Category Archives: Robotics

April 7, 2017 5:43 PM

CHICAGO (CBS) Some of the most creative young minds in robotics will be showing off their creations at The Museum of Science and Industry as it prepares for National Robotics Week.

CBS 2s Vince Gerasole got a sneak peek at the artificial intelligence on display.

Of course, a self-driving mini truck is passing by, this is the Museum of Science and Industry and it even has a name

Its husky, like the dog, said Andrea Daniele, University of Chicago.

Husky is a robot, born in the computer labs of the University of Chicago to do more than run and catch a ball.

Right now its collecting data with the environment and obstacles, Daniele said.

That means Huskys camera and sensors are mapping the environment around him, to navigate the busy corridors of the museum by himself.

You can estimate the orientation and the speed of each person walking, Daniele said.

CBS 2: So right now sensors are picking up the people around us?

Daniele: Yes.

Co-creator Andrea Daniele said Huskys technology can be finessed to help those who cant walk.

We can think about something like that for a robotic wheelchair, Daniele said.

Once it seemed robots only inhabited galaxies far, far away; but the tiny drones that navigate this obstacle course at the Museum of Science and Industry are robots too.

Robotics is an emerging field, said Kathleen McCarthy, Head Curator Museum of Science and Industry.

They are among the creations on display for the upcoming National Robotics Week.

I see so many cool inventions people who are taking this technology and pushing it in useful and creative ways, McCarthy said.

Science fiction may entertain us with dreams of robotic futures, but these scientists dream to help us live better lives today.

The interesting thing about robotics is people can work together ideas from different research areas, Daniele said.

Husky might remind you of a Roomba vacuum, the difference here is he can avoid collisions with moving objects, which could lead to that robotic wheelchair Daniele was talking about.

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The Museum of Science and Industry Prepares For National Robotics Week - CBS Chicago

STERLING The first-year robotics club at Sterling High School is riding a surge of perseverance and creativity to a shot at a world championship.

In winning the Rookie All-Star Award at the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology robotics competition last weekend in Chicago, the club earned a berth in the FIRST world championship April 26-29 in St. Louis.

The club arrived at the regional March 30, only to find out its robot, Goldie, which members built, rebuilt and fine-tuned for 6 weeks, was too big. This year, unbeknownst to the club, the bots bumpers were included in their measurements.

It took 25 minutes to strip Goldie down to her base, and another 7 hours to reassemble.

Theres a reason they gave us the award, right? said Alexis Rivera, the clubs sponsor and a math teacher at the high school.

Judges interviewed team members throughout Friday and Saturday, not just about the impromptu overhaul, but the clubs history.

Clearly they were impressed, enough to honor the team at Saturdays awards ceremony.

Theyre not required to give the award when they feel its truly deserved, Rivera said.

The club finished 44th out of 53 teams, despite completely blowing the front off the bot during Thursdays practice, then needing to change the engine to help it climb a rope more effectively. Goldie also had to pick up balls and throw them in a hoop and carry a gear from one station to another.

In the end, with all the changes we made we ended up with a better robot that was better than the one we started with, Rivera said.

He was floored by other teams assistance in the rebuild.

The other teams were amazing with us, he said. Every time we had to do something, three teams would show up within minutes.

Support back home was impressive, too, with the high school broadcasting the matches in the library. Rivera said interest in the club is surging from students and mentors who want to join to manufacturers eager to donate equipment.

We learned, bonded and grew enormously not just the students and me, but the parents and the mentors, too, Rivera said.

FOLLOW THAT ROBOT

The Sterling High School robotics club is developing its social media presence. "Like" SHS Golden Bots Robotics on Facebook, or follow its blog at goldenbots.blogspot.com.

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Sterling robotics club qualifies for world championship - SaukValley.com

Cimmaron Memorial's entry to the robotics competition (Bradford Boyer | KSNV)

Robots are taking over Las Vegas! No need to worry though, they are the friendly creations of high school students gathering to compete for college scholarships.

Students from around the entire world are gathered here in Las Vegas, going head-to-head in this year's FIRST Robotics Regional Competition.

The competition pits some of the brightest students from 46 different schools from around the entire world against each other in a team robot competition.

This years theme is steam with robots that use steam-driven airships to collect fuel balls to power their boilers.

The spirted event will showcase some of the most unique robotics technology, and the winner will earn a trip to the national championship next month in St. Louis.

Nine teams from the Las Vegas area are in this year's competition. Their coaches said they've worked tirelessly for months and for good reason -- $50 million in college scholarship dollars are up for grabs.

This is the hardest fun that they will ever have, said the Clark High School Robotics Mentor, Coach Victor. They are going to be learning about engineering, programming, electrical engineering, design, teamwork, collaboration, public speaking, business skills and fundraising all in one program."

If you'd like to check out the fun admission to watch the competition is free, aside from parking. For more details, click here.

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Robots invade Cashman Center for Robotics Regional Invitational - News3LV

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. For 4388 Ridgebotics, a Fort Collins-based competitive robotics team with championship dreams, a sponsor was their only hope. The trip to Houston for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship seemed to be financially out of reach that is, until the Denver Broncos and Arrow Electronics stepped in.

The Broncos and Arrow had announced they would support a Colorado FIRST robotics team's trip to the international championship, which hosts teams from 39 countries and takes place April 19-23. After qualifying for the championship, Ridgebotics also took home the sponsorship.

Ridgebotics got the opportunity for the sponsorship after qualifying for the international championship in the Colorado regional that took place at the University of Denver on March 24.

"Before the sponsorship, we weren't sure if we were going to go, considering the funding that we had at that time," Ridgebotics' captain Carissa Vos said. "So we were all looking forward to when we heard we could apply for this and potentially get it. ... And once we found out we got it, we were super excited. We've been awaiting this day ever since."

For many members of the team who are also Broncos fans, the funding isn't even the best part. The best part is being able to represent the Broncos.

"I can't even describe it," Vos said. "Once we found out, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, we're going to have the Broncos' logo on the back of our shirts and ... we're going to have the Broncos and Arrow [as] part of our name when they announce our team a couple times throughout the competition.' And we have the jerseys and some pants and hats that's just super cool, too.

As part of the sponsorship, the Broncos invited Ridgebotics to visit UCHealth Training Center, where they have the young engineers an opportunity to get an inside look Friday at how the team operates. The Ridgebotics members also received shirts, hats and a pair of Broncos jerseys representing the team name before they were to leave for the four-day competition.

The students were pleasantly surprised the Broncos had a sponsorship for a high-school robotics team, as those on the Ridgebotics team knew they would need some help to get to Houston.

When it was announced at [FIRST Robotics Competition] Kickoff, that was just really cool to see, Vos said. "And I was like, All right, weve got to go for that."

In Houston, they will compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition, where teams of high-school students and mentors over six weeks compete in a difficult field game with robots they built over a six-week period.

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Broncos, Arrow team up to power Colorado robotics team to international competition - DenverBroncos.com (blog)

Three students from Selbyville Middle School will be going to the VEX World Robotics Competition in Louisville, Kentucky from April 19 through April 25. Produced by Megan Raymond

The Selbyville Middle school Robotics Team practices on Thursday, March 30, 2017.(Photo: Staff Photo by Megan Raymond)Buy Photo

A steel robot is making a buzz around Selbyville Middle School.

This robot is designed to pick up items with its front-facing claw, move like a NASA Mars rover and get the item over a fence.

But this robot has not been constructed by a team at NASA or a university.

This robot was designed by sixth-graders Kaitlyn Johnson and Evan Carpenter and seventh-grader Kendall Coleman,three students at Selbyville Middle Schooland will be taking them to Louisville, Kentucky, to compete in theVEX Worlds competition from April 19-25.

"We get competitive with the other teams," Johnson said. "It's a lot of fun."

The robots created entirely by the students must be able to knock foam stars off a fence and get a cube onto the other side of a 3-foot fence that divides the arena.

The trio has made several robots this year, but this is the one that has brought them the most success and they designed it in less than four hours, Coleman said.

"We took our previous design apart," she said. "We then found out we had a competition the next weekend, and we had nothing whatsoever. We put this together, and then we got tournament champion that day."

To their knowledge, Colemansaid her team's robot is the only one made by middle school students in the state of Delaware that can get the cube to the other side.

This isn't Coleman's first time going to the world competition, nor is it the first time for Jonathan Casto, one of the two Selbyville Middle robotics coaches.

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Kaitlyn Johnson,6th, Evan Carpenter,6th, Kendall Coleman, 7th, Selbyville Middle school Robotics team has won the right to compete at the world robotics championship in Kentucky.(Photo: Staff Photo by Megan Raymond)

Since Casto started teaching technical education at Selbyville Middle School three years ago, he has sent a robotics team to the world championship each year.

It is the learning environment of the school that enables the teams to excel so often, Casto said.

"Also, parental support is huge," Casto said. "With our fundraising efforts right now, we have so many parents that are involved and taking a very active role, not just with fundraising, but they are here during practice, they help set up for us, they come to all of our competitions. I really think parental support has a lot to do with it."

Tommie Morrison, a teacher at Selbyville Middle School, came to the team partway through the year.

She said she has been impressed with what she has seen, and the team always works hard.

"We practice two times a week, so we put in the extra time and we put in the weekend time," she said. "Sometimes we leave at 6 a.m. and we dont get back until 6 p.m., so theyre long days and the kids are willing to do it. They are really committed, and that is one thing I have been impressed with."

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Kaitlyn Johnson, Selbyville Middle school Robotics team member practices on Thursday, March 30, 2017.(Photo: Staff Photo by Megan Raymond)

The team that is going to the world championship works very well together, Casto added.

He said the team members complement each other and they get together on weekends.

"They will take the robot home with them and they continue to work on it out of school," Castosaid. "They are all strong academically, and they all have strong parental support."

Morrison agreed, and said the team works so well together becauseColeman and Johnson are very detail-orientedand Carpenter is the glue that holds the group together.

As for the team members, they said they are going to enjoy their time together going to the championships.

"We are just ecstatic we have been given the honor to represent our school and our state," Johnson said.

2016 VEX WORLDS:Cape robotics advances to world championships

On Twitter @hughesg19

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Selbyville Middle robotics to go to world championships - Delmarva Daily Times

Franklin County's 4-H Robotics Club competed in FIRST Robotics competition in Pittsburg earlier in March and the Buckeye competition in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 31 and April 1, 2017(Photo: Vicky Taylor/Public Opinion)Buy Photo

CLEVELAND, OHIO - Competition at the FIRST Robotics Buckeye Regional matches in Cleveland last weekend was tough, but Chambersburg's 4-H Robotics Club and its robot Boiling Point put everything they had into the task, win or lose.

They focused on the competition and the opportunity to take their robot into the regionals, determined to do their best and learn from the experience, regardless of the outcome.

In spite of not winning the Buckeye competition, team members and their mentors said they consider the 2017 season to be its most successful so far.

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition is an annual event targeting teen robotics clubs around the world who compete for recognition, as well as experience in the technology field.

From the club's extremely consistent climbing assembly on its robot Boiling Point to its simple and solid gear handling device to its modular electrical assembly, Boiling Point and the club's drive team members proved themselves many times in tough competition.

More:Robotics club to compete in Cleveland

Competition started Friday, when teams were paired with and competed against other teams to determine their rank. Qualification matches continued into Saturday, then the top eight teams choose two other teams to form "alliances" thatwould compete in the playoffs.

Local 4-H Robotics Club member Carlee Beaty described the club's experience in the Buckeye Regional competition, the second such regional competition it completed in this year.

"The drivers behind the player stations are completely zoned in on the match, getting as many gears on the airship as possible and fuel in the boiler.

4-H Robotics Club members, left to right, Seth Young, mentor Troy Young and Chad Beaty work on a robot during a meeting in March.(Photo: Vicky Taylor/Public Opinion)

"Then the buzzer for the last 30 seconds in the match went off for the robots to start climbing, the ropes were let down by the pilots and its a race against time to finish the last task to get the most points.

"All three of the opposing robots on the red alliance successfully climbed the rope as well as the blue alliance (which included local Team4050), but then Team 2632s rope broke and the robot fell when the buzzer went off with no time left!

"The fall broke two wheels on the robot and team 2632 had to pull out of the competition. The referees determined the score for the match, and the red alliance won with 420 points."

More:4-H robotics club excels at regionals

The blue alliance had305 points, but that didn't mean the competition was over for the local team, since the winners were determined by the best two out of three matches. Their alliance still had another chance to move into the semifinals, but first they had to pick another team to replace team 2632.

They chose Team Moonshots 5973 and started their second playoff match.

It was the alliance's last chance to move on and advance in the competition.

Finally, with 30 seconds left,once again the ropes were let down and the drivers rushed to get to the ropes and climb.

Read:Lego Robotics exhibit opens

The red alliance made it up and the blue had two robots up, but Team 5973 was still trying to get a hold of the rope when the timer went off and the match ended.

"The blue alliance did their best," Beaty said. "They learned from their experiences and had fun doing it."

Although they lostthe match, they left the competition on Saturday evening to return to Chambersburgin high spirits.

"What FIRST says is true," Beaty said. "Its more than robots, (and) its more than winning."

Vicky Taylor, 717-881-5373

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4-H Robotics Club team inspired by competition - Chambersburg Public Opinion

SUDBURY The Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School robotics team has reported a successful season this school year, stating that for the first time they are two-time finalists bound for the District Championship at the University of New Hampshire.

The team was founded five years ago at LSRHS, and since then has competed in four For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Robotics Competition seasons. They have been growing as a team, in size and ability.

At the Southeast District Competition on March 10-12, LSRHS Warrior Robotics was picked second by Team 4151. Warrior Robotics was a finalist along with Team 4151 and Team 4176. Additionally, the team was awarded the Safety Award as a result of its Safety Program run by the Safety Captain, Sonia Litovchick.

At the North Shore District Competition on March 17-19, LSRHS Warrior Robotics was picked in the 10th overall by Team 1721, and was once again a finalist alongside the alliance captain and Team 2648.

FIRST is a nonprofit organization that teaches students the ideals of creative thinking and problem solving while also engaging students in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics fields.

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Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School robotics team reports successful season - Wicked Local Sudbury

Fort Gibsons Hostile Gato robotics team moved its robot further into competition than ever.

And that was quite a feat for such a boxy device.

Hostile Gato was part of a three-team alliance that placed second in the FIRST Robotics Oklahoma Regional, held March 22-25 in Oklahoma City.

Fort Gibson sophomore Noah Jorgensen said he felt a big sense of accomplishment and pride after the contest.

Youre seeing a thing that you helped build be able to complete tasks that most people would be stumped on, Jorgensen said.

Teammate Whittman Abbott, also a sophomore, said teams are given six weeks to put their robot together and compete.

Thats six weeks in which we plan it, design it, build it, program it, test it, break it, fix it, play, win, Abbott said.

Fort Gibsons alliance, which included Chickashas Cockadoodle Dominators and RoboLobos from Edmond Santa Fe, competed against eight other alliances to make it to the final round.

According to the FIRST Robotics website, the group played the finals round against Tiger Strike from Broken Arrow, the Circuit Chargers of Tulsa Memorial and Team S.W.A.T. of Smithville, Missouri.

According to the website, Hostile Gatos alliance won the first round, 311 to 235. However, the opposing alliance won the second two rounds.

Alliances and teams were scored on their robots ability to do certain tasks.

Abbot said one task was to shoot balls into targets at each side of the playing field. One point was scored for every three balls shot into a higher target and one point for every nine balls shot into a lower target.

Abbott said this this years theme was steam punk, and the balls were supposed to represent fuel.

Another objective was to program the robot to put gears on an airship.

The team had to preprogram the robots instructions for part of the round and were allowed to directly control the robots the rest of the time.

Abbott said he learned new things, such as how to deal with Plexiglas and Turtle Wax.

We got to do new stuff this year, Abbott said. I never dealt with wiring before, or an actuator. I call it a pusher-outer.

The actuator pushed the gear or docking station onto the peg.

This years Hostile Gato team was made up of 30 students.

Abbott said FIRST Robotics tasks and themes are different each year, so team members could not predict what Hostile Gato must do next year to top this years success.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at (918) 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.

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Fort Gibson robotics team earns second place in competition - Muskogee Daily Phoenix

Its a good sign for the robotics industrythat more and more robotics companies are starting to make major announcements at specialized events andtrade shows, indicating that their robots are ready for tough,real-world applications. This week at ProMat, the premier showcase of material handling, supply chain, and logistics solutions, Fetch Robotics is showing off two very new, and verylarge, stuff-transporting robots.

This video shows the Freight 500, which can handle 500 kilograms of payload, or generally something about the size of a case, which I guess is a standard unit in the area of material handling, supply chain, and logistics solutions. Another standard unit is a pallet, which is significantly bigger, so Fetch also designed the Freight 1500 to carry 1500 kg:

The Freight 1500 weighs just under 470 kg all by itself, but its only 35.5 centimeters (14 inches) tall, which is the same heightas its smaller siblings. It has lidar sensors front and back, a forward-looking RGBD camera, and can run for up to 9 hours while recharging itself to 90 percent in just an hour. And most importantly, it has (almost) as many LEDs on it as anyone could ever want, presumably to help keep it from accidentally flounderizing you.

We should point out that Clearpath Robotics, or rather OTTO Motors, started out with a 1500 kg-class mobile robot in 2015, and followed it up with a 100 kg-class mobile robot about a year ago. Strictly in terms of payload, OTTO and Fetch are now closely matched, with Fetchs 500 kg-class robot perhaps giving them the edge in versatility, at least for now.

As always, though, the really tricky part about robots is in the software, not so much the hardware, points out Fetch CEO Melonee Wise: In many ways the hardware is extremely similar, she says. It basically all comes down to the software, and how the differing sensors are used to autonomously navigate a facility.

As much as I would love to see Fetch and OTTOs beefcake robots battle it out in some sort of exciting and dramatic material handling and logistics competition (if such a thing could possibly exist), I would imagine that the market for intelligent robots that can move things safely is large enough to be able to feed Fetch, OTTO, and the handful of other robotics companies in the space right now.

[ Fetch Robotics ]

IEEE Spectrums award-winning robotics blog, featuring news, articles, and videos on robots, humanoids, drones, automation, artificial intelligence, and more. Contact us:e.guizzo@ieee.org

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Fetch Robotics Introduces Burly New Freight Robots - IEEE Spectrum

The Philomath High Robotics Engineering Division team finished third out of 36 teams during district qualifying matches March 24-25 in Oregon City, but missed out on advancing to this months regional championship.

Competing in a Pacific Northwest District FIRST Robotics meet at Clackamas Academy of Industrial Sciences, PHREDs high finish allowed the team to select alliance partners and move on to the quarterfinals. However, the Philomath squad lost a tiebreaker in the quarters by a narrow margin to see its season come to an end.

Following a March 10-11 competition at Wilsonville, PHRED team members prepared for the Oregon City meet making software and hardware modifications over the two-week period.

Each year, the robotics teams have six weeks to design and build a robot to play a game where two teams of three robots complete various tasks in autonomous and player-operated modes.

This years game, "Steamworks," featured several tasks that the robots may perform in order to score points on a field about the size of a basketball court. Robots can shoot large whiffle balls 8 feet in the air to make a basket, deposit whiffle balls or a large gear in a low position, or climb a rope to a height of about 4 feet off the ground, all within 2 minutes, 15 seconds.

PHREDs district appearance at Wilsonville included 40 other teams from Oregon, Washington and Alaska. According to a team mentor, the largest challenge at the competition was the field equipment cutting the teams climbing rope. PHREDs robot fell three times from at or near the top of the rope but team members worked quickly to repair damage and did not miss a match.

The top-ranked 64 teams from Oregon, Washington and Alaska will compete Thursday through Saturday at Eastern Washington University in Cheney. Winners advance to the world championships April 19-23 in Houston.

PHRED officials said the team will now move into the offseason focusing on learning new skills, recruiting new members and raising funds for next year.

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PHRED wraps up robotics season with district competitions - Corvallis Gazette Times