Beginners Tutorial: Autonomous Robot Control Theory
From Nick McCrea at Toptal:
In this article, I’m going to describe the control scheme of my simulated robot, illustrate how it interacts with its environment and achieves its goals, and discuss some of the fundamental challenges of robotics that I encountered along the way... (full article)
Unbounded Robotics to Shut Down Due to Issues With Willow Garage Spin-Off Agreement
From Evan Ackerman at IEEE Spectrum:
IEEE Spectrum has learned that Unbounded Robotics, a spin-off of Willow Garage that developed the UBR-1 mobile manipulator, is currently "in the process of shutting down." The UBR-1 is no longer for sale.
Recently, a source (who asked not to be named) forwarded us an email from Unbounded Robotics CEO Melonee Wise. Our source received the message after requesting a quote for a UBR-1 robot:
"Unfortunately Unbounded Robotics is in the process of shutting down due to issues with our Willow Garage spin off agreement that prevents us from raising series A investment. Unbounded Robotics is no longer selling the UBR-1.... (cont'd)
Vacuum-based Bag Handling
Traditionally, vacuum-based bag handling systems have been marred by problems to the extent that it has been almost impossible to use them.
Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge 2014
Introduction:
This challenge evaluates algorithms for object detection and image classification at large scale. This year there will be two competitions:
A PASCAL-style detection challenge on fully labeled data for 200 categories of objects, and
An image classification plus object localization challenge with 1000 categories.
NEW: This year all participants are encouraged to submit object localization results; in past challenges, submissions to classification and classification with localization tasks were accepted separately.One high level motivation is to allow researchers to compare progress in detection across a wider variety of objects -- taking advantage of the quite expensive labeling effort. Another motivation is to measure the progress of computer vision for large scale image indexing for retrieval and annotation... (rules and results)
New York Times article:
Started in 2010 by Stanford, Princeton and Columbia University scientists, the Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge this year drew 38 entrants from 13 countries. The groups use advanced software, in most cases modeled loosely on the biological vision systems, to detect, locate and classify a huge set of images taken from Internet sources like Twitter. The contest was sponsored this year by Google, Stanford, Facebook and the University of North Carolina.
Contestants run their recognition programs on high-performance computers based in many cases on specialized processors called G.P.U.s, for graphic processing units.
This year there were six categories based on object detection, locating objects and classifying them... (cont'd)
Coding & Marking Challenges: Common Industrial Print Techniques and Their Challenges
If a barcode or marking is unreadable, it can result in recalls, unhappy customers, and even fines. It is important to identify these issues early by implementing regular checks and verification to ensure quality.
Nvidia Jetson TK1 Development Kit
Features ($192 ):
Tegra K1 SOC
Kepler GPU with 192 CUDA cores
4-Plus-1 quad-core ARM Cortex A15 CPU
2 GB x16 memory with 64 bit width
16 GB 4.51 eMMC memory
1 Half mini-PCIE slot
1 Full size SD/MMC connector
1 Full-size HDMI port
1 USB 2.0 port, micro AB
1 USB 3.0 port, A
1 RS232 serial port
1 ALC5639 Realtek Audio codec with Mic in and Line out
1 RTL8111GS Realtek GigE LAN
1 SATA data port
SPI 4MByte boot flash
Dr. Dobbs has an in depth look here.
Robot With Broken Leg Learns To Walk Again In 2 Minutes
From Medium:
Today, Antoine Cully at the Sorbonne University in Paris and a couple of pals say they’ve developed a technique that allows a damaged robot to learn how to walk again in just a few seconds. They say their work has important consequences for the reliability and robustness of future robots and may also provide some insight into the way that animals adapt to injury as well... (cont'd)
Integrated Ultra-compact Barcode Imagers Enable Automated Laboratory Diagnostics
The EUROPattern Microscope is a high-performance automation solution designed for the evaluation of immunofluorescence slides in autoimmune diagnostics.
Machine Vision Technology Ensures Product Quality and Traceability at Del Monte Foods
A comprehensive Del Monte quality initiative sought to ensure product code legibility, and improve labeling accuracy and overall traceability of its canned fruits and vegetables.
RobLog Industrial Demonstrator Entrance for Robotic Logistics
The design and construction of the RobLog Industrial Demonstrator was made under the requirements for such a machine to be robust yet have a streamlined design, flexible enough to fit into different space confinements, such as loading docks or warehouses.
Dissembling a 1980s Kuka Robot
Relaxing summertime viewing of a 80s era Kuka robot being taken apart and dissected (20 parts total).
Why Was This Man Smiling At AUTOMATICA 2014?
At this AUTOMATICA the hype theme was definitely collaborative robotics -- our robots can work alongside your human workers safely.
Cable Management Systems Do the Robot
Multi-axis, three-dimensional cable carriers for palletizing.
Tessel: A Microcontroller That Runs JavaScript
From tessel.io:
Tessel is a microcontroller that runs JavaScript. It's Node-compatible and ships with Wifi built in. Use it to easily make physical devices that connect to the web.
Programmable via JavaScript
14 different hardware modules for added capabilities
Compatible with 10,000's of Node.js packages on NPM
Deploy over USB or remotely by WiFi
180mhz ARM Cortex-M3 LPC1830
32mb SDRAM
32mb Flash
TI CC3000 WiFi radio
20-pin GPIO bank for general prototyping
Micro USB or battery power
Starting at $99 (controller and one module)
Added Value From An Ejector With Integrated Controls?
Air-driven ejectors are gaining pace as the vacuum source for suction cup handling equipment on robots and special purpose machines (ex: case/carton erectors, de-stackers, unloading equipment, etc.)
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