In this episode, we discuss research coming out of George Mason University where the RobotiXX lab has been training robots to drive more like humans

Podcast: Robot That Drives Better Than The Average American

This article was discussed in our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/2b4595aa-c087-4a18-9ed9-6c05655462a7?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>Picture this: You’re out for a drive and in a hurry to reach your destination.At first, the road is clear and dry. You’ve got great traction and things are going smoothly.&nbsp;But then the road turns to gravel, with twists and turns along the way. You know your vehicle well, and have navigated such terrain before.And so, instinctually, you slow the vehicle to navigate the more challenging conditions. By doing so, you avoid slipping on the gravel. Your experience with driving, and in detecting the conditions, has saved you from a potential mishap. Yes, you slowed down a bit. But you’ll speed up again when the conditions improve. The same scenario could apply to driving on grass, ice – or even just a hairpin corner on a dry paved road.For human beings, especially those with years of driving experience, such adjustments are second-nature. We have learned from experience, and we know the limitations of our vehicles. We see and instantly recognize potentially hazardous conditions – and we react.But what about if you’re a robot? Particularly, a robot that wants to reach a destination at the maximum safe speed?That’s the crux of fascinating research taking place at <a href="https://www.gmu.edu/" target="_blank">George Mason University</a>: Building robots that are taught – and can subsequently teach themselves – how to adapt to changing terrain to ensure stable travel at the maximum safe speed.It’s very cool research, with really positive implications.Below: You don’t want this happening on a critical mission…<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEyNTk4MjUwMzM0LVBpY3R1cmUyLnBuZy53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 328px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="research platforms"> <h3 id="isPasted">“XX”</h3>Those are the initials of Dr. Xuesu Xiao, an Assistant Professor at George Mason University. He holds a PhD in Computer Science, and runs a lab that plays off his initials, called the <a href="https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/RobotiXX/lab.html" target="_blank">RobotiXX Lab</a>. Here’s a snippet of the description from his website:“At RobotiXX lab, researchers (XX-Men) and robots (XX-Bots) perform robotics research at the intersection of motion planning and machine learning with a specific focus on robustly deployable field robotics. Our research goal is to develop highly capable and intelligent mobile robots that are robustly deployable in the real world with minimal human supervision.”We spoke with Dr. Xiao about this work.It turns out he’s particularly interested in making robots that are particularly useful to First Responders, and carrying out those dull, dirty and dangerous tasks. Speed in such situations can be critical, but comes with its own set of challenges. A robot that makes too sharp a turn at speed on a high friction surface can easily roll over – effectively becoming useless in its task. Plus, there are the difficulties previously flagged with other terrains.This area of “motion planning” fascinates Dr. Xiao. Specifically, how to take robots beyond traditional motion planning and enable them to identify and adapt to changing conditions. And that involves machine vision and machine learning.“Most motion planners used in existing robots are classical methods,” he says. “What we want to do is embed machine learning techniques to make those classical motion planners more intelligent. That means I want the robots to not only plan their own motion, but also learn from their own past experiences.”In other words, he and his students have been focussing on pushing robots to develop capabilities that surpass the instructions and algorithms a roboticist might traditionally program.“So they’re not just executing what has been programmed by their designers, right? I want them to &nbsp;improve on their own, utilising all the different sources of information they can get while working in the field.”&nbsp;<h3>The Platform</h3>The RobotiXX Lab has chosen the <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/hunter-se/" target="_blank">Hunter SE</a> as its core platform for this work. That platform was supplied by InDro Robotics, and modified with the <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/commander/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/commander/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">InDro Commander module</a>. That module enables communication over 5G (and 4G) networks, enabling high speed data throughput. It comes complete with multiple USB slots and the Robot Operating System (ROS) library onboard, enabling the easy addition (or removal) of multiple sensors and other modifications. It also has a remote dashboard for controlling missions, plotting waypoints, etc.Dr. Xiao was interested in this platform for a specific reason.“The main reason is because it’s high speed, with a top speed of 4.8m per second. For a one-fifth/one-sixth scale vehicle that is a very, very high speed. And we want to study what will happen when you are executing a turn, for example, while driving very quickly.”As noted previously, people with driving experience instinctively get it. They know how to react.“Humans have a pretty good grasp on what terrain means,” he says. “Rocky terrain means things will get bumpy, grass can impede a motion, and if you’re driving on a high-friction surface you can’t turn sharply at speed. We understand these phenomenon. The problem is, robots don’t.”So how can we teach robots to be more human in their ability to navigate and adjust to such terrains – and to learn from their mistakes?As you’ll see in the diagram below, it gets *very* technical. But we’ll do our best to explain.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEyNTk4NDM4NTk4LUdlb3JnZS1NYXNvbi1qcGcud2VicCIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3 id="isPasted">The Approach</h3>The basics here are pretty clear, says Dr. Xiao.“We want to teach the robots to know the consequences of taking some aggressive maneuvers at different speeds on different terrains.&nbsp;If you drive very quickly while the friction between your tires and the ground is high, taking a very sharp turn will actually cause the vehicle to roll over – and there’s no way the robot by itself will be able to recover from it, right?&nbsp;So the whole idea of the paper is trying to enable robots to understand all these consequences; to make them ‘competence aware.'”<a href="https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/cahsor.pdf" target="_blank" data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">The paper</a> Dr. Xiao is referring to has been submitted for scientific publication. It’s pretty meaty, and is intended for engineers/roboticists. It’s authored by Dr. Xiao and researchers Anuj Pokhrel, Mohammad Nazeri, and Aniket Datar. It’s entitled: CAHSOR: Competence-Aware High-Speed Off-Road Ground Navigation in SE(3).That SE(3) term is used to describe&nbsp;how objects can move and rotate in 3D space. Technically, it stands for Special Euclidean group in three dimensions. It refers to keeping track of an object in 3D space – including position and orientation.We’ll get to more of the paper in a minute, but we asked Dr. Xiao to give us some help understanding what the team did to achieve these results. Was it just coding? Or were there some hardware adjustments as well?Turns out, there were both. Yes, there was plenty of complex coding. There was also the addition of an RTK GPS unit so that the robot’s position in space could be measured as accurately as possible. Because the team soon discovered that intense vibration over rough surfaces could loosen components, threadlock was used to keep things tightly in place.But, as you might have guessed, machine vision and machine learning are a big part of this whole process. The robot needs to identify the terrain in order to know how to react.We asked Dr. Xiao if an external data library was used and imported for the project. The answer? “No.”“There’s no dataset out there that includes&nbsp;all these different basic catastrophic consequences when you’re doing aggressive maneuvers.&nbsp;So all the data we used to train the robot and to train our machine learning algorithms were all collected by ourselves.”&nbsp;<h3>Slips, Slides and Rollovers</h3>As part of the training process, the Hunter SE was driven over all manner of demanding terrain.“We actually bumped it through very large rocks many times and also slid it all over the place,” he says. “We actually rolled the vehicle over entirely many times. This was all very important for us to collect some data so that it learns to not do that in the future, right?”And while the cameras and machine vision were instrumental in determining what terrain was coming up, the role of the robot’s Inertial Measurement Unit was also key.“It’s actually multi-modal perception, and vision is just part of it. So we are looking at the terrain using camera images and we are also using our IMU. Those inertial measurement unit readings sense the acceleration and the angular velocities of the robot so that it can better respond,” he says.“Because ultimately it’s not only about the visual appearance of the terrain, it is also about how you drive on it, how you feel it.”&nbsp;<h3>The Results</h3>Well, they’re impressive.The full details are outlined in <a href="https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/papers/cahsor.pdf" target="_blank" data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">this paper</a>, but here’s the headline: Regardless of whether the robot was operating autonomously heading to defined waypoints, or whether a human was controlling it, there was a significant reduction in incidents (slips, slides, rollovers etc.) with only a small reduction in overall speed.Specifically, “CAHSOR (Competence-Aware High-Speed Off-Road Ground Navigation)&nbsp;can efficiently reduce vehicle instability by 62% while only compromising 8.6% average speed with the help of TRON (visual and inertial Terrain Representation for Off-road Navigation).”That’s a tremendous reduction in instability – meaning the likelihood that these robots will reach their destination without incident is greatly improved. Think of the implications for a First Responder application, where without this system a critical vehicle rushing to a scene carrying medical supplies – or even simply for situational awareness – might roll over and be rendered useless. The slight reduction in speed is a small price to pay for greatly enhancing the odds of an incident-free mission.“Without using our method, a robot will just blindly go very aggressively over every single terrain – while risking rolling over, bumps and vibrations on rocks, maybe even sliding and rolling off a cliff.”What’s more, these robots continue to learn with each and every mission. They can also share data with each other, so that the experience of one machine can be shared with many. Dr. Xiao also says the learnings from this project, which began in January of 2023, can also be applied to marine and even aerial robots.For the moment, though, the emphasis has been fully on the ground. And there can be no question this research has profound and positive implications for First Responders (and others) using robots in mission-critical situations.Below: The Hunter SE gets put through its paces. (All images courtesy of Dr. Xiao.)<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzEyNTk4NTAwNzQ4LWh1bnRlcjItanBnLndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3 id="isPasted">InDro's Take</h3>We’re tremendously impressed with the work being carried out by Dr. Xiao and his team at George Mason University. We’re also honoured to have played a small role in supplying the Hunter SE, InDro Commander, as well as occasional support as the project progressed.“The use of robotics by First Responders is growing rapidly,” says InDro Robotics CEO Philip Reece. “Improving their ability to reach destinations safely on mission-critical deployments is extremely important work – and the data results are truly impressive.“We are hopeful the work of Dr. Xiao and his team are adopted in future beyond research and into real-world applications. There’s clearly a need for this solution.”If your institution or R&amp;D facility is interested in learning more about InDro’s stable of robots (and there are many), please reach out to us <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/connectwithanexpert/" target="_blank">here</a>.

Empowering Robots with Adaptive Terrain Navigation

George Mason University Researchers Enable Robots to Intelligently Navigate Challenging Terrain

It’s been some time since we’ve had an update on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.realliferobotics.com/" target="_blank">Real Life Robotics</a>, an Ontario-based firm gaining traction with its BUBS last-mile delivery platform.A lot has happened over the past year, with all of it appearing to point toward a solid trajectory.“We started off 2024 with a bang – with a really exciting story that has to potential to significantly change the current trajectory of Canadian small and medium businesses from coast to coast,” says CEO and Founder Cameron Waite.The story? Real Life Robotics (RLR) was one of eight Canadian startups selected by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfin-rcia.ca/media/news-releases/foodtechnext-jan" target="_blank">Canadian Food Innovation Network</a> to receive funding through its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfin-rcia.ca/funding/foodtech-next" target="_blank">FoodTech Next</a> program. FoodTech Next offers funding for early-stage Canadian technology firms who seek to be part of – or sell to – the wider food industry. Through this program, RLR will receive nearly $250,000 to test its solution in real-world environments and validate the return on investment for the food sector.&nbsp;In the current economic landscape, Canadian businesses grapple with increased customer demands for last-mile delivery and reduced profitability. Currently, most rely on third-party companies like Skip The Dishes, DoorDash and Uber Eats, which charge 20-35 per cent commissions on each order.Automation is poised to play a critical role in helping businesses efficiently and sustainably move products from Point A to B (and even C, D, E…).“The overarching goal of FoodTech Next is to accelerate the commercialization of Canadian innovation by generating first demonstration opportunities,” says its website.The announcement made the news, including <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-92/clip/16042550" target="_blank">this CBC interview</a> with Waite.Below: Founder/CEO Cameron Waite making a pitch for the FoodTech Next program…<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA5OTIzNzIzMDY0LTIwMjQwMjE0LUNGSU4tRm9vZFRlY2gtMjAyNC0xNTAtc2NhbGVkLndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3 id="isPasted">THE PLATFORM</h3>When the RLR team carries out demonstrations across the country, it brings along BUBS – one of several solutions Real Life Robotics has available to customise and deploy. Out of the box, BUBS has a large cargo bay (50 kg) suitable for transporting everything from bottled water to medical supplies to prepared meals.BUBS can be remotely tele-operated over 5G networks with near-zero latency, or carry out deliveries autonomously. It can work indoors or out and has an IP protection that makes it impervious to inclement weather (with the exception of, say, a hurricane or tornado). It has excellent obstacle avoidance and a number of other features intended for safe operation near people. It’s also perceived as “friendly” – which is important as these devices are introduced in public spaces.BUBS can also be customised, pending client needs.“We’re a cargo and last-mile delivery robotics platform,” says Waite. “But clients inevitably and always have some sort of unique requirement to their business in order to fully adopt and scale automation. There’s no reason BUBS can’t be bigger or smaller, or a different shape or colour – or have its cargo bay modified to carry something unique or unusual that requires modification.”And the business model? Well, it’s not just about selling a single robot. It’s about that first robot proving its worth to the client in economic terms.“It’s nice to say: ‘I have a robot,'” says Waite. “But our goal is really to have a robot or automation solution that has a positive business impact so that you want to scale and buy more of them. Otherwise, you buy just one.”&nbsp;<h3>MORE OPTIONS EN ROUTE</h3>It’s not just BUBS. Real Life Robotics, says Waite, has another solution it’s about to unveil: A quadruped delivery robot. Having four legs instead of wheels means deliveries are not limited by stairs or rough terrain. And, in a world where businesses increasingly want their space or inventory scanned, this robot is capable of carrying out those tasks as it goes about its delivery work.While food delivery in public spaces is clearly the focus of Real Life Robotics (and is tied to the federal grant), Waite emphasises that BUBS can be put to use in far wider use-cases.“Right now our focus is the local delivery side of the food industry,” says Waite. “But beyond that, it could also be products – like hats at a hockey game or bottled water&nbsp;at a. convention centre. It all really comes down to increasing the margins for our clients while ensuring a high-quality memorable delivery experience for the customer.”Below: BUBS, making things easier…<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA5OTIzODc2NTk4LUN1c3RvbWVyLWxvYWRzLUJVQlMtanBnLndlYnAgY29weS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"> <h3 id="isPasted">NEW TEAM AND FUNDING ROUND</h3>Though we’ve been focusing on the robots, you can’t build a business without a team. And there, Waite says Real Life Robotics has been fortunate in attracting some A-level talent who share his vision.The company has acquired <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/scholar/bjdehart" target="_blank">Brandon J. DeHart</a> as Chief Technical Officer. DeHart is the head of the University of Waterloo’s <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/robohub/" target="_blank">RoboHub</a>, the epicentre of all things robotic at the university. (Waterloo’s Engineering department, according to the RoboHub website, “has the largest and most active robotics and automation research group in Canada, supporting Canada’s largest robotics and automation cluster.”)So DeHart comes with impeccable credentials, and has the expertise to both modify products and engineer completely new solutions for RLR. He has both a PhD and a Masters degree.“In terms of a robotics pedigree, this guy is top of the tops,” says Waite. “So we’re really, really excited about having him on board as CTO and I’m really excited to see what we can build together.”You can read more about DeHart in this <a href="https://www.realliferobotics.com/news/supercharging-the-real-life-robotics-team" target="_blank">RLR blog post</a>. And you can look at him, in the photo below…<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1709924018119-Brandon-J-DeHart-RLR-jpg.webp" style="width: 100%px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3 id="isPasted">NEW CFO, HEAD OF GROWTH</h3>Real Life Robotics has also attracted a new Chief Financial Officer, as well as a Head of Growth.The CFO is Ian Watson. Based in the UK, Watson spent 25 years with <a href="https://www.pwc.com/ca/en/" target="_blank">Price Waterhouse Cooper</a> before venturing into the startup space. He has owned and managed several startups, and is a Canadian Chartered Accountant. Watson holds a Master’s degree in Business (McMaster University) and a BA in Economics (Wilfrid Laurier University).“He’s deeply experienced in the financial and accounting worlds, plus he knows startups and how to help businesses grow strategically,” says Waite.Sharif Virani is the new Head of Growth – and appears to be a great fit. Before joining RLR, Virani held a similar position with&nbsp;<a href="https://tinymile.ai/" target="_blank">Tiny Mile</a>, which deploys small pink robots for food delivery. The company is currently operating in Miami – and had previously been running its operation in Toronto. If you ever saw one of those little robots on the news or social media, odds are Virani was behind that.“He’s a serial entrepreneur in the restaurant industry space – so he understands that market really well,” says Waite.And those are just three of the recent additions to the RLR team. A total of 10 people are now part of the company, with several on the sales and operations side. Together, they bring a total of 53 years of direct experience in the robotics industry.&nbsp;<h3>FUNDING ROUND</h3>As Real Life Robotics prepares for its next phase of growth, the company is currently in a Series A raise round.“The traction we’ve received – from the partnerships we’ve been developing, the grants we’ve been winning, and the client revenue we’re now generating – tells a really strong story to the investment community,” says Waite.Below: a 360° video tour of the University of Waterloo’s RoboHub. Be sure to scroll around to see the big picture…<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O_7KSGdVLoc??si=GRuboC_a2bKF_SND&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&amp;lt;span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"&amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;</iframe><h3 id="isPasted">WAIT A MINUTE</h3>Cameron Waite talks a good game. But how do we safely introduce robots onto public roadways? Though Toronto now has a pilot project underway to evaluate such delivery robots, it’s not like they’re going to be embraced tomorrow.So how can Waite be so optimistic, when public acceptance (and even permission from municipalities) is not guaranteed?The answer, he says, has been in ground work and relationship building. RLR is also part of multiple stakeholder organisations that have been actively engaging on precisely this issue. The company is part of the following groups:<ul><li><a href="https://www.urbanroboticsfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Urban Robotics Foundation</a></li><li><a href="https://www.roboticscouncil.ca/" target="_blank">Canadian Robotics Council</a></li><li>Founding member of the&nbsp;<a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/robohub/professional-partnership-program" target="_blank">RoboHub Professional Partnership Program</a></li><li>Founding member the Toronto Autonomous Mobility Working Group</li></ul>That last one? Its members are <a href="https://gatik.ai/" target="_blank">Gatik</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tesla.com/" target="_blank">Tesla</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uber.com/ca/en/" target="_blank">Uber</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.realliferobotics.com/" target="_blank">Real Life Robotics</a>.Lobbying groups are one thing. But getting the automated rubber to meet the road is another. Here, Waite reveals that RLR is ahead of the game: It has permission from five municipalities across the country to operate and test its vehicles in public spaces.“That’s really what this government grant is targeted toward: Exploring the validity of robots in public environments,” says Waite.&nbsp;<h3>MAJOR PARTNERSHIPS</h3>Waite also says RLR has some significant partners onboard, including “an incredibly large restaurant space company.”“This partner not only gives us some amazing insight and data that we can utilise to ensure that this technology truly has ROI and business value to that industry. They also give us some scale and scope as we grow.”But why not name names?“The reason is simply that we’re moving a little bit faster than their marketing team can handle.”Waite promises some significant announcements on this front soon, and deployment of RLR robots in the streets in the near future. Again, Waite won’t reveal details but pledges that the use-case is “really cool” and will grab headlines.“By the summer, for sure, Real Life Robotics robots will be in the field – and there will be a huge story around it.”He adds that RLR has Indro Robotics as an engineering partner, and access to&nbsp;<a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/indro-forge-prepped-for-next-phase-expansion/" target="_blank">InDro Forge</a>, a rapid fabrication and prototyping facility based in Ottawa. These two partnerships, he says, speed custom fabrication for clients, in addition to builds of entirely new robots.Below: BUBS on the street…doing good work<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kCwf5IxBOQE??si=K4hr3BrPVpKTftsV&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&amp;lt;span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"&amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;</iframe><h3 id="isPasted">INDRO’S TAKE</h3>We’ve been watching Real Life Robotics with interest over the past year and we’re pleased to see the terrific progress that’s been made.“Robotics and automation can make things much easier for many businesses, but municipal permissions for more than a one-off demo have traditionally been tricky in this space,” says InDro Robotics CEO Philip Reece.“That’s starting to shift, but you can’t have public adoption and acceptance until these devices are actually in the field. And they can’t be put in the field without the vision and cooperation of municipalities. We’re pleased to see that Real Life Robotics has made gains in this area, and congratulate them on winning that important grant. We look forward to seeing RLR robots in the streets – somewhere – this summer.”For more information on RLR, including an investor deck, contact Cameron Waite&nbsp;<a href="Mailto:cameron@realliferobotics.com">here</a>.

New Team, Research Grant and Partners

Real Life Robotics Expands

What could small robots on earth have to do with exploration on the moon?Quite a lot, as it turns out. Professors and engineering students at Polytechnique Montréal have been busy writing algorithms and running experiments with robots and drones with one goal in mind: To enable them to explore unfamiliar and even hostile surroundings far beyond the reach of GPS or other forms of precision location technology.“What we want to do is to explore environments including caves and surfaces on other planets or satellites using robotics,” explains Dr. Giovanni Beltrame (Ph.D.), a full professor at Polytechnique’s Departments of Computer Engineering and Software Engineering.Before we get to the how, let’s address the why.“Caves and lava tubes can be ideal places for settlement: They can be&nbsp;sealed and provide radiation shielding. There’s also a chance of finding&nbsp;water ice in them,” says Dr. Beltrame.Of course, it’s also less risky – and less expensive –&nbsp;to send robots to other planets and moons rather than human beings. They don’t require life support, don’t get tired (with the exception of having to recharge), and they can gather and process data quickly.Just think of all the data that’s been acquired on Mars by the twin Rovers and the Mars helicopter.Below: A selfie taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover November 1, 2023, during the the 960th Martian day of its mission. The rover was built with a focus on astrobiology, searching for signs of ancient microbial life on the red planet. Image courtesy of NASA.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA2NTYxNzQ0OTYwLVBJQTI2MjAyLWpwZy53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="NASA's Perseverance"><h3 id="isPasted">Prepare on Earth, Deploy in Space</h3>It’s a pretty ambitious vision. But for Beltrame and his team, it’s also very real. And it requires a lot of work and research here on earth.“So to get there (space) and do this with&nbsp;multiple robots, we’ve developed all sorts of technologies –&nbsp;navigation, perception, communication, coordination between the robots, and human-robot interfaces,” he says.“We’re doing all these things,&nbsp;because our goal is to use a swarm of robots to do planetary exploration. There’s more, but that’s it in a nutshell.”When you go to the moon, there’s no equivalent of GPS. And environments like caves can be really tricky – both in terms of robots understanding where they are, and also communicating with other robots beyond line of sight.With the right technologies and algorithms, that communication is possible. And much of Beltrame’s research has involved testing this on earth. In particular, he’s focusing on how groups of robots could take on such tasks collaboratively.“So our primary activities focus on swarm robotics,” he says.Generally that starts with simulation models. But there are limits to simulations – and real-world testing is a big part of what’s going on at Polytechnique.“So we do have this deployment philosophy that we try our technologies in simulation, but then we want to go to deploying robots. You can have the best simulation in the world, but there’s still a reality gap and it’s very extremely important to try things on the real robots,” he says.“We have a saying in the lab, which is: ‘Everything works in simulation’.&nbsp;You can always make your algorithm work in simulation, and then you get out in the field and things go wrong. So&nbsp;one thing we do in the lab is we always do the full stack. That’s why we need to have real robots.&nbsp;And we don’t only do experiments with real robots in the lab, we do them in the field.” <h3>MIST</h3>The lab he’s referring to is known as Polytechnique’s MIST, which stands for Making Innovative Space Technology. Dr. Beltrame is the director of the lab, which focuses on computer engineering targeted towards space technologies. In addition to the researchers, the lab is home to a *lot* of robots. There are big ones, small ones, wheeled ones, flying ones (drones) – literally “hundreds” of robots at the lab.But as Dr. Beltrame emphasised, proving that something will truly work requires testing in environments that are similar to what might be found on the moon or elsewhere. Locations where he’s carried out fieldwork include:<ul><li>Lava Beds National Monument in California (with <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">NASA&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">JPL</a>)</li><li>The Kentucky mega-cave with the <a href="https://costar.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">CoSTAR</a> team</li><li>Tequixtepec&nbsp;in Mexico with SpéléoQuébec</li></ul>Just check out the images below of field work, courtesy of Dr. Beltrame:<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA2NTYyNDU0NzUyLUlNRy0yMDIzMDMyMy1XQTAwMDAuanBnLndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Tight Space Exploration">Tight Spaces<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA2NTYyNDYyOTQyLWx1bmFyc2V0dGluZy1qcGcud2VicCIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">ESA Photo<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA2NTYyNDg0ODU3LWltYWdlLXNjYWxlZC53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Cave Drone">Cave Drone<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA2NTYyNTAzNzAwLWRyb25ldGVhbS1qcGcud2VicCIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="ESA Team">ESA Photo<h3 id="isPasted">The InDro Connection&nbsp;</h3>Some of the robots used in the MIST lab – and perhaps eventually on the moon – arrived via InDro Robotics, a North American distributor for AgileX. In fact, Polytechnique has purchased a number of AgileX products, including platforms that InDro has modified to help speed the R&amp;D process. These include:<ul><li>24 LIMOs and simulation table</li><li>AgileX Scout Mini</li><li>AgileX Scout 2.0</li><li>Two AgileX Bunker Mini platforms, with custom builds by InDro</li></ul>We’ve <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/new-limo-pro-ros2-models-bring-advanced-abilities-to-rd/" target="_blank">written about the LIMO before</a> – a small, affordable and versatile robot capable of perceiving its environment and even Simultaneous Localization and Mapping out of the box. It’s also an ideal size, particuarly when doing multi-agent/swarm robotics, for use in the lab. (You’d run out of space pretty fast with something much larger).“The LIMOs are a very good platform for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping &nbsp;– and perception in general,” says Beltrame.He says they’re a good choice “because they have a 3D camera, they’re lighter, agile, and are sufficiently low in cost. So we can use them in large numbers.&nbsp;Another good thing about the LIMOs is that once you have a lot of similar robots that are reasonably agile, you can actually make a full deployment of software (across all robots).”That makes them an ideal platform for multi-agent research and development.“For example, we developed this tool called Swarm SLAM where many robots collaborate to have a better perception of the environment. We’re currently testing it with the full fleet of LIMOs. That’s&nbsp;something we would have believed impossible with larger robots for logistical reasons.”Though the focus is firmly on space, the Polytechnique Montréal research has applications on earth. Swarms of robots could aid in disaster response, Search &amp; Rescue, and more.<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Favourite Robot</h3>The LIMO isn’t the only AgileX product in Polytechnique’s stable. And while Beltram likes all of them, he has a soft spot for one in particular.“I would say that my favorite robot is the <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/scout-mini-2/" target="_blank">Scout Mini</a>,” he says. “It’s fast, it’s agile and the control is extremely precise.”In fact, Beltrame often takes the Scout Mini with him when doing school presentations. It’s small enough to be carried in the trunk of his car and hand-carried to classrooms. His team has also used the platform to test a new code for path planning and sophisticated energy calculations. It’s capable of tracking the additional energy required for climbing inclines, for example, then calculating when the robot needs to return home to wirelessly recharge.As always, InDro works with clients to deliver precisely what they need. This saves time for those institutions and corporations on builds, allowing them to get on with the business of R&amp;D.“We’ve done quite a bit of integration for them,” says <a href="mailto:lcorbeth@indrorobotics.com" target="_blank">Luke Corbeth</a>, InDro’s Head of R&amp;D Sales.“For example (see picture below), we provide a top plate with all required hardware mounted and integrated. They then add their own sensors, protective structure, etc. So this is a great example of how we work with clients on a case-by-case basis depending on their needs as robotics isn’t one-size-fits-all.”<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNzA2NTYyODUzMDA0LWltYWdlLnBuZy53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Tracker Robots"> <h3 id="isPasted">One Small Step...</h3>With all of this research, what comes next? Will the work being done today at Polytechnique eventually find its way off this planet?“The answer is it’s going to happen very soon,” says Beltrame.&nbsp;Sometime later this year, a rocket will head toward the moon carrying three small robots. It’s called the Cadre mission.A trio of small rovers will work as a team to explore the moon autonomously, mapping the subsurface in 3D, collecting distributed measurements, and showing the potential of multirobot missions,” says <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/cadre" target="_blank">NASA’s JPL website.&nbsp;</a>One of Beltrame’s students is working on that mission with JPL.“This is one example of how the work that we’ve been doing in this lab, in the end – through students that were here – become real missions,” says Beltrame.And that’s not all. As early as 2026, a Canadian-built rover could land on the moon in Canada’s first moon mission.Its task? To explore the moon’s south polar region in search of “water ice.” This ice is critical to long-term human habitation on the moon – and can also be converted to fuel, both for energy on the moon and potentially to refuel other spacecraft with destinations further afield.“I have an engineer from the Canadian Space Agency that’s a student of mine that’s developed the Mission Planner. So the idea is that we – our lab – developed the Mission Planner for the Canada rover that’s going to the moon.”Here’s a look at that planned mission, from the CSA:<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ti4a0oiWsMk??si=gdkI-fUB2n3fT89r&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true">&amp;lt;span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"&amp;gt;&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/span&amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/span&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;</iframe><h3 id="isPasted">And There's More</h3>There was some big news this week from Polytechnique Montréal. On January 24 it announced the formation of ASTROLITH, a body for “research in space resource and infrastructure engineering.”It’s the first Canadian group dedicated to lunar engineering, according to a news release.“Comprising experts from all seven Polytechnique departments, ASTROLITH will pursue the mission of helping to develop next-generation technologies and training the engineers of tomorrow to ensure Canada’s presence in space and lunar exploration, as well as addressing critical needs on our planet within the context of climate change, resource management and sustainable development,” reads the release.So while the emphasis is on the moon, ASTROLITH will also result in some very practical – and urgent – use-cases on our home planet.“As encapsulated in its Latin motto Ad Lunam pro Terra, ASTROLITH is dedicated to developing technologies with direct impacts here on Earth: enabling development of infrastructure in the Far North or facilitating the energy transition, for example,” says the release.“Indeed, the research unit’s founding members are already involved in developing technologies in various areas related to space and extreme environments, from design of resilient habitats and infrastructures for remote regions to deployment of cislunar communications technologies to development of advanced robotics systems for prospecting and mining, among many others. Their work is bolstered by contributions from specialists in life-cycle analysis, sustainable development and space-related policy development.”The team is composed of academics and researchers that span all seven Polytechnique departments. Beltrame, not surprisingly, is on the team – which is pictured below. (He’s in the back row, centre.)<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1706563288421-Screenshot-2024-01-26-at-9.03.42-AM.png.webp" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Research Team"><h3 id="isPasted">INDRO’S TAKE</h3>We find the work being carried out at Polytechnique Montréal, the MIST lab – and now ASTROLITH – both fascinating and important. It’s also a terrific example of how dedicated researchers and students can develop and test projects in the lab that eventually have real-world (and off-world) applications.“I’m incredibly impressed with the work being carried out here, and the fact it can be put to positive use-cases both on earth and in space,” says InDro Robotics CEO Philip Reece.“We wish Dr. Beltrame and his colleagues well, and we’ll certainly be watching these lunar missions with great interest. It’s always a pleasure when InDro can support teams doing important work like this.”You can find more about the MIST lab <a href="http://mistlab.ca/" target="_blank">here</a>. And if you’d like to talk about AgileX robots (or any other robotic solution), connect with the InDro experts <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/connectwithanexpert/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.&nbsp;

Bridging Earth and Lunar Exploration with Advanced Research

Robots on Earth Help Prepare for Research on the Moon

There’s a new robot in town. Actually, there are two of them.They’re small but mighty. In fact, numerous universities and robotics labs already use their predecessor for high-level research. That original robot, the AgileX LIMO, was a game-changer when it came to an affordable and flexible platform. Boston University currently has a fleet of LIMOs running custom algorithms and simulations related to how real-world autonomous vehicles will interact in the Smart Cities of the future. (It’s really cool research, and you can read all about it <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/boston-university-uses-agilex-limo-for-research/" target="_blank">here</a>.)That first LIMO was truly a ground-breaker – and remains an excellent R&amp;D research platform. But now, AgileX has taken things further. Two new versions of LIMO offer advanced hardware, software, runtime – and capabilities.Below: The original LIMO that started it all…<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk5MzAzMjcwNzgyLUxJTU8gb24gcm9jay5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3 id="isPasted">Main Features</h3>Before we get into the significant changes incorporated into the new models, it's worth looking at some of the strong features common to all members of the LIMO family. For starters, each LIMO has four steering modes: Omnidirectional steering, tracked steering, Ackerman and four-wheel differential.All LIMOs are equipped with obstacle detection. Multiple onboard sensors can pick up on the size, distance and location of obstacles, allowing the robot to navigate its environment without conflict. The newer LIMO models have significant enhancements here, which we'll explore in a moment.Despite their relatively small size – so small an untrained eye might potentially mistake them for a toy – the LIMOs feature a robust, all-metal build and powerful motor. They also feature powerful onboard EDGE computing suitable to pretty much any R&amp;D requirements.&nbsp;<h3>Who Uses the LIMO robot?</h3>There are really two main categories of users, with the first being those in the educational field."This is a great tool for anyone looking to learn ROS, because they can do all of the advanced concepts – obstacle detection, SLAM, teleoperation, to name a few," explains Luke Corbeth, Head of InDro's R&amp;D Sales Division."And we make that really simple through our improved documentation. We’ve basically built a course around it, so it can be used for teaching students."The other main group of users, of course, are on the research side of things."It’s almost always used in labs for multi-agent systems or multiple robot projects. Because it’s multi-modal, when you're doing a multi-agent system it can be homogenous or heterogeneous, meaning you use different steering in different robots simultaneously."Dimensions of all versions of LIMO are identical, as seen below.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk5MzA0NjE2MTM4LUxJTU8gVGVjaCBTcGVjcyBmb3IgV2V2b2x2ZXIgUG9zdC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3 id="isPasted">Meet the New LIMOs</h3>The original LIMO is still a great robot – and is currently in use by many universities. But AgileX didn't rest on its laurels. In response to the availability of new technologies – along with a wish-list from existing clients – the company has taken things further with its new LIMO PRO and the LIMO ROS2."Obviously as research in autonomy advances, so do the computational requirements," explains Corbeth. "So it’s very important as a robotics manufacturer to stay ahead of the curve so that the hardware meets up with the current research requirements of the day."To that end, the new versions feature upgrades on computational power, sensors and run-time."The big difference is in compute – we're moving from the Jetson Xavier to the Jetson Orin Nano on the LIMO PRO and the INTEL NUC on the LIMO ROS2. Both of these are actually massive upgrades."The Orin Nano is a very powerful EDGE computer. That power translates into more stable multi-sensor data fusion and speed with SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) processing.Speaking of SLAM, the LIMO PRO and LIMO ROS2 come with a new LiDAR unit. While the original LIMO used the very capable EAI X2L unit, the new versions come with the EAI T-mini Pro."Plus, the battery in the new unit goes from an hour of run-time to 2-1/2 hours – with a standby of four hours," adds Corbeth.&nbsp;<h3>SOFTWARE</h3>Not surprisingly, the two new versions also feature some software upgrades. The LIMO PRO and ROS2 versions come with Ubuntu 20.04 (the original LIMO runs version 18.04). In terms of ROS (Robot Operating System) libraries, the first generation LIMO is outfitted with ROS1 Melodic. The LIMO PRO features both ROS1 Noetic and ROS2 Foxy. The LIMO ROS2 has ROS2 Humble onboard.Already have some of the first-generation LIMOs in your lab? No problem."The new models can co-exist with the original LIMO," says Corbeth. "And if the computing demands are higher than previous applications, it makes sense of have a blend of models."The graphic below outlines the feature sets of the three models:<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk5MzA2MzQ4ODk4LUxJTU8gQ29tcGFyaXNvbiBDaGFydC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3 id="isPasted">INDRO'S TAKE</h3>InDro Robotics has a lot of clients who have put the original LIMO to use in labs and educational institutes across North America. Boston University has a very large fleet of LIMOs deployed – hard at work on multiple research projects related to Smart Cities and autonomous vehicles. They've proven to be a robust, cost-effective tool for high-level research.And now, with the fresh release of LIMO PRO and LIMO ROS2, there are two more affordable options."This is a significant development for anyone looking to expand their current fleet of LIMOS, as well as those who have been waiting in the wings for an upgrade," says Corbeth. "These are incredibly powerful and versatile robots/research tools, with the added bonus that the entire line is very affordable."If you're interested in learning more, InDro Robotics is the exclusive distributor of AgileX in Canada, as well as a distributor for all of North America. We have built excellent documentation and manuals to assist users ranging from beginning to expert – and all of that added value and support comes with every purchase made through InDro.For more information from a robot expert, contact Luke Corbeth <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/connectwithanexpert/" target="_blank">here.</a>

Bringing Advanced Abilities to Research and Development

LIMO Pro Robot and LIMO ROS2

The safety of pedestrians and cyclists is important in any major city.Bike lanes and crosswalks are the most obvious signs that we create infrastructure for this purpose. But there are limits to what that infrastructure can do.Winter, for example, creates additional threats. Ice and snow are the most obvious problems, but potholes and deep puddles can also cause havoc – particularly for cyclists. Snow can accumulate quickly in a storm – and it’s not uncommon for snow plowed from the roadway to sometimes spill over into bike lanes (and even on sidewalks).That’s part of the reason why Indro Robotics has built an innovative solution that will be put to the test this winter. It’s called the Street Smart Robot, or SSR – and it’s been designed from the ground up to help ensure safe winter cycling.Below: A Wikimedia Commons image, taken in Whitehorse by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/71902268@N00" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Anthony DeLorenzo</a>. Cyclists in Canada are a hardy bunch.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk4Njg1MjA5MDA1LTQwX2JlbG93X2NvbW11dGVfNjczNDE1NzExOS1qcGcud2VicCIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 745px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3> </h3><h3 id="isPasted">Street Smart Robot</h3>The catalyst for the SSR is a research and development partnership fund called the <a href="https://www.ovinhub.ca/programs/wintertech-av-development/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wintertech Development Program</a>. &nbsp;Wintertech is run by <a href="https://www.oc-innovation.ca/programs/ontario-vehicle-innovation-network-ovin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OVIN, the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network</a>. That’s a province of Ontario initiative which “capitalizes on the economic potential of advanced automotive technologies and smart mobility solutions such as connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), and electric and low-carbon vehicle technologies, while enabling the province’s transportation and infrastructure networks to plan for and adapt to this evolution.”And while bicycles aren’t connected and autonomous vehicles yet, we felt robotics could play a role in helping to ensure the safety of cyclists in the Smart City of the future. Specifically, we thought an autonomous robot equipped with the right sensors and processing might help to detect safety issues in bike lanes in the winter.“The idea behind the robot is we want to prolong the use of bike lanes in Ottawa, but also ensure the safety of bike lanes,” explains Indro Robotics Account Executive Luke Corbeth.“There’s really two parts to this: The&nbsp;first is a machine vision element to see if conditions are good enough for biking – no ice, not too many leaves, etc. On the safety side, the Street Smart Robot is more concerned with detecting things like potholes and cracks. And the idea is if you’re able to identify those things, the right resources can be deployed faster and more efficiently to solve the problem in a timely manner.”So that’s the idea behind the SSR. Now, let’s take a look at the technology.Below: A look at the specs of the AgileX&nbsp;Bunker Pro platform, used in SSR. We’ve upgraded the battery for a four-hour run time:<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk4Njk0NDA5MjE1LVNTUiBQb3N0IC0gQnVua2VyIFBybyBTcGVjcy5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Bunker Pro Specs"><h3 id="isPasted">Built Tough</h3>If you’re going to be out and about in an Ottawa winter – where temperatures have reached as low as -33°C – you need a platform suitable for the environment. InDro selected the AgileX <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/bunker-pro/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bunker Pro</a> as the starting point.With an IP67 Ingress Protection rating, the Bunker Pro is highly impervious to water and particulate matter – which it will encounter in abundance on Ottawa streets. The treads give an edge over wheels when it comes to navigating over ice, snow and potholes. With a full charge, the platform can run for some four hours – even when it’s cold out.But the platform is just the start. InDro engineers had to put considerable thought into the kinds of sensors that would help the Street Smart Robot carry out its task while safely avoiding cyclists, pedestrians, or other obstacles it might encounter. And that began with four wide-angle pinhole cameras. “The pinholes are just to give the operator a better understanding of their environment and situational awareness,” explains Corbeth. And while we say “operator” here, it might be more appropriate to say “observer.” Though initial deployments will involve teleoperation, the SSR has been built to carry out its tasks autonomously. We anticipate that down the road (or bike path), a person will simply be involved in monitoring missions in case human intervention is required.That autonomy will be carried out by a combination of computing power, our InDro Autonomy software stack, and a plethora of sensors.&nbsp;<h3>Sensors, Sensors, Sensors</h3>The Street Smart Robot is equipped with front- and rear-facing depth cameras. These cameras have two visual sensors each, placed roughly the same distance apart as human eyes. That separation – as in human vision – allows the SSR to perceive the world in depth. Onboard computation (we’ll get to that) calculates how far obstacles might be in the robot’s immediate surroundings, and whether it needs to slow down, stop or change course to avoid obstacles.The depth cameras are supplemented by two 270° 2D LiDAR sensors – which are devoted almost exclusively to obstacle avoidance and safety. There are two additional 3D LiDARS, placed to assist with Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, as well as a GPS and IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit). There’s even a Range Finder that can detect how far an object is off the ground.“If you have an overhanging tree branch, for example, you could see where it is and see if it obscures the bike lane,” says Corbeth.&nbsp;In addition, there’s a thermal/30X optical Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera, complete with a windshield wiper for those sloppy days.Below: Check out what the SSR has on board.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk4NjkzMTY5NTcwLVNTUiBQb3N0IC0gU1NSIFNwZWNzLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"> <h3 id="isPasted">Sensing, and Making Sense of its Environment</h3>All of those sensors are great. But they don’t do a lot on their own. They require software and computational power to give their data meaning. Here, the SSR has a Jetson ORIN AGX for EDGE computing. The ROS2 operating system software lives onboard in <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/commander/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">InDro Commander</a> – a module we’ve created for rapid integration of sensors and 5G remote operations. Commander can be thought of as the glue that holds everything together.But still, there’s the issue of making sense of the data. How will the Street Smart Robot identify ice, water, leaves, snow, potholes, debris etc? And how will it determine whether they are significant enough to require a City of Ottawa maintenance crew to take action?Here, the SSR will be going to school. And by that, we mean a combination of Machine Vision and Machine Learning will teach it what’s worth reporting and what isn’t. One way is to take actual images you expect to see on the bike path and identify which ones are significant and which can be ignored.“For example, you could mount a camera on an actual bicycle and then use that dataset to train the robot,” says Corbeth. “But there are a couple of approaches. There’s also obviously the simulation element. You can use specific engines that have high-fidelity graphics to simulate possible different environments in high resolution. And you can use that simulated data for training.”&nbsp;<h3>Then what?&nbsp;</h3>In the early stages, there will be a human operator at the helm. They’ll likely see some of those obstacles with the pinhole cameras, but from the start we anticipate that the onboard AI will trigger an alert for the operator. Once the operator confirms that the image is worthy of the attention of a maintenance crew, they will contact the city directly.That’s how things will start. Once we’ve established a high confidence level that the Machine Vision is correctly identifying anomalies, that process can be automated. The SSR will be programmed to automatically send an alert to the city, complete with a captured image of the potential problem and GPS coordinates.“It’s the idea of anomaly detection – detecting and flagging anomalies. The SSR will also likely be able to identify the severity of the anomaly on a one-to-five scale. And because you have the GPS onboard, the exact location of the problem can be relayed to the city.”Below: The SSR, during its public unveiling at the TCXpo exhibition in June. Front and rear view, to show off all its bits…<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk4NjkzNjI1Nzk5LVNTUiBQb3N0IC0gRnJvbnQgYW5kIEJhY2sgVmlldy5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"> <h3 id="isPasted">On The Shoulders of Sentinel</h3>Every technical achievement owes something to its predecessors. And that’s no different with the Street Smart Robot.InDro Robotics previously built <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/indro-robotics-sentinel/" target="_blank">Sentinel</a>, a workhorse for remote asset inspection. That robot incorporated an AgileX <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/bunker-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bunker platform</a>, an InDro <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/commander/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Commander</a> integration module for sensors and remote teleoperations, and several other sensors. It’s a great robot that has proven itself in the most demanding conditions.The Street Smart Robot builds on the success and learnings of Sentinel with additional compute power, many more sensors, a more robust design and extended operational range. And that opens the SSR up to many other tasks beyond bicycle paths.“That’s what really excites me about this project – the idea that this technology is transferable across other inspection verticals,” says Corbeth. “This particular robot could be used in agriculture, and the track platform is really good in mining. I could envision this exact same robot in those two verticals, and others.”&nbsp;<h3>The 5G Connection</h3>When dealing with multiple sensors in real-time, a solid data bandwidth is crucial. Here, SSR is outfitted with a high-speed modem and special antennaes for optimizing 5G and 4G signals. And while the Street Smart Robot can be operated over 4G, it’s 5G that offers the pipeline necessary for the data to really flow. &nbsp;InDro's continuing partnership with Rogers will ensure that the SSR has access to Canada’s largest and most reliable 5G network.<span data-ccp-props='{"134233117":false,"134233118":false,"134245417":true,"134245418":false,"134245529":false,"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559685":0,"335559731":0,"335559737":0,"335559740":240}'>Below: Innovations in the InDro Sentinel paved the way for the Street Smart Robot. This image was taken at the opening of the Drone and Advanced Robot Training and Testing facility (DARTT) in June of 2023. That’s Luke Corbeth holding the microphone.<span data-ccp-props='{"134233117":false,"134233118":false,"134245417":true,"134245418":false,"134245529":false,"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559685":0,"335559731":0,"335559737":0,"335559740":240}'><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjk4NjkzODgwNzA5LVNlbnRpbmVsLVdhdGVyLU9uZS1zY2FsZWQuanBnLndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h3> </h3><h3 id="isPasted">InDro's Take</h3>We’re pretty excited about the SSR. As Luke Corbeth says: “It’s a bad-ass robot.”And it is. But we’re also excited about the project itself.The Smart City of the future will have connected, embedded sensors (including on robots) helping with everything from traffic flow to updated weather and road conditions. Cyclists are a big part of any major urban centre, and the prospect of helping to ensure their safety appeals to us. It’s also an opportunity to really hone in on Machine Vision and Machine Learning as InDro trains the SSR for its task.“Smart Cities are on their way, and it’s great to be involved in yet another project as we build the capacity for the future,” says InDro Robotics CEO Philip Reece.“The Street Smart Robot has an important role to play, and could well be the template for anomaly detection and road maintenance at scale in the future. We’re grateful to OVIN and its Wintertech program for selecting this project for development; we’re excited to see what the SSR can do.”InDro plans to start testing the SSR during the winter, with the project stretching to June of 2024. We’ll be writing more once the robot hits the bike paths.Interested in learning more about how SSR could work for your inspections? &nbsp;Contact InDro <a href="https://indrorobotics.ca/contact-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">HERE</a>.

For Safer Cycling in the Winter

InDro Robotics Builds Street Smart Inspection Robot

Exploring Cutting-Edge Research with the LIMO Robot

Boston University Uses LIMO Robot For Research

In this episode, we discuss the fascinating world of bioinspired robotics. Discover how researchers have created versatile robots inspired by nature's flight, rolling, and walking abilities.

Podcast: Mighty Morphing All Terrain Robots Made By Nature

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1672821999265000&usg=AOvVaw3lLKdHdEN0YvCEsaHI7hx9" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/b6d8f955-457e-488d-a053-4a6409fafab0?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-gtm-yt-inspected-7="true" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>The new robot, dubbed M4 (for Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot) can roll on four wheels, turn its wheels into rotors and fly, stand on two wheels like a meerkat to peer over obstacles, &quot;walk&quot; by using its wheels like feet, use two rotors to help it roll up steep slopes on two wheels, tumble, and more.A robot with such a broad set of capabilities would have applications ranging from the transport of injured people to a hospital to the exploration of other planets, says Mory Gharib (PhD &#39;83), the Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Bioinspired Engineering and director of Caltech&#39;s <a href="http://cast.caltech.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies</a> (CAST), where the robot was developed.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J91jTI2-k_U?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-7="true" id="966413990" title="M4 Drives and Flies Around Caltech's Campus">&nbsp;</iframe>M4 is the brainchild of Gharib and Alireza Ramezani, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University. The team supporting M4&#39;s technical aspects consisted of Eric Sihite, a postdoctoral scholar research associate in aerospace at Caltech; Reza Nemovi, a design engineer at CAST; and Arash Kalantari from JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA. A paper announcing the new robot was published in Nature Communications on June 27.&quot;Our aim was to push the boundaries of robot locomotion by designing a system that showcases extraordinary mobility capabilities with a wide range of distinct locomotion modes. The M4 project successfully achieved these objectives,&quot; says Ramezani, corresponding author of the Nature Communications paper.The robot&#39;s flexibility of motion, coupled with artificial intelligence, allows it to choose what form of locomotion will be most effective based on the terrain ahead of it. Picture the M4 exploring an unfamiliar environment: it might start by rolling along on four wheels, which is its most energy-efficient mode. Upon reaching an obstacle like a boulder, it could stand on two wheels to peer over it for a clearer picture of the ground ahead. Then, if it saw a ravine or another feature that a wheeled robot could not traverse, it could reconfigure its wheels into rotors, fly over the ravine to the other side, and resume rolling along.&quot;When encountering unknown environments, only robots that have the ability to repurpose their multi-modal components aided by artificial intelligence can succeed,&quot; says Gharib, co-author of the Nature Communications paper.One of the key features of M4 is its ability to repurpose its appendages to wheels, legs, or thrusters. When M4 needs to stand up on two wheels, two of its four wheels fold up and their inset propellors spin upwards, providing balance for the robot. When M4 needs to fly, all four wheels fold up, and the propellors lift the robot off the ground.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1688030564956-M4-Fly.max-500x500.gif" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The M4 robot takes flight with four rotors located within its tilting wheels. Credit: Caltech&nbsp;Joints on the wheel assemblies allow M4 to execute a walking motion. In M4&#39;s current iteration, the walking motion is mostly proof of concept. However, with anticipated advances, future M4 generations could possess the ability to effectively walk across broken terrain that a wheeled robot would struggle with.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1688030589455-M4-Stand.max-500x500.gif" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The M4 robot transforms from driving mode to walking mode. Credit: Caltech&nbsp;The design of M4 was heavily influenced by nature: Gharib and his colleagues were inspired by how chukar birds (a type of partridge) use the flapping of their wings to give them leverage while running up steep inclines, for example, and how sea lions use their flippers for different types of locomotion on sea and land. Although such examples of appendage repurposing from the animal kingdom have been previously reported by biologists, the concepts they illustrate are just now being explored in the engineering domain.M4 has been equipped with autonomous capabilities and can make decisions for itself about how best to navigate through a complex environment. The robot has also been tested outdoors and has navigated the terrain of Caltech&#39;s campus.The Nature Communications paper is titled &quot;Multi-Modal Mobility Morphobot (M4), A Platform to Inspect Appendage Repurposing for Locomotion Plasticity Enhancement.&quot; This research was funded by JPL and the National Science Foundation.

A newly created real-life Transformer is capable of reconfiguring its body to achieve eight distinct types of motion and can autonomously assess the environment it faces to choose the most effective combination of motions to maneuver.

New Bioinspired Robot Flies, Rolls, Walks, and More

A sun-drenched Mediterranean country, Greece is an ideal site for climate-friendly solar energy generation. Heavy private sector investment in solar power backed by government incentives mean that today, Greece ranks fifth in the world for installed photovoltaic capacity per capita. By 2022, large Greek solar farms provided more than 4GW of generation capacity.&nbsp;But the abundant sunlight that makes solar power so attractive in Greece has an unwanted side-effect for the operators of solar farms: it makes the grass and other vegetation around and under the panels grow fast. Left unchecked, grass growth can shade the panels, and restrict the access of maintenance staff.&nbsp;Traditionally, facilities maintenance contractors would cut the grass three or four times a year. But this is an expensive service that requires careful management: a solar farm contains crucial equipment such as cabling that is easily damaged by a manually operated mower.&nbsp;Automation is a far better approach: cheaper and more reliable, autonomous mowing can be safely performed day and night, so that the robot mower can be kept continually in use.&nbsp;While many products today serve the agricultural robot market, the particular requirements of solar farms call for a special solution. This is what Athens-based technology manufacturer <a href="https://www.iknowhow.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">iKnowHow</a> developed for <a href="https://www.enelgreenpower.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Enel Green Power&reg;</a>, the world&#39;s largest private renewable energy operator with a total capacity of more than 59 GW and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power, as well as energy storage facilities. Enel Green Power is at the forefront of integrating innovative technologies into renewable energy plantsAnd iKnowHow&rsquo;s robotic mower, called Aristos, relies on an Xsens <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/sensor-modules/xsens-mti-680g-rtk-gnss-ins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MTi-680G RTK GNSS/INS</a> sensor module from Movella to keep it on track, even when the satellite positioning signal is temporarily unavailable.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg0NzM5MDM5MTkwLWVuZWxncmVlbnBvd2VyLXJlc2l6ZWQuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The Aristos robot mower, showing the RTK-capable GNSS antenna at the rear. The Xsens MTi-680G sensor is mounted underneath the upper green panel.&nbsp;Keeping strictly to the pathEnel&rsquo;s requirement for the Aristos autonomous mobile robot included a maximum size and weight: the mower needs to be low enough to cut underneath solar panels as well as between them, and light enough to be transported from one site to another by small van. It also needed to be 100% autonomous, both for mowing and charging its battery.&nbsp; &nbsp;The cutting deck is a standard mower blade configuration. The principal challenge for the robot designers was in localization, navigation and object avoidance. Aristos follows a pre-set route, mapped out by the solar farm operator, to minimize operating time and battery power consumption. The robot&rsquo;s systems have to locate and orientate the mower so that it follows its route accurately, and so avoids contact with the panels or the solar farm&rsquo;s infrastructure.&nbsp;Apart from the mower itself, the iKnowHow system&rsquo;s other main element is a static charging station at each solar farm: this houses a battery charger and an RTK transmitter beacon for the robot&rsquo;s enhanced GNSS satellite positioning system. &nbsp;With a clear GNSS signal and receiving RTK corrections, Aristos can navigate its route to within &plusmn;5cm accuracy. When cutting underneath the panels, however, multipath effects degrade the satellite signal, so it relies on a combination of wheel odometry and magnetic heading signals to maintain accurate positioning until satellite reception is recovered.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjg0NzM5MDczODM0LWVuZWxncmVlbnBvd2VyIDMgcmVzaXplZC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The Aristos robot mower operates as well under solar panels as between themAll-in-one sensor provides combined positioning signalAt the heart of this autonomous navigation system is the <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/sensor-modules/xsens-mti-680g-rtk-gnss-ins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Xsens MTi-680G</a> all-in-one positioning and motion sensor from Movella. Michalis Logothetis, Lead Robotics Engineer at iKnowHow, says that it chose this sensor because it combined high performance, robust construction and easy integration. The MTi-680G integrated GNSS/IMU solution includes an RTK-capable GNSS receiver alongside its 3D accelerometer, 3D gyroscope and magnetometer, all in one 56.5 &times; 40.9 &times; 36.75mm package.&nbsp;Michalis Logothetis says: &lsquo;The Xsens sensor fusion firmware combines and synchronizes all these signals, producing easy-to-use digital position, attitude and heading outputs that keep Aristos on track under the panels as well as in the open air.&rsquo;&nbsp;Autonomous operation of the mower is not just about maintaining an accurate absolute position at all times. Aristos works in a dynamic environment in which unmapped, random obstacles such as a or equipment left behind by maintenance technicians can obstruct its path. The MTi-680G helps the robot deal with obstacles that could upset its progress. The sensor continually measures pan/tilt as well as heading: Aristos stops automatically when tilt exceeds a safety threshold and reports back via 4G to its control center. An onboard RGB camera enables a remote operator to monitor the scene when an alert is raised.&nbsp;The rugged <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/sensor-modules/xsens-mti-680g-rtk-gnss-ins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MTi-680G</a> is well suited to use in these dynamic outdoor conditions. It is housed in an IP68-rated aluminium enclosure, and handles the shock and vibration inherent in mowing operations on rough ground.&nbsp;Michalis Logothetis comments that the MTi-680G quickly proved its value in a prototype design reviewed enthusiastically by Enel. He says: &lsquo;We are delighted with the operation of the <a href="https://www.movella.com/products/sensor-modules" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Xsens MTi sensor</a>. Aristos passed its field trials with flying colors, and after iKnowHow started production in 2023, it is now supplying units to Enel for use on solar farms all around the world.&rsquo;&nbsp;

Centimeter-accurate Xsens MTi-680G pilots autonomous mower around large solar panel installations

When Angela Loh &rsquo;23 was 10 years old, she and her family moved to Shanghai from Michigan. She was immediately struck by how much more pollution she saw in Shanghai.&ldquo;When I stepped outside my home, the skies were grey and I could smell the stench of <a href="https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/indoors/air/pmq_a.htm" target="_blank">PM2.5 particles</a> hanging in the air. I would walk on certain local streets and see litter everywhere,&rdquo; she says. She noticed that most residents seemed complacent. &ldquo;Nobody seemed to care.&rdquo;But Loh did care, deeply, about environmental sustainability.As a freshman, Loh and Alan Hsiao &rsquo;21 founded <a href="https://cornellnexus.teleporthq.app/" target="_blank">Cornell Nexus</a>, a group of students from diverse colleges and majors who are designing and building an autonomous robot that will remove microplastics from the sand on beaches. The team hopes to have a working land-based prototype built by spring 2023, when they will turn their attention to creating a submersible robot that will remove microplastics from sea water.&ldquo;We are a team of individuals who want to step outside the boundaries of university competitions to make a difference on our planet,&rdquo; Loh says.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1670761221613-1206_micro1_0.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Angela Loh &rsquo;23 wires a component of the autonomous robot prototype.&nbsp;Microplastics, tiny bits of plastic the size of a sesame seed or smaller, are proliferating and pose a significant risk to ecosystems and to human and animal health. &ldquo;There are 50 trillion pieces of microplastics embedded in our sand, our marine life, our oceans and even in our drinking water,&rdquo; Loh says. A <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/microplastics-in-virtually-every-crevice-on-earth" target="_blank">recent survey</a> of the sea floor in the Mediterranean west of Italy found 1.9 million microplastics in one square meter. &ldquo;This is just one layer of sand in a single square meter of the Mediterranean,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Imagine how much microplastic has accumulated in all of our bodies, our water and our land.&rdquo;Beach cleaning operations focus on removing the waste we can see, such as plastic water bottles and trash, often using gas-powered tractors that bury microplastics beneath the top layer of sand. In contrast, the Cornell Nexus robot will use renewable solar energy to collect and remove microplastic waste. &ldquo;We believe that Nexus&rsquo; focus on autonomy and microplastics will revolutionize the technology for waste removal from beaches and bodies of water,&rdquo; Loh says.<h2>Planting the seed</h2>Loh recalls making hand-drawn posters promoting recycling and distributing them to her neighbors when she was in elementary school. Moving to Shanghai &ndash; a city she loves &ndash; was a wake-up call. &ldquo;I realized what big issues plastics, and pollution and waste in general, are on our planet,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;and I really wanted to do something about them.&rdquo;In the summer after graduating from high school, Loh read a biography of Elon Musk and the founding of Tesla. &ldquo;Reading this allowed me to realize the boundless possibilities there are in the field of engineering,&rdquo; she says. Loh spent the next few months binge-reading biographies about inventors, entrepreneurs and engineers, from Steve Jobs to Leonardo da Vinci and Nike founder Phil Knight. She realized that engineering would be her springboard for creating change.After perusing the College of Engineering website, Loh switched her major from environmental science to electrical and computer engineering and computer science. &ldquo;Reading about the <a href="https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/students/undergraduate-students/special-programs/project-teams" target="_blank">engineering project teams</a> before I arrived at Cornell planted a seed in my brain that maybe one day it wouldn&rsquo;t be impossible to start my own,&rdquo; Loh says.Alan Hsiao was a junior and one of the first people Loh met as a freshman at Cornell. &ldquo;When we first started Nexus, I didn&rsquo;t know anything &ndash; not even basic knowledge about programming or wiring circuit boards &ndash; let alone building an entire vehicle that was going to traverse beaches and charge itself,&rdquo; Loh says. &ldquo;Alan would spend hours and hours mentoring me and teaching me concepts that I hadn&rsquo;t even heard of. &hellip; Through his kindness, wisdom and compassion, he has definitely left his impact on me, our Nexus team, the Cornell campus and our planet.&rdquo;<h2>Unleashing creativity, with help from alumni</h2>Nexus team members are now building a prototype with a multilayered filtering system to catch a range of different sizes of microplastics. When full, the robot will return to its docking station to offload the collected plastics and recharge.&ldquo;Creating our robot requires knowledge about concepts and implementation mechanisms that are usually taught in graduate-level courses,&rdquo; Loh says. Team members conduct their own in-depth research and seek out faculty who can guide their work. <a href="https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/about/branding-microsite/independent-thinkers/faculty-stories/joe-skovira" target="_blank">Joseph Skovira</a>, Ph.D. &rsquo;90, senior lecturer in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the group&rsquo;s faculty adviser, is helping them refine their product.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/whelangreg/" target="_blank">Greg Whelan &rsquo;83</a> of <a href="http://greywale.com/" target="_blank">Greywale Advisors</a> and part of the <a href="https://www.northeastern.edu/vmn/" target="_blank">McCarthy&rsquo;s Venture Mentoring Network</a> has been helping them navigate business outreach and fundraising.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1670761265270-1206_micro2_0.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Alan Hsiao &rsquo;21 solders a component of the autonomous robot prototype.&nbsp;To ensure they have funding to purchase specialized hardware and software components, Nexus members have been developing relationships with companies that might sponsor the project once they have a prototype. In spring 2021, Nexus won first prize in the <a href="https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/students/undergraduate-students/entrepreneurial-options-undergrad-students/innovation-competition" target="_blank">Cornell Engineering Innovation Competition</a>. The <a href="https://www.engineering.cornell.edu/news/celebrating-new-product-concepts-and-prototypes-2020-engineering-innovation-competition" target="_blank">Yunni and Maxine Pao Social Innovation Award</a>, funded by Carolyn Wang &rsquo;00 and Jeff Pao &rsquo;00, allowed them to buy better wheels, a more robust material for the robot&rsquo;s frame, filtration nets and more accurate sensors.<h2>Doing the greatest good</h2>Nexus is testing and refining their prototype in the 2022-2023 academic year, using a sand bed to test the robot&rsquo;s moving, digging and filtering mechanisms. Then they will place their robot at several beaches, including some recommended by alumni from the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1670761294974-1206_micro3_0.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This rendering illustrates what the Cornell Nexus robot will look like when completed.&nbsp;Once the land-based robot is completed, the team hopes to launch their robot into the water, where the vast majority of microplastics are. &ldquo;Our vision is to expand our technology to address the heart of the microplastics problem, which is underwater,&rdquo; Loh says. &ldquo;Very few commercial robots are tackling this issue, on a macro and micro scale.&rdquo;There are multiple design possibilities for a seafaring robot, including a water-based recharging and waste removal station, which could be more efficient than returning the robot to land.The Nexus team plans to make their design freely available to the public. &ldquo;This includes all of our software code, mechanical CAD files, electrical circuit board designs, and so forth,&rdquo; Loh says. &ldquo;Our goal is to make an impact and do our part to save our planet.&rdquo;

Cornell Nexus, a group of students from several colleges and majors, are designing and building an autonomous robot that will remove microplastics from the sand on beaches. Jason Koski/Cornell University

Beach cleaning operations focus on removing the waste we can see, such as plastic water bottles and trash, often using gas-powered tractors that bury microplastics beneath the top layer of sand. In contrast, the Cornell Nexus robot will use renewable solar energy to collect and remove microplastic waste.

Students design robot to collect microplastics from beaches

This is the sixth article in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/power-management-for-tomorrows-innovations" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">8-part series</a>&nbsp;featuring articles on Power Management for Tomorrow&rsquo;s Innovations. The series focuses on power management and optimization techniques for modern electronic systems. This series is sponsored by Mouser Electronics. Through the sponsorship, Mouser Electronics shares its passion for technologies that enable smarter and connected applications.Vehicular asset tracking is an essential part of fleet management, providing a way to know the exact location of physical assets around the clock. The three main benefits of asset tracking are cost savings, theft protection, and preventative maintenance.&nbsp;This article describes how to power asset-tracking devices with small, efficient power solutions and protect them from electrical stresses in a vehicular environment adequately.<h2 dir="ltr">Power Requirements for Vehicular Asset-Tracking Devices</h2>Vehicular asset-tracking/fleet-management devices are powered by the vehicle battery, typically 12V in cars and 24V &nbsp;in many trucks. As an aftermarket add-on, they face a much harsher power management environment than a well-bounded OEM device.&nbsp;Most devices also have a rechargeable battery, typically 3.6V, intended to last two or three days when the main battery power is lost. The primary battery source protects the front-end electronics against transient and fault conditions. The protected voltage gets converted to usable, &nbsp;lower voltages (5V, 3.3V, 2.5V, or 1.2V) by step-down &nbsp;DC-DC converters and Low Dropout Regulators (LDOs) to power various digital logic and analog Integrated Circuits (ICs). Fig. 1 shows the architecture of a typical power system for asset-tracking/fleet-management devices.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY2NjE3NDYzMzI1LTE2NjY2MTc0NjMzMjUucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" width="720" height="737" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Fig. 1: Typical asset-tracking/fleet-management power architecture. Source: Analog Devices<h2 dir="ltr">Powering the Device with Modern DC-DC Regulators</h2>Asset-tracking/fleet-management devices must be physically small to fit in small places. In such a small area, reducing heat dissipation in a device to keep its temperature within range is challenging. Fitting the power circuit into a small space requires highly efficient integration.&nbsp;Modern DC-DC regulator power solutions that effectively integrate the power MOSFETs, compensation circuits, and other external components help reduce overall circuit size. Combining the small solution size with the efficient synchronous rectification technology helps reduce power dissipation.One might consider employing LDOs here for small size since LDOs are generally low cost and very simple to use, but they have high power dissipation if used directly from the primary battery voltage, which is the main drawback. Dissipating this power in a small asset-tracking device may be impractical and may cause device overheating. Hence, a solution that meets both size and power dissipation requirements is preferred.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Protecting the Device from Faults</h2>Electronic components can occasionally encounter faults. Short-circuit and overcurrent protection circuitry is essential for preventing fire hazards and isolating the power cable from a failed-short device.When the ambient temperature becomes excessive or if there is an overcurrent or some other fault, the overtemperature protection prevents permanent damage by either scaling down the power or shutting down the device completely. Overtemperature protection prevents system overheating and fire hazards. It also ensures that the system operates within its defined temperature limits.Reverse voltage faults occur when the battery gets connected in reverse or the power cable is installed backward. While unlikely to happen, reverse voltage faults usually cause extensive damage to the power cables and electronic devices connected to the cable without proper reverse voltage protection.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Electronic Solutions by Analog Devices for Powering and Protecting the Vehicular Asset-Tracking Devices</h2>To increase integration and reduce the physical size of the power supply, <a href="https://www.mouser.com/new/maxim-integrated/maxim-himalaya-uslic-power-modules/" target="_blank">Himalaya uSLIC&trade; power modules</a> by Maxim Integrated (a part of Analog Devices) integrate the power inductor and other discrete components with the DC-DC regulator. These easy-to-use, easy-to-design, and quick-time-to-market power module solutions only require an input capacitor, an output capacitor, and an optional soft-start setting capacitor to complete the power solution.&nbsp;The micro-sized system-level Integrated Circuit (uSLIC&trade;) family employs advanced packaging technology to minimize the module footprint. For example, the modules fit a 60V, 300mA power solution into a tiny, 2.6mm x 3mm x 1.5mm power module. This highly efficient synchronous DC-DC buck power module also minimizes heat dissipation in end equipment. The MAXM15062 has a fixed 3.3V output, while the MAXM15063 &nbsp;is similar but with a fixed 5V output. We employ these two modules to power our example asset-tracking/fleet-management device shown in Fig. 4.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY2NjE3NDYxNDgzLTE2NjY2MTc0NjE0ODMucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Fig. 2: Maxim Integrated MAX15062 Synchronous Step-Down Converters. Source:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mouser.com/new/maxim-integrated/maxim-max15062-converter/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mouser Electronics</a>The MAXM15062/MAXM1563 uSLIC&trade; power module fits the bill here. Total power dissipation employing the uSLIC&trade; power modules provides an 18x power dissipation reduction compared to the LDOs solution. Low power dissipation also means lower system operating temperature and higher long-term reliability.For protecting the asset-tracking device, <a href="https://www.mouser.com/new/maxim-integrated/maxim-max17608-09-10-protectors/" target="_blank">Analog Devices AX17608 60V/1A current limiter</a> is a highly integrated IC that packs all necessary protections into a single, tiny 3mm x 3mm, 12-pin TDFN package.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY2NjE3NDYxNTMxLTE2NjY2MTc0NjE1MzEucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Fig. 3: Maxim Integrated MAX17608, MAX17609, &amp; MAX17610 Current Limiters. Source:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mouser.com/new/maxim-integrated/maxim-max17608-09-10-protectors/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mouser Electronics</a>Some features of the MAX17608 are:<ul><li dir="ltr">High input voltage tolerance (+4.5V to +60V operating range)</li><li dir="ltr">Reverse voltage protection (tolerates -60V negative input voltage)</li><li dir="ltr">Reverse current protection</li><li dir="ltr">Short-circuit overcurrent protection</li><li dir="ltr">Adjustable OVLO, UVLO, startup current, and forward current limit</li><li dir="ltr">Overtemperature protection</li></ul><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY2NjE3NDYzMTcwLTE2NjY2MTc0NjMxNzAucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" class="fr-fic fr-dii">Fig. 4: An asset-tracking device, powered by the MAX17608 protection IC and MAXM15062 and MAXM15063 &nbsp;uSLIC&trade; ICs. Source: Analog Devices<h2 dir="ltr">Conclusion</h2>Vehicular asset-tracking/fleet-management devices are designed to operate from the vehicle&rsquo;s 12V/24V battery system and must fit in small places. They must be robust against transient conditions, including overvoltage, overcurrent, reverse voltage, reverse current, and overtemperature.&nbsp;Highly integrated and efficient uSLIC power modules ensure fit, mitigate thermal dissipation challenges, and enhance the long-term reliability of the device. Highly integrated protection ICs, on the other hand, provide all the necessary protections mentioned above and simplify the design over discrete solutions.&nbsp;This article is based on an <a href="https://www.mouser.com/ebooks/Power-Management-for-all-of-Tomorrows-Innovations" target="_blank">e-book</a> by Mouser and Maxim Integrated (a part of Analog Devices). It has been substantially edited by the Wevolver team and Electrical Engineer <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/ravi.rao" target="_blank">Ravi Y Rao</a>. It&#39;s the sixth article from the Power Management for Tomorrow&rsquo;s Innovations Series. Future articles will introduce readers to some more power management and optimization techniques for modern electronic systems.<hr id="isPasted">The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/power-management-for-tomorrows-innovations" target="_blank">introductory article</a>&nbsp;covered the fundamentals of power electronics, the technology behind highly-efficient power conversion in different electrical/electronic systems.&nbsp;The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/finding-the-sweet-spot-for-flyback-converters-in-electric-vehicles/" target="_blank">first article</a> shares some design techniques for efficient power management in EVs. It covers how manufacturers can build significantly better vehicular electric power systems with systematic planning and innovative power electronic solutions.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/ultralow-noise-switching-power-supplies-for-reduced-electromagnetic-interference/" target="_blank">second article</a>&nbsp;introduced readers to silent switching and how it prevents EMI at the source, rather than adding shields and filters to the product later.&nbsp;The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/current-sensing-with-digital-power-systems-managers" target="_blank">third article</a>&nbsp;describes current measurement techniques using LTC297x series components by Analog Devices. It presents some application circuits and compares different approaches for current sensing in power electronic converters.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/selecting-the-best-power-solution-for-radio-frequency-signal-chain-phase-noise-performance" target="_blank">fourth article</a>&nbsp;discussed the problems associated with phase noise and experimentally showcased how power supply designs can be optimized to deal with them.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/extending-the-battery-life-of-hearables-and-wearables-with-single-inductor-multiple-output-switching-architecture" target="_blank">fifth article</a>&nbsp;featured Single-Inductor Multiple-Output architecture that integrates different power supply functionalities to drastically reduce the overall size and costs for wearables.&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/building-power-and-protection-circuits-for-vehicle-asset-tracking-devices" target="_blank">sixth article</a>&nbsp;describes how vehicular asset-tracking devices are powered with small, efficient power solutions and protected from electrical stresses.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/power-supply-subsystems-for-remote-patient-vital-sign-monitoring" target="_blank">seventh article</a>&nbsp;explains how designers can implement and validate proven power supply circuits for enabling the reliable operation of healthcare devices.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/nano-power-converters-for-extending-the-battery-life-of-small-iot-products" id="isPasted" target="_blank">final article</a>&nbsp;dealt with a specific IoT power management solution for small, and portable gadgets. It showcases a nano-Power boost converter that &lsquo;operates on fumes&rsquo; to make the most out of all the available energy.<hr><h2 dir="ltr">About the sponsor: Mouser Electronics</h2>Mouser Electronics is a worldwide leading authorized distributor of semiconductors and electronic components for over 1,100 manufacturer brands. They specialize in the rapid introduction of new products and technologies for design engineers and buyers. Their extensive product offering includes semiconductors, interconnects, passives, and electromechanical components.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjY2NjE3NDYxNTc4LTE2NjY2MTc0NjE1NzgucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" width="720" height="91" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><h2 dir="ltr">References</h2>[1] Protect and Power Vehicular Asset-Tracking Devices - Application Notes, Maxim Integrated, [Online], Available from:<a data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" href="https://pdfserv.maximintegrated.com/en/an/an7122-protect-and-power-vehicular-asset-tacking-devices.pdf" target="_blank">https://pdfserv.maximintegrated.com/en/an/an7122-protect-and-power-vehicular-asset-tacking-devices.pdf</a>

Article #6 of Power Management for Tomorrow’s Innovations Series: Power supplies for vehicle asset-tracking devices must be designed to operate at different voltage-current levels, be compact, and offer protection during transients and electrical faults.

Building Power and Protection Circuits for Vehicle Asset-Tracking Devices

Swarming robots hold the potential to solve a range of real-world problems, from <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/dlr-measures-flow-phenomena-around-wind-turbines-with-a-swarm-of-drones" target="_blank">analyzing airflow around wind turbines</a> and <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/adaptive-swarm-robotics-could-revolutionize-smart-agriculture" target="_blank">improving agricultural data gathering</a> to <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/nasa-works-to-give-satellite-swarms-a-hive-mind" target="_blank">monitoring the weather</a> or <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/could.tiny.satellites.explore.space.by.flying.in.flocks" target="_blank">exploring space</a>. There&rsquo;s only one problem: Research into robotic swarms can be an expensive endeavor.That&rsquo;s the problem HeRo 2.0 aims to solve. The creation of a quartet of roboticists from Brazil, HeRo 2.0 &mdash; an upgraded, streamlined version of the earlier HeRo platform from the same team &mdash; offers a low-cost compact robotics platform for swarm research and education based on off-the-shelf components and an easily-assembled 3D-printed chassis. Better still: The whole project is open source.<h1>Miniature marvels</h1>&ldquo;The robotic platform presented in this work takes advantage of the recent technological advancements to use mass-produced components that are smaller, affordable, and long-term available,&rdquo; the team explains of the robot. &ldquo;In addition, the design and assembly process follow new trends, such as the Maker Movement and Do It Yourself, which allow others to reproduce and customize the robot using additive manufacturing.&rdquo;The team set about designing HeRo 2.0 with a view to six key design principles: The robot should be as inexpensive as possible, to allow for larger swarms to be built without great expense; each individual robot should be small yet include on-board sensing capabilities and enough power for hours of autonomous operation; it should be highly tolerant to faults; communication between robots should be scalable to a large number of individuals; the robots should be easy to assemble and use only readily-available components; and they should be easy to program using existing development frameworks.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ5Mjc1NTczODU4LWhlcm8yLTIuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="A diagram of the HeRo 2.0 robotics platform, with the following parts labelled from the top: e-Hat, PCB board, cover, rotary encoder, battery, pinion gear encoder, rubber O-ring, servo motor SG90, castor wheel, motor chassis, board chassis, motor gear, spur gear wheel.">Built using off-the-shelf components in a 3D-printed chassis, HeRo 2.0 costs just $18 yet includes all the key functionality required for basic swarm research.The final design, which first author Paulo Rezeck and colleagues say meets all six of the requirements, is certainly low cost: The full bill of materials for each unit comes out at just $18.72, including $0.10 for a 38mm rubber O-ring and a battery powerful enough to push the robot for &nbsp;three hours of active experimentation &mdash; and that&#39;s a cost which could drop in large-volume production.The bargain-basement price comes courtesy of some unusual design choices, such as turning to a low-cost rotary encoder usually used to track the movement of the scroll wheel on a computer mouse to instead track the turning of the wheels. Continuous servo motors supporting simple control via the pulse-width modulation (PWM) output of a microcontroller further reduce costs, while the 3D-printable chassis uses just a little plastic and some electricity to be produced.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hAS7FKYkKWQ?&wmode=opaque&rel=0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0"></iframe> The microcontroller, too, was picked for its high performance at a low price: An Espressif ESP-12E, based on the ESP8266 and boasting a single 32-bit Tensilica LX106 core running at speeds of up to 160MHz plus 4MB of flash memory. To this, the team added eight infrared sensors &mdash; officially limited to measuring distances no larger than 2cm (around 0.8&quot;), but extended through clever operation to 30cm (11.8&quot;). Further expansion, meanwhile, is possible through what the team calls &ldquo;e-Hats,&rdquo; add-on modules which attach to the top of the robot to provide additional functionality &mdash; such as, the team has proven in prototype, a display screen or an inertial measurement unit (IMU).<h1>Programming perfection</h1>On the software side, the HeRo 2.0 platform offers a choice of programming paradigm. Its firmware was developed on the Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) using the Wiring language, an extended variant of C designed for embedded work. The &ldquo;rosserial&rdquo; framework was added to provide compatibility with the Robot Operating System (ROS), a popular platform for robotics work.As a result, the robots can be programmed in two ways. For direct programming, a new firmware can be written in the Arduino IDE and flashed to the robots over a Wi-Fi connection using the Firmware Over the Air (FOTA) protocol, allowing algorithms to run directly on the robots&rsquo; microcontrollers. Otherwise, the stock firmware&rsquo;s ROS support can be leveraged to place the swarm under control of a centralized server communicating via ROS messages.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ5Mjc1NjM0MTQyLWhlcm8yLTQuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="A screenshot of the RViz software showing a map generated by a HeRo 2.0 robot; its path can be seen as a continuous line surrounded by data from its on-board distance sensors.">The researchers put the robot through a range of experimental tasks, including mapping, flocking, and collaboration on an object-transportation task.&ldquo;This mode is very convenient and scalable in the early stages of testing with multiple robots,&rdquo; the team notes of the server-based ROS programming mode. &ldquo;Furthermore, using the ROS framework for implementation, we have a series of tools and may use different programming languages.&rdquo;To prove the overall performance of the platform, the team set about comparing its capabilities to the E-puck &mdash; a highly popular commercial robot which costs $975 per unit, making it an order of magnitude more expensive than the HeRo 2.0 platform albeit with additional functionality including Bluetooth connectivity, additional sensors, and an on-board camera.In all tests the HeRo 2.0 proved capable of keeping up with its commercial rival, though with one caveat: While testing functionality like flocking and cooperative transportation, the team extended the robots&rsquo; on-board sensing capabilities with an overhead camera and the Apriltag tracking algorithm &mdash; to, as the team puts it, &ldquo;emulate a sensor in the robot that captures its neighbors&rsquo; position and relative velocity&rdquo; which is lacking in the hardware as-implemented.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQ5Mjc1NjQ3MDQ4LWhlcm8yLTEuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Four photographs of a HeRo 2.0 prototype shown from the top with its circuit board and distance sensors, from underneath with its wheels and castors visible, from the front, and from the side.">The compact HeRo 2.0 shows real promise for lowering the barrier to entry for swarm research, thanks to accessible development tools and its extremely low cost. There&rsquo;s room for improvement elsewhere, too. Proposed enhancements include a migration to the newer ROS 2 platform on the software side, the development of additional e-Hat add-ons in addition to the display and IMU units already prototyped, improvements to the internal filters for localization, and investigations in how to reduce variability of the 3D-printed parts in order to reduce post-processing and thus streamline assembly. More studies are also required to see how the low-cost parts stand up to repeated use &mdash; the rotary encoders in particular requiring replacement &ldquo;after months of use.&rdquo;The team&rsquo;s work has been submitted to the journal <cite>Autonomous Robots</cite>, with a preprint available <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.12391" target="_blank">on Cornell&rsquo;s arXiv server</a>.<h1>Reference</h1>Paulo Rezeck, Hector Azpurua, Mauricio FS Correa, and Luiz Chaimowicz: <cite>HeRo 2.0: A Low-Cost Robot for Swarm Robotics Research</cite>. DOI <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.12391" target="_blank">arXiv:2202.12391</a> <a href="http://cs.RO" target="_blank"></a>[cs.RO].

Costing just $18 each, the HeRo 2.0 robot platform includes expandability via "e-Hat" add-on hardware installed on the top.

Designed using off-the-shelf parts, a low-cost microcontroller, and a 3D-printed chassis, the HeRo 2.0 robot costs just $18 to build — and is at the heart of an effort to open swarm robotics up to a broader audience.

HeRo 2.0, an ultra-low cost 3D-printed robotics platform, could open swarm robotics experimentation up to all

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1640817319915000&usg=AOvVaw2nPRdRwJrXSYYeM9RCFu5x" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/3140758b-6aa9-46a5-829f-e13f372ed163?dark=false" class="fr-draggable"></iframe>The full article will continue below.<hr>Conventional agriculture is at a crossroads: on the one hand, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of sustainable farming methods, and on the other, the use of pesticides and fertilizers is having serious consequences for the soil. But how can farmers reconcile economic yields and ecological farming methods? Autonomous agricultural robots are seen as a promising solution here. Up-and-coming companies such as the Dutch <a href="https://pixelfarmingrobotics.com/#robot-one" id="isPasted" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Pixelfarming Robotics</a> are developing systems that have the potential to change agriculture long term. One of the keys for the global success: a smart energy system, that is tailored for agricultural applications!&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjM4Mjc5ODQ2NDE1LXRvb2xzLWFncmljdWx0dXJhbC1yb2JvdGljcy1hZ3Jhcm9ib3Rlci1waXhlbGZhcm1pbmcuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 100%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Excessive fertilization and the use of pesticides are increasingly affecting farmland. Insects, small animals and microorganisms fall victim to the measures, which has serious effects on the fertility of the soil and the fertilization of the plants. Companies like Pixelfarming Robotics aim to eliminate the need for pesticides and herbicides such as glyphosate. With Robot One, they developed an all-electric agricultural robot for weed control without pesticides.&nbsp;<h2 id="isPasted">Destroy weeds without chemicals with advanced sensors</h2>Depending on the task, the autonomous smart agricultural robots can be equipped with various tools such as hooks, streamers or spikes as well as sophisticated sensors to remove weeds without the use of chemicals. A total of ten robot arms are available, replacing five pairs of hands. These are all multifunctional and individually adjustable in row width and working depth. There is also no need to compact the soil by using heavy tractors.“Agricultural robots have the potential to radically change agriculture and herald the transformation towards ecological but at the same time high-yield cultivation,” says&nbsp;Arend Koekkoek, CEO and founder of&nbsp;Pixelfarming&nbsp;Robotics.&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjM4Mjc5ODg3NjQ3LWFncmFyb2JvdHMtYWdyYXJvYm90ZXItZXRhTElOSy0zMDAwX1dpZmVyaW9uX2VmZmljaWVudC13aXJlbGVzcy1jaGFyZ2luZy5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 60%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Wiferion’s wireless battery charger etaLINK 3000 for mobile robots works fast, powerful and reliable even under hard outdoor conditions&nbsp; <h2 id="isPasted">Special requirements for the energy supply of agricultural robots</h2>Many experts are convinced that autonomous robots like those from Pixelfarming will be plowing fields, sowing seeds and harvesting crops in the future. But operating in harsh and dirty outdoor environments places special demands on the energy supply so that the battery-powered vehicles can also reliably perform their tasks. Energy solution providers such as the Freiburg-based tech company <a href="https://www.wiferion.com/en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wiferion</a> are relying on the concept of inductive energy transmission. With its “wireless charger” <a href="https://www.wiferion.com/en/products/etalink-3000-inductive-charging-with-3-kw/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">etaLINK 3000</a>, the company is already the market leader for contactless charging of mobile robots and AGVs. Because the charging solution is an encapsulated system with IP65 certification, it is so strong that it already meets all the requirements of automated agriculture.<h2>Moisture, dust and dirt does not affect the power supply</h2>“Our&nbsp;etaLINK&nbsp;system has no open or live contacts,&nbsp;connectors or cables. Therefore, moisture, dust and dirt cannot affect the reliable power supply in any way,” explains Johannes Mayer, Managing Director&nbsp;at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wiferion.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="https://www.wiferion.com/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wiferion</a>.In this way, Wiferion minimizes the risk of downtime. The <a href="https://www.wiferion.com/en/products/etalink-3000-inductive-charging-with-3-kw/" target="_blank">system</a> works via plug-and-play and can currently charge at 3 kW. The charger can charge all common battery types – regardless of cell chemistry. However, Wiferion’s energy experts recommend the use of Li-Ion batteries to exploit the full potential of the energy supply of the agricultural robot. That is why Wiferion is working closely with battery manufacturer VARTA, which also believes in the future trend of sustainable management of agricultural land.<div class="fr-img-space-wrap">&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjM4Mjc5OTMxMDg3LVZBUl9FYXN5X0JsYWRlXyZfRWFzeV9CbG9ja19DTVlLXzIwMjAtVkFSVEExLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 80%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">VARTA Application Specific Batteries Easy Block and Easy Blade&nbsp;</div><h2 id="isPasted">Automated and robust power supply with VARTA batteries</h2><a href="https://www.varta-ag.com/en/industry/product-solutions/lithium-ion-battery-packs/asb/easy-block" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span data-ccp-parastyle="Formatvorlage1" data-ccp-parastyle-defn='{"ObjectId":"b923eab2-53b0-459a-af9e-42d4036cf962|184","ClassId":1073872969,"Properties":[134233614,"true",201340122,"2",201341983,"0",335559705,"1031",335559739,"0",335559740,"240",469769226,"Arial,Times New Roman",469775450,"Formatvorlage1",469777841,"Arial",469777842,"Times New Roman",469777843,"Times New Roman",469777844,"Arial",469778129,"Formatvorlage1",469778324,"Normal"]}'>VARTA</a>&nbsp;estimates that the global market for agricultural robotics will grow to around 24 billion US dollars by 2023. Demand for high-performance energy solutions for automated vehicles and robotic systems will be correspondingly high. According to&nbsp;VARTA, lithium-ion batteries for agricultural robotics applications offer several advantages over lead-acid solutions. The&nbsp;Application–Specific&nbsp;Batteries&nbsp;(ASB)&nbsp;Easy Block and Easy Blade&nbsp;developed by&nbsp;VARTA&nbsp;are lithium-ion packs for use in small and medium-sized vehicles. The batteries are modular and expandable&nbsp;and fit perfectly with the wireless charger of&nbsp;Wiferion&nbsp;to offer an automated and robust energy system for all kind of agricultural applications.&nbsp; First Published at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wiferion.com/en/news/autonomous-agricultural-robots-revolutionize-organic-farming/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="https://www.wiferion.com/en/news/autonomous-agricultural-robots-revolutionize-organic-farming/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wiferion.com</a>

No pesticides and herbicides anymore needed thanks to Pixelfarming Robotics and its robot » Robot One «.

Agricultural robots are the work force of tomorrow 

Autonomous agricultural robots revolutionize organic farming

Yasuhide “Yasu” Yokoi is the cofounder of design and technology firm Final Aim Inc., which works with laboratories, startups, and multinational companies to transform ideas into tangible solutions. There, he and his team use Ultimaker 3D printers to better enable rapid design iterations during the prototyping phase.<section>One of the company’s latest projects is the OSTAW Camello, an autonomous package delivery robot.<h2>Revolutionizing package delivery</h2>The Camello was designed to address issues in the delivery logistics chain in Singapore, which causes high shipment costs and operational complexities. Due to low loads and long waiting periods in loading and unloading bays, package deliveries are often inefficient – a fact exacerbated by high delivery volumes and tight delivery deadlines.To tackle this challenge, Final Aim collaborated with a Singaporean robotics start-up OTSAW Digital PTE LTD, with the Camello being the final product.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLfuav7Goc8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" style="width: 789px; height: 441px;"></iframe>The Camello is user friendly, featuring an ergonomic cargo space and sleek design – optimal for Singapore’s urban environment. Plans are currently underway for it to be used by various industrial key players, delivery companies, and retailers throughout Singapore, creating an improved ecosystem that provides smooth and efficient delivery to customers, while increasing profit margins for those businesses that use it.<h2>The birth of the Camello</h2>As with any product, several phases were involved in Camello’s design, with the Ultimaker S3, Ultimaker Cura, and CAD software acting as Yasu’s and Final Aim’s greatest companions throughout the process.First came the robot’s concept development and evaluation. From the initiation to ideation, he used both hand-drawn design sketches and CAD software.<div class="fr-img-space-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1626351339935-ezgif-4-ff30c01cc212.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Industrial designer Yasuhide Yokoi with the Ultimaker S3 and Camello prototypes&nbsp;</div>Once he developed the idea, Yasu began the process of presenting it to the higher-level management, frontline members, and end-users. This divergent approach allowed Yasu to gain as much feedback as possible, which he could then use to refine, improve, and further flesh out his concept.&nbsp;<div class="fr-img-space-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1626351389427-ezgif-4-074c26f97a5a.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Early sketches of design ideas&nbsp;</div><div class="fr-img-space-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1626351426664-ezgif-4-9f90c2806768.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A CAD design iteration, which can be 3D printed&nbsp;</div>Next came the prototyping phase. As Yasu now had numerous potential ideas, he needed to rapidly actualize them – often on tight deadlines. Luckily, this was a task that 3D printing was able to easily handle. Compared to other common prototyping methods such as sculpting or carving from Styrofoam, chemical wood, or industrial clay, 3D printing is much more efficient – freeing up time for Yasu to work on other design tasks.“More than just cost-cutting, 3D printing has added value to my process,” Yasu said.<div class="fr-img-space-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1626351476615-ezgif-4-89136559e3a3.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">3D printed iterations of the robot, ready to be tested and compared&nbsp;</div><h2 id="isPasted">Finalizing an intuitive design</h2>Yasu was also responsible for ensuring that the Camello’s final design was of excellent quality. As his works often incorporate organically curved surfaces and silhouettes, which are often difficult to implement, he needed to create numerous iterations. 3D printing technology utilizes the contour layers of printouts to analyze the curvature of surfaces – essentially an equivalent to the zebra mapping that CAD software performs. “The Ultimaker S3’s double extrusion feature has [also] been essential to my everyday design applications,” Yasu said. “Together with Breakaway and PVA material, my printing experience has become exponentially more efficient. I am deeply satisfied with the resulting quality as it leaves behind no support structure remaining.”<div class="fr-img-space-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1626351527613-ezgif-4-7e8be04a50e7.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Finished 3D printed prototype in the Ultimaker S3&nbsp;</div><div class="fr-img-space-wrap"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1626351600118-ezgif-4-14928e22f90b.jpg" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Camello autonomously delivers groceries around Singapore&nbsp;</div>For the Camello to be a success, its design had to be intuitive and accessible at first glance. The design process, therefore, involved divergent ideation, exploring all possibilities, which were then carefully narrowed in focus. Development speed was also critical for stakeholders' requests.3D printing enabled these stakeholders to see and touch a physical product, deepening their understanding of the Camello’s concept and design – and streamlining the decision-making process.</section>

Yasuhide “Yasu” Yokoi is the cofounder of design and technology firm Final Aim Inc., which works with laboratories, startups, and multinational companies to transform ideas into tangible solutions. 

Yasuhide Yokoi and Final Aim Inc.: Rapid iterations of an autonomous delivery robot

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rovers and wheeled robots

rovers & wheeled robots

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