about the use of open architectures in defense projects. ROS is an example of an open software architecture, where many contributors create software modules that connect at runtime to compose large systems. The other panelists provided interesting examples of how open-architecture principles can also include swappable hardware components, such as the Advanced Explosive Ordinance Disposal Robot System (AEODRS) program, among others.