The Project
Open Motion Studio
A room-scale robotic camera system designed to move anywhere in the room while leaving the floor clear.
Where it stands
The prototype works, but it is not a finished product.
The telescoping vertical axis flexes more than it should, and the gantry needs greater structural rigidity. I proved the concept; the next phase is refinement, testing, and deciding which direction deserves to be built.
Where it's headed
The project now faces several possible paths.
It could become a stiffer, more precise Cartesian camera-motion system. Its brushless, hand-collaborative behavior could also evolve toward a larger collaborative robot. Kits, manufactured systems, open components, partnerships, and community-developed modules may all have roles to play.
I do not want to decide those questions in isolation. What engineers can improve, what creators would actually use, what manufacturers can produce, and what future users want will all help determine where the project goes.
The goal is not to dictate every future version. It is to create a foundation capable of supporting many of them.
Follow the development
Open Motion Studio is where the project’s technical development will live.
That is where I will document the mechanisms, electronics, software, control methods, known limitations, design revisions, and materials that become available for builders and collaborators.
The project is still moving from a one-of-one prototype toward something reproducible. The site will reflect that process honestly rather than pretending that every component is already packaged and ready to build.
What it is
Open Motion Studio uses three linear axes and three rotational axes to place and aim a camera anywhere in the room. The camera retracts overhead, can be moved by hand, and can save repeatable shots. Laser targeting, joystick control, and motorized zoom are already working. Because the camera is removable, the same platform could eventually carry other tools.
The handoff
I am opening the project to outside ideas and collaboration, but I am not walking away from it or transferring the entire system without conditions.
I currently own the design, software, and associated project rights. My intention is to use that ownership as stewardship: to protect the project’s direction, fund its continued development, work with the right partners, and place as much useful capability into other people’s hands as the project can responsibly support.
That may include public technical documentation, openly released components, community-developed modules, kits, complete systems, commercial partnerships, sponsored development, or licensing. Those possibilities are not mutually exclusive.
Specific designs and software will carry explicit terms when they are released. Publicly discussing or demonstrating the machine should not be interpreted as a blanket release of every file or permission to reproduce the complete system commercially.
For now, I will introduce the machine piece by piece, explain the decisions that matter, and invite the people who can help turn a working prototype into something genuinely useful to others.