ZMP, the world’s first venture company focusing on robot technology and – of course – based in Tokyo, is selling the source code [JP] for nuvo, one of its best-selling robots. The humanoid was unveiled in 2004 and ZMP says it’s the first robot for home use.

The company’s aim is to establish a research community centered on the findings derived from doing research with the nuvo source code.

Target customers are educational institutions, companies and individuals. For $2,400, buyers will get one of the nuvo robots, the source code (in C++ and C) and an electrical circuit diagram. 3 days of instruction by ZMP employees (maintenance, system analysis etc.) is included in the price.

By offering their IP to outside parties, ZMP hopes to make a contribution to next-generation robot technology as a whole. However, the number of participants in the “nuvo source code program” is limited to 50, with the first one being a Japanese professor.

I am just wondering how they would treat Non-Japanese customers, given the (better than average) English pages were last updated in 2006.

Via Tech-On