Weekly Robotics #76 03 Feb 2020

This week was full of interesting news related to robotics and with some carryovers from last weeks I was going through 44 resources to select the 7 you can find in this issue. At some point in the future I’ll start a Slack channel where you will be able to learn about the links that ‘didn’t make it’ and discuss some of the links and projects. Until then, enjoy the read!

1) Arduino Mecanum Wheels Robot.

YouTube (How To Mechatronics)

INFO: I never realised how easy it is to create an arduino Mecanum Wheel robot from scratch. Highly recommend this video if you have 15 minutes to spare.

2) Japan Is Building a Giant Gundam Robot That Can Walk.

IEEE Spectrum

INFO: Japan is set on building an 18 meters high 25 tonnes humanoid walking robot. In the article we can see the robot simulated in Gazebo. According to the article the robot will be available to the public by October this year.

3) Robot Helps 3D Print a Home for Less than $6,000 in Materials.

The Robot Report

INFO: Autonomous Robotic Construction System constructed a 1,900 square foot (177 m2) home in 48 hours of print time.

4) Spy Gorilla Goes Face To Face With Alpha Silverback | BBC Earth.

YouTube (BBC Earth)

INFO: If you’ve ever wondered how would gorillas react to an animatronic gorilla then this video will answer some of your questions. During my interview with Prof. Auke Ijspeert we briefly talked about their project with BBC Spy in The Wild where they worked on a robotic crocodile.

5) Twin Rovers Could Lead Search for Life Supporting Elements.

ESA

INFO: ESA had signed a contract for development of a test project to test a tandem of two rovers. One of the rovers called TRACTOR will be agile and capable of high performance locomotion and navigation and will have short-term energy storage. The other rover called WAIN is not as mobile as TRACTOR but will be able to produce or store large amounts of energy, provide communications with earth and do science! Looking forward to seeing this concept progress. This research activity will be led by COMEX.

6) ‘PigeonBot’ Brings Robots Closer To Birdlike Flight.

NPR

INFO: We visit bio-inspired robots once again. The first thing I learned from this article is that birds have fingers. The second one is that feathers have tiny hooks that prevent them from coming apart during turbulent conditions. All these facts were used by the engineers from Stanford University when they developed PigeonBot. If you are looking for more information then ScienceRobotics has a full article on it that includes pictures and videos.

7) Publication of the Week - MIR-Vehicle: Cost-Effective Research Platform for Autonomous Vehicle Applications (2019).

arXiv

INFO: You know these small electric cars for 3-5 year olds that look like real cars? Apparently they can make a great Autonomous Car research platform and they can even run ROS! The platform is quite low cost with the core items costing $619, only a little bit higher than TurtlBbot 2 Burger.

1) Humble Book Bundle: DIY Electronics 2.0 by Wiley.

Humble Bundle

INFO: Explore the world of DIY electronics with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and BeagleBone! Build electronic circuits, microcontrollers, a mini keyboard, and much more with this bundle of ebooks from Wiley. As always with the Humble Bundle links that I feature by purchasing this bundle you can choose to support this newsletter. Many thanks!

2) Humble Book Bundle: Artificial Intelligence by MIT Press.

Humble Bundle

INFO: Get ready to dive into the world of intelligence, computers, systems, and machines with our latest ebook bundle! Pick up titles like Cybernetics: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, What Computers Still Can’t Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason, and more. If you decide to purchase this bundle you can choose to support Weekly Robotics and help grow this newsletter, which will be highly appreciated!

Careers

1) WeRobotics (Bern, Switzerland) - Software Engineer | Mechanical Engineer.

INFO: We co-create and facilitate a network of local knowledge hubs in Africa, Asia and Latin America to build on existing expertise in drones, data and AI, the Flying Labs network.

2) Aeolus Robotics (Various Places) - Various Positions.

INFO: Founded to bring the first generation of multi-purpose robot assistants into service across the globe, Aeolus Robotics is a global company with offices in Taiwan, Poland, Austria and the USA. Integrating world-class, world-wide AI and Robot Systems genius with Taiwanese manufacturing aptitude, we are breaking new ground in general-purpose commercial-consumer robotics with capabilities in unstructured “human” spaces.

3) Apple (Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino), CA, US) - Robotics Engineer.

INFO: In this position you will develop, deploy and scale sophisticated autonomous algorithms, and lead the integration and test of software releases on a large robotics system. You will also review system performance, triage and fix issues, and identify improvements to the current system.