Category Archives: Robotics

Ministry of Design told Engadget that the lab's primary function is "to train and inspire more people to use robotics automation in their everyday work." The experience starts in the minimalist, all-black lobby that features just the lab signage (also created by the firm) and LEDs running at various crazy angles. A door leads to the highly unusual lab's black interior that's clad with a "second skin" of aluminum tubes and custom LED strips, also set at random, rakish angles.

There is a method to the madness, beyond just wowing potential clients. The lab required a continuous interior with small hands-on training clusters, so the open-space plan is divided into smaller, multi-faceted interiors.

At the same time, the panels "cloak the necessary but unsightly mechanical and electrical services while allowing ease of access for operation," says Ministry of Design. As such, each work cluster has separate hatches, allowing easy access to the services hidden behind.

RACE Robotics is a collaboration between Nanyang Technical University (NTU) and PBA Group, a Singapore-based firm specializing in contract manufacturing. The lab started running in January, offering novice and advanced training sessions in robotics and automation. It's working with industrial robotics giants, including Delta Electronics, Universal Robots and Kawasaki.

We're not sure what it's like to work and learn in such a dizzying interior, but if there's any place that justifies such a design, it's a robotics lab. "Overall, the space provides a suitable future-forward backdrop to usher in an age of automation and robotics," says Ministry of Design.

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Decor as dystopia at a Singapore robotics training center - Engadget

The Abraham Lincoln Black Squirrels will be no more next year.

The high school robotics team will retire its name after the team placed fourth in their division at the VEX Robotics World Competition held last month in Louisville, Kentucky.

Described as the equivalent of making it to the Olympics, the competition invites the best teams from all around the world to compete in six different divisions against 500 other robots constructed by students.

A.L.s four-member team qualified for the competition after placing as a finalist in a regional robotics competition held in March. While this isnt the first time the high school team has competed at Worlds, it is the highest the team has ever placed in the competition, said coach and teacher Justin Heckman.

Historically, weve done very well as a team and our name carries a lot of respect, Heckman said. Last year, we agreed to retire the name if the team did well.

After the team competed in different divisions showcasing their skills, a team from China, who was ranked fourth, picked the A.L. team to work together as part of their alliance.

They got to play against the best. Our team spent a lot of time making sure the robot wouldnt tip over, which made it very reliable, Heckman said. They ended up getting picked by a team from China who had recognized our team as being a high quality team.

The alliance played in a round-robin, tournament style bracket against the top eight alliances. The team ended up placing fourth in the Arts division, beating three teams and losing to two.

With teams from all around the world, Heckman said sometimes there can be a language barrier between students.

The game really transcends the barrier because as long as you have these shapes, pieces and directions then everybody can understand whats going on to communicate about the game, Heckman said.

This years team was made up of four seniors: Dale Fienhold, KayAnne Bryant, Brenden Geer and Tyler Myers. The teams coaches include Heckman and teacher Ryan Higgins.

Bryant, who first joined the team last year, is the teams only girl.

This year was a lot different for me, I got to be a lot more involved, Bryant said. Being the only girl was a struggle at first though.

After she got to be more involved this year on the team, Bryant said, she didnt feel any different from her teammates.

Initially a programmer, Bryant transitioned roles toward the end of the year, becoming the driver of the robot after a member left the team.

Worlds was my second tournament as a driver and it was really cool, Bryant said. It was such a high pressure situation because all the eyes and cameras are on you it was a really cool experience and Im glad I got to do it.

Because the team did so well in the competition, CBS will be at the high school to talk with the students about their experiences at the competition. The special is set to air next month at 1 p.m. on June 11.

As for the teams new name for next years incoming team members, nothing has been decided yet, but one thing is for sure the team will have large shoes to fill.

We try to use names that are a symbol of Council Bluffs, Heckman said. One of our goals, as coaches, is trying to make sure were representing the city well, and showcase it in a positive way.

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AL robotics team takes honors at world competition - The Daily Nonpareil

By | May 13, 2017 | 3:32 p.m.

Team 5818 finished its second season with an outstanding run, reaching the semifinals, at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championships in Houston recently.

The team spent four days at George R. Brown Convention Center watching elite machines, meeting students from around the world, and cheering on this years robot.

The competition kicked off the first morning, with Riviera Robotics students arriving at 7 a.m. to prepare for qualification matches. Unfortunately, the team got off to a rough start.

After a series of challenging matches Team 5818 emerged from day one with a record of 1-3-0.

Despite its low ranking (57 of 67 in the Hopper division), Team 5818 was not deterred. It bounced back on Day 2, playing a spectacular set of matches without a single loss.

Completing a phenomenal comeback, Riviera Robotics finished qualification matches ranked 13th in the Hopper division with a record of 6-3-1.

The next morning, Team 5818 was the first pick of the No. 8-seeded team.

Working with Team 3835 (Vulcan Robotics from Tel-Aviv, Israel), Team 2910 (Jack in the Bot from Bothell, Wash.), and Team 2230 (General Angels from Herzliya, Israel), the No. 8-seeded alliance was a force to be reckoned with.

In a stunning upset, this international alliance defeated the No. 1-seeded alliance in the division quarterfinals.

After a set of hard-fought matches, Team 5818s run came to an end as it was eliminated in the semifinal rounds.

Looking ahead to a third season in the fall, Riviera Robotics is in search of a permanent build-space and home for its organization.

Anyone who has available space or knows of a space that might be a good fit for the team, can email [emailprotected]

Team 5818 is sponsored by Virgil Elings, FLIR, Valley Precision Products, M&J Machining, MMI Intriplex, Lebow Company, Architectural Millwork, Speciality Tool and Die, MOXI, True Precision Machining, Precision Welding and Axis Machining.

More sponsors include L3, Hope School District, Bowlus Engineering, Hendrix Machining, Bosch, Armabot, Check Yourself Machining, Santa Barbara Industrial Finishing, Continental, Santa Barbara Hackerspace, and Engen Enterprises, Inc.

Riviera Robotics is a student-run community robotics team open to all high school age students on the South Coast. The team is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization funded entirely by community sponsors.

To make a contribution to Team 5818, visit http://www.rivierarobotics.org or email [emailprotected]

Ruby Gans for Riviera Robotics.

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Local Robotics Team Claws Way to World Semifinals - Noozhawk

RoboWaiters crack team, consisting of a developer, designer and arobotics expert, came together at last nights Disrupt NY hackathon to create a faster, better, smarter waiter using IBM Watson and robots.

Developer Nina Yang came up with the idealast night before the event when her waiter took a while to take her order. Humans, she pointed out, are often busy and cant handle everything. They also can get orders wrong. But, pending any glitches, robots dont.

RoboWaiter works through an app powered by IBM Watson which hooks up to a backend ordering platform that can also control a robot to bring you your food. Customers simply download the app, select their seat and voice their order from the menu and the system sends that order back to the kitchen. A chef then places the order onto the robot and the robot moseys on over to your table with your meal.

Now, if you are a waiter you may be realizing at this very moment RoboWaiter has just come up with a plan to replace your job, which has been a serious concern for many American workers in the last few years and should worry many out-of-work actors just trying to get by in New York.

But on the bright side, according to team member Sharon Gai,Were going to make America great again by giving robots jobs.

Of course, this is not the first robot that has tried to serve humans something. California restaurant Eatsa requires zero human interaction to get your food and one clever robot butler even tried to get former TechCrunch writer Alex Wilhelm drunk by offering him a bunch of booze.

Gai, Yang and their other teammate Irvin Cardenas were already friends before embarking on this endeavor to replace human workers. In fact, the three met right here at TechCrunchs Disrupt hackathon exactly one year ago to take on the event space with their promoter platform CrowdBuilder. That one didnt really go anywhere, but theyre hopeful theyre on to something this time.

Cardenas is also presentingin the robotics session of Disrupt for his startup Robotica.ai. We wish him luck in both endeavors.

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RoboWaiter wants to make American restaurants great again with robots - TechCrunch

Photo by: J.B. Spector/Museum of Science and Industry

Young visitors at the Museum of Science and Industry challenge Baxter, an industrial robot, to a game of tic-tac-toe.

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CHICAGO If you visit the Museum of Science and Industry over the next 10 months or so, you likely will be greeted by RoboThespian, a life-sized humanoid robot.

You will also be "dazzled," the museum promises, by The Cube Solver, a robot with a lightning-fast ability to solve a Rubik's cube. You'll also enjoy watching Hex, a hexapod robot with six snake-like legs that navigates rough terrain.

They are among more than 40 robots in "Robot Revolution," a national touring exhibit that originally opened at the Museum of Science Industry and returned for a second viewing. It reopened Thursday and will remain on view through Feb. 4 in Chicago before going back on tour through 2020.

The cutting-edge robots many of which have never been on display to the public are from some of the most innovative research labs, universities and robotics companies from around the world. Museum visitors, in some cases, will be able to interact, learn from and play with them.

They also will see and hear from in some of the videos in the exhibit University of Illinois computer science Professor Steven LaValle.

"I have worked in robotics for decades," the computer-science professor told the UI in 2015, when the exhibit first launched. "I am specifically interested in motion planning, sensing and filtering, which has also informed my current work in virtual reality. By combining these technologies, there are seemingly endless possibilities in art, entertainment, health care, communication and education."

He also said he felt honored to be part of the exhibit to help explain aspects of robotics to kids and adults.

David Mosena, president and CEO of the museum, said robotics remains one of the most fascinating areas of science today because scientists and engineers are constantly pushing the boundaries.

"We hope that the opportunity to interact with such a wide range of robots will help people understand how robots become an integral part in helping to improve our world and inspire the next generation of innovators," he said.

The exhibit features four areas, with hands-on activities for visitors:

Cooperation: Discover how engineering breakthroughs are helping create robots that can work with humans to enhance our lives. One robot, EMYS, mimics our facial expressions via advanced facial-coding technology. PARO, a furry baby seal therapy robot, has sensors that respond to the human touch. Museum visitors also may try surgical training simulation to see what it's like to perform a robotic surgery. There also is a robot exoskeleton that augments a person's physical strength and can be used by people who are paralyzed.

Smarts: In this area, visitors identify how the machines are able to sense, plan and then act, while comparing and contrasting the ways humans and robots learn.

Here, they will see ROBOTIS-OP follow their face and make "eye" contact using visual tracking software. Another robot, UR5, has an arm that conceals an ability to learn. Instead of writing code for the robot, one can simply move its arm, and the robot learns to repeat the movement.

Skills: Here, museum visitors may experiment with advanced robot "grippers" to select and pick up objects and watch the Fanuc delta robot select and sort items with precision and speed.

A Yaskwawa/Motoman dual-arm robot in this area challenges museum visitors to a game of 21, while Baxter, a robot developed to work alongside humans in factory settings, competes with museum visitors in games of tick-tack-toe.

Locomotion: Robots move in a variety of ways, offering access to places where humans can't venture. For example, TOPY OSCAR can climb up and down stairs using long rubber treads. Visitors also have the opportunity here to create their own robot by assembling the basic components of one, using Cubelets.

If you go

What: "Robot Revolution," an exhibit featuring more than 40 cutting-edge robots and opportunities to engage with many of them.

When: Through Feb. 4.

Where: Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago.

Admission: Entrance is not included with the general museum entry and requires an additional timed-entry ticket of $12 for adults and $9 for kids 3-11.

More: msichicago.org or 773-684-1414.

Note: Robot Revolution is supported by Google, with additional support from The Boeing Co., RACO Industrial, The David Bohnett Foundation, The Kaplan Foundation and United Airlines.

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Robots invade Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

While delivering a giant cargo van full of robotic tournament equipment to a school in Monongalia County, Todd Ensign takes a moment to return a phone call.

Hes always busy and for good reason. Ensign and his team manage 12 robotics competitions, which includes running and hosting 20 tournaments at 15 locations across the state.

I was warned when I was asked to help run and manage the states robotics six years ago, Ensign said, Be careful, Todd, robotics will take over your life.

Those words have taken on a profound meaning for Ensign and the entire West Virginia Robotic Alliance today. The group has embarked on an ambitious initiative providing five weeks of robotics summer camps across the state.

Its gotten to the point where the demand is incredible, Ensign said. But now, in our third year, its our biggest effort thus far.

The effort is made possible mainly from a group of partners including the NASA IV&V Educator Resource Center, NASA WV Space Grant Consortium and Mountaineer Area Robotics 2614.

Through the partners, we were able to double our staff this year and support more kids at our camps, he said.

The robotic camps will take place at five locations beginning at James Rumsey Technical Institute in Martinsburg the week of June 5-9. Other camp dates and locations are: June 12-16 at Mountaineer Middle School in Morgantown; June 19-23 at Fairmont State University in Fairmont; June 26-30 at the Robert C Byrd Institute in Huntington; and July 17-21 at the WV State Extension NASA SEMAA Lab in Beckley. There will be a state tournament July 28 at BridgeValley Community and Technical College in South Charleston.

Ensign said the team-based program will be centered around learning to build, document and program the LEGO Mindstorm/EV3 robot and ultimately compete in the World Robot Olympiad.

This is the first time weve been involved with the World Robot Olympiad, he said.

World Robot Olympiad (WRO) is an international robot competition that brings together young people from all over the world to develop their creativity, design and problem-solving skills through challenging and educational robot competitions and activities.

Well be able to send two teams from each camp to the WRO national tournament in September at North Carolina State University, he said.

Teams of two and three students can register together for the camp. Individual students (or pairs) will be combined into teams of three. The intent, Ensign said, is for students who are new to LEGO Robotics or who are on existing FIRST LEGO League teams to form themselves into smaller groups, so they can develop their technical and teamwork skills, while competing in the new WRO tournament series.

Were going to pair three kids together, Ensign said, and run the five-day camps.

The schedule is fairly simple, he said. The first four days will be focused on training and building and the fifth day will be the tournament.

Teams competing will walk in with parts and have two-and-a-half hours to build a robot, he said.

Unlike the past two years, Ensign said students this year can participate in two age categories. The elementary category, which is for students ages 9-12 at the time of camp, and junior category, for students ages 13-15 at the time of camp. The cost is $125 per student and includes four full days of camp, snacks and lunch each day, WRO team registration and the Friday tournament.

Well be giving out awards at the end of each week to the winning teams, Ensign said.

Registration is open now and will remain open until each of the five camps are filled up. Anyone interested in registering can do so by contacting Annelise Williams at 304-367-8215 or email at Annelise.M.Williams@ivv.nasa.gov.

The popularity of robotics across the state has grown almost at an exponential level.

Since 2011 the number of teams has jumped from 75 to more than 250 today. Those teams include myriad robotics initiatives, including FIRST LEGO League Jr., FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Tech Challenge, FIRST Robotics Competition, VEX IQ, VEX Robotics Competition, Vex U, Skills USA and Zero Robotics.

Ensign said while competitions like FIRST LEGO League are fun for the teams, they also help instill ideals and a passion for STEM learning, which could lead to more students entering STEM fields and more young people staying in state for work.

West Virginia faces an uncertain economic future if we do not adapt our business sector to focus more on high-technology industries, Ensign said. Our students are currently not adequately prepared to engage in the high-tech job sector and are leaving our state for opportunities elsewhere. We need to empower our educators to provide the necessary career, STEM and 21st century skill training to our students in order to counter these trends and entice businesses to our state.

If students get interested in things like robotics at an early age, Ensign said they might hold that interest throughout their school years, eventually applying for a STEM-related job and boosting the states workforce, making for a smarter, stronger West Virginia.

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Demand for Statewide Robotics Camps 'Incredible' - The Exponent Telegram (press release) (registration)

Photo courtesy of the Umatilla School District

The Confidential robotics team from Umatilla High School attended the FIRST Robotics Competition World Finals in Houston in April.

Photo courtesy of the Pendleton School District

Pendleton High Schools Modern Americans robotics team poses by their robot at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Finals in Houston in April.

Two Umatilla County high school robotics teams have returned from the FIRST Robotics Competition World Finals in Houston with some valuable experience and memories.

In its sixth year with a robotics program, Umatilla High School took 48 members of the Confidential team to Texas, according to a press release from the InterMountain Education Service District.

Confidential and its robot, Dewey, performed well enough that they were able to advance to the World Level for the first time in school history, joining an alliance of teams from Georgia, California and Israel.

Although Confidential bowed out during the quarterfinal round, students were grateful for their time at the finals.

Going to Houston was so exciting, its an experience that I wouldnt miss for the world, Umatilla junior Madison Finck said. It really is amazing getting to meet people from all over the world knowing that you all have one thing in common; the love for FIRST and STEM.

Pendleton High School took their first trip to finals, sending six members from the True Americans team and their robot, BillyBot.

Being rookies at the competition, Pendleton received help throughout the competition from Umatilla in the form of equipment transportation and robot troubleshooting.

Despite some help from another team from the Northwest, Circuit Breakers, Modern Americans were not able to make it past the qualifying rounds, although it didnt dampen their pride.

The magnitude of the friendly competition was enormous! PHS freshman Landon Thornburg said.

Both teams also received guided tours at NASAs Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, producing another learning opportunity.

I got to talk to the former director of NASA, and I was so excited I felt like a little girl meeting a princess, Umatilla junior Anthony Borchert said. NASA was an amazing opportunity to see the things I have only ever read about or seen on TV.

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Local high schools return from robotics championship - East Oregonian (subscription)

FOX 61

Wethersfield students help disabled classmate get in the robotics game FOX 61 WETHERSFIELD -- A robotics and engineering class at Wethersfield High School is getting with the program, helping to program a robot for a disabled classmate. Senior, Kyle Flynn, is stricken with cerebral palsy, wheelchair bound and unable to use his ...

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Wethersfield students help disabled classmate get in the robotics game - FOX 61

NORWALK, CT OMEGA Engineering-sponsored Sim-City robotics team from Simsbury High School who ranked 19 out of the 68 teams in their division at the 4-day FIRST Robotics National Championship in St. Louis.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) runs the largest and oldest student robotics competition in the world. 30,000 students from 39 countries competed this year, with 2,400 volunteers helping 1,394 teams show off their robots to more than 65,000 attendees.

Sim-City finished 19th out of 68 teams in their division after losing in the semifinals because their Alliance Captain robot suffered a drivetrain malfunction, forcing them to rely on a substitute alliance partner they hadnt worked with before, said Mike Bonchick, a consultant for OMEGA whose son was on the Sim-City robotics team.

FIRST teams are high school students that compete under strict rules, limited resources, and an intense six-week time limit, where teams are challenged to work together to raise funds, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors.

Student teams work with STEM professionals to coach them through the build and competition. Millions of dollars of scholarships are also available to participating students.

Dean Kamen, president of DEKA Research & Development Corporation, founded FIRST in 1989. He wanted to inspire students to practice using science, technology, engineering, and math in real-life competition situations that can prepare them for future careers and leadership opportunities.

Everyone at OMEGA is extremely proud of the Sim-City Robotics Team, and we look forward to future competitions together, said Bonchick.

For more information, visitwww.omega.com.

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OMEGA Engineering Sponsors High School Robotics Team at FIRST National Championship - Quality Magazine

Students from Nate Mack Elementary, from left, Chacen Rasavong, Kole Jacobs and Elijah Biddle, were among the Nevada representatives at the 2017 VEX Robotics Worlds competition in Louisville, Ky. inApril.

By Mick Akers (contact)

Friday, May 12, 2017 | 2 a.m.

A group of Henderson students involved in robotics clubs at their various schools recently competed in a world championship with the help of area businesses.

Students from Greenspun Junior High, Basic Academy of International Studies and Nate Mack Elementary earned spots in the 2017 VEX Robotics Worlds competition in Louisville, Ky., after netting state titles in their respective age divisions earlier this year.

With the clubs being entirely self-funded, the hard part wasnt qualifying for the event it was raising the money to travel the more than 1,800 miles to compete.

The business community in Henderson stepped up, raising $12,500 in a single night at a Henderson Chamber of Commerce event in April in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce Foundations Biz + Bots initiative.

Henderson-based tech company Tronox donated $2,500 and Mayor-elect Debra March donated $1,000, for a total of $16,000 for the night, eclipsing the initial $11,000 goal.

Although the students didnt win, they learned lessons at the competition that could prove more valuable than any trophy.

When the Nate Mack students arrived in Louisville, their robot didnt pass the initial inspection because their robot was an inch too big when open. So the students worked together, rebuilt and reprogrammed the robot overnight and ended up netting the highest score theyve ever registered.

We had some matches that were amazing and strong, and some that did not go in our favor, but throughout it, they did not give up and worked as a team, said Nate Mack Elementary robotics team coach Casey Juliano, who initially reached out to the Chamber of Commerce for fundraising help for the teams.

For the next school year, Juliano will switch from teaching third grade to focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) studies. Nate Mack Elementary will convert its library to a STEM library this summer.

As a result of the success, all three schools will expand their robotics clubs presence next year. The Henderson Chamber of Commerce has adopted the teams and will continue to help raise funds.

These robotics teams are preparing students as young as elementary school for jobs that are currently changing the face of the manufacturing industry, said Scott Muelrath, president and chief executive officer of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce. It absolutely behooves the Henderson Chamber to support our citys future workforce by helping them go as far as they can.

These skills are becoming increasingly sought in Nevada, home of such technology companies as Tesla, Faraday Future and Switch, with additional Google and Apple facilities on the drawing board.

The STEM-related economy is growing faster than the nations economy as a whole, according to Nevada K-12 STEM Pipeline, an article by UNLV College of Education instructors David Vallett and P.G. Schrader. In Nevadas elementary schools, about 15 percent of classroom time is dedicated to science instruction, according to the article.

According to the Nevada Advisory Council on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 2016 Strategic Plan, few Nevadans consider STEM careers largely because they are not exposed to STEM education as students or are not made aware of the career opportunities in STEM available to those with some postsecondary education.

Fostering the local manufacturing industrys future workforce supports the goals of the Henderson Development Association, the Chamber of Commerces economic development arm.

Being involved in a robotics team encourages excitement for STEM-related jobs, as well as teamwork, innovation and more, Muelrath said. These are all qualities businesses look for as well. Were excited to support these young professionals on their journey to becoming our future business leaders.

Originally posted here:

Student robotics teams and their business benefactors hope to build on momentum - Las Vegas Sun