Category Archives: Robotics

Today at the inauguralUdacity Intersect conference, the online education startup announced new robotics and digital marketing variants of its popular Nanodegrees an effort to expand its corpus of 21st century skills-based courses. In addition to the new degrees, Udacity is adding 21 new hiring partners spanning the automotive, defense, tech, hardware and telecommunicationsindustries. And, lastly, the company is partnering withDidi Chuxing for a new $100,000 competitionto build safety features for self-drivingcars.

More than 20,000 students have been a part of Udacity Nanodegree programs. Spanning topics like deep learning and VR development, the programs offer students studies that aremore rigorous than a certificate and less intensive than a full degree. The new Nanodegreesannounced today expand the reach of Udacity into marketing and robotics.

This is a blueprint for anyone in higher education, said Sebastian Thrun, co-founder and chairman of Udacity.

Udacitys addition of the Deep Learning Nanodegree might have been a tip-off that the startup would be looking to cater to robotics enthusiasts. The first of two new Nanodegrees will be for robotics. Automation is a hot topic and any future involving machine intelligence will involve software-enabled hardware to increase efficiency. Students interested in this program will need a background ofcalculus, linear algebra, stats, basic physics, Python and computer algorithms.

It is easy to think that Udacity is reaching into uncharted territory with its new Digital Marketing Nanodegree program, but as marketing becomes more reliant on digital channels, new approaches are needed to prepare students for the rapidly changing career. And unlike the Robotics Nanodegree, the Digital Marketing Nanodegree will not require any prerequisite knowledge.

Each program will take three months to complete. Applications for the Robotics and Digital Marketing Nanodegree will open on March 8th and remain open until April 17th. Each term will cost $1,200.

The team also provided an update on Udacitys self-driving car efforts.Udacitys relationship with Didi is going beyond traditional partners. The two are launchinga new competitionto build anAutomated Safety and Awareness Processing Stack (ASAPS) for autonomous vehicles. And, of course, another partner,Velodyne, will be providing the necessary data to fuel the efforts. The competition will have two rounds and begin on March 22nd, with the winners getting $100,000 and the right to implement their code in Udacitys actual self-driving vehicle.

Udacity has made an effort to brand itself as a solution for the education asymmetries that plague the economy. This meant working in tandem with more than 50 hiring partners to both tailor curriculum toemployers needs and match students to prospective jobs.

Students end up at thesecompanies and open up doors to us, added Thrun. Its working, its kind of amazing.

The new partners added today fit the trend of connecting availableNanodegrees directly to open jobs. iRobot and Megabots are both in need of students with an understanding ofmechatronics. But beyond just robotics, Udacity has added companies, large and small, with a global reach.

The startupplans to continue adding new hiring partners and including them in discussions about futurecurriculum. But Thruninsists that there is more thatneeds to be done.

The single thingthat works best is instilling confidence and helping students prep for interviews and get theirCV into shape, insisted Thrun. Youd be shocked at how many people lack the confidence to ace their interview.

To get there, Udacity has been building itscommunity of graduates and putting them to use helpingnew students. Some graduates, like Omar Albeik, a Syrian refugee studying in Istanbul, are hired to develop websites and other side projects, sometimes for Udacity and sometimes for other companies. Other former studentsevaluate project submissionsand offer mentorship.

Albeik, who contributed back to Udacity as part of its Blitz team, didnt sign up for Udacity because of its pitch to help with securinga job. Instead, it was about the ability to try to experiment with something without being forced to commit to it.

When I started learning, I was learning for the sake of learning, said Albeik. I wanted to choose what area to go into and Nanodegrees helped me discover.

But for when the time comes, the corporate relationships certainly dont detract. Thefull list of new hiring partners is below:

X

Megabots

iRobot

Fiat Chrysler

Lockheed Martin

Kuka

Delphi

Innovation Works

Ross Intelligence

Renovo

Velodyne

Paytm

1mg

Zomato

ZEISS

SAP

CI&T

IBM Brazil

Telefonica Vivo Brazil

Zalando

Rakuten

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Udacity adds robotics and digital marketing Nanodegree programs ... - TechCrunch

An Australian team will do battle next week against 24 other outfits in pursuit of $US5 million ($6.6 million) prizemoney at the Abu Dhabi Formula One circuit.

But they won't be racing cars. Instead, the University of NSW engineers will compete using drones and a ground-based robot in a search and disaster response simulation.

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The only Australian team to compete in the $6.6 million Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Competition leaves this weekend for Abu Dhabi to do battle against 25 teams from 11 countries.

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The only Australian team to compete in the $6.6 million Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Competition leaves this weekend for Abu Dhabi to do battle against 25 teams from 11 countries.

It is the richest robotics competition in the world and is named after the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Bin Zayed.

"The focus of the competition is disaster response," said Mark Whitty, lead researcher for the engineering team.

"Take the Fukushima disaster, when the Japanese reactor went into meltdown. The robots they tried to place were unable to do things like walk up stairs, unscrew nuts and bolts basically incapable of doing anything useful."

Dr Whitty said that while the competitions are fun, the end goal is for the deployment of search-and-respond robotics that are safe, co-operative and autonomous.

"A big challenge in using robotics during disasters is communication," he said. "From 9/11 on, there have been problems. We need systems that don't rely on cables or uncertain WiFi and other systems."

The UNSW team must use drones they have designed to locate and land on moving vehicles. Those four hexacopter drones Flippy, Floppy, Flappy and Fally were developed by seven students and three UNSW researchers.

One drone will land on a truck, pick up a target object and deliver it to a final destination.

But that's just the first of their heroic labours they also have to use an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to approach a mock disaster site.

The UGV, called Pepper, has a top speed of three metres a second - about 11 kilometres an hour. The drones can fly at 60km/h, but the competition speed limit is 30km/h.

"Our UGV has to drive to a location, identify and pick up a certain size spanner, then grip it and use it to turn a valve stem," said project leader Dr Stanley Lam.

In total there are four challenges:

The UNSW team has entered all four challenges and Dr Whitty rates their chances.

"Of the 25 teams selected we are ranked second of those that are funded independently," Dr Whitty said.

"We are taking a crack team of students. It's the same group that won best technical performance and blitzed the course record at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition in 2015," he said.

The team's name, Saving Robert, "came out of our lab's theme of saving vegetables", says team member John Lam, who now works at Microsoft in Seattle.

"We had a pet onion plant in the lab called Allen and it died," Mr Lam said. "We've now moved on to a carrot, called Robert, but we haven't planted it yet."

What will they do with the prizemoney if they win?

"I imagine the students will want to continue to support the development of robotics at UNSW," Dr Whitty said.

This could be in the form of preparing for other events, buying equipment and supporting younger students, including high-school kids, he said.

In total, 143 teams from 35 countries applied to enter the competition. But only 25 made the final cut.

Other teams that are through include some of the best robotics outfits in the world from Carnegie Mellon University (USA), ETH Zurich, University of Tokyo and Imperial College London.

Three of the 10 team members are UNSW graduates: Stephanie McArthur is now at Google Waymo, working on self-driving car technology; John Lam is at Microsoft in Seattle; and Samuel Marden is at Uber in Pittsburgh.

Other team members are Chris Lu, William Andrew, Daniel Castillo, Harry Dudley-Bestow and Dominik Daners.

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UNSW team chase $6.6 million prizemoney at Abu Dhabi robotics competition - The Sydney Morning Herald

The Chancellor Philip Hammond said the funds would keep the UK at the forefront of disruptive technologies. However, the funding was criticised as inadequate by some in the industry, who pointed out that it can cost hundreds of millions of pounds to develop one technology alone.

While of course any investment in our technology industry is welcome, a leading world economy like the UK should be more decisive in its efforts to boost the development of disruptive technologies, said Alfonso Hernandez, the chief executive of language software firm SDL.

A 270m pot to cover everything from artificial intelligence, robotics, driverless cars and new biotech isnt big when you put it into context. The US spent more than $1bn (820m) on R&D in AI-related technologies alone in 2015. For the UK to be a true global leader in these areas, we must be prepared to provide adequate funding and support.

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Budget 2017: Funding for robotics and batteries dismissed as ... - Telegraph.co.uk

The Pleasant Hill High School robotics team, Gromits Grommets, took first place in the Winning Alliance category of a state robotics competition Feb. 26, guaranteeing the team a spot in a regional competition scheduled for Thursday through Saturday in Tacoma.

The six students were on one of 48 teams from across Oregon that competed in the First Tech Challenge Championship Tournament that was held at Polytechnic High School in Portland.

Rick Faber, a mentor for the team and parent of one of its members, said its rare when a school thats not from the Portland area wins the competition.

Oregon has a lot of stiff competition, especially in the Portland area, Faber said.

Team members include Hannah Gibson, 18, Tristan Barrett, 14, Nathan Faber, 16, Dylan Hammond 15, Ana Borg, 14, and Gabe Placko, 16. They began building their robot in September after rules and details of the competition were released.

Each year, the students are trying to score as many points as possible, but each year the rules and goals of the game are different, Faber said.

During the competition, one team is paired with another to compete against two other teams that have been paired together. Essentially two robots are on one team, two are on the other and theyre battling for points. The team to rack up the most points wins.

As a part of this years rules, each team could receive points for having their robot complete certain tasks on its own, such as pushing buttons, placing a yoga ball through a hoop and throwing whiffle balls into a goal. The students program the robots to complete these tasks before the competition starts.

If one wire is faulty or one screw is loose, it can ruin the whole thing, Faber said.

Members of Gromits Grommets were the captains of the Winning Alliance, which means they earned first place in the competition portion of the tournament. During the judgment part of the tournament, team members talked through the intricacies of their robots before a panel of judges.

Follow Alisha on Twitter @alisharoemeling. Email alisha.roemeling@registerguard.com .

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Pleasant Hill High robotics team wins at state tournament, heads to regional - The Register-Guard

For their first competition in school history, the A.L. Brown robotics team hit the high seas and took top honors.

Six students teamed together to create a daring nautical map for their pirate ship robot to navigate, braving turbulent waters, escaping a whirl pool and battling enemies along the way.

Though the project took weeks of preparationand a six-hour cram session the Saturday beforethe effort paid off in a first-place victory at the statewide N.C. Beta Club Robotics Team competition with the opportunity now to compete at nationals.

This is the very first year Beta Club has had this competition at convention, Robotics Club advisor and A.L. Brown science and engineering teacher Jason Stegall said. This will be a were learning as we go. We had a small taste at the state level, and the national level will be same rules, same guidelines, but obviously the competition gets a lot stiffer. So well have to have a better understanding of what our true goals are for moving, shaking, creatingwhich is so wide open.

N.C. Beta Club holds a statewide convention each year with a host of competitions, and this year the group added a robotics component. Eight schools, including A.L. Brown, signed up. And this particular contest took a bit of a different approach.

In a lot of competitions, it is a scoring of how many balls you can put in the hoop, how quickly can you move this to there, Stegall said. This one was purely a theme. Make a robot that is autonomous, which means theres no remote controlit is sensor driven, that can demonstrate moving, shaking, creating. That was the entire competition that you were trying to fulfill.

Teams earned points for how well they worked together, whether the robot was truly autonomous, and how it demonstrated the moving and shaking and creating aspects.

And, of course, each team had to devise a theme.

The Wonders in the end settled on pirates, though it was not the first idea the team tried.

We got started, and we had to just scrap it and start again, which again is one of the reasons you do these things, Stegall said. You realize that not all things worth doing are as simple as we do it this way and it all works. We let them know, yeah, a lot of times you fail at your first attempts, or you realize you need to make drastic changes and move on. They learned that quite well.

As part of the competition, each team could bring a floor for their robot, since the devices tend to behave differently on different surfaces. The A.L. Brown groupself-dubbed The Seven Seasran with the pirate theme and decided to create a giant nautical map, complete with a compass, sea monsters, islands, coastlines and an enemy fort.

The robot, a pirate ship, was programmed to follow a line, so the map created a path for it to follow through rough waterswith raised patches to simulate rockingand into a whirl pool, where a different sensor told the ship to twirl.

When it came upon another ship, the robot knew to fire, or play recorded sounds of cannons, and when it came upon a fort, it turned to aim at the structure.

It would continue on the path and would come onto a fort, and again it would fire on the fortification, but for that it had to make a different turn, so we could represent when it sees this, a different sensor, Stegall said. So instead of following a line and seeing whats on the floor, this sensor can read distance to objects in front, so it read that the fort was in front and would stop and turn and fire. So it gave us another way to demonstrate our robot as autonomous and using its sensors.

And all of the work, the teacher said, came in the weeks and months leading up to the competition, fine tuning the project and working together to get things done.

Getting the students to work as a big group, having them diligently and efficiently work, work as a team, that is what is actually all of the effort and all of the reason that you do these things, he said. Theyre learning things about robotics, but theyre also learning team and collaboration and being responsible. When someone says Im going to bring this tomorrow, and then they dont, that peer pressure makes them realize, oh, I do have to keep up with this.

The students themselves recognized the importance of this having gone through it once and said they were eager to apply at the next level.

I learned, I think, teamwork is a really excellent skill to have, Jesse Peterson said. I think it really helped us win states.

Communication is also crucial, the students said, and something they need to improve next time around.

I would say learn from your mistakes because it didnt go 100 percent the first time, and now we know how to fix everything and make it better, Jackson Holsclaw said. Im looking forward to working on it and doing a whole new project again and a new robot, change it up.

The Seven Seas have decided to brainstorm a different theme for the national competition, which will feature the top three winners from each state Beta Club conventionthat can make the tripand takes place June 29 at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Stegall said if the school can raise the money, the team intends to go, and go to win.

We have every intent to place, so were not just going to Disney, he said. Were going to compete because it takes too much time. Theres no reason to take this much time and then not have the students focus on it.

The team has already begun, going back to the drawing board and trying to up the ante for what they anticipate to be a much more rigorous field.

Looking at what we did and thinking that the national competition will be much more competitive, I believe were going to do an entire overhaul of how were going about the competition, Stegall said. What we realized is once the students get to the point of its working, we have most of the props made, we have everything fully operational, there is still lots of time necessary to make it right. That is where we learned where time is truly valuable.

So we need to be at that point where everything is mostly working, we need to have time to finesse and fix, and that takes weeks. We need more time since were trying to do more for nationals.

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Wonders robotics takes 1st at state - Independent Tribune

The INQUIRER

Budget 2017: Robotics, driverless cars and 5G to get UK funds BBC News Funding for research into robotics and a next-generation 5G mobile network, has been announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond as part of his Budget. He also promised more money to support the development of driverless cars and electric vehicle batteries ... Budget 2017: Government pledges funding for 5G and robotics, againThe INQUIRER Budget 2017 UK: Robotics, 5G, broadband and everything promised for "disruptive" tech by Philip HammondCity A.M. Robotics, driverless vehicles and 5G receive welcome boost in the 2017 BudgetiNews The Independent -Fund Strategy -Citywire.co.uk all 1,377 news articles »

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Budget 2017: Robotics, driverless cars and 5G to get UK funds - BBC News

Robotic Industries Association Posted 03/08/2017

Emerging Companies with Range of Offerings from Platform-as-a-Service to Actuators to 3D Vision Technology

ANN ARBOR, MI Today the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the leading global advocate for the benefits of automating and producers of Automate 2017, announced the eight finalists in the Automate Launch Pad Startup Competition. The competition highlights the industrys most innovative young companies in robotics, machine vision, and motion control who are competing for the spotlight at the Automate 2017 Show and a $10,000 cash award. Sponsored by GE and co-produced by Silicon Valley Robotics, the competition provides innovative startup companies with an opportunity to generate awareness of their technology and find new sources of funding.

The eight finalists will compete for the top prize at Automate 2017 on April 5 at 3:00pm in a theatre on the exhibition floor at McCormick Place in Chicago, where they will pitch their technology solution to a panel of judges. All finalists will also be awarded booth space at Automate, giving them the opportunity to engage with over 20,000 expected attendees. The eight finalists were chosen from a field of over 30 contestants offering a mix of products and services.

Automation is among the most dynamic emerging markets, with venture funding increasing robustly each year, stated Jeff Burnstein, president of A3. The finalists in the Automate Launch Pad Startup Competition represent the many types of innovation that will transform the manufacturing and services sectors over the next decade.

Automate Launch Pad Competition Finalists

Meet the Judges A distinguished panel of automation industry leaders and investors will select the competition winner. The judges will be participating in a Fireside Chat in the theatre on the show floor, April 5, 10:30am 12pm about their experiences in investing in robotics and automation. Andra Keay, Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, will moderate. Below is the list of judges:

Final Round at Automate 2017 The winner of the grand prize will be announced at the end of the competition on April 5. Automate 2017 will be held at Chicagos McCormick Place April 3-6. Attendees may register here. Prospective exhibitors can find more information on exhibition opportunities at the event website.

About Association for Advancing Automation (A3) The Association for Advancing Automation is the global advocate for the benefits of automating. A3 promotes automation technologies and ideas that transform the way business is done. A3 is the umbrella group for Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA - Advancing Vision + Imaging, and Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA). RIA, AIA, and MCMA combined represent over 1,000 automation manufacturers, component suppliers, system integrators, end users, research groups and consulting firms from throughout the world that drive automation forward. For more information, please visit our websites: A3 - RIA - AIA - MCMA.

Company Contact Bob Doyle, Director, Communications Tel: 734-994-6088

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A3 Announces Finalists in Automate Launch Pad Startup Competition - Robotics Online (press release)

North Marion hosted latest event Feb. 25 and will send students to state competition in coming weeks

The Presidents Day weekend was a busy one for the North Marion Voltmasters.

Three new robotics teams, along with their robots, joined the North Marion High School roster: Teams C (The Claw), D (DumDum), and E (The Beast), along with Team B (Scorpion), attended the rookies-only tournament on Feb. 18 at Dallas High School.

Though the varsity squad didn't enter its robot, Juggernaut, some of the team members traveled to Dallas to support the younger teams.

The Scorpions made their way through the qualifying rounds and when it all over, Samantha Patton was the last member standing, alone in first place.

And with that finish, Patton had the first choices in selecting other teams to join her alliance heading into the quarterfinals. Her alliance would make it to the finals before falling, earning a second place.

Teams C, with members Daniel Gonzalez, Brice Ferrell and Grace Bramel, finished in seventh place, while Team D's Hunter Wierstra and Beau Wilson managed to take 10th.

But the newbie tourney wasn't the end of the robotics weekend.

All North Marion robots attended the rescheduled Sandy tournament on Feb. 20 "and most performed respectably against far more experienced teams," said adviser Sherie Moran. "For some members that had been unable to attend the rookie tournament, it was a bit overwhelming, but they still put in a solid showing."

Teams C and E were able to select their own alliances going into the quarterfinals and although none of the teams made it to the semifinals, "a lot was learned about engineering, robotics and computer science," said Moran.

She added that, thanks to the Presidents Day weekend events, everyone better understood the challenges and were prepared for hosting the Feb. 25 tournament.

"Running a tournament is way different than just watching or participating in one," Moran said. "This is my second year being involved in the VEX robotics tournament circuit and you look at things differently as a host than you do as a coach or spectator, because if it goes well, no one notices, but if it goes badly everyone does!"

But after the event, Moran said all the feedback she's heard said that North Marion ran a professional event that went smoothly and efficiently. Attendees, participants and volunteers had a great time.

Even with their coach busy with hosting duties, the young teams did well and ended up in the middle of the pack at the end of the qualification matches, with the lowest of the five teams beating at least 10 teams and the top team, led by the Scorpion (Team B) ranked at seventh place against some stiff competition. The teams from Molalla, West Salem, Silverton and Sandy took the other top positions and got to be Alliance captains heading into the quarterfinals.

Three of the other North Marion teams were also lucky enough to make it to the quarterfinals and are excited to try again at state tournament, which will be held at Chemeketa Community College on March 10 and 11.

Without missing a beat, the Voltmasters returned to the classroom to make further modifications to their robots, programs and strategies, more determined than ever to improve their standing and chances for a favorable alliance.

"If nothing else, our little club doesn't quit," Moran said, "and we look forward to growing more and doing better at each and every event."

Anyone who would like to learn more about what is getting students excited to enter the field of robotics is invited to volunteer or sponsor a team.

North Marion is looking for volunteers to fill in as judges, referees, field setters, greeters and other helping hands to set up, manage and tear down. Anyone interested can email Moran at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Robotics team makes impressive strides - Pamplin Media Group

TechCrunch

Meet Flippy, a burger-grilling robot from Miso Robotics and CaliBurger TechCrunch Miso Robotics CEO and co-founder David Zito said, We focus on using AI and automation to solve the high pain points in restaurants and food prep. That's the dull, dirty and dangerous work around the grill, the fryer, and other prep work like chopping ... Miso Robotics Unveils "Flippy" in CaliBurger Kitchen, Plans Worldwide RolloutYahoo Finance all 7 news articles »

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Meet Flippy, a burger-grilling robot from Miso Robotics and CaliBurger - TechCrunch

Stevens County made its mark in the FIRST (for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics world last weekend. Both Kettle Falls and Northport high schools have teams in the program.

Thirty teams from Oregon and Washington competed last Friday and Saturday in a game that involved robots collecting and shooting whiffle balls, collecting and placing gears, and climbing a rope.

Each match was played with competing three-team alliances, but the alliances changed from match to match in the qualification rounds. Strategies changed constantly based on each teams capabilities. Each team played in 12 of 60 qualification matches. Permanent alliance selections were made at the start of the quarterfinals, allowing the trio to work together through the higher levels of elimination.

Northport is in its second year of the FIRST program. NHS was in Saturdays winning alliance with teams from Spokane and Palouse. Being on a winning alliance automatically qualified the three robots to compete at the next level.

FIRST Robotics gives students and opportunity to learn and emulate real world career skills in a challenging and exciting way, pointed out Dave Glanville, lead coach for Northport. Every year I am amazed and surprised anew by the growth and development that my team members show.

Veteran Kettle Falls was paired with two teams from Spokane Valley. KFHS made it as far as the quarterfinals. Perhaps even better, though, was being recognized with the Engineering and Inspiration Award.

To be considered for this award, a team must show outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a teams school and community.

Winning this merit-based award makes the Kettle Falls team eligible to compete against other teams in the District championship level Engineering Inspiration Award at Eastern Washington University. Their robot, however, still has to qualify based on points from two competitions.

Our team is on the young side, said KFHS Lead coach Naomi Edwards. But they are doing so much and learning how to take on leadership roles in this complex competition this year. I couldnt be more impressed with their growth this season.

Every FIRST team spends six weeks designing and building a robot to meet specifications and goals. Each of the 155 teams in the Pacific Northwest District compete at two of seven two-day District events. Eligibility for a teams robot to compete at the District Championships (At EWU April 6-8) is based on ranking points earned at their two competitions or being on a winning alliance.

The first of the seven weekends saw 70 teams competing within the District. Northports team is currently ranked 11th and Kettle Falls is 29th. Both teams will compete March 17-18 at Central Washington University (Ellensburg).

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Stevens County robotics team's excel in competition - Eastern Washington Statesmen Examiner