List of open source hardware products

Readme

This page provides a list of existing open source hardware products we gathered along our research. The objective for us was to be able to look at existing practices so we can better understand what is open source hardware.

Products listed hereafter have been identified by using common internet search engines, screening social networks, and interviewing experts on conferences. Although we think this list well covers the field of existing open source hardware products, we do not claim any exhaustiveness. In order to highlight the development of open source hardware outside the sphere of electronic hardware (which is the focus of our research project), this list particularly focuses on non-electronic hardware. See the section "selection criteria" for more information.

In the table hereafter, products are assessed according to criteria that are described at the end of the page. As the field of open source hardware is moving rapidly, we can not exclude that some parts of the data presented hereafter are obsolete in spite of our efforts to maintain this database. In order to address this problem, we are working on the development of an open database that could be filled out by any interested person. Work in progress...

We hope this list provides interesting insights for researchers or practitioners willing to get an overview of today's existing open source hardware projects.

Selection criteria

The products of this list have been selected according to the following criteria:

• The product is a discrete manufactured product. Products of food and process industries such as yoghurt, cement, chemicals or plastic compounds are excluded.
• The product contains at least tangible and non-electronic hardware, that is, mechanical or any other type of non-electronic physical element (e.g. textile). It may eventually include electronical hardware and consequently software. Purely electronic hardware or software products such as Arduino or Linux are excluded. This criterion aims at bringing the development of open source hardware to the foreground and outside the sphere of electronic hardware.
• The product must have at least a certain minimum complexity. Products which consist for example of only one part or material do not meet this criterion. Products such as business card holders or cell phone cases made of one unique 3D-printed part are out of scope. The objective is here to bring to the foreground those of the open source products that are on the upper side of the complexity scale. In other words: to select the few complex ones and let aside the myriad of simple ones (you can for example find on Thingiverse or similar platforms).
• The product is developed for functional rather than aesthetic purposes. Jewellery, artistic and decorative items do not fulfil this criterion and therefore were not included.
• The product is fully defined or is surrounded by a community working on defining it fully (i.e. so that you can actually produce it). Mere product ideas or concepts that are not intended to be further defined by the surrounding community are not considered. In that sense, the focus of this list is clearly different from those of challenge platforms such as OpenIDEO who focuses solely on concept generation.
• The product is labeled by its corresponding community as open source.

List

Disclaimer: the content of this table is the result of our own information search, for which we do not claim for exhaustivity. Therefore:

• there might be more information available online about the project we listed than what we found;
• there are certainly more open source hardware products satisfying the criteria selected above than contained in this list.

(for more information about the criteria used in this table, see section "classification criteria" at the bottom of the page)

Index	Product name	Product category	Product description	Project status	Contains non-electronic hardware	Contains electronic hardware	Contains software	Development stage	CAD repository	Assemby instructions	Bill of materials	Contributing guide	Editable CAD	Editable assembly instructions	Editable bill of materials	License	License allowing commmercial use	Open-O-meter
1	OSE LifeTrac II	agriculture	tractor	active	•			prototype		•	•	•		•	•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	5
2	RepRap Mendel	machine tools	3D printer	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GNU General Public License	•	7
3	Zoybar	musical instruments	guitar	active	•			DIY production	•			•	•			CC BY-NC-SA 2.5		3
4	VIA OpenBook	computers	laptop	inactive	•	•	•	concept								CC BY-SA 3.0	•	0
5	Local motors' Rallye Fighter	vehicles & parts	car	active	•			commercial/full product	•				•		CC BY-NC-SA			2
6	Open structures' OpenCargoBike	vehicles & parts	cargo bike	active	•			prototype	•			•	•			no licensing information available		3
7	Open source beehives	agriculture	beehive	active	•			DIY production	•	•			•	•		• GNU General Public License, CC BY-SA	•	4
8	Zoetrope	power & electrical supplies	wind turbine	inactive	•			DIY production	•		•		•			CC BY-NC-ND 3.0		3
9	Wikispeed car	vehicles & parts	car	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•		•	•	•	no licensing information available		6
10	Oscar	vehicles & parts	car	inactive	•			concept								no licensing information available		0
11	OSVehicle - Tabby evo	vehicles & parts	car	active	•			prototype	•				•			CC BY-SA 4.0	•	2
12	40fires Hyrban	vehicles & parts	car	inactive	•			concept								no licensing information available		0
13	Andre cards	vehicles & parts	car	active	•			DIY production	•		•		•		•	CC BY-NC-SA 3.0		4
14	c,mm,n	vehicles & parts	car	inactive	•			prototype								CC BY-SA 3.0	•	0
15	eCorolla	vehicles & parts	car	inactive	•			concept								CC BY-SA 3.0	•	0
16	DIY Bicycle	vehicles & parts	bicycle	active	•			prototype								no licensing information available		0
17	XYZ Spaceframe wehicles	vehicles & parts	bicycle	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•					CC BY-NC-SA 3.0		3
18	Multimachine	machine tools	machine tool	inactive	•			prototype	•	•	•					no licensing information available		3
19	Wikihouse	construction	house	active	•			commercial/full product	•	•	•		•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
20	OSWash	laundry appliances	washing machine	inactive	•			concept								no licensing information available		0
21	Apertus Axiom	camera & optic	camera	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product	•			•	•			GNU General Public License	•	3
22	ng.uavp	toys & games	quadcopter	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•		•	•	•	CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 CH		6
23	Aeroquad	toys & games	quadcopter	active	•	•	•	commercial/kit	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	[https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT MIT License	•	7
24	Uzebox	toys & games	game console	active	•	•	•	commercial/kit	•							CC BY-SA 3.0	•	1
25	Open ECG	medical equipment	electro-cardiograph	inactive	•	•	•	prototype								CC BY-NC-SA 3.0		0
26	OpenPCR	medical equipment	PRC thermocycle	active	•	•		commercial/kit	•	•	•		•		•	GNU General Public License	•	5
27	OpenEEG	medical equipment	electro-encephalograph	inactive	•	•		prototype								GNU General Public License	•	0
28	echOpen	medical equipment	ultrasound stethoscope	active	•	•	•	concept				•				GNU General Public License	•	1
29	BioNico	medical equipment	prosthetic hand	active	•	•	•	prototype	•							CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		1
30	osloom	machine tools	jacquard loom	inactive	•	•	•	prototype								CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		0
31	Bloombot	machine tools	hydroponic gardening system	inactive	•			DIY production	•				•			GNU General Public License	•	2
32	OpenKnit	machine tools	Knitting machine	inactive	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•				•	GNU General Public License	•	4
33	AeroSeeD micro-eolienne	power & electrical supplies	wind turbine	inactive	•			DIY production	•	•	•		•	•	•	2D drawings & 3D models: TARP OHL, Documentation: GNU Free Documentation Licence	• (documentation)	6
34	Fab@Home	machine tools	3D printer	inactive	•	•	•	DIY production								BSD License	•	0
35	Ultimaker 2	machine tools	3D printer	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product	•	assembly manual V1.1 _english.pdf •	•		•			CC BY-NC-SA 3.0		4
36	Pandora	toys & games	game console	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•	[https://pandorawiki.org/Wiki_TODO/ •	•	•	•	license depending on part	depending on part	7
37	Lasersaur	machine tools	laser cutter	active	•	•	•	commercial/kit	•	•	•		•		•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	5
38	LuzBot Taz 5	machine tools	3D printer	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product	•	•			•			CC BY-SA 4.0	•	3
39	Lyman Filament Extruder	machine tools	waste plastic extruder	active	•			DIY production	•	•						CC (unspecified)	•	2
40	OpenDesk's Lean Desk	furniture	table	active	•			commercial/full product	•	•	•					different licenses		3
41	OpenROV	robotics	submarine robot	active	•	•	•	commercial/kit	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	7
42	InMoov	robotics	humanoid robot	active	•	•	•	prototype	•	•	•					CC BY-NC-SA 3.0	•	3
43	Film-Retter Inline cleaner	film & television	super 8 film cleaner	active	•			commercial/kit		•	•					CC BY 2.0	•	2
44	myphotonics	science & laboratory	optomechanic workbenches	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•		•			CC BY-SA 4.0	•	4
45	Ultrascope	camera & optic	telescope	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•					CERN Open Hardware Licence	•	3
46	Open wheels	vehicles & parts	segway	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•						CC BY-SA 2.5	•	2
47	Hovalin	musical instruments	violin	active	•			commercial/full product	•	•	•		•			CC BY-SA 4.0	•	4
48	µDelta	machine tools	3D printer	active	•	•	•	commercial/kit	•	- Assembly instructions.pdf •	- Assembly instructions.pdf •					CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		3
49	Open Gigabot	machine tools	3D printer	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product	•				•			no licensing information available		2
50	Plen	robotics	humanoid robot	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product	•	•			•	•		CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
51	sunzilla	power & electrical supplies	solar generator	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•					CERN Open Hardware Licence	•	3
52	ShapeOko	machine tools	carving machine	active	•	•		DIY production	•	•	•		•		•	no licensing information available		5
53	X-carve	machine tools	carving machine	active	•			commercial/kit	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	no licensing information available		7
54	imaginary	entertainment	museum exhibits	active	•		•	commercial/full product				•				CC BY-NC-SA 3.0		1
55	Velocar	vehicles & parts	velomobile	active	•			concept	•	•	•			•		CC BY-SA 4.0	•	4
56	Hexy	robotics	hexapod robot	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product	•	•			•			CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		3
57	iCub	robotics	humanoid robot	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GNU General Public License	•	7
58	NimbRo-OP	robotics	humanoid robot	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•				•			CC BY-NC-SA 3.0		2
59	Poppy	robotics	humanoid robot	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	7
60	Carla Cargo	vehicles & parts	cargo bikes	active	•			commercial/full product	•				•			CC BY-SA 4.0	•	2
61	Tinker bike	vehicles & parts	motorbike	active	•			prototype								no licensing information available		0
62	Knitic	machine tools	Knitting machine	active	•	•	•	commercial/kit	•	•	•					GNU General Public License	•	3
63	Automatic Bartender	party supplies	drink making robot	active	•	•	•	prototype		•						CC BY-SA 4.0	•	1
64	Eletric eel wheel	machine tools	spinning wheel	active	•		•	commercial/full product	•	•	•				•	CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
65	Two-Stroke Diesel Engine	vehicles & parts	diesel engine	active	•			concept								no licensing information available		0
66	open energy monitor	power & electrical supplies	energy monitoring device	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product								GNU General Public License	•	0
67	gekgasifier	power & electrical supplies	gasifier	active	•			commercial/full product	•				•			CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		2
68	Precious plastic	machine tools	waste plastic recycling machines	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•		•			MIT License	•	4
69	Tiny boy	machine tools	3D printer	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•		•		•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	5
70	Farm Hack's Root washer	agriculture	Root washer	active	•			DIY production		•		•				CC BY-SA 4.0	•	2
71	OpenBugFarm	agriculture	bug farm kit	active	•			DIY production		•	•	•				CERN Open Hardware Licence	•	3
72	Recyclebot	machine tools	waste plastic recycling machines	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	7
73	Trautman hook	medical equipment	hand prosthetics	inactive	•			DIY production	•				•			CC Public Domain	•	2
74	open beam	construction	aluminium profiles	active	•			commercial/full product	•				•			CC BY-SA 4.0	•	2
75	rBot	machine tools	3D printer	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•					CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		3
76	open source roaster	machine tools	coffee roaster	active	•			prototype								CC BY-SA 4.0	•	0
77	Guest studio 240 sf	construction	house	active	•			concept	•		•	•				CC BY-SA 4.0	•	3
78	NMR Relaxometry Platform	science & laboratory	NMR Relaxometry Platform	active	•	•	•	prototype	•		•		•		•	no licensing information available		4
79	BCN3D Sigma	machine tools	3D printer	active	•	•	•	commercial/full product	•	•	•		•			CERN Open Hardware Licence	•	4
80	Aker kit	agriculture	Kit for urban gardening	active	•			commercial/full product	•	•	•	•	•	•		CC BY-SA 4.0	•	6
81	Shower loop	plumbing	Shower	active	•	•	•	prototype		•	•					CERN Open Hardware Licence	•	2
82	Kit zéro Km	clothing	jeans	active	•			commercial/full product	•							no licensing information available		1
83	The Fair Cap	food & beverages carriers	water filtering bottle cap	active	•			prototype				•				no licensing information available		1
84	FarmBot	agriculture	CNC Farming machine	active	•	•	•	prototype		•	•			•	•	MIT License	•	4
85	Le Petit COOL	agriculture	personal smart greenhouse	active	•			prototype								GNU General Public License	•	0
86	Raptor Hand	medical equipment	hand prosthetics	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•	•	•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	5
87	Arbalet	entertainment	LED table	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GNU General Public License	•	7
88	Waterzilla	food & beverages carriers	portable water purification device	active	•	•	•	prototype		•	•					no licensing information available		2
89	L'atelier s'adapte / table à langer	furniture	changing table	active	•			concept				•				no licensing information available		1
90	Oggùn iron horse tractor	agriculture	tractor	active	•			concept								no licensing information available		0
91	Qrokee	arts and crafts	holographic tracing machine	active	•	•	•	prototype								no licensing information available		0
92	Ludd21	clothing	active	0				0								no licensing information available		0
94	3DMIN's PushPull	musical instruments	musical instrument	active	•	•	•	prototype		•	•			•	•	GNU General Public License	•	4
95	Open Compute	computer components	networking	active	•	•	•	0	•			•	•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	3
96	Smarthomatic	smart home	home automation system	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•	•		•	•	CC BY-SA 3.0	•	6
97	Daisy	mp3 player	mp3-player	active	•			commercial/kit	•	•	•		•			CC (unspecified)	•	4
98	x0xb0x	synthesizer	synthesizer	active	•	•	•	DIY production		•	•					CC BY-SA 3.0	•	2
99	Minty Boost	battery accessories	battery-powered USB charger	inactive	•	•		DIY production		•	•					CC BY-SA 2.5	•	2
100	Openmovement watchmaking 2.0	watches	clockwork	active	•	•		0		•	•	•				CC BY-SA 3.0	•	3
101	Thymio	robotics	educational robot	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	CC BY-SA 3.0	•	7
102	Multiplo	robotics	robotics building system	inactive	•	•	•	0	•	•	•		•	•	•	RobotGroup-Multiplo Pacifist License	•	6
103	Air Quality Egg	measuring tool & sensor accessories	air measuring device	inactive	•	•	•	0	•	•				•		CC BY-SA 3.0	•	3
104	Rocket Stove	ovens	rocket stove	active	•			prototype								CC BY-SA 4.0	•	0
105	Open Bionics	medical equipment	adaptive robot hands, prosthetic devices	active	•	•	•	0	•	Guide •	Guide •		•	•	•	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		6
106	ROFI	robotics	robot	inactive	•	•	•	0	•	•	•		•	•	•	CC BY-NC-SA 4.0		6
107	piccolo	machine tools	pocket-sized CNC-bot	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•		•	•	•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	6
108	POM	vehicles & parts	mass vehicle	active	•	•	•	concept								no licensing information available		0
109	Dtto Modular Robot	robotics	modular exploration robot	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	of Materials.pdf •		•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
110	ZenManEnergy	power & electrical supplies	Solar Steam electric power plant	active	•	•	•	concept	•	•			•	•		CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
111	Gaudi Labs	medical equipment	Generic Lab Equipment	active	•	•	•	DIY production		•	•			•	•	GNU General Public License	•	4
112	ArduCopter	toys & games	quadcopter	inactive	•	•	•	DIY production		•	•	•				CC BY-SA 3.0	•	3
113	Open Source metal 3D printer	machine tools	3D printer	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•		•	•	•	CC BY-SA 3.0	•	6
114	RoboHand	medical equipment	prosthetic hand	active	•	•	•	commercial/kit	•	•	•		•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
115	Aquapioneers	agriculture	aquaponic systems	active	•	•	•	prototype								CC BY-SA 4.0	•	0
116	AirPI	measuring tool & sensor accessories	weather station	active	•	•	•	DIY production		•	•					CERN Open Hardware Licence	•	2
117	OpenFlexure Microscope	measuring tool & sensor accessories	microscope	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•		•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
118	PhoneScope	measuring tool & sensor accessories	pocket microscope	active	•			DIY production	•	•	•		•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
119	OpenSpritzer	measuring tool & sensor accessories	pressure ejection system	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•		•			CC BY-SA 3.0	•	4
120	FlyPI	measuring tool & sensor accessories	microscope	active	•	•	•	DIY production	•	•	•				•	CC BY-SA 4.0	•	4
121	UV-mask	medical equipment	UV mask	active	•	•	•	concept								not specified, non-commercial license	•	0

Classification criteria

• Product name: the denomination of the product as given by its originators.
• Product category: classification of the product according to the Google product taxonomy.
• Product description: what the product is about.
• Project status: is the community active or inactive. Two possibilities:
  • active: there are visible contributions that are not older than 1 year;
  • inactive: there are no visible contributions that are not older than 1 year.
• Contains non-electronic hardware: whether the product contains non-electronic hardware components.
• Contains electronic hardware: whether the product contains electronic hardware components.
• Contains software: whether the product contains software components.
• Development stage: stage of the product development process achieved. Five phases are considered in order of increased liability:
  • concept: There is only a concept that is still to be designed and developed;
  • prototype: The design phase has been completed and the first prototype was built;
  • DIY production: The product is fully described and can be made by interested parties themselves;
  • kit production: The product is sold by a company as a complete kit;
  • manufacturing: The product is sold by a company as a finished product.
• CAD repository: URL where CAD files (computer aided design) or blueprints of non-electronic hardware components are made available.
• Assemby instructions: URL where assembly instructions can be found.
• Bill of materials: URL where the bill of materials (also named part list) can be found.
• Contributing guide: URL where the contribution guide of the surrounding development community can be found.
• Editable CAD: whether the published CAD files are editable. CAD files are considered editable, if they are released in the original format. They are not considered editable if they are only released in an export format (such as PDF or STL) which do not allow further modifications to the 3D model.
• Editable assembly instructions: whether the published assembly instructions are editable. Assembly instructions are considered editable, if they can be edited in a Web 2.0 environment or downloaded as editable files. A file is furthermore considered editable if it is released in its original format. It is not considered editable if it is only available in an export format (such as PDF).
• Editable bill of materials: whether the published bill of materials is editable. A bill of materials is considered editable, if it can be edited in a Web. 2.0 environment or downloaded as an editable file. A file is furthermore considered editable if it is released in the original format. It is not considered editable if it is only available in an export format (such as PDF).
• Open-O-meter: see page "Open-O-meter".