Robots for the people

As a child of the ’80s, I don’t think there was anything cooler than Transformers, MASK and few of the other TV series featuring some kind of robots. My problem, and I guess I wasn’t the only one, back then was access to robot kits. Yes, we had some building kits — of both plastic and metal with cogwheels, axles and rubber bands — but it didn’t quite get our creations to behave the way we hoped or imagined.

We at Trondheim Makers, an organization in Trondheim, Norway who works with the local Maker scene and Maker Faire Trondheim in August, have a little project that we are set to release — the super cheap and simple foam board Robot Kit.

Simply stated, it is a cheap, easy-to-build robot and easy-to-hack kit based on a four-legged, two-servo walking robot found in many variations on the Internet.

Given that our goal is to devise a simple and easy-to-build robot, there is no need for CNC machines, 3D printer or other soon-to-be household machines. Since the body is made out of foam board, it can simply be cut out with a carpet knife. The legs are made out of two pieces of steel wire, with a little drop of glue at the ends to provide better traction.

One micro servo for each pair of legs provides not the most elegant or gracious walking, but it certainly has some sort of interesting walking characteristics. An Atmel Xplained Mini Board with a super simple code controls all of this. We have installed the Arduino bootloader onto the boards, so it is even easier for those who would like to try out their own codes. A rangefinder enables the robot to move backward and make turns when approaching an obstacle — or a photo resistor so it starts walking when the lights are turned on (and totally freaks out your fiancée) — are easily added to both the board and code.

A 9V battery, through a 5V regulator, powers the robot since the servos are not that happy about 3.3V. Subsequently, there is both 3.3V through the onboard regulator on the Xplained and 5v through the external regulator.

Our other goal was to offer an affordable kit. With a total cost of +/- $20, it comes in at around the same price as a burger meal at a typical fast food restaurant here in Norway.

The R&D time spent on this project is neglectable. The robot, which works out-of-the-box when put together, walks forward and doesn’t stop or turn. We hope that as soon as we begin to give these kits away, people will start experimenting — try out other codes, bend the legs in different angles, add sensors and so forth.

By doing this, we hope to inspire and show children of all ages (including big boys and girls with daytime jobs), how simple it is to build a fun, homemade toy that you could experiment, hack and modify, all while hopefully learning a thing or two along the way.

 

Watch out World Cup, here come the robots

Great news for soccer fans: The World Cup won’t be the only event taking Brazil — and the global stage — by storm this month. Kicking off in little over a week, robots from 45 countries will gather in João Pessoa to compete in the international soccer tournament known as RoboCup.

Founded in 1997, RoboCup is an annual international robotics competition aspiring to promote robotics and AI research by offering a publicly appealing, yet formidable challenge. The ultimate goal? To beat the human World Cup champions within the next 35 years.

When robots initially began playing soccer, it was a feat in itself just to have them see the ball, let alone stay upright and kick. Nowadays, these ‘bots are running up and down the field, scoring goals and “sometimes they’re so fast, you can’t even understand what’s going on,” says tournament co-chair Esther Luna Colombini.

The “players,” which range from life-size humanoids to soccer ball-sized wheeled gadgets, compete in size-based divisions on miniature indoor pitches.

According to Forbes writer Jeff Bercovici, the tournament (a perfect blend of athletics and Maker Movement) has matured throughout the years. The inaugural event hosted 38 teams from 11 countries; this year’s tournament will feature 550 teams from more than 45, competing in various divisions.

“You don’t program humans to play soccer,” said Sean Luke, a computer science professor. “We want (robots) to learn how to play soccer the same way humans learn how to play soccer.”

While certainly fun to watch, organizers say the annual competition isn’t just about creating kickin’ machines — it’s about teaching the fully-autonomous robots to make quick, smart decisions while working together in a changing environment.

“Those algorithms can translate off the field into technology like self-driving cars or delivery drones, said University of Pennsylvania engineering professor Dan Lee. RoboCup includes separate contests for service robots and search-and-rescue droids.”

Whether you’re predicting the German or Argentine squad to win this Sunday’s World Cup final, one thing is for certain: The team will be made of flesh and bones, and not powered by microcontrollers. By 2050, that may all change.

After Tim Howard’s incredible, record-breaking performance earlier this month, it makes you wonder if robots have already arrived!

Learn more about the upcoming event, which is scheduled to run from July 19 to 25, by visiting the event’s official website. In case you missed it, RoboCup was also recently featured in our Maker-themed infographic.

 

Why Shenzhen is the factory of the world for Makers

Writing for the UK-based Guardian, Georgina Voss notes that hosting a Maker Faire in Shenzhen, which some describe as the “factory of the world,” makes quite a lot of sense.

Indeed, Dale Dougherty, founder of MAKE Magazine and creator of Maker Faire, recently confirmed that the first official Maker Faire held in Shenzhen earlier this month successfully celebrated the emergence of the Maker Movement in China, while recognizing the significance of the city as a global capital for DIY culture.

“The city’s history rippled into Maker Faire Shenzhen, which sat in the shadow of high-rises. As expected, many of the classic Maker Faire features were in place: soldering workshops, talks by ‘Makers’, people looking awkward in Google Glass,” Voss explains.

“Yet Maker Faires are often characterized by lots of DIY projects and arts-tech mash-ups and these were conspicuously lacking. Instead, most stalls were occupied by fully realized electronics products – brainwave-controlled drones, robots, lots and lots of 3D printers – either ready for market, or in their beta stage and shipping later in the year.”

According to Voss, the region’s strengths in consumer electronics may also be particularly well-suited to the potential outputs of ‘Maker to Market’ outputs, starting with simplified prototypes built on open hardware technologies such as Arduino boards.

“Several hardware start-up accelerators have also set up shop in the city, including Haxlr8r and PCH’s Highway 1, and they acknowledge that […] regional innovation systems exist: participants spend time in Shenzhen to learn about the manufacturing and supply chain networks in the city, before being returned to the Bay Area to pitch for funding,” says Voss.

“The easy-to-use, flexible and low-cost technologies which underpin [accelerators] – open hardware microcontrollers and 3D printers, for example – have their own materiality and their own geography.”

Voss also points out that all of the factors which define Shenzhen as a competitive industry hub make it particularly attractive to Makers, including cheap and available raw materials, manufacturing skills and facilities, as well as clear entry points into supply chains.

“The ‘Maker’ identity can be framed by flattened shared qualities and values, working with technologies whose provenance is not always transparent. But nothing in technology is so simple or so isolated,” she concluded.

“Maker Faire Shenzhen shines a light on the externalities and ecosystems of making itself: the political regimes which regulate; the infrastructures which support it; the forms of work that drive it; and the culture and history that shape it.”

The full text of “Making in China: Maker Faire Shenzhen Highlights the Global Politics of the Maker Movement,” written by Georgina Voss is available on The Guardian here. Readers may also want to check out “Atmel looks back at Maker Faire Shenzhen” which can be read here.

MIT wins prize for $20 AVR robot

Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) recently received top honors in multiple categories at an international competition focused on designing affordable, classroom-friendly robots.

The team from CSAIL Director Daniela Rus’ Distributed Robotics Lab earned first place in the hardware and curriculum categories for a printable, origami-inspired Segway robot dubbed SEG at the “Ultra-Affordable Robot” competition sponsored by the African Robotics Network (AFRON) and the IEEE Robotics and Automaton Society.

The design by Rus, Ankur Mehta, Joseph DelPreto, Benjamin Shaya and Lindsay Sanneman, allows an individual to build a printable, Atmel AVR-powered (tinyAVR/Arduino Pro depending on version) robot for as little as $20, in just five steps.

The small robot – made of polyester – moves around on two large wheels and is capable of avoiding obstacles with an onboard sensing and navigation system. The team also adapted graphical drag-and-drop software that’s convenient for first-time programmers, while simultaneously developing a curriculum that teaches students some basic control systems to implement with SEG.

“We’re excited to have been able to make some really encouraging upgrades to our prototype in such a way that it is more effective, more intuitive and more affordable,” said Mehta. “With this kind of progress, we envision a future where robots that can help you with important daily tasks could be printed for a few dollars from your desktop printer.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the project’s official page here, along with the relevant files and instructions.

These robots make music

Steven Kemper studied music composition and computer technology at the University of Virginia. Unsurprisingly, he was always fascinated with robotic instruments that can be programmed to play music, respond to human musicians and even improvise.

So Kemper, along with colleagues Scott Barton and Troy Rogers, went on to found Expressive Machines Musical Instrument (EMMI), designing a Poly-tangent Automatic (multi)Monochord, also known as “PAM.”

As TechNewsWorld’s Vivian Wagner notes, the stringed instrument’s pitches are controlled by tangents – the equivalent of fingers – each of which is driven by a solenoid. Messages are sent from a computer via a USB to an [Atmel-powered] Arduino board, which switches the solenoids on and off.

PAM is also capable of receiving data from musical and gestural input devices – such as a MIDI keyboard, joystick or mouse – or from environmental sensors, allowing the platform to improvise its own music based on the programmer’s parameters and instructions.

“These instruments are not superior to human performers,” Kemper, now an assistant professor of music technology at Rutgers University, told TechNewsWorld. “They just provide some different possibilities.”

In addition to PAM, EMMI has created a variety of instruments, all of which can be programmed to play in multiple genres and settings.

“These instruments can improvise based on structures we determine or by listening to what performers are playing,” Kemper added. “We work with the free improv aesthetic and [our instruments] don’t fit into a particular musical genre. It’s improvising based on any decisions the performers make.”

Video: Designing a trainable robotic arm

A YouTube user by the name of navic209 has designed a trainable robotic arm built around Adafruit’s Analog Feedback Micro Servo and an Atmel-powered Arduino board that can be easily “taught” to move in a specific pattern.

Once the “train” button is pressed, users simply move the arm and gripper in a specific pattern, while an Atmel-powered Arduino board stores the relevant positions in EEPROM. The arm is then fully capable of precisely replaying the various motions.

According to navic209, the trainable robotic arm was inspired by Baxter, an entirely new robot targeted at manufacturing environments. Indeed, Baxter performs a variety of repetitive production tasks – all while safely and intelligently working next to people.

Interested in learning more about the Atmel-powered trainable robotic arm? The Arduino sketch is available on Github, while Adafruit’s Analog Feedback Micro Servo can be purchased here. The micro servo robotic arm is available on Thingiverse, along with the micro servo gripper (also on Thingiverse).

12-year-old Rohan Agrawal builds robots

12-year-old Rohan Agrawal is a young Maker who builds robots and tinkers with Atmel-based Arduino boards. According to Mashable, Agrawal spent the last few months at OLogic, a company that has designed robots for both Google and Disney. While there for a summer internship, Agrawal built a ‘bot capable of autonomously delivering bags of potato chips throughout the office.

“I’m self taught,” Agrawal told the publication. “My mom showed me Google once and I was really fascinated by it. I asked her how it works and she told me you use this thing called HTML.”

Agrawal coded his first website by the age of 5, tackled ham radio at 9, joined the Hacker Dojo at 10 and began experimenting with Arduino boards. Soon the young Maker was building small robots boasting basic autonomous capabilities.

“That’s how I got the idea for the autonomous [potato] chip robots,” he said.

“All you have to do is type in a command and it runs a program so it will automatically drive around and randomly select an audience. I’m working on getting it to see if there’s anybody in the room. If there isn’t, it will leave and won’t wait.”

Agrawal is now back at work in his mini-studio, a converted garage with a soldering iron and various electronic items. When he’s not at the studio, the 12-year-old Maker is mentoring others at the Hacker Dojo.

Agrawal’s advice to other young DIY Makers and aspiring engineers?

“If you’re interested in something, don’t be scared to get into it.”

We at Atmel couldn’t agree more couldn’t agree more.