RoboSavvy Forum

News • RoboSavvy on The Apprentice UK

2017-10-19T12:58:21+01:00

RoboSavvy was just featured on the BBC's Apprentice as a part of the pitch challenge. Three of our very best are in the hot seat. You can watch it on the iPlayer here https://goo.gl/hc3kma.

How did we do? Would you have made a deal for the quadcopter?

Statistics: Posted by camroc — Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:58 pm

News • Re: Cap Gemini report about humanoids in retail

2017-02-19T21:50:25+01:00

I thinks it's too early for this. I am a huge fan of robots but honestly, I am a little bit scared of it at the same time. I've watched Matrix too many times.

Statistics: Posted by robojohn — Sun Feb 19, 2017 9:50 pm

News • Re: RoboSavvy integrated HTC Vive with ROS

2016-09-02T13:37:41+01:00

Some explanation about how the Vive works and what other applications they envision for indoor localization

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Statistics: Posted by limor — Fri Sep 02, 2016 1:37 pm

News • Re: RoboSavvy integrated HTC Vive with ROS

2016-08-11T21:47:25+01:00

Here is the code
https://github.com/robosavvy/vive_ros

Statistics: Posted by limor — Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:47 pm

News • RoboSavvy integrated HTC Vive with ROS

2016-08-11T15:42:10+01:00

Small step for VR, big step for autonomous robots.
One of the key issues with autonomous robot applications is localization.
Vive has singlehandedly solved this age-long problem.

This 800$ system (will go down to 200$ in a few months once lighthouses and base stations are available without the headset in addition to minuscule lighthouse sensors) is comparable to a 150k$ Ir marker multi-camera system.
The Vive gives you 60fps, 0.3mm resolution, across any size internal volume (currently a 5m cube box but will be extendable)
So unless you are doing indoor 3D drones, you don't need more than 60Hz and a camera system will give ~cm resolution.
No other indoor localization system can get anywhere close to the Vive specs.

We managed to integrate it into ROS

We shall release the source code shortly

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(Now if someone comes out with a mouldable plastic based harmonic-gears, we would reach the "singularity" within a couple of years).

Statistics: Posted by limor — Thu Aug 11, 2016 3:42 pm

News • T5 HammerHead Shark Robot

2016-08-04T13:52:56+01:00

https://triroboticx.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/t5-hammerhead-shark-2/

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Statistics: Posted by BloodKeith — Thu Aug 04, 2016 1:52 pm

News • Re: Cap Gemini report about humanoids in retail

2016-08-02T07:32:18+01:00

I think their assumptions are naive!! What they're suggesting would be much like a mobile kiosk. If a computer-based stationary kiosk was possible (and clearly, it is), why hasn't this been done already, as a first step? Certainly, it would be cheaper!! Perhaps they'd be better suited by tapping an existing resource for infrastructure - like one's cell phone. It would be handy to have an app, tell it what you want, have it give you a graphic overlay through one's cam of directions on where to go in the store to get there, which shelf, etc, product info, store pricing, etc. Consumer owns the hardware!! Sadly, I think a robot greeter / guide would be more gimmick than real value-add. Wait - in the trend of the trendy, why not have self-driving CARTS in the store that would route customers to their destinations?? They already have scooters in stores, and it is a controlled and closed system, one could do something as simple as a line-following mechanism on the floor... On a more serious note, I think having a LITERAL Spam Bot would be unbelievably annoying!! "You look tired - perhaps you would use a nice hot cup of Super Duper Coffee...", "I see you drove up in an XYZ - have you considered buying a newer car, like an ABC? They have a deal down the street... blah blah blah", or "I know you're here to buy X, but take a look at Y that I've brought you to! Isn't this a nice Y? And check out that PRICE!!", etc, etc.

I think robots have their place, but I don't think customer-facing retail is one of them!! As much as I have an affinity towards robots, I certainly don't want to talk to one that is feeding me spam with a corporate agenda. I think there's value in talking to a person, a creature we know well enough to determine (mostly) whether they're being deceptive or not. Another thought - how many "hate crimes" towards robots would be realized through an ad bot?? Spam ticks me off - I can't imagine how I'd feel if the delivery mechanism for that spam presented itself in physical form!! Such bots should be well wrapped to take a pounding, I'd think!!

Statistics: Posted by PaulL — Tue Aug 02, 2016 7:32 am

News • Cap Gemini report about humanoids in retail

2016-07-29T10:28:15+01:00

Seeing a report by Cap Gemini about humanoid robots use case in retail is like seeing an advertisement for a self-driving car SLA based subscription service. I just didn't think we were there quite yet. I'm guessing Softbank can afford to have analysts cover the niche sector if they can afford to buy ARM.

https://www.ald.softbankrobotics.com/si ... dustry.pdf

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Statistics: Posted by limor — Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:28 am

News • Ubtech raises $100m

2016-07-29T10:19:14+01:00

CDH Investments has led a US$100 million investment in Ubtech, a Shenzhen-based intelligent humanoid robots maker, according to Chinese media reports.
CITIC Securities and other unnamed investors also participated in the round, which values the start-up at US$1 billion post-money.

Ubtech received US$20 million series A+ round from Qiming Venture Partners in 2015. Chinese voice recognition software maker Anhui USTC iFlytek Co. made an undisclosed strategic investment at the end of last year.

The company says it will use the latest proceeds on research and development, as well as exploring more applications in new industries including education and entertainment.

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This sounds too bizarre for words

Statistics: Posted by limor — Fri Jul 29, 2016 10:19 am

News • Re: DARPA's Big Dog project axed

2016-01-13T14:06:07+01:00

Well, if they have a need to rid themselves of hardware, I'd be willing to help them in doing so...

The combustion engine did seem a bit loud in the vids they posted, it's a shame that they didn't consider or address this sooner than later. For power density's sake, it made sense, but the drawback of noise, yeah, I could see how that would be a problem. I don't understand why they didn't demonstrate a less energy-intensive method of controlling the legs, I seem to only recall constant bouncing on the legs. Something more like the stride of a giraffe in slow walk could be made to consume less energy, with transition to a mode for faster operation as needed - battery power would have made more sense then, I think. I'm sure they've run all sorts of numbers regarding power, control, and efficiency - or maybe they didn't!!

I have to admit, I don't recall all of the details of this machine - is the engine just for hydraulics, and / or does it run a generator? Are the legs fully hydraulic, or can they lock the legs in a given position with minimal power? I think they could have come up with a solution, given time and money, of course...

Statistics: Posted by PaulL — Wed Jan 13, 2016 2:06 pm

News • DARPA's Big Dog project axed

2015-12-29T22:56:42+01:00

after 6 years and $42m the big mule of Boston Dynamics is being put away and will not be used by the Marines to help carry 200lb in uneven terrain for 24 hours. The reason: it is too noisy

Some fascinating videos here (search for LS3)
http://www.military.com/video/forces/ma ... 2208187001

Statistics: Posted by limor — Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:56 pm

News • Dobot-a robot on your desk

2015-08-15T15:07:33+01:00

As a maker, I often pay attention to the information of robot.And I want to share something to you.
Some of my friends who love robot published a dobot arm.Dobot is robot arms, with high accuracy, simple assembling process and easy adoption.

If you want to get more information about dobot,please visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkIh1ZLqJdQ

Statistics: Posted by wuxiaodong — Sat Aug 15, 2015 3:07 pm

News • Get your third arm!

2015-07-28T15:44:52+01:00

Hi,friends.
Good news ,Some of my friend will publish a Robot Arm base on Arduino with high precision 0.3mm and Opensource call dobot. This product will be soon on kickstarter one or two weeks later, please looking forward to it.(Link of kickstarter:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/561930872/956638568?token=5b65efe7
Magician-X of Dobot is a desktop robot arm of high precision, multi-controlled, and open-source mental version.

You can know more about it on http://www.facebook.com/cooldobot
A video:

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Thanks.

Statistics: Posted by JerryLiu — Tue Jul 28, 2015 3:44 pm

News • Re: Lo and behold! Skateboarding humanoid

2015-03-17T12:55:12+01:00

After 8 years Plen is making a comeback. This time on kickstarter with an professionally eerie video production showing multicultural actors interacting with the robot including a scene titled "rehabilitation" with an old chair-bound lady wearing a Myo to control the robot and a doctor behind her writing on a notepad. The campaign uses all the right words (opensource, arduino, ROS, 3D printing) to entice hapless kickstarter hipster fans with half a grand to spare.

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I really hope they reach their funding goal and bring in a new generation of servo-driven humanoid robot fans.

The original amazing skateboarding video has been removed for some odd reason and replaced with a slick new youtube channel.
although a couple of people have fortunatly re-uploaded it to youtube.

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Statistics: Posted by limor — Tue Mar 17, 2015 12:55 pm

News • RoCKIn Camp 2015 - Final Call For Applications and Deadline

2015-01-21T10:57:20+01:00

Important dates:
•Application deadline: January, 27th 2015 (Extended)
•Notification of acceptance: February, 7th 2015
•Event Date: March 18-22, 2015
•Location: Peccioli (Pisa), Italy, http://www.echord.eu/facilities-rifs/the-peccioli-rif/
•Website: http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/~rockin/

RoCKIn is short for "Robot Competitions Kick Innovation in Cognitive Systems and Robotics" (http://rockinrobotchallenge.eu) and it is an EU-funded Coordination Action aimed at the promotion of research and education through competitions.

The RoCKIn Camp 2015 aims at leveraging the preparation of teams to participate in the RoCKIn@Home and RoCKIn@Work challenges, the competition event that will be organized by RoCKIn in Lisbon 2015. RoCKIn@Home and RoCKIn@Work take inspiration from the corresponding RoboCup leagues, but they focus on benchmarking robotic systems and networked robots. Both challenges require basic navigation capabilities with no restrictions on the mobile platform, advance perception, manipulation and human-robot interaction. RoCKIn@Home focuses on tasks that service robots execute in a real home environment, while the tasks to be performed in RoCKIn@Work target an industrial automation scenario.

The RoCKIn Camp 2015 will take place from 18th to 22nd March in the ECHORD++ facility of Peccioli (Italy) and it is designed as a hands-on week long school, where teams improve the performance of their systems through working sessions in the RoCKIn competition tasks and functional benchmarks. At the Camp site, a realistic environment for both competitions will be provided by relying on the existing ECHORD++ testbeds and equipped with the RoCKIn ground truth system for logging data and create benchmarks. The activities planned correspond to the Tasks and Functional Benchmarks as defined in RoCKIn (http://rm.isr.ist.utl.pt/projects/rocki ... -wiki/wiki).

As outcomes of the field exercise, we plan to collect the best technical and scientific contributions achieved through the experimental evaluation performed at the Camp in the task and benchmarks into a Special Issue of a scientific Journal.

In addition to the teams selected after the RoCKIn 2014 competition event, the RoCKIn Camp 2015 is open to additional participation of European teams. We accept applications in two formats:
• Team applications (for teams with an already established record). Team applicants must bring their robot to be used in the practical activities.
• Individual applications by team members.

All successful applicants (individuals and team members) will be offered:
• Accommodation in shared rooms (including breakfast, 5 nights)
• Lunch (5 days) and social event
• Access to the testing facilities arranged for the RoCKIN@Home and RoCKIn@Work

Each selected team will be allowed up to four team members and will be awarded a travel support up to 1200 Euros.

Applications should be submitted via http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/rockin by January 27 2015. The applications should include a technical report including team description (including previous experience, role and competence of team members) and a detailed technical presentation of the proposed solution for the task or functional benchmark to be addressed during the camp. Applications may address one or more tasks or functional benchmarks. The selection will be based on the team submission material and, in particular, on the quality and maturity of the technical solutions proposed for the RoCKIn task and functional benchmarks.

For further questions contact Daniele Nardi: nardi@dis.uniroma1.it

Statistics: Posted by RoCKIn Robot — Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:57 am