Category Archives: Robotics

Robotics engineering has existed for many decades now, but the industry continues to grow, whether it be in the more formal sense in factories, or the more fun approach for kids to learn the basics. The South African market has not always offered the greatest range of robotics for the latter, sometimes often at a cost, but Gammatek aims to change that by introducing a range of interactive robotics in the country.

Gammatek is a leading distributor of technology in South Africa, and continue this with the release of the Ubtech Robotics products in South Africa. Ubtech themselves are well-known in the international robotics community as a leader in artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics.

The range of robotics to be released in the country include the Alpha1 Pro humanoid robot, as well as a range of programmable and educational robots from the Jimu range, which include TankBot, Mini Kit, Explorer kit, and MuttBot.

Gammatek representative, Zev Cherniak made the following statement: We are thrilled to announce that Gammatek is now the proud distributor of Ubtech Robotics innovations in South Africa. These are the robots that youngsters dream of. Suitable for children as young as age, and upwards, these interactive robot building kits go beyond pure-play and also challenge our perception of educational toys. While stimulating creativity and imagination, Ubtech Robotics building kits encourage critical thinking, problem-solving, three-dimensional engineering and collaboration. The possibilities are quite simply endless.

The Alpha1 Pro humanoid robot is an interactive robot, both educational and entertainment, and has 16 high-precision servo motors, allowing him to reproduce quite a number of human movements. With each of the servo motors being able to rotate at its own speed, the unit is able to do push-ups, choreographed dancing, along with a few kung-fu moves. Users interact with the robot via Bluetooth 4.0, allowing to connect to an app on your phone (Android and iOS), or via your PC (Windows and Mac). The app also allows users to interact with five different robots at once, programming and recording movements.

The Jimu Robot Kits feature a number of different kits with different capabilities. The Jimu Mini Kit features all the tools necessary to build the MuzzBot, Ostrich or bull robots, and includes four servo motors as well as 253 snap-together interlocking parts and connectors. The Explorer Kit is capable of building five models, which include a Baby, Parrot, Penguin, T-Rex and Walrus, including seven servo motors and 561 parts and connectors. All Jimu kits include the main control box, lithium ion battery and adapter. The units are also programmed and operated via an Android and iOS app. The Jimu robotics were built specifically to meet the needs of the STEM curriculum:

Both the Alpha1 Pro and Jimu sets will be available through different retailers across the country, such as Cellucity, Digicape, Incredible Connection, iStore, New World, Sandton Stationey and Print, Techmobi and Takealot.

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Gammatek Introduces New Interactive Robotics to South Africa - Fortress of Solitude

Riyadh The worlds largest private equity fund, backed by Japans Softbank Group and Saudi Arabias main sovereign wealth fund, says it has raised more than $93bn to invest in technology sectors such as artificial intelligence and robotics.

"The next stage of the information revolution is under way and building the businesses that will make this possible will require unprecedented large-scale, long-term investment," said the Softbank Vision Fund.

Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, chairman of Softbank, a telecommunications and technology investment group, revealed plans for the fund in October 2016 and since then, it has obtained commitments from some of the worlds most deep-pocketed investors.

In addition to Softbank and Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund, the funds investors include Abu Dhabis Mubadala Investment, which has committed $15bn, Apple, Qualcomm, Taiwans Foxconn Technology and Japans Sharp.

The new fund made its announcement during the visit of President Donald Trump to Riyadh and the signing of tens of billions of dollars worth of business deals between US and Saudi companies. Son was also in Riyadh on Saturday.

After meeting with Trump in December 2016, Son pledged $50bn of investment in the US that would create 50,000 jobs, a promise Trump claimed was a direct result of his election win.

The fund may also serve the interests of Saudi Arabia by helping Riyadh obtain access to foreign technology. The Saudi economy has been severely damaged by low oil prices and policy makers are trying to diversify into new industries.

The Public Investment Fund signalled an interest in the technology sector in 2016 by investing $3.5bn in Uber.

Saturdays statement did not say how much the Public Investment Fund had committed to the fund, but it has said before it would invest up to $45bn over five years. Softbank is investing $28bn.

The new fund said it would seek to buy minority and majority interests in private and public companies, from emerging businesses to established, multi-billion-dollar firms. It expects to obtain preferred access to long-term investment opportunities worth $100m or more.

Other sectors in which the fund may invest include communications infrastructure, computational biology and financial technology.

The fund aims for $100bn of committed capital and expects to complete its money-raising in six months, it added.

Reuters

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Softbank and Saudi fund aim at robotics - Business Day (registration)

Two weeks before three Hai Sing Catholic School students were due to compete in a world robotics contest, their robot stopped moving during a routine stress test.

To rebuild Atom-U, they put in extra hours after school every day, even staying some nights in school.

The team's leader, Secondary 4 student Shannon Chua, 15, said: "It was stressful. We had to change a lot of things, even at the last minute. There were many times when we felt like giving up."

But the team, which included Sam Andrew Sy, 14, and Ernest Tan Jun Yi, 15, overcame the setback and triumphed in the middle school category at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Kentucky, United States, last month. The team also snagged another top honour, the Robot Skills award.

The team was one of six from the school's robotics club to enter the contest. This is the fourth time that the school in Pasir Ris has snagged top honours in the competition.

Last month's contest saw about 160 teams, including powerhouses from China, New Zealand and the US, taking part.

Besides designing and building the robots from scratch, the teams from Hai Sing had to put their creations through functional and stress tests. If the robots failed, it was back to the drawing board.

TEST OF PERSEVERANCE

It was stressful. We had to change a lot of things, even at the last minute. There were many times when we felt like giving up.

SHANNON CHUA, the team leader, on the team's preparations for the competition.

MORE THAN JUST SKILLS

Students have to put in their fair share of hard work and have the desire to win.

MR TEO YEE MING, Hai Sing's subject head for Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), on the students' win.

For 15 months, the students worked on their robots almost daily, even staying overnight in school on several occasions.

Ernest, a Sec 4 student, said his team dismantled and rebuilt their robot at least 10 times in those 15 months. "It was a lot of hard work. We also had to juggle training (for the contest) and studies."

Sam, a Sec 2 student, said: "I've always wanted to do engineering and (building the robot) gave me a chance to learn more."

The team's victory caught the attention of Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng, who congratulated the students on Facebook. He also noted that the school's Applied Learning Programme in Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has allowed students to "apply their classroom knowledge and fuel their passion for robotics".

Mr Teo Yee Ming, Hai Sing's subject head for Stem, said: "Students have to put in their fair share of hard work and have the desire to win."

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Extra hours pay off for Hai Sing robotics team - The Straits Times

JACKSONS MILL At least a half dozen robotics teams competed in table exercises during WVU Extension State 4-H Day Saturday at WVU Jacksons Mill.

4-H groups represented included teams from Taylor, Mineral, Berkeley, Putnam, Mercer and Preston counties, as well as others participating in different competitions throughout the event.

Preston County 4-H Agent David Hartley, who coordinated the robotic challenge, said the event is meant to mold elementary, middle and high school students into problem-solvers and good teammates. Each challenge had different levels of difficulty.

Teams are coming up with programs for their robots to achieve these different challenges we have laid out for them, Hartley said. During the table runs, they have two minutes to complete as many challenges as they can. They have three chances, and they all had the option of which challenges they wanted to pursue.

Were trying to really get young people to understand how to use technology. Robotics is something we see in our everyday society, he said.

Team members could not manually manipulate their robots, but had to rely on their computer programs.

When they got here, they didnt know what (the challenge) looked like, what theyd have to do, Hartley said. There are seven different challenges.

Each team built a base robot, but teams added on extras before the table runs began, Mineral County 4-H Leader Steve Kimble explained. The two Mineral County teams built their base robots in September.

We practice for this a good while, Kimble said.

Putnam County Clover STEM coaches Jeff and Toni Takarsh helped guide four students through Saturdays competition for the first time, including three from Putnam County (including her 11-year-old son, Carter) and a girl from Monongalia County.)

This is our third year as a team (but) our first year at this event, Toni said. The three from Putnam County were also competing in the state 4-H Day speaking contest. They based some of their programming on other attachments theyve done in the past, but they did everything from scratch today, except for the basic robot design.

I think theyre pretty nervous, she added.

Putnam County 4-H also competes in the FIRST Lego League, which runs from August to December. In November, the Clover STEMs won the champions award at the WVU Jacksons Mill qualifier before winning the state championship at Fairmont State University in December.

We have a lot of meetings. The kids work really hard, Toni said.

Berkeley County 4-H STEM has had a robotics team for six years, directors Chuck and Susan Engle said. The team Saturday also included their 14-year-old son, Edward, and 12-year-old daughter, Emma.

Emma, a seventh-grader, has been on robotics teams for five years. She and teammate Allison McCaslin scored 125 points in their first table run.

It was a lot less stressful than I thought it would be, Emma said. We practiced everything in order once-or-twice through, but I think we achieved more during practice because we couldnt touch the robot (once the competition started). We had to touch it once (a 10-point deduction) because it got caught.

Stacie Himes watched her daughter, Emily, and son, Alex, compete for Taylor County Saturday. She said it was the first competitive robotics event for her children.

They love it, Himes said.

The competition also enabled the teams to get ideas from other areas of West Virginia while participating in other 4-H activities at Jacksons Mill, Hartley said.

Staff Writer Jonathan Weaver can be reached at (304) 626-1445 or jweaver@theet.com. Follow me on Twitter @jweaver_theet

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Problem solving taught through LEGO Robotics during State 4-H Day - The Exponent Telegram (press release) (registration)

Just across the bay from San Francisco, a group of Oakland Technical High School students has been meeting twice a week for months, hacking away on robots slated to compete in two of the most important series of student robotics competitions in the world.

At Oakland Tech, around 20 high schoolers have been building robots for the Vex tournament and for the FIRST competition, where thousands of students go head to head to see which team can build the most capable machine.

The robots are supposed to be able to do random, albeit challenging, tasks. In this years Vex event, which took place in January in Mountain View, Calif., at the Google Campus, the Oakland club was tasked with making a robot that can pick up small star-shaped figurines and throw them over a fence. For the local FIRST competition, which was held in San Francisco in March, the team had to build and program a robot that could pick up a cog and hang it on a peg.

A lot of it is white, male dominated and heteronormative.

Building these robots means piecing together a body, getting the motors working, then programming it to carry out an order. And it all has to work together without a hitch. Its not easy.

While Oaklands team has won awards at robotics tournaments against contestants from all over the world, the team also stands out in other ways.

When we go to competitions, we really dont look like the other teams that are there, said Kai Drayton-Yee, one of the leaders of Oakland Techs robotics team, who is Chinese, Japanese and black. A lot of it is white, male dominated and heteronormative.

Oakland Techs robotics club is led by three non-male-identified students.

We generally have the highest number of women on our team, said Drayton-Yee. And we generally have the most people of color on our team, too.

Their robotics club doesnt look much like a typical group of engineers in Silicon Valley, either.

At Google, for instance, only 1 percent of its tech employees are black, only 3 percent are Hispanic and only 19 percent of all its tech employees are women.

Likewise, at Facebook, 1 percent of its tech employees are black, 3 percent are Hispanic and 17 percent are women, according to data released by the company last summer. In its blog post about the report, Facebook blamed a lack of available talent on whats called the pipeline problem, lamenting that there arent enough diverse candidates entering the tech industry.

(Its worth noting, though, that multiple reports have found there are more black and Latino computer science engineers entering the workforce than are being hired by tech companies.)

One likely reason for the shortage of candidates is a dearth of technology education in public schools.

Computer science education in public high schools across the country is rare, particularly in areas with high minority populations. But in Oakland, one of the most diverse cities in the country, thats changing.

In 2015, only three public high schools in Oakland offered computer science courses. But this school year, 14 do, out of 17 high schools district-wide.

There are now 2,853 Oakland public high school students enrolled in computer science, up more than three times from the 685 that were enrolled in it during the previous school year.

Only seven states across the country have standards for computer science in K-12 education.

For comparison, 10 of the 14 public high schools in San Francisco now offer computer science courses. (Though the cosmopolitan city just north of Silicon Valley has seen its overall public high school enrollment shrink after the late-1990s tech boom, as many of San Franciscos wealthy residents opted to send their kids to private schools.)

Statewide in California, only 35 percent of high schools offer any computer science courses, according to data from the Level Playing Field Institute.

Computer science education is also expanding across the country. Chicago offers computer science at approximately 65 of its 106 public high schools. In Los Angeles, of the citys 97 public high schools, 74 currently offer computer science courses. In Miami, all public high schools offer the courses, and in Washington, D.C., 10 of its 16 public high schools do. The data was compiled by the school districts for Recode.

The computer science expansion at Oakland high schools was funded in part by a $5 million grant from Intel to grow the programs over the next five years. By 2018, the district plans for every public high school in Oakland to offer computer engineering courses. Now that it is part of Oaklands core academic requirements, every freshman is required to take computer science if its offered at their school.

But nationwide, only seven states have standards for computer science in K-12 education, according to data from the nonprofit Code.org, and only 32 states allow computer science to count toward high school graduation otherwise its an elective.

Hundreds of students across the district will now be creating applications and hardware projects, like robotics or websites, said Claire Shorall, who teaches calculus and computer science at Castlemont High School in Oakland and spearheaded the school districts computer science expansion. I think what were going to see are ideas that havent yet entered the market, because students from diverse backgrounds will create things we havent seen before.

Forty-five percent of all computer science students in Oakland Unified are young women, and our numbers for African American and Latino students far exceed what we see in the tech workforce, Shorall said.

Most of the Oakland school districts computer science teachers started as teachers in other areas and were trained up to teach the new courses. And most of those teachers leading Oaklands computer science classes are people of color, too, which Shorall says makes it easier for students from underrepresented communities to envision themselves entering tech jobs.

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This Oakland high school robotics club should be the future of a more diverse tech industry - Recode

Members of the Vermillion Area Robotics Club (VARC) recently returned from the 10th annual VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky. Competing against youth from 40 different countries, Vermillions teams brought home two special awards that recognized them for their hard work and effort.

Susan Rolfes, VARC advisor, said attending the world robotics competition was a great experience for the youth. VARC elementary and high school members were teamed with elementary and high school students from around the world during the competition.

Vermillions high school team competed with metal robots in six different divisions that included 564 teams.

Our team was assigned the Research Division and excelled during qualification rounds, says Rolfes. They were selected by the third ranked alliance to go into the divisional quarterfinal playoffs, but were eliminated in the playoffs by the alliance that went on to win the division and that took third at VEX Worlds.

The VEXC VRC team was recognized and won the Community Award in the Research Division for being the team that exemplifies extraordinary community involvement and awareness.

Through the effort of adult volunteers and our robotics club youth, our club has hosted two robotics camps at USD, a special interest day at Jolley, a girl-powered event promoting girls in STEM, Rolfes said. Our club has also offered non-competitive robotics, a club member taught Code Club at the public library last fall, and we hosted a robotics scrimmage in Vermillion and helped with events in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa. The kids also spoke about the importance of technology education to area civic organizations and the county fair.

Rolfes points to the wonderful support the club has received from the community as another factor in the team winning the Community Award.

Several organizations, businesses, and individuals in Vermillion, Yankton, and North Sioux City have partnered with our group along the way, whether it be providing a place to host an event, purchasing or loaning us equipment, donating event fees, and or offering us promotional items, she said. They all had a stake in our success promoting robotics.

Vermillions middle school and elementary robotics teams competed with plastic robots alongside 580 teams divided into eight divisions.

They aligned with teams from all over the world and quickly realized that not all of them spoke English, explains Rolfes. They shared tokens from their respective communities.

In the end, Vermillions elementary team placed 55th out of 250 teams in driving and programming skills. The VARC middle school team placed 98th out of 274 teams in driving and programming skills and also won a special award the Think Award in the Engineering Division. The Think Award is awarded to the team with innovative and effective programming.

The VEX World Robotics Championship event will be broadcast on CBS Sunday, June 11th at 2 pm (eastern). Watch for the VARC teams on the divisional awards screens.

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Vermillion Robotics Club Attends World Competition - Vermillion Plain Talk

Submitted Photo

Lazarus Industries includes, from left, Head of Research and Development Georges Oates Larsen, CEO Haley Werst, Chief of Business Operations Jennifer Jordan, Chief of Manufacturing Sam Daire and team adviser Pat Keefe, a physics instructor at Clatsop Community College.

Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian

Jennifer Jordan, chief of business operations for Clatsop Community Colleges underwater robotics team, holds a tether while the team practices with its submersible, Lazarus, at the Astoria Aquatic Center.

Clatsop Community Colleges underwater robotics team, the only collegiate qualifier in Oregon for the finals of an global competition, needs help getting to Long Beach, California.

Lazarus Industries, the eight-member team of students competing in Marine Advanced Technology Educations remotely operated vehicle competition, recently qualified for the international finals at Long Beach City College in late June.

Their self-built robot, Lazarus, is tasked with mock missions helping the Port of Long Beach install a hyperloop for transporting cargo; repair a fountain in a water and light show; assess and cap contaminated sediment; and identify and map cargo that fell off of a cargo ship into the harbor.

Last year, the team was the only collegiate Oregon qualifier for the finals at NASAs Johnson Space Center. The team performed well last year with its submersible, Magnificus Maggie Praesegmen, but stumbled in marketing and product demonstrations, placing last among 31 competitors from North America, Europe and Asia.

This year, the team expanded to include CEO Haley Werst, Chief of Business Operations Jennifer Jordan, Head of Research and Development Georges Oates Larsen, Chief of Manufacturing Sam Daire and multiple engineers in hopes of a more rounded performance. The team is advised by college physics instructor Pat Keefe.

Lazarus

This robot was built from the ashes of Maggie, Oates Larsen, a team member since 2013, said of the new robot. Lazarus is meant to have everything we thought other teams did well last year.

Named after the biblical narrative of the raising Lazarus from the dead, the robot is built around an octagonal metal frame with six thrusters to completely control navigation underwater, cameras facing every direction, buoyancy chambers on top and a fiber-optic tether running to the controls on land.

The colleges upstart team operates each year on a shoestring budget compared to its opponents, cannibalizing last years robot for the next generation. Jordan, a physics student in her first year with the team, said it receives only $500 in dedicated funding through the college, with the rest coming from fundraising.

The team needs to raise money for housing, transportation, motor upgrades and a manipulator to grab objects in the competition, and has formed a GoFundMe page at http://tinyurl.com/mzoky55. From 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, the team will hold The Art of Robotics, a demonstration and fundraiser at the Barbey Maritime Center.

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Robotics team qualifies for international event - Daily Astorian

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Robotics kits integrate STEAM concepts into Franklin Regional's Sloan Elementary classrooms - Tribune-Review

Published: Sat, May 20, 2017 @ 12:06 a.m.

Staff report

WARREN

A national institute dedicated to bolstering U.S. manufacturing competitiveness is reaching out to potential partners in the Mahoning Valley.

A representative of Carnegie Mellon Universitys recently established Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute spoke to a group of university, business and political officials at the Valley Alliance for Science and Technologys monthly luncheon Friday at the Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center.

This is a national institute where we all have a deep vision to look at manufacturing differently, said Jackie Erickson, ARM director of marketing communications. This is our future. This is our future jobs.

The ARM Institute, established in January as part of a national manufacturing network launched by the Obama administration, is a public-private partnership partially funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The program aims to bring together organizations with ties to manufacturing, with the overall goal of asserting U.S. leadership in advanced manufacturing and finding new robotics solutions.

Erickson addressed a question that frequently accompanies discussions of robotics: How does it affect jobs?

Theres a way to retrain and prepare for the future. You have to think ahead or you will be left behind, she said.

ARM would like to have a role in that process, she said, noting the institute has an education and workforce development component.

Part of ARMs focus is aiding and sustaining jobs in this area, Erickson said. We want to look for the ability to create pathways for job opportunities.

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National institute focused on robotics looking for members - Youngstown Vindicator

LAHORE - The Information Technology University (ITU) Punjab has finalised all arrangements to hold its 6th Robotics Expo titled Machines of The Future: Robots on Saturday (today) at Arfa Software Technology Park.

Around 13 new robots will be displayed, developed by 2nd year students of ITU under the supervision of Talha Rehmani, Robotics Lead at ITU.

Some of these robots include Rekhta -The Urdu word predictor and transliterator, Ross The Roboceptionist, Vizo, Metallica, Salir, Valise, crivain, Payam, Rahbar, Precision, Illumaphone, Sant, and persistence of Vision - The Illusionist. All these robots are built to address locally relevant problems of Pakistan. The event also bridges the gap between academia and the industry. Dr Umar Saif, Vice Chancellor of ITU and Chairman PITB will deliver the closing remarks.

Robotics Expo is the flagship event of ITU and a century of robots will be made under this iconic event. The idea behind this expo is to enable students to not only solve locally relevant problem by building customized robots through use of technology but also to lead Pakistan in the robotics revolution of 21st century and to present ICT solutions.

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6th Robotics Expo today - The Nation