Weekly Robotics #50 04 Aug 2019

I’m sending out this issue from a picturesque Norwegian island Andøya, where 5 years ago at Andøya Space Center I took part in sounding rocket campaign. That campaign is probably one of the reason why you are reading so much about space robots in this newsletter!

1) ROS Sensor Fusion Tutorial.

GitHub

INFO: This 2 part tutorial by methylDragon covers all the basics on doing sensor fusion in ROS using the robot_localization package, AMCL and Marvelmind Robotics beacons.

2) Swiss Post Suspends Drone Delivery Service After Second Crash.

IEEE Spectrum

INFO: Back in January the first Swiss Post delivery drone made by Matternet suffered a short circuit that interrupted GPS and caused the drone to parachute into Lake Zurich. Back in May, one of the drones suffered another failure but this time the parachute tether was severed by the sharp elements of the drone causing the 10 kg drone to crash uncontrollably, prompting Swiss Post to suspend any further tests until all issues are resolved.

3) 15 European Robotics Startups to Watch.

The Robot Report

INFO: This post in The Robot Report showcases 15 EU startups chosen by The Robot Union (we are proud to be their community partner!) in their second project call. I think it’s a very interesting set of companies to check out and follow.

4) Meet Aquanaut, the Underwater Transformer.

IEEE Spectrum

INFO: Houston Mechatronics Inc. had created Aquanaut - an interesting underwater submarine that can transform itself into a half-humanoid robot. From the article and the linked video it looks like a solid piece of engineering that I recommend to go through, especially if you are interested in underwater robots.

5) 3D-Printable Robot With Mecanum Wheels.

teukkaniikka.fi

INFO: Teukkaniikka is working on a 3D printed mobile robot with mecanum wheels. Some of the files are already available on Thingiverse. If you find the project interesting please consider supporting the author on Patreon.

6) Meet the Robots Toyota is Bringing to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

TechCrunch

INFO: This article presents 5 robots that Toyota prepared for the 2020 Olympic Games. When we watch the Olympic Games are we going to cheer for the athletes or the fetching robots? Time will tell and I’ll be here to cover it!

7) Publication of the Week - An Information Model for Modular Robots: the Hardware Robot Information Model (HRIM) (2018).

arXiv

INFO: In memory of Acutronic Robotics let’s revisit the HRIM paper that I featured in Weekly Robotics #7. The thing I liked about HRIM was the promise of Plug’n’Play hardware that can be seamlessly integrated into robots. I hope that we will be able to build something on top of the foundations provided by Acutronic Robotics.

8) H+ Weekly.

hplusweekly.com

INFO: H+ Weekly is a weekly newsletter about new technologies (AI, transhumanism and robotics) that takes a more pop-sci angle than Weekly Robotics. I’ve been subscribed to H+ for couple of months now and can fully recommend it!

Careers

1) Greenzie (Atlanta, GA, US) - Various Positions.

INFO: Greenzie’s mission is to free humans from repetitive outdoor labor. Their retrofit kit and software adds aftermarket autopilot to commercial lawn equipment. Greenzie recently open sourced their ROS Boustrophedon planner for generating coverage paths for Polygons that looks solid!

2) National Oceanography Centre (Southampton, UK) - Mechanical Design and Development Engineer.

INFO: The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is an UK national research organisation, delivering integrated marine science and technology from the coast to the deep ocean.

3) MTC (Coventry, UK) - Various Positions.

INFO: MTC provides integrated manufacturing system solutions for customers large and small, across sectors as diverse as automotive, aerospace, rail, informatics, food & drink, construction/civil engineering, electronics, oil & gas and defence. If you have any questions about the positions or would like to send your Resume you can contact Tiarnan OKelly.

Announcements

1) Fly Your Satellite! 3: Call for Proposals.

ESA

INFO: ESA is going to hold the 3rd edition of it’s Fly Your Satellite educational programme that is open to university students from ESA member states, Canada and Slovenia. The aim of the programme is to support university student teams throughout the design, assembly, integration, testing, and verification process of their educational CubeSats. By participating in the programme, students will implement standard practices for spacecraft development; receive support from experienced ESA specialists; attend tailored training courses; and will be offered access to state-of-the-art test facilities. In this edition student’s will launch their designs to Low Earth Orbit. The submission deadline for proposals is 13 October 2019 at 23:59 CEST.