Drake: Robotics Planning, Control And Analysis Toolbox
From MIT:
Drake ("dragon" in Middle English) is a toolbox maintained by the Robot Locomotion Group at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). It is a collection of tools for analyzing the dynamics of our robots and building control systems for them in MATLAB and C++, with a heavy emphasis on optimization-based design/analysis. Here is a quick summary of capabilities:
Simulation
Rigid-body dynamics including contact/collisions (hybrid+LCP) and kinematic loops
Basic aerodynamics/fluid dynamics
Sensor models (lidar, depth camera, imu, contact force/torque; cameras coming soon)
Hand-derived models for many canonical control dynamical systems
Easily add your own models/components
Some support for stochastic models
For all of the above we aim to expose sparsity and provide analytical gradients / symbolic analysis
Primary limitations: code is optimized for analysis / planning / control design (as opposed to speed, generality)...
... Most of these models/tools are described in the companion textbook from an MIT course/MOOC . We've also recently started populating the Drake Gallery (contributions welcome!)... ( git repo )
3D Printing of Motors and Electronics
My research involves developing techniques to 3D print electric motors and electronics. This goes beyond the usual 3D printed structures - structures dont do anything. To do things, we need motors and electronics to control those motors.
ABB's largest ever robot is 25 percent faster than competitor robots in high payload range
ABB has introduced its highest payload, multipurpose industrial robot, the IRB 8700. The robot has a reach of 3.5 meters and is capable of handling a payload of up to 800 kg (1000 kg with the wrist down; 630 kg with LeanID). Designed for the ultimate in uptime, reliability and reduced maintenance, the IRB 8700 provides the lowest total cost of ownership among competitor high payload robot models. The new robot is targeted for material handling applications in the automotive, transportation and other heavy industries.
“When designing the IRB 8700, we focused on combining ABB’s largest ever model with an unusually long reach for a robot in the high payload class,” said John Bubnikovich, vice president, sales and marketing, ABB Robotics North America. “Utilizing ABB’s superior motion control technology at high moments of inertia, the new robot automatically adapts and adjusts its speed to accommodate heavy and wide parts. With a compact footprint, optimized counterweight, parallel linkages, stiff axes and fewer drive motors, the IRB 8700 keeps its momentum down and speed up, providing unmatched agility and performance.”
The IRB 8700, ABB’s largest ever robot offers all the functionality and expertise of the ABB portfolio in a much bigger package. The robot has only one motor and one gear per robot axis, while most other robots in this size class use dual motors and/or gears. In addition, there are no gas springs; only a reliable counterweight and mechanical springs for counter balancing. Together these design elements mean the IRB 8700 has fewer components and is able to deliver shorter cycle times and higher accuracy – making it 25% faster than any comparable competitor robots in its payload range. Full Press Release:
Robotic Additive Manufacturing Platform for 3D Printing Composite Parts
The first-of-its-kind solution consists of a standard commercially available robot, composite deposition end-effector hardware and a comprehensive software suite.
The Geminoids are Coming!
There is research going on at the University of New South Wales in Australia, to determine the behavior of humans, as they interact with Geminoids-the name given these life-like robots because of their similarity to humans. The next step is to study whether a human being can get used to interacting with Geminoids.
Amazon's robotics group asked the FCC to test special wireless equipment
Jillian D'Onfro for Business Insider: Amazon is ramping up its robotics efforts and testing new technology that could make it safer to operate the fleet of robots toiling in its warehouses, according to recent FCC filings.
The FCC gave Amazon Robotics an expedited experimental license to test a "proximity sensing system" that the company hopes to deploy in fulfillment centers outside the U.S.
Amazon Robotics "seeks to evaluate radiolocation technology to be used in the operation of robotics in fulfillment centers outside the United States," the company said in the filing, the first such FCC filing by Amazon Robotics.
While Amazon stresses that the technology is strictly for internal use, and not something it intends to sell to "end users," the filing underscores the company's increasing investment and innovation in robotics, which has the potential to transform a broad swath of industrial and consumer markets. Cont'd...
There's a five-story vending machine dispensing used cars in Nashville
From Mashable:
That's right; online used car retailer Carvana has officially unveiled its first vending machine completely stocked with cars. Standing at five stories tall, the coin-operated (yes, really) glass tower vending machine can house as many as 20 used cars at a time. The facility also includes a welcome center and three customer delivery bays to which the cars are dispensed... ( full story )
3 Micro Drones & Robot Swarms Initiatives Backed by the US Military
DARPAs FLA program aims to create unmanned nano robot like insects & birds that can go into buildings & perform key activities that will not be possible by Humans.
Robotics Startup Unveils Humanoid Servant
One of the technology breakthroughs of Alpha 2 is the servo technology that was designed specifically for this robot. The servos are miniaturized while providing maximum torque giving Alpha 2 the dexterity and range of movements currently only seen in robots costing 20K or more.
Simbe Robotics launches new retail robot
By Silicon Valley Robotics via Robohub: The area of service robotics is getting active, with a new retail robot startup launching today. Tally is one of several robotics startups launching today at Haxlr8r’s 7th Demo Day. Tally is an inventory tracking robot platform fromSimbe Robotics and the “world’s first robotic autonomous shelf auditing and analytics solution” according to the press release.
Tally is in trials with several North American retailers and will traverse aisles scanning and auditing merchandise to help stores maintain ideal product placement, fill inventory gaps, and find misplaced or mispriced items. Tally is also capable of autonomously returning to base to charge.
“When it comes to the retail industry, shopper experience is everything. If a product is unavailable at the time the shopper wants to buy it, the retailer has missed an opportunity and disappointed their customer,” according to Brad Bogolea, CEO and Co-founder of Simbe Robotics. “Tally helps retailers address these challenges by providing more precise and timely analysis of the state of in-store merchandise and freeing up staff to focus on customer service.” Cont'd...
Solar for UAV Index
The new metric (PUAV) is a way to compare solar technologies specifically for UAV applications.
FUTURE ROBOTIC CARS Unvieled at Tokyo Motor show 2015
Driverless and Zero Emsision are REALITY by 2020.
Toyota Invests $1 Billion in AI and Robots, Will Open R&D Lab in Silicon Valley
By Erico Guizzo and Evan Ackerman for IEEE Spectrum: Today in Tokyo, Toyota announced that it is investing US $1 billion over the next five years to establish a new R&D arm headquartered in Silicon Valley and focused on artificial intelligence and robotics. The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) plans to hire hundreds of engineers to staff a main facility in Palo Alto, Calif., near Stanford University, and a second facility located near MIT in Cambridge, Mass.
Former DARPA program manager Dr. Gill Pratt, an executive technical advisor at Toyota, was named CEO of TRI, which will begin operations in January. Toyota president Akio Toyoda said in a press conference that the company pursues innovation and new technologies “to make life better for our customers and society as a whole,” adding that he wanted to “work with Gill not just because he’s an amazing researcher and engineer, but because I believe his goals and motivations are the same as ours.” Cont'd...
Crowdfunding Projects For November
Here are a few projects we think are worth looking into. Be careful... it is crowdfunding.
SkyTech 2016 - UAV Conference & Exhibition
SkyTech 2016 is a two-day B2B tradeshow for the commercial UAV industry. In 2016 SkyTech will incorporate an exhibition, three conferences, workshops, product launches, live demonstrations and marketing opportunities for the commercial UAV community.
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Program multi-robot cells and automatically solve robotic errors with ease. Hypertherm Associates announces a new version to its robotic programming software. Robotmaster 2024 addresses key market trends including the support for programming multiple robots in a single work cell and the demand for automatic trajectory optimization and robotic error correction.
