Category Archives: Robotics

Image: Agility Robotics via YouTube Cassie is a dynamic bipedal robot developed by Agility Robotics, which says it could be used for research, disaster relief, and, long term, delivery of packages.

Today, Agility Robotics, a spin-off of Oregon State University, is officially announcing a shiny new bipedal robot named Cassie. Cassie is a dynamic walker, meaning that it walks much more like humans do than most of the carefully plodding bipedal robots were used to seeing. This makes it better at handling the kind of diverse and complex terrain that we walk over all the time without even thinking, a talent thats going to be mandatory for robots that want to tackle the different environments and situations that theyll need to master to be actually useful around people.

In addition to search-and-rescue and disaster relief, Agility Robotics has one particular environment and situation in mind: They want Cassie to be scampering up your steps to deliver packages to your front door.

Cassie is just three months old in this video, which, if you consider the typical pace for teaching a bipedal robot that you designed from the ground up from scratch to walk without constantly falling over, is quite frankly astonishing. As you can see in the video, theyre not being shy with what they ask Cassie to do: Its on dirt, its on grass, its balancing on a wobbly dock surrounded by an alarming amount of water, its even standing outside in the rain, which is an important feature for any robot that spends much time in Oregon.

And if Cassie looks a bit more like an ostrich than a human, it wasnt because Agility Robotics was specifically trying for an ostrich-like robot: They dont want to necessarily mimic the morphology of animals, although they do study animal behavior and dynamicsfor inspiration and insights. So while ground-running birds may have had the idea first, Agility Robotics intelligently designed Cassie to be agile, efficient, and robust, and this is the leg that they came up with.

Agility Robotics may be a new company, but its made up of the folks behind the ATRIAS robots, including MARLO at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Cassie is the next-generation robot thats intended to take everything that was learned from the ATRIAS project and build it into a platform thats both more capableand more practical, as Agility Robotics co-founder (and OSU professor) Jonathan Hurst tells us:

There were many, many unknowns in the design of ATRIAS. ATRIAS was the first machine to demonstrate human-like gait dynamics and implement spring-mass walking [reproducingthe ground reaction forces and center-of-mass motion of human walking], but it wasnot a practical machine for any use other than science demonstration.

We learned a few key things with ATRIAS: First, the legs on ATRIAS are configured as a 4-bar linkage, in part to create minimum inertia for the spring-mass model embodiment. However, the configuration results in one motor acting as a brake on the other, with a lot of power cycling internally between motors rather than doing work on the world. After some analysis, we developed the specific leg configuration of Cassie. This allows the motors to be smaller, and the robot to be far more efficient than even ATRIAS was.

In addition to increased efficiency, Cassie has all kinds of other practical improvements over ATRIAS. It has a 3-degrees-of-freedom hip like humans do, allowing the robot to move its legs forward and backward, side to side, and also rotate them at the same time. This makes Cassie steerable in a way that ATRIAS wasnt. It also has powered ankles, which it uses to stand in place without having to constantly move its feet the way ATRIAS does, and it has enough battery power to run some beefy on-board computers, meaning that integrated perception is now an option.

University of Michigan engineering professorJessyGrizzle, who wrangles the ATRIAS robot named MARLO at the Dynamic Legged Locomotion Lab, is getting one of the first Cassie robots, and both he (and his students, who have the thankless job of making sure that MARLO doesnt faceplant during their outdoor tests) are particularly excited about how durable Cassie is. Cassie is tough, Grizzle tells us. Its designed for the rough and tumble life of an experimental robot. In principle, we should not have to use a safety gantry of any kind. This will allow us to take the robot into wild places.

Meanwhile, Agility Robotics is already looking beyond research towards commercial applications for Cassie, Hurst tells us:

If we really understood how to implement dynamically capable legs, there would be so many applications for them, including search-and-rescue, exoskeletons, powered prosthetic limbs, and package delivery.

I believe legged locomotion is going to be analogous to the automotive industry, in terms of size and how it transforms our society. We all want telepresence robots; we all want robots that can help us in our homes. We all want groceries and other goods delivered to our homes on a moments notice and for insignificant cost. We all want the cost of manufactured goods to be significantly reduced through more efficient logistics throughout the manufacturing process. Cassie is a step in this direction: it is a first product that will initially be sold to research institutions to support a community of researchers solving the problem of locomotion in the human environment, and Cassie will continue to improve and evolve, as Agility Robotics focuses on products and commercial customers.

Hurst tells us that arms and sensors are coming soon, which will enable Cassie to get up by itself after a fall, and theyre also working on VR-style telepresence. In terms of cost, Agility Robotics wouldnt disclose specific numbers, saying only that theirgoal is to end up with sub-$100k robots.

The company says the initial Cassie production run is already completely sold out, but if you want one to play with, more will be available later in the summer. As far as using Cassie to deliver packages, its a compelling idea, and we can see the benefits: In a world where so much of our spacesare designed around bipedal mobility, a bipedal robot could become the easiest and most reliable platform to do anything practical. Cassie has some work to do before its ready to be hauling groceries up stairs for you, but were very much looking forward to watching this robot taking more steps toward robust and dynamic legged locomotion.

[ Agility Robotics ]

IEEE Spectrum's 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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Capacitor-powered water-cooled motors make this humanoid superstrong 10Apr2013

MARLO has fallen over more times than any legged robot weve ever seen, but it won't give up 3Aug2016

Out of nowhere, at a conference in Japan today, SCHAFT demoed a new bipedal robot designed to "help society" 8Apr2016

A fun-sized version of Spot is the most domesticated Boston Dynamics robot we've seen 23Jun2016

The founder of Boston Dynamics describes how his team built one of the most advanced humanoids ever 24Feb2016

Watch this bipedal robot get attacked by vicious dodgeball-loving researchers 12Mar2015

Rodney Brookss startup Rethink Robotics is releasing software to make its robot Sawyer more versatile and easier to program 7Feb

Take a walk, a jog, or a bike ride with 19 kg of stuff autonomously following you 2Feb

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos 27Jan

R&D lab Draper is using genetic engineering and optoelectronics to build cybernetic insects 25Jan

This factory robot can be trusted not to kill itshumancoworkers 29Dec2016

3DSignals' deep learning AI can detect early sounds of trouble in cars and other machines before they break down 27Dec2016

Exclusive photos take you through the first mission of Stanford's diving robot 21Dec2016

A programmable chip turns a robots long pauses into quick action 19Dec2016

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos 16Dec2016

Automation allows thousands of possibilities when building weird new organisms 29Nov2016

KAIST's PIBOT can sit in the pilot's seat and fly a regular aicraft just like a human would 15Nov2016

I don't know what a robot-plant biohybrid is, but I'm sure there's a horror movie in there somewhere 15Nov2016

Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos 4Nov2016

Quantum computing pioneers want to patent AI telerobotics controlled by humansand monkeys 22Sep2016

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Agility Robotics Introduces Cassie, a Dynamic and Talented Robot ... - IEEE Spectrum

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students and mentors work during a six-week period to build game-playing robots that weigh up to 120 pounds (54kg).[6] Robots complete tasks such as scoring balls into goals, flying discs into goals, inner tubes onto racks, hanging on bars, and balancing robots on balance beams. The game changes yearly, keeping the excitement fresh and giving each team a more level playing field. While teams are given a standard set of parts, they are also allowed a budget and encouraged to buy or make specialized parts. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is one of four robotics competition programs organized by FIRST, the other three being FIRST Lego League Jr. (Jr. FLL), FIRST Lego League (FLL), and the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC).

FRC has a unique culture, built around two values. Gracious Professionalism embraces the competition inherent in the program, but rejects trash talk and chest-thumping, instead embracing empathy and respect for other teams. Coopertition emphasizes that teams can cooperate and compete at the same time.[7] The goal of the program is to inspire students to be science and technology leaders.

In 2016, the 25th year of competition, 3128 teams with roughly 75,000 students and 19,000 mentors from 24 countries built robots. They competed in 53 Regional Competitions, 65 District Qualifying Competitions, and 8 District Championships.[3] 600 teams won slots to attend the FIRST Championship, where they competed in a tournament. In addition to on-field competition, teams and team members competed for awards recognizing entrepreneurship, creativity, engineering, industrial design, safety, controls, media, quality, and exemplifying the core values of the program.

Most teams reside in the United States, with Canada, Israel, and Mexico contributing significant numbers of teams.[3]

FIRST was founded in 1989 by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, with inspiration and assistance from physicist and MIT professor emeritus Woodie Flowers. Kamen was disappointed with the number of kidsparticularly women and minoritieswho considered science and technology careers, and decided to do something about it. As an inventor, he looked for activities that captured the enthusiasm of students, and decided that combining the excitement of sports competition with science and technology had potential.

Distilling what sports had done right into a recipe for engaging young people, Kamen says, turned out to be relatively straightforward. "It's after school, not in school. It's aspirational, not required," he explained to me.

"You don't get quizzes and tests, you go into competitions and get trophies and letters. You don't have teachers, you have coaches. You nurture, you don't judge. You create teamwork between all the participants. We justify sports for teamwork but why, when we do it in the classroom, do we call it cheating?"

Kamen has stated that FIRST is the invention he feels most proud of, and predicts that participants will be responsible for significant technological advances in years to come.[9] The first FRC season was in 1992 and had one event at a high school gymnasium in New Hampshire.[10] That first competition was relatively small-scale, similar in size to today's FIRST Tech Challenge and Vex Robotics Competition games. Robots relied on a wired connection to receive data from drivers; in the following year, it quickly transitioned to a wireless system.[11][12]

Countries currently represented (in decreasing order of number of teams, as of 2016)[3]

The FIRST Championship is the culmination of the FRC competition season, and occurs in late April each year. Roughly 600 teams participated in 2015. On May 5th, 2016, FIRST announced that from the 2017 season and onward, there would be two FIRST Championships. One for the Northeast taking place in St.Louis MO, and one for the Southwest taking place in Houston TX.[13]

The 2017 & 2018 Geographical Assignment Map can be seen here...[13]

From 1996 to 1998, the FIRST Championship was covered by ESPN.[14] Live coverage is currently provided by NASA TV, which can be viewed on the internet, TVRO, DirecTV, and Dish Network; the sophistication of the broadcast of each event is dependent on the organizers of that event, and range from professionally called with color commentary, such as the 2011 Michigan State Championship, to single-camera setups with no commentary other than the on-field play caller.

The PBS documentary "Gearing Up" followed four teams through the 2008 season.[15]

In the television series Dean of Invention, Dean Kamen made appeals promoting FIRST prior to commercial breaks.[16]

During the 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition season, FIRST team 3132, Thunder Down Under, was followed by a Macquarie University student film crew to document the first year of FRC in Australia. The crew produced a documentary film called I, Wombot.[17][18] The film premiered during the 2011 Dungog Film Festival.[19][20]

A book called The New Cool was written by Neal Bascomb about the story of Team 1717 from Goleta, California as they competed in the 2009 game season. A movie adaptation directed by Michael Bacall is being produced.[21]

The CNN documentary "Don't Fail Me: Education in America", which aired on 15 May 2011, followed three FRC teams during the 2011 season. The documentary profiled one student from each team, covering different geographic and socioeconomic levels: Shaan Patel from Team 1403 Cougar Robotics, Maria Castro from Team 842 Falcon Robotics, and Brian Whited from Team 3675 Eagletrons.[22]

On 14 August 2011, ABC aired a special on FIRST called "i.am FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll"[23] that featured many famous musical artists such as The Black Eyed Peas and Willow Smith. will.i.am himself was the executive producer of the special. The program placed a special focus on the FIRST Robotics competition, even though it included segments on the FIRST Tech Challenge, FIRST Lego League, and Junior FIRST Lego League.[citation needed]

The movie 'Drive Like A Girl' followed the Bronx High School of Science's all girls robot team the Fe Maidens

For the 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, five FRC teams and their robots led the parade, with one robot cutting the ribbon and the others shooting confetti.[24][25]

In the 2014 movie Transformers: Age of Extinction, a FRC Robot built by Team 2468, Team Appreciate, for the 2012 Season was featured in Cade Yeager's garage shooting the foam basketball game pieces from Rebound Rumble.[26]

The 2015 Kickoff was, for the first time, broadcast by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, and was available via OnDemand for the month of January 2015.[27]

The fourth season of The Fosters (2013 TV series) had several episodes featuring characters competing in a regional FRC competition, most notably episode 8 "Girl Code".[28]

Older logo from website (until 2015)

Intermission during Aim High in Los Angeles, encouraging teams to socialize

The 2006 Triplets of 1114, 1503, and 1680. 1114 and 1503 won 3 regionals each, while 1680 won a silver finalist medal and was a quarterfinalist twice.

Competition at the 2008 Hawaii regionals.

"Barrage", Team 254's 2014 World Champion FRC robot

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FIRST Robotics Competition - Wikipedia

While Boston suffers through its first real snow day of the year, I wanted to update you on Robo Madness: A.I. Gets Real.

Were mapping out the program for our March 28 conference at Google in Kendall Square (looking forward to that spring weather). This will be our annual convention of robotics and artificial intelligence experts, startups and investors, and other business and tech leaders. Im pleased to say weve confirmed some new speakers:

Helen Greiner, founder and CTO of CyPhy Works, a prominent drone company. (Greiner is also a co-founder of iRobot.)

Richard Waters, CEO of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories. They are working on self-driving technology, computer vision, and other A.I.-related projects.

Carl Vause, CEO of Soft Robotics. This is an intriguing startup that makes new kinds of grippers and control systems (demo alert).

Carmichael Roberts, general partner from North Bridge Venture Partners. Hes a materials and hardware expert whos plugged into robotics.

Rudina Seseri, managing partner at Glasswing Ventures. Shes diving deep into the market opportunities for A.I.-related companies and products.

They join our all-star cast, which includes Stephen Wolfram of Wolfram Research; Jeremy Wertheimer from Google; Semyon Dukach from Techstars; Tom Ryden from MassRobotics; Max Versace of Neurala; Joshua Feast from Cogito; Slater Victoroff from Indico; and many more.

Well have much more about the program soonget ready for some outstanding demos and hot-button discussions. Tickets have been flying out the door, but you can still grab one here while supplies last. See you all on March 28.

Gregory T. Huang is Xconomy's Deputy Editor, National IT Editor, and Editor of Xconomy Boston. E-mail him at gthuang [at] xconomy.com.

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CyPhy, Mitsubishi, and Soft Robotics Join Robo Madness on March 28 - Xconomy

Have you wondered why something said by a person makes such a deep impact on our minds?Its got to do with the way our brains are wired: they find what they inherently want or like and make it their own. In other words, we internalise what we like as a person.Rajesh Manpats story is also something like this.

When 32-year-old Rajesh heard Infosys founder Narayana Murthy say, No earth shattering idea has been born out of India for the last 60 years, it made a great impact on his mind. Thats because deep down he was an innovator and in Murthys words he found a challenge as well as inspiration.Rajesh had always been passionate about technological innovation. Having been in the automation industry since 2009, Rajesh had developed several inspection automation solutions.But as a subliminal response to Murthys words, he went ahead and built Ark Robot.

Rajesh also gives a part of the credit for Ark Robot to KIVA Systems (now Amazon Robotics), the pioneers of mobile robots for warehouse automation. Before getting ready to execute the Ark Robot project, Rajesh visited one of the largest warehouses in India to gauge the problems they faced. He spent the next few days designing and refining the concept for Ark Robot. But before building Ark Robot, he launched iFuture Robotics in June 2016 as its maker.

The Ark in Ark Robot stands for Autonomous Robot for Known environment. It is a mobile robot that can navigate autonomously to any location in a known workspace. The arms and grippers of the robot can be used to store and retrieve inventory. A server communicates between many robots in a single environment and sends each robot a task. The server talks to customer websites and routes work to independent robots in real-time.

Earlier, manpower had to run miles all around the warehouse to find goods and carefully bring them to the exit point. Another thing to be considered is that manpower efficiency is not consistent, and varies throughout the day due to fatigue. Human personnel also need constant monitoring and trainingand require the supply of lights and air-conditioning.

Rajesh, who did a bachelor's in Computer Science from PES University (Bengaluru) and an MBA from Karnataka State Open University, says,

"Our robots assist manpower by bringing the required goods to the pick stations. Now, a worker in the warehouse is required to sit at one place, with the goods coming to him efficiently and accurately. Just like in any other industry, there are definite advantages in automation here - machines can be faster and durable, and see better ROI when compared to manual operations.

In 2013, Rajesh invented Elite Scorer, an electronic target system for rifle shooting sport and the defence market. It is used to score targets in real-time and provide a digital display of shot locations. According to Rajesh, Elite Scorer was a success, having sold in 26 countries, and is a patented product.

The Elite Scorer project enabled Rajesh to build a team with technical expertise, gain financial strength, and understand the product development lifecycle. He says,

There were many opportunities I came across, such as in the defence, medical or dental fields. But I decided to work on robotics as it is a subject that I feel very passionate about. I had twice attempted to get into robotics since 2010, but lacked the financial resources to venture into it at the time.

Before stumbling into the world of entrepreneurship, Rajesh was a national level rifle shooting championand won many medals. He was part of the national squad in 2007 before he decided to start up with iFuture Systems in 2008, with a seed capital of Rs 5,000. iFuture Systems, under which he built Elite Scorer, was Rajeshs first venture.

Rajesh now boasts of having nine years of experience in building machine vision systems, automation machines and control systems. He claims to have 10 India and US patents applications in various fields.

Since Ark Robot won the Qualcomm Design in India challenge, resulting in Qualcomm becoming their investor, they gained access to technical, strategy and intellectual property advice from the telecommunications equipment giant. Prior to leveraging Qualcomm as a technology partner, Ark Robot solely relied on shelf embedded hardware. Qualcomm Innovation Lab has also given Ark Robot access to Qualcomm products that are built for IoT applications. Ark Robot is being deployed by a few leading e-commerce companies as a part of a pilot study, according to Rajesh.

Ark Robot also offers a parcel sorting system as a separate product to logistics companies, and the product is gaining significant traction as well. Bengaluru-based Ark Robot currently has a team of 30 members, and the number will likely go up to 40 by the end of February. The startup, at present, is focusing on the domestic market, with plans to go global in the next two years.

The industrial robotics market globally is expected to reach $ 79.58 billion by 2022, according to a report by Markets and Markets. Among the key drivers of this growth are factors like demand for collaborative industrial robots from small and medium-scale enterprises in China, Japan, South Korea and India, and the increasing investments in countries such as India to fuel the manufacturing sector as a part of the Make in India initiative.

Among the hardware startups that are striving to make a mark in the robotics industry is Bengaluru-based space startup Team Indus, which is planning to launch a mission on December 28 this year through ISROs PSLV rocket. Gurgaon-based Grey Orange designs and builds products to help e-commerce, logistics and manufacturing companies improve productivity and automate processes in their warehouse operations. i2u2, another prominent player in the space, enables users to be virtually present at the location where the robot is, thereby allowing people to interact, monitor, or move around with family, friends, and colleagues. It can be controlled remotely through a mobile, tablet, or PC via an app connected to the internet.

Website:iFuture Robotics

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iFuture Robotics cuts manpower needs of warehouses with its mobile robots - YourStory.com

Last year marked the fourth straight year that Crescent Valley High Schools robotics team qualified for and traveled to the FIRST Robotics world championship.

That meant, of course, that the team had a group of experienced senior leaders who had traveled with the team to the world championship every year.

But it also meant that the team lost seven or eight seniors, mostly from the design and build teams, after last season, said Matthew Sundberg, this years captain and a CV senior who has been on the team since his freshman year.

Sundberg said that this year's team has just five seniors, and their experience is less concentrated in the design and build areas (some come from the business/fundraising/marketing side of the team).

Its been fun and quite a challenge this year; we lost a lot of experienced members last year, he said.

But it's a challenge that comes with opportunity: a large group of new team members.

Were bouncing back," he said. "Its really exciting to focus on new members this year."

Natalie Dupuy, also a CV senior in her fourth year on the team and captain of the business team, said about half of the 36 members are new to the team and most of those are freshmen.

The team is meeting three days a week to work on building its robot for the FIRST Robotics Competition, an event with thousands of teams from the United States and across the world. It tasks teams of high school students with designing and building a robot in just six weeks for a new challenge each year. The teams then bring their robots to regional competitions and play games in small alliances; the winners at those competitions can qualify for regional and then world championship events.

This years challenge involves having robots help teams collect fuel (in the form of whiffle balls) and gears needed for them to power an airship (the control platform the students pilot from). The whiffle balls must be tossed into a target high off the ground and the gears must be placed precisely on pegs. Teams can also earn points at the end of the match by having their robot climb the airship.

Dupuy said the team members have prepared for this build season by doing an unofficial off-season competition, BunnyBot, during the fall. The competition is intended to give new team members a lower-stakes chance to learn to build a robot over a longer build season. According to Dupuy, the CV team has participated in BunnyBot in past years, but often during the competition, seniors would take over finishing the robot in the last weeks so that it would be competition-ready. This year, though, the juniors and seniors didnt touch the robot being built for BunnyBot.

Dupuy said she enjoyed being able to repay the people who trained her by passing her knowledge onto new team members.

Its amazing that years ago someone did that for me, and Im finally able to share, she said.

However, with the end of build season coming Feb. 21, Sundberg said the team is behind where it wants to be: In past years, he said, the drive system was working at this point and team members were focusing on adding other systems to the robot, but this year they arent that far.

He said after team members complete the drive system, they will prioritize completing mechanisms to collect gears for the airship and a climbing mechanism. If time allows, they will add a mechanism for collecting and shooting the whiffle ball fuel for the airship. The programming team is working on software for the robot that would use cameras to help automate some of their processes.

We may not go for every feature we planned, but well be happy with it, he said.

Sundberg said robotics is a great opportunity for high school students to get hands-on experience with engineering and business.

Dupuy added that shes formed a lot of friendships through robotics: including classmates at CV, members of Corvallis High School's robotics team, and even people from all over the world at championship events.

I refer to it as my family of nerds, she said.

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Crescent Valley robotics focused on developing freshmen - Corvallis Gazette Times

The Edge FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team members (from left) Eddie Noll, Matt Lesch, Joey Self, and Muffin Tanks team members Sam Bradin, coach Heinz Bourquin and Lucas Bourquin drive their robots to a first-place finish at the FTC State Championship held at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Feb. 4. The teams advanced to super-regional competition in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in March.(Photo: Submitted)

Four prequalified teams from the Hartland area competed at the 2017 Wisconsin State Championship for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)Tech Challenge (FTC) on Feb.4: The Edge, team 10294, The Knack, team 9956and rookie teams Muffin Tanks, team 11490, and Formal Emus, team 11353.

A total of 24 teams from around Wisconsin met at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to compete in the 2016-17 game Velocity Vortex.

The Velocity Vortex challenge started in September when teams around the world learned the rules of this year's game. Teams design, build and program a robot to complete challenges in the game, played on a 12-foot square field on a soft mat floor. The challenges are worth points during a three-minute match.Alliances of two teams face off in each match, which starts with an autonomous period where robots operate using only preprogrammed instructions, according to the FIRST website atfirstinspires.org.

Each match has two periods of play:the30 second autonomous period, followed by a two-minute driver-controlled period during which drivers attempt to score points by placing particles (small balls) andcap balls (exercise balls), triggering beacons for their alliance or parking the robot on specific parts of the field. The last 30 seconds of the game is the end game, which adds new scoring opportunities.

Students are also required to keep an engineering notebook detailing their design, building and programming process.

The Edge, along with Muffin Tanks won the 2017 FTC State Championship along with their alliance partner, the Supposable Thumbs, team 4106from New Berlin.The Edge will now advance to the North Super-Regionalin Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in March.

The Edge team members are Reagan Zimmerman, Ryan Tabor, Joey Self, Matthew Lesch, Nick Noll, Eddie Noll, Alex Noll and Paul Schlager. They are coached by Kent Tabor, Kirk Noll, Louisa Self, Kevin Self and Debbie Rypkema.

Four Hartland area FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) teams competed at the 2017 Wisconsin State Championship on Feb. 4 at the Universwity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. FTC rookie team 22490 Muffin Tanks (left), FTC team 10294 The Edge (middle), and FTC team 9956 The Knack (right) are pictured at the state competition. FTC team 11353 Formal Emus also competed.(Photo: Submitted)

The Muffin Tanks team includes Lucas Bourquin, Sam Bradin, Jacob Johnson, Erik Giess, Saniya Saluja, who are coached by Heinz Bourquin and Chris Mehling.

Hartland area students in grades seventhrough 12 interested in robotics can join this program sponsored by FIRST, who also supports FIRST Lego League (FLL) at grade schools and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) at high schools. FTC teams usually have sixto 12 students coached by parents and community volunteers who have an interest in teaching students about technology.

To learn more about FIRST robotics programs visitfirstinspires.org.

FIRST Tech Competition (FTC) team The Edge members (from left) Eddie Noll, Matt Lesch and Joey Self drive their robot and place an exercise ball (cap ball) onto the goal in the final seconds of a game at the FTC State Championship at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Feb. 4. Capping the goal counts for 40 points in the game.(Photo: Submitted)

Read or Share this story: http://www.lakecountrynow.com/story/news/local/lake-country-reporter/2017/02/09/hartland-robotics-teams-take-first-tech-challenge-state-competition/97699666/

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Hartland robotics teams take on the FIRST Tech challenge at state competition - Lake Country Now

Botetourt 4-H Phoenix Robotics is a FIRST Robotics Competition team based in Botetourt County. Each year student team members assemble a robot to complete various tasks and compete in tournaments across the state and even more. 4-H through the Phoenix Robotics focuses on teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to youth, promoting youth leadership, positive youth development and youth cooperation and providing learning opportunities for students. Their team consists of students from sixth to twelfth grade and mentors with experience in technology, teaching, money management and organization. The opportunities to give service to the community, build unforgettable experiences and learn skills for modern industry for their members are all because of FIRST's mission and commitment to STEM and 4-Hs commitment to positive youth development.

Botetourt 4-H Phoenix Robotics, previously James River Robotics, formed in 2012 with nine members and two mentors. Their first year proved difficult as FIRST makes every game fun and challenging while James River Robotics was inexperienced. Last year their head coach left the Botetourt County School System and when another faculty coach could not be found, the team found themselves searching for a supporting organization. After many meetings and discussions through the summer, the team was welcomed as a new Botetourt County 4-H community club and Botetourt County 4-H now supports the team and acts as the main sponsor of the team activities and events. Since its beginning, the team has diversified, gained experience and grown to over thirty members. This year there are students representing Central Academy Middle School, Read Mountain Middle School, James River High School and Lord Botetourt High School.

Phoenix Robotics Students have been meeting together as a team since Jan. 7 and must have their robot finished by Feb. 21. Success in early competitions qualifies the students to go to the FIRST Championship, the biggest robotics competition in FIRST, located in St. Louis, MO. If they win, the whole team will be eligible for $25 million in scholarships and will have the honor of being FIRST Steamworks Champion.

"FIRST Steamworks" has three main features: fuel, gears and rope. The robot collects fuel and scores it in one of the two goals of the boiler. A human player gives the robot a gear that it can deliver to a lift that scores the team even more points. At the end of the match a rope is lowered for the robot to climb. The team with the most points at the end wins.

FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is an organization devoted to promoting STEM through sportsmanlike competition known as "Gracious Professionalism." Founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, and Woodie Flowers, a Professor of Engineering at MIT, FIRST has grown from a small organization in New England with a few hundred teams to an international phenomenon with over thirty-eight thousand teams and almost half a million members. Each year FIRST designs new challenges from teams to solve, requiring them to rethink their approach each season. One of the most complex and interactive challenges is this years game, "FIRST Steamworks".

Submitted by Georgia Honts

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Botetourt 4-H Phoenix Robotics team sets sights on success - Roanoke Times

Baxter and Sawyer will now operate with Intera 5. (Image: Rethink Robotics.)

Today's industrial robots can be programmed to do complicated tasks involving multiple steps. The only problem is that most warehouse employees don't know how to program robots, and roboticists are awfully expensive. Rethink Robotics has announced a new software release that should make it much easier to put robots to work.

The Boston-based firm is already known for making "easy" robots; Sawyer and its predecessor Baxter are collaborative robots that can learn by demonstration. Existing employees can train a robot by simply grabbing its arm and showing it what to do. This technique has worked well for simple tasks, but more complicated jobs have required specialized programming.

Now, the robots will run on Intera 5, a software platform that the Rethink Robotics team says will allow manufacturers to integrate robots into factories in just a few hours. This kind of fast and easy deployment will be a key factor in the widespread adoption of industrial robots . Despite the obvious benefits of automation -- consistently high throughput with minimal labor -- the idea of adding a fleet of robots to a traditional warehouse can be overwhelming.

In an announcement about the software release Rethink Robotics President and CEO Scott Eckert said:

We wouldn't usually make such a fuss over a simple software upgrade, but Intera 5 is a complete overhaul. IEEE Spectrum reports that the new version is based on ROS (Robot Operating System) and it is the result of 30 people working on the new code for the last two years. The software platform has a behavior tree that is presented as a visual diagram. Operators can still grab the robot's arm to show it what to do, but now they can also zoom in on the behavior tree to program complex tasks based on a string of specific actions.

If industrial robots can truly be integrated in just a few hours, it will make them more appealing on several levels. First, it eliminates the fear that they are complicated machines that require robotics expertise. Second, the quick setup also helps avoid interrupting normal operations, which reduces the initial cost. Additionally, the robots are now flexible enough for applications that experience frequent unpredictable fluctuations in demand, such as making clothes for the fashion industry.

Video: Trump may bring jobs back to the US, but robots will get them

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Rethink Robotics rethinks its software | ZDNet - ZDNet

LOS LUNAS Math and engineering concepts come alive students say, when they use them to build robots.

The Valencia County Home School Robotics Teams used simple engineering plans and equipment to build robots they will compete in the Kirtland Air Force Research Laboratory La Luz Academy Robotics Challenge on March 2.

The three home-school teams are the Transformers, Big Hero 3 and The Ohm Schoolers.

Ive had an amazing experience in robotics, said Amanda Sparks with the Transformers team. Ive made new friends and broadened my mind in many different subjects.

In final preparation for the robotics competition, each team gave a presentation and demonstrated their robots abilities last week at the Community Bible Church in Los Lunas.

The Transformers robot, Opie, a small, boxy BOE-Bot with whiskers, was programmed to change course when its antenna touches an obstacle.

When the whiskers are pushed, it sends a message to the servos (individual motor) that it needs to move back and turn a different way, explained Elizabeth Schatzinger.

It looks a lot easier than it is, but once youve figured out the basics, you can perform the other tasks, added teammate Amanda Sparks.

Sometimes what we program does not turn out how we want it to but using our math skills, we can figure out the problem and fix the program, she said.

Sparks learned a surprising number of new math skills she said, and teammate Max Kiehne said its about learning computer programming language.

In the beginning, I learned about binary, which before this class I thought was really hard to learn, but then I learned the basics and I found its a lot simpler than most people probably would think, Kiehne said.

Only the top scoring 30 teams out of 80 statewide will go on to the Robotics Challenge. Along with the home-schooled teams, there are seven teams from Valencia Middle School and 12 teams are being hosted at Peralta Elementary School.

The La Luz Academys science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, educational outreach program is available free to any New Mexico public, private or home-school grades 5-12.

The home-schooled seventh-and eighth-graders have been participating in a weekly robotics class since September 2016.

What I once thought to be random letters and numbers turns out to be an amazing and intricate method of communication between us and the robot, said Rebekah Sparks from the Big Hero 3 team, which also includes Allison Storch and Timothy Schatzinger.

Their robot, Baymax, knows when to move and when to turn on the obstacle course. To enable their robot, the team measured the course with a tape measure, used a calculator they created using Excel to convert inches or centimeters to counter, which is a measure that robots use, the students said. Different numbers equal different distances in counter.

Schatzinger said he wasnt crazy about robots when he started the program but now he is a lot smarter, especially in math where he learned binary. Binary uses only ones and zeroes to calculate the numbers for counter distances and other computer programming.

I dont think (robots) are going to rule the world anymore because they cant even learn how to go through a blue course until we program them, Schatzinger said inciting laughter from the audience.

Students stretch their minds to solve the engineering problems that arise in programming robot functions.

Hands-on experience helps a bunch, said Emma Kennington, of the Ohm team. Being able to test it, you know you have understood it when you can get your robot to work the way you want it to.

The objective of the AFRL La Luz Academy educational outreach program is to raise student interest in pursuing STEM related studies and career paths. The program also seeks to involve student participants from groups traditionally under-represented in STEM fields, including females and minorities.

The program is available free of charge. The only requirement is that a teacher come forward with a willingness to teach the classroom based programs, Mars Mission, Robotics Challenge, and STEM Challenge or agrees to coordinate student scheduling for the experiences held on KAFB. All teachers are provided with training and resources to carry out class assignments. There is no grant proposal or application. For more information, visit the website at afrlnewmexico.com/afrl-la-luz-academy or call 846-8042.

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Home-schooled students studying robotics - Valencia County News Bulletin

If the vision of San Francisco startup Roam Robotics and its co-founder Tim Swift are fully realized, we could be buying commercial lightweight exoskeletons to run faster, hike further and lift more with less effort in the coming years. While still in early stages, the company has developed a lightweight and inexpensive design to give a boost to the limitations of the human body that might finally push such bionics beyond science fiction and on to store shelves.

We spoke to Swift at length about his current venture, which is centered around a design made predominantly out of plastic and high-strength fabric without sacrificing the kind of power provided by far bulkier electromechanical exoskeletons.

"People don't want things that are really heavy on their body. Weight is horrible to wear," Swift told us. "You really quickly notice it as far as your effectiveness and efficiency."

Swift says part of the idea behind the lightweight design is to address a critical problem with almost all exoskeletons that have ever been developed over the decades.

"They've (the exoskeleton community) been trying to build big, heavy bulking strong things and then switched over to building light things but they never changed their toolset."

Swift knows a thing or two about those conventional exoskeletons. He was on the team that developed Ekso, a robotic exoskeleton designed to allow paraplegics and others to walk.

The Roam solution he developed after leaving Ekso Bionics involves creating structured air cavities using fabric that are attached to a brace that fits over the user's joints to apply external torque in just the right way. To push air into the cavities in order to direct the desired force in the right way, Swift says they pulled a completely different toolset "off the trash heap of robotics."

Specifically, he's talking about pneumatics. Valves within the exoskeleton push air from an attached compressor into the structured cavities, generating the extra force needed to add some power to a movement. Swift claims the result looks to be about an order of magnitude more than what electromechanical systems can do for specific movements at the joint.

"For the first time, the physics are in the favor of an exoskeleton," he says, explaining that when comparing the burden of mass of the exoskeleton and the benefit of power it provides, only one electromechanical system has ever actually generated an overall metabolic benefit, and it was only capable of doing so at walking speed.

"No conventional exoskeleton is physically capable of delivering the dream of running faster ... We do it every day."

Swift says that, unlike conventional exoskeletons that tend to be unattainably expensive for most people, Roam is actually looking at consumer applications for its technology.

"The goal is to make devices regular people can get access to. It could be you go to Foot Locker and buy a shoe that makes you run 25 percent faster, or you go to REI to buy a device that helps you hike farther."

When pressed he says that the target cost for a system a consumer could actually buy at retail would be a few thousand dollars. That's compared to electromechanical exoskeletons that run in the tens of thousands of dollars on the low end to, well ... a lot more.

He points out that using inexpensive manufacturing techniques like sewing and injection molding rather than the high tech processes behind most other robotics could help make this possible.

Ideally, a Roam system would also be remarkably lightweight. The entire package consisting of the braces worn at the joint connected to a small battery, electronics board and lightweight compressor in a small lumbar backpack could weigh as little as five pounds or even less.

"That's a target we're looking at," Swift says.

But he's also cautious to stress that it's still early days for Roam Robotics, which was just recently spun out of Otherlab, but has yet to raise any investment of its own. Still, Swift says the team is venturing down the road towards going to market by putting prototypes through paces and seeing what potential products and applications could emerge.

Swift explained the basics of the technology at Otherlab in the video below:

Demonstrating those potential products is probably still a few years away and Swift says he doesn't want to over-hype the potential before all the company's ducks are fully in a row. But it's clear that he's excited about that potential to a degree that makes it a little hard to totally repress.

"We're doing things in our lab right now where we're orders of magnitude beyond what any exoskeleton can even flirt with."

He says that for now, the raw energy input and output numbers in the world of exoskeletons are plainly in Roam's favor, at least until somebody makes super-cooled or super conductive motors that could power a next generation exoskeleton.

Sounds like exactly what investors and potential customers would want to hear. Swift said he hopes to have more clarity on the company's roadmap to market later this year. We'll be sure to check back then.

Company page: Roam Robotics

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Roam Robotics' lightweight, inexpensive exoskeleton for the masses - New Atlas