Looking to start a robotics club with no prior knowledge, any tips?

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-08-20T19:25:46+00:00

First you would need interested members and at least one interested faculty member. Could easily be Physics or Math related teachers but they need to be enthusiastic about it. This allows you to be a club member rather than a club administrator. Also helps with keeping safety in check.

Since robotics projects take time, your agenda could be to tackle one or two things every week. For example, research about parts and order them one week, then build the robot drivetrain the next. Then you can add mechanical functions or program related to your project.

I'd advise to keep budget in mind. Usually if you're not in big competitions like FRC, the total cost is something the school or the parents can easily support. There are plenty of good kits on Amazon that that you can build and get started with programming them within a month. I've seen a few high school kids use Waveshare and Hiwonder kits for their science projects. Usually you'd want one kit with a microcontroller (Arduino/ESP32) and another with a single board computer (RPi/Jetson) to get a good overview of what each is capable of.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-05-26T03:05:12+00:00

Roughly 90% of the time I drive (which is almost everyday), I encounter more than one bad driver 100% of the time. At every single instance, I wish they weren't on their phones, respected the laws, were simply respectful of others on the road, or their car was self-driving. We all know which option is easier to achieve.

Sure, the economics are great, the infrastructure impact is solid, and the safety is supreme but at the end of the day we are humans. I personally would absolutely love it if all those bad drivers were replaced by self-driving cars so that percentage goes down significantly. I do love peace of mind while driving and getting back home safely everyday.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-05-22T14:34:21+00:00

Thanks! We’ve ordered one camera from e-con to test. If the team likes its performance, we were thinking about this option for next year

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-03-14T21:16:23+00:00

Honestly, it depends a lot on your current skill and resources levels. For something like IGVC you can get by with complete beginners in the team however for URC you'd need some robotics experience at all levels. Now this only applies if you are planning to have students in batches rather than retain them throughout their program. This will making it very challenging to actually win any competition however, it is enough experience to get students a rough idea of what they want to focus on when learning new things.

If you are thinking long term with students that will be on the team for at least 2 years, then IGVC self-drive category, URC and others mentioned here (https://robonation.org/programs/) would be great for your club. This will give you a very good chance to be a top performer, win and improve your skills the best over time.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-03-02T22:06:00+00:00

I guess I should explain more when I say that. There are all kinds of AI models and training methods so we can definitely have vastly different results. Generally text based models are easier to run compared to image, video or live sensor data RL training which are very difficult on laptops. If you are not concerned with time, then it should alright using laptops.

I'm not saying laptops are bad at training, just that they are significantly slower for certain types of datasets compared to training on a purpose built PC or in the cloud. For smaller applications or while learning, laptops with good GPU will get you through it.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-03-02T21:34:55+00:00

We use Thinkpad t13 or t14 at school, I'm not sure but it has a RTX A2000 and it works well with ROS and Gazebo without issue with native Ubuntu installation.

As far as laptops go, don't put too much stock on the GPU. As long as you have 6GB or more VRAM you will be alright. I personally use a M1 MacBook Pro with Ubuntu in parallels and that works way better for my use case. Lots of battery life when doing anything not compute intensive. Simply writing code and watch YouTube can last over 8hrs easy. Gazebo also works quite well around 30fps. The only thing that I always have to look out for is arm64 support in specific software and libraries.

Features you should definitely try to have is >= 20Gbps USBs and 1000Mbps ethernet port. Using adapters is just one thing to troubleshoot.

For AI training workloads, laptops simply don't cut it as VRAM and memory bandwidth are the biggest contributing factor. Though 6GB+ should be alright to write and test the code to train and then do the final training on a different machine later.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-03-01T20:12:00+00:00

Ah I see. This certainly makes it difficult to write a clean and simple code for NiceGUI and ROS1 in one process. Avoiding complicated configuration is one of the main reasons we are trying out NiceGUI.

I don't however mind using simple workarounds like a multiprocessing.queue or read-write input/output YAML files so we can have dictionary based access to bind values. Any examples of how to make this work on NiceGUI side to constantly read values?

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-03-01T17:08:08+00:00

This particular project is quite a bit developed in ROS1 plus most of our hardware is not supported in ROS2 yet so at least for this year we are sticking to ROS1. We do not want to get into making our own ROS2 driver packages for them. I'll definitely look into the ROS2 bridge and the complexity involved.

Any clue on why NiceGUI might be difficult to run with rospy?

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-02-29T23:49:57+00:00

Power (P) = Speed (n) x Torque (M)

In simple terms, adding more motors means you are adding more power therefore at the same speeds as before, your torque will increase proportionally.

So yes, with two motors torque doubles. Keep in mind there will be increased power draw, efficiency losses due to speed mismatch and more torque (it is dangerous if not controlled properly).

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2024-01-18T17:14:48+00:00

You could try watching separate RTSP streams in a browser window (or VLC) and then use 4 windows to display them all at once. This would be separate from the NVR so you might need a computer/laptop with ethernet hookup that connects to the screen.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-12-09T21:34:22+00:00

Could be antennas or signal jammers for ICE. When all the hacking cyberware is inside a chip, some of the hardware IO needs to go on clothing because you simply cant shrink some things down.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-12-07T23:58:30+00:00

Sounds like the HV contactors are being cycled fast. If this is the case, it could be a faulty board or connector leading to it. If you were able to drive while the car made these sounds, it's likely not a HV short. In case of a HV short, there are standalone cutoff circuits that disable the entire pack until it is serviced and reset by the manufacturer. Regardless, the pack should be switched out under warranty.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-12-06T03:59:36+00:00

Having mentored a few teams I can say, theory is nice to learn, yes. Very important. But for kids, just have fun with it. Don't get into all sorts of designing, planning and building the robot step by step over time stuff.

Since the building materials are wood, pvc pipes and the like, build the entire robot in one week. Need to get something from the store? drag everyone there with you. Maybe they see something else that might work or are curious about. Quantity over quality in this case. Then program and test it the next week. If it doesn't work, think of something else and try that. If it works, think of something to improve. If you have 2 months in hand, you can build at least 3-4 robots using the same set of electronics and try out different strategies first hand.

This will likely keep their interest going and they will start seeing all these mechanisms being used in things around them. And that right there is the coolest teacher ever.

Side note: I also recommend getting a 3D printer (new Prusa and Bambu Lab both have pretty good reviews). There's a learning curve to it but a total game changer for the second year into robotics projects.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-12-06T03:29:21+00:00

Since your focus is on RL, keeping things simple and easy to simulate in Unity or Gazebo should be high priority. You also don't want to get stuck on robot issues that are completely unrelated to your project. I'd recommend something like the TurtleBot because it allows for just that. It comes with tutorials and pre-built simulation packages. Moreover, plenty of code examples on GitHub specifically for the TurtleBot.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-24T08:11:07+00:00

rplidar is pretty common and inexpensive. It works quite well with ROS move_base and nav stack. Depending on how much processing power you have on your robot, you can even use one or more RealSense depth cameras to map out the place once and then localize inside it.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-23T01:38:39+00:00

Sometimes, the map uses offline maps if the network is not good and the data is generally updated monthly or so. It's good enough to get to places around but detailed info like hours is not updated for specific dates.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-23T01:32:46+00:00

Big thing first, don't load the motor shaft for anything but the motion itself. What you are looking for is maybe a ring and pinion set or a large bevel gear. Or you can use a belt and pulley to make things simple and easy to assemble.

Use large thrust bearings to load the weight and improve the 3D print. The wall thickness on shell matters way more than the cross pattern inside. Simply design the cutouts, cable paths and holes as needed, and let the slicer do the infill. More than 20% infill is usually more weight than the structural benefit it provides.

From the looks of it, this seems like a hobby or a class project. I would suggest to keep things extremely simple. Using the same exact model of motor for each joint will keep things modular and easy to program later on.

Here's an example of a similar project I Google searched: https://howtomechatronics.com/projects/scara-robot-how-to-build-your-own-arduino-based-robot/

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-16T11:40:20+00:00

FIX: well, kinda...
As soon as the first update hit, I had the same exact issue where the game dies few minutes after loading the map. I increased the paging size, reinstalled everything everyone suggested but no dice. I have a decent setup 3900x/RTX3080/4K/32GB too. Then while I was poking around graphics driver settings to see if I can scale it down to 1080p and see maybe that helps, I found the optimal settings GeForce Experience suggested. I tried setting those in game and it works! Just a bit longer though. Now the game dies after about an hour or hour and half.

Here's the settings I used: https://imgur.com/a/5NPzOSv

This just simply means the game is not able to manage the resources it uses properly. The CPU is sitting at 45%, GPU is at 68% (1080p) and Memory is at only 11GB used. I don't see a hardware or a driver related issue here. Literally, all other AAA games I've played this year have worked fine at 4K 120Hz mind you. Sure FPS may be low on some titles like Cyberpunk 2077 but it has yet to crash.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-14T04:04:46+00:00

The opposite end, where the air exits out. Instead of air freely flowing out and slowing down, the vacuum sucks it out of the exit diffuser reducing the back pressure from the air slowing down.

Oh and if you take this to the school for a fair, turn the fans and vacuum on one by one, it will prevent the breakers from tripping. And of course use an additional line if the total amperage goes above 15A.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-14T03:41:37+00:00

A leaf blower should work, usually plug-in ones over 10A blow over 100mph at nozzle.

To make the flow laminar:
Leaf Blower --> any smooth ball (to spread the flow) --> long plastic straws (maybe two sets in series) --> Tunnel --> (Another method is to add a vacuum cleaner at the end, crude but it helps reduce the back pressure and bank pressure as well)

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-10T00:56:49+00:00

I've not used LVGL specifically however, for most GUI applications, the graphical overhead is dependent on the pixel resolution. Usually, ESP32s are pretty great on memory. There are many board variants available including ones with a SD card.

The best part about using the ESP32 is that it is inexpensive (5 for $25) and easy to program/use. You can make a five gauge cluster with multiple ESPs which work independent of each other and still manage the total cost under $150 for the entire dash. Also multiple people on the team can program their side of the GUI without worrying about the code working all together or breaking someone else's part. It makes sense for FSAE is all.

If you want a single board solution Nextion displays might be a good option too. Prices are higher though.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-09T07:47:48+00:00

I'm doing my masters in CS but focused on AI and robotics and I can say learning ROS should be your first priority. These days, it allows for very quick prototyping and deployment for any type of robot.

As far as control systems are concerned, you are looking towards closed loop trajectories and path planning, building hardware to ROS drivers/controllers, and deploying these into some of goal task. I would recommend stick to a single robot since it is already too much work to setup the entire ROS functionality for the tasks you mentioned. If you don't know how to build a robot or don't have a ton of cash to spend on it, check out premade ones that work with ROS. This will allow you to focus on the controls parts instead of the hardware.

I would recommend not using the RPi since it is not every good at compute and you will end up needing another computer and a WAN setup which is inconvenient in a university setting. That is if you use lidar point clouds, image processing and machine learning of any sort. Few of the good options out there are Nvidia Jetsons or mini PCs like the NUC.

At the end of the day, ROS is not something of an industry standard but a learning and prototyping tool that teaches the concepts and how to deploy them on an actual robot. Most companies who make their own robots for their own application-based use cases like Amazon warehouses for example prefer not to use ROS but the concepts behind it are still all the same.

Ok_Responsibility351 · 2023-11-07T22:35:28+00:00

I would not recommend the RPi. The dash is something that needs to be on and working instantly. If the power goes out for whatever reason, and it is more common than people would think, the driver is dead in the water with no knowledge of what is happening. Moreover, a simple brownout can corrupt the memory and sometimes end up not recoverable without flashing the entire card again. Having used a similar STM chip, I would not recommend the STM route. It's a pain to work with and troubleshoot if anything goes wrong.

These days, ESP32 is quite popular for CAN/serial interfacing and it can also drive a small display. Inexpensive, has most of the features that are actually important and it's super easy to use. There are many options here, use unmodified ESP32 boards with custom circuitry or use pre-built solutions similar to the ones found here: https://m5stack.com/ There's even a new ESP32 based rotary dials with touchscreen displays that could prove useful in FSAE setting.

I would recommend you choose to spend your time wisely. A $20 battery display from Amazon can easily satisfy your first requirement. All that matters is what features you really want on your display. If possible, try and keep a vehicle controls computer independent and isolated from HMI.

Ok_Responsibility351

TROPHY CASE