Image Credit: Matt Carney
Tomorrow Weekly Robotics is 2 years old! So far it has been an exciting journey learning something new every week and exercising persistence (I didn’t miss a single newsletter issue since I started this project). Huge thanks for the last two years and looking forward to seeing how this project continues to grow and evolve! Last week I asked you about pictures of your workshops and today I’m presenting you with two submissions I’ve received! The most clicked link last week was NASA Systems Engineering Handbook with 11.6% opens.
The Making of TF8 a Reaction-Force Series Elastic Actuator Powered Knee and Ankle Prosthesis
“My PhD at MIT Media Lab has been the design and build of a next generation powered prosthesis. The bionic ankle, named TF8, was designed to provide biologically equivalent power and range of motion for plantarflexion-dorsiflexion. This video shows the process of going from a blank sheet of paper to people walking on it. Shown are three different people wearing the robot. About a dozen people have since been able to test the hardware”.
Project Wilson 2020: A Oceanic Buoy Project
“Wilson is a drifting buoy powered by the sun. Wilson’s brain is an Arduino computer. Its senses are an array of instruments: an air temperature sensor, a water temperature sensor, a barometer, a hydrometer (to measure relative humidity), and a GPS receiver (for location). Wilson gathers information about its environment and transmits it to Mission Control (San Francisco, California) via satellite every 12 hours.”. You can check the status of Wilson on Twitter - right now it’s waiting for a lift.
EGO-Planner: An ESDF-free Gradient-based Local Planner for Quadrotors
This video shows a gradient-based local planner for multirotors. Assuming all the processing shown in this video is done onboard the results are very impressive with the multirotor capable of agile execution of the paths. I’ll be looking forward to checking the preprints of the paper when it is out and also taking a look at the project repository.
Some Notes on Cyclone DDS
Here is yet another useful (assuming you want to learn ROS2) post by Michael Ferguson. This time Michael covers DDS and Eclipse Cyclone DDS in particular.
“Miles” the Quadruped Spider Robot
Miles is an Arduino Nano based simple quadruped robot that you can build yourself by following the above instructions and using information contained in the repository.
Robotic Chameleon Tongue Snatches Nearby Objects in the Blink of an Eye
“To create Snatcher, Jung and a colleague at SeoulTech, Dong-Jun Lee, set about developing a spring-like device that’s controlled by an active clutch combined with a single series elastic actuator. Powered by a wind-up spring, a steel tapeline—analogous to a chameleon’s tongue—passes through two geared feeders. The clutch is what allows the single spring unwinding in one direction to drive both the shooting and the retracting, by switching a geared wheel between driving the forward feeder or the backward feeder”.
Publication of the Week - Nyan Sat Challenge
These pages contain instructions for Nyan Sat challenge that took part during this year’s Def Con. These pages will provide you with background information on satellite communications and will push you into building your own satellite tracking system using a dedicated PCB, pan-tilt gimbal, software defined radio, ESP32, IMU, and a motor driver. As a part of this challenge, you were supposed to show a working system that is able to read information from satellites - for example downloading NOAA satellite pictures.
Sponsored
Explore AI @ Home
NVIDIA has put together a range of support tools to help you start developing on the Jetson™ platform – all in one place. Get inspiration from existing Jetson projects, filter through step-by-step application demos, brush up on Python syntax and Linux commands, and follow hands-on tutorials.
Build your best project yet. www.nvidia.com/exploreAI
Robotics Workshops
Would you like to share your workplace with the Weekly Robotics community? If yes then this is the place! Feel free to send me your submission via e-mail with pictures and a short description.
The first entry comes from Greenzie, an Atlanta based company working on robotic mowers. If you happen to be in Atlanta and looking to work on some amazing things with a great time then I would highly recommend getting in touch with them. Here is what Charles had to say about this submission:
Messy right now (unlike our codebase) but big demo and customer visit on the 19th means it will look really good then.
The next submission comes from Julius, a PhD Candidate in Construction Robotics at UCL and a freelance robotics engineer.
This gradient-like workstation transitions from a ‘desk’ into a workshop as we go left to right. This gradient is also one of shadow and light as the workshop side, featuring Prusa MK3S in a DIY enclosure, is rather “heavy” on LEDs. Wooden furniture, directional light and a deep desk allows for a cosy corner to work at during those warm London summer evenings. On the equipment side, the portable NUC Skull Canyon and Surface Book are setup with a not-so-portable 21:9 display, Blackwidow lite keyboard and most networking with hardware is done via home router and tiny switches.
Careers
Blue Ocean Robotics (Odense, Denmark)
Blue Ocean Robotics – a Robot Venture Factory in Odense, Denmark – develops, produces and sells professional service robots primarily in healthcare, hospitality, construction and agriculture.
Announcements
Human-Robot Interaction for Nuclear Workshop
Optimising the way humans and robots interact is fundamental to their usage and effectiveness in nuclear environments. In all research areas of the RAIN Hub feedback and discussion with industry stakeholders is invaluable. This is our first session focusing on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Over two days (Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th September) we will host 7 separate online sessions, each diving into 1 of 7 research themes. The outcomes of these sessions will be summarised in a panel discussion on Thursday 1st October, 9:30 - 10:30.
Real Robot Challenge
From August 3, researchers around the world are invited to take part in a challenge where each team can run its algorithm on standardized robotic platforms. The tasks range from manipulating a cube to writing with a pen. Participants can advance research, demonstrate that their algorithm works best not only in simulation but also on a real-world task, and win prizes. For more information see the event website.