Soft Robotics Toolkit
From Harvard Biodesign Lab:
The Soft Robotics Toolkit is a collection of shared resources to support the design, fabrication, modeling, characterization, and control of soft robotic devices. The toolkit was developed as part of educational research being undertaken in the Harvard Biodesign Lab. The ultimate aim of the toolkit is to advance the field of soft robotics by allowing designers and researchers to build upon each other’s work. The toolkit includes an open source fluidic control board, detailed design documentation describing a wide range of soft robotic components (including actuators and sensors), and related files that can be downloaded and used in the design, manufacture, and operation of soft robots. In combination with low material costs and increasingly accessible rapid prototyping technologies such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC mills, the toolkit enables soft robotic components to be produced easily and affordably... ( project's homepage )
Gyro-Stabilized Turrets Provide Real Time Imaging
Lightweight, high-efficiency servomotors stabilize and position sensor turrets on unmanned aerial vehicles.
Robotmaster Software Is Used To Create An Automated Way Of Producing Custom Orthotics Using Milling Robots
Our simplified working procedure imports the unique patient 3D model into a preprogrammed production design strategy that takes account of all the pertinent milling and robot articulation data.
ArduIMU V4: An Arduino Based Integrated Measurement Unit
Kickstarter for version 4 of ArduIMU:
Initially, the ArduIMU project was started as an open source project by 3DRobotics in 2007 to create an inertial measurement unit based on the Arduino™. We contributed to the software development of that project, but, the initial ArduIMU was meant to be used solely as an inertial measurement unit. We want to do better than that; so we developed a brand new platform with other sensors such as a barometer, relative humidity sensor, and light sensor. We also included wireless communication capabilities as well an SD card for data logging and storage. Since then, we have gone through many revisions, adding even more sensors and functions which are present in the latest ArduIMU V4. With this new augmented and improved sensor board we are redefining the term IMU. We proudly present our Arduino™ based Integrated Measurement Unit: the ArduIMU V4... ( cont'd )
High Speed Bipedal Robot Running Using High Speed Visual Feedback
From University of Tokyo:
ACHIRES is composed of high-speed vision and high-speed actuators to achieve instantaneous recognition and behavior. The similar technologies are used in our Janken (Rock Paper Scissors) Robot. High-speed vision detects the state of the biped robot including the timing of landing at 600 fps. The biped mechanism with the leg length of 14 cm is set to run in the sagittal plane. At present, the running velocity reaches 4.2 km/h. Simple control based on high-speed performance of sensory-motor system enables the biped robot to stably run without falling, unlike computationally expensive ZMP-based control which is commonly used for balance. The aerial posture is recovered to compensate for the deviation from the stable trajectory using high-speed visual feedback.
We also address a task of somersaulting. While running, the robot takes a big swing with one foot and jumps. After takeoff, both legs are controlled to curl up for high-speed rotation in the air. ACHIRES is going to be improved to push the envelope while demonstrating various biped locomotion tasks... ( cont'd )
Upcoming Tradeshow, Conference & Exhibition Summary - September, October, November
Back to school and back to work with the tradeshow schedule for the Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing industry heating up.
This year RoboticsTomorrow has setup a special newspage devoted to news and announcements from International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS 2014) taking place beginning of September.
Digital Design using CAD/CAM for Innovative Robotic Design
With 3D CAD software, designers can actually simulate a robot's capabilities by reviewing how the robot's construction will be effected by the selected materials.
Self-Folding Origami Robot Goes From Flat to Walking in Four Minutes
From IEEE Spectrum:
Printable, self-folding robot created by Harvard and MIT researchers... ( IEEE Spectrum story ) ( full paper )
Hitchbot is Halfway Across its Canadian Journey
From hitchBOT's page:
I am hitchBOT — a robot from Port Credit, Ontario.
I am traveling from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia this summer. As you may have guessed, robots cannot get driver’s licences yet, so I’ll be hitchhiking my entire way... ( cont'd )
Ino: Command Line Toolkit for Arduino Hardware
Ino tools webpage :
Ino is a command line toolkit for working with Arduino hardware
It allows you to:
Quickly create new projects
Build a firmware from multiple source files and libraries
Upload the firmware to a device
Perform serial communication with a device (aka serial monitor)
Ino may replace Arduino IDE UI if you prefer to work with command line and an editor of your choice or if you want to integrate Arduino build process to 3-rd party IDE.
Ino is based on make to perform builds. However Makefiles are generated automatically and you’ll never see them if you don’t want to.
Features
Simple. No build scripts are necessary.
Out-of-source builds. Directories with source files are not cluttered with intermediate object files.
Support for *.ino and *.pde sketches as well as raw *.c and *.cpp .
Support for Arduino Software versions 1.x as well as 0.x.
Automatic dependency tracking. Referred libraries are automatically included in the build process. Changes in *.h files lead to recompilation of sources which include them.
Pretty colorful output.
Support for all boards that are supported by Arduino IDE.
Fast. Discovered tool paths and other stuff is cached across runs. If nothing has changed, nothing is build.
Flexible. Support for simple ini-style config files to setup machine-specific info like used Arduino model, Arduino distribution path, etc just once.
( Homepage )
Automated Vision Inspection and Parts Traceability in Automotive Assembly Process
Compared to manual inspection, a machine vision and barcode reading system offers improved accuracy, higher consistency, and it works non-stop, day in and day out.
OpenFPV
From Tilman Griesel's posts on DIY Drones:
Open source project to make FPV(first person view) with the raspberry pi easy to use for every one.
OpenFPV is a project that uses latest technology to provide low latency, easy and well tested open source FPV flying. Based on single-board computers, HD cameras and IEEE 802.11.
Current Features:
Recording
Web interface
Low-Latency H264 Streaming (≈120ms)
RESTful API
Customizable
Extendable
Installer (in progress)
Minimal bettery consumption
Roadmap:
Invite more people to join the development team
Complete the installer
More field tests with different setups
Create desktop applications for mac/win with HUD support
Add OculusVR support
Release is not available yet but you can follow the progress on DIY Drones or the OpenFPV homepage .
Parallella: $119 Parallel Computing Platform with 16-core Epiphany chip
Parallella Computer Specifications:
The Parallella platform is an open source, energy efficient, high performance, credit-card sized computer based on the Epiphany multicore chips developed by Adapteva. This affordable platform is designed for developing and implementing high performance, parallel processing applications developed to take advantage of the on-board Epiphany chip. The Epiphany 16 or 64 core chips consists of a scalable array of simple RISC processors programmable in C/C++ connected together with a fast on chip network within a single shared memory architecture... ( cont'd )
A realtime raytracing example running on the 16-core Epiphany chip:
Raspberry Pi Model B+
From Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi Founder:
This isn’t a “Raspberry Pi 2″, but rather the final evolution of the original Raspberry Pi. Today, I’m very pleased to be able to announce the immediate availability, at $35 – it’s still the same price, of what we’re calling the Raspberry Pi Model B+.
The Model B+ uses the same BCM2835 application processor as the Model B. It runs the same software, and still has 512MB RAM; but James and the team have made the following key improvements:
More GPIO. The GPIO header has grown to 40 pins, while retaining the same pinout for the first 26 pins as the Model B.
More USB. We now have 4 USB 2.0 ports, compared to 2 on the Model B, and better hotplug and overcurrent behaviour.
Micro SD. The old friction-fit SD card socket has been replaced with a much nicer push-push micro SD version.
Lower power consumption. By replacing linear regulators with switching ones we’ve reduced power consumption by between 0.5W and 1W.
Better audio. The audio circuit incorporates a dedicated low-noise power supply.
Neater form factor. We’ve aligned the USB connectors with the board edge, moved composite video onto the 3.5mm jack, and added four squarely-placed mounting holes... ( cont'd )
Intro to Shape Memory Alloy Actuation Using Flexinol
From Jie Qi's projects page:
Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are metals that change shape when heated up. They are wonderful actuators in that they are light, silent and can be "turned on" by simply running current through. The shape that they change to can also be set, though this process is a bit more tricky. Flexinol is a particular brand of nitinol, which is an SMA made of nickel and titanium, and is pre-set to contract about 10% of its original length when heated.
In my projects, I generally used the 0.006" to 0.01" diameter, High-Temp wires.
Since Flexinol draws a lot of current (about 300mA for the diameters I used), you need a strong power supply like a wall supply or a good lithium-ion battery. I've used from 3.7V up to 6V (any more and my Flexinol wires would start overheating). To turn the Flexinol on, I would simply short the ends of the wire to the power. For digital control, I used a standard MOSFET circuit which is a digital switch that can be turned on and off using a microcontroller... ( cont'd )
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