For the last few weeks, I have enjoyed safety analysis and reading up on some lessons I learned. That’s why last week I featured the robotaxi accident analysis, and this week we will be looking at some issues with an e-VTOL aircraft that, at the time, was remotely piloted, which makes it a robot(?). As usual, the publication of the week section is manned by Rodrigo.
What’s With All the Humanoid Robots?
Benjie Holson made another good write-up, discussing the humanoid robot hype and making good points that making robots that look like humans, use legs, and have five-finger grippers might not be the best (or the easiest) idea for multiple reasons. On top of all of this, safety is tricky.
verus-lang/verus: Verified Rust for low-level systems code
“Verus is a tool for verifying the correctness of code written in Rust. Developers write specifications of what their code should do, and Verus statically checks that the executable Rust code will always satisfy the specifications for all possible executions of the code. Rather than adding run-time checks, Verus instead relies on powerful solvers to prove the code is correct. Verus currently supports a subset of Rust (which we are working to expand), and in some cases, it allows developers to go beyond the standard Rust type system and statically check the correctness of code that, for example, manipulates raw pointers”.
This Robot Picks Locks, If You’re Very Patient
Here is an interesting lockpicking robot that uses wires to push the pins. The process of designing this was quite a journey, and as it turns out, a five-pin lock has 100,000 combinations, which would take this robot a couple of days to pick.
Vertical Aerospace Incident - Air Accident Investigation Branch Report [PDF]
In August 2023, an electric VTOL test aircraft from Vertical Aerospace crash-landed after a propeller blade separated during testing. The incident report is an interesting read and provides insight into how these aircraft are tested. This publication can also provide insight into safety systems (redundant autopilots and communication lines).
The Ultimate Makers Guide to Gear Boxes
Jeremy Fielding made this visual guide to gearboxes, which is 26 minutes long and covers all the kinds you might find helpful as a roboticist. Great stuff!
What’s coming up at ICRA2024?
I’m bummed that I’m missing ICRA this year, given that the event last year was terrific and that the lineup looks very good. If you are attending this year, enjoy!
Publication of the Week - BSL: Navigation Method Considering Blind Spots Based on ROS Navigation Stack and Blind Spots Layer for Mobile Robot
Blind spots are a concern for many applications, such as retail robots making turns between corridors. This paper presents a method for estimating blind spot areas from a 3D point cloud and considers that for the local planner. The authors also propose a new cost function for DWA that doesn’t take considerable decelerations when facing blind spots or obstacles. The paper is full of didactic illustrations and explanations around the ROS navigation stack, which are worth looking at.
Business
Lucid Bots raises $9.1M for commercial cleaning drones
“Lucid Bots Inc. this week announced that it has raised $9.1 million in Series A funding. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company said it plans to use the funding to advance its portfolio of autonomous robotic systems. That includes the flagship Sherpa cleaning drone and Lavo Bot pressure-washing robots”.
Symbotic reports $424M in robotics revenue in Q2 2024
“Symbotic Inc. yesterday announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2024, which ended March 30. The company reported $424 million in revenue and suffered a net loss of $41 million. Wilmington, Mass.-based Symbotic also said it had an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of $22 million for the quarter”.
Events
- ICRA 2024: May 13 - May 17, 2024. Yokohama, Japan
- ISMR (Medical Robotics) 2024: Jun 03 - Jun 05, 2024. Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- ICUAS (UAVs) 2024: Jun 04 - Jun 07, 2024. Chania, Crete, Greece
- AIRA Challenge 2024: Jun 10 - Jun 14, 2024 (ddl: Jan 07, 2024). Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Energy Drone & Robotics Coalition 2024: Jun 10 - Jun 12, 2024. Houston, United States
- ROSCON France 2024: Jun 19 - Jun 20, 2024. Nantes, France
- Robotics: Science and Systems 2024: Jul 15 - Jul 19, 2024. Delft, The Netherlands
- RoboCup 2024: Jul 17 - Jul 22, 2024. Eindhoven, Netherlands
- IRoC-U2024: Aug 05 - Aug 06, 2024 (ddl: Jan 15, 2024). Bengaluru, India
- BioRob 2024: Sep 01 - Sep 04, 2024. Heidelberg, Germany
For more robotic events, check out our event page.