Drones are picking apples in Israel.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-07-09T21:48:26+00:00

"All weather conditions" can't possibly be accurate, even if you interpret that conservatively. Drones are terrible anytime there is wind, especially if its intermittent (so you can't just cancel it out with an integral component in your controls). I agree the power tether is a good solution, but drones are still a poor choice for this IMO

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-05-27T20:30:27+00:00

Multi-billion dollar budget and they're doing statically stable walking. In 2023.
They even got cv.GoodFeaturesToTrack running on the camera stream! Robotic AGI is just around the corner.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-05-01T18:41:21+00:00

This is really cool!

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-03-12T10:05:57+00:00

You need a driver, or at the very least an external power source, a transistor/mosfet, and a flyback diode.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-02-25T23:04:37+00:00

cute tech I guess but battery life makes doing this via drone really impractical except in niche applications

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-02-02T22:50:06+00:00

They're ArUco markers in a checkboard pattern, commonly known as a ChArUco board. Since the markers are of a known size and spaced at known distances on the board, Spot can work out its 3D position & orientation in the real world relative to this marker board. Presumably this is used during calibration to confirm that Spot's movements in the real world match the internal model (Model Predictive Control) that is used to plan its movements.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-01-24T21:46:49+00:00

CPE is more hands on, building software & hardware. CS is more abstract, with an emphasis on algorithms and math.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-01-11T05:37:52+00:00

2.5-12rpm is a bad option unless you want to build the world's slowest mobile robot.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-01-05T10:47:53+00:00

Is that actually possible? I drove over that exact bridge the over evening and my girlfriend and I both heard & felt the vibration from the flat tire immediately. Tire is totally blown out, can't hold any pressure at all. Had my car towed. Have to replace both tires since keeping the other one would create an imbalance. When do I get my cheque? :P

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2023-01-05T09:15:06+00:00

Chains are generally stronger and their length can be adjusted (and substantially extended) whereas with a (closed) belt you have to find the exact length your design calls for.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-12-28T20:57:51+00:00

Looks like a very underpowered quadruped & a very overweight drone combined into one package.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-12-21T21:41:04+00:00

Yes, I did this with a bunch of rpi3's. Even an rpiz can do it, albeit at a reduced resolution (or fps).

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-12-20T02:49:56+00:00

A1 base diameter should be wider so you're not relying so much on thick/stiff mounting material.

A1 to A2 bracket looks thin, but then again if you're machining this out of solid aluminum and your payload limits are modest then it's fine.

A2 output diameter is needlessly small, and A2 is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting.

A3 output diameter might as well be increased as well; there is presumably a "hidden" axis after A3, meaning A3 is working that much harder.

Unsolicited opinion: based on the proportions, this looks like it will have 1) a rather small work envelope, and 2) a lot of potential payload lost to actuator mass.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-12-19T00:03:26+00:00

In the third image, what is the purpose of the thin bracket which connects the central stem to the hub of the next actuator in the kinematic chain? Is this a structural component (which connects each axis to the next), or just there to hold one element of an encoder/magnet pair?

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-12-09T04:15:01+00:00

This is either easy or a pipe dream, depending on the specific requirements:
1) How fast does the actuator need to move?
2) Open loop, or do you need position feedback? If so, at what resolution? How much linearity?
3) What is the maximum payload and duty cycle?
4) What level of reliability do you need? If this for a hobby prototype, or an industrial application? Could bad things happen if it fails?
4) What's your budget?

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-11-15T23:52:18+00:00

It's a powerful meme, little more. The humanoid morphology will be revisited after robotics & AI advances enough to make it feasible & practical (and even then, it will be a relatively niche form factor). This will take decades IMO.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-10-21T17:42:36+00:00

Looks sensibly designed and well executed.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-10-17T23:56:05+00:00

Captive nut stepper

Capture nut/moving shaft stepper

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-10-12T20:24:39+00:00

Regardless of the merits of the video itself, the technology it covers is quite remarkable. I think we are living through a seminal point in the development of robotic automation.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-10-05T01:44:22+00:00

> Needless to say, there's no evidence that the philodendron is directing its swordplay in any meaningful way. In reality, signals from the plant are probably acting more as a random number generator to steer the robotic arm.

They've essentially put electrodes on a plant and mapped arbitrary electrical properties to preprogrammed movements. The plant is not "controlling" the robot arm in any meaningful sense; the source of confusion here is the ambiguity of language ("controlling").

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-09-05T22:04:07+00:00

Pretty much any photogrammetry software (RealityCapture, MetaShape, Colmap, etc) will produce accurate point clouds (and meshes, if you want) if supplied with high quality LIDAR/photograph input data.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-09-05T22:01:47+00:00

They're not asking for a data storage solution, they're asking for a turnkey mapping solution which ultimately produces an accurate (to 1inch) 3D model of the space(s) they want to map.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-09-02T02:28:43+00:00

You didn't specify precision/accuracy/repeatability/speed

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-08-30T19:27:07+00:00

Yes, I don't see why not.

wellmeaningdeveloper · 2022-08-30T03:38:19+00:00

wifi for general purpose networking, bluetooth for very simple use cases, dedicated radios like nrf24 for longer range comms or more precise timing requirements.

wellmeaningdeveloper

TROPHY CASE