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Robotics

Robots, robots, robots

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Chasing a dream: How to become Adventure Builder and make giant spider robot with your own hands

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 12 min
Views 60

Have you ever wondered how difficult it is to turn something you have in mind into a real product? For example, would you be surprised to see someone controlling a huge iron robot spider that can turn on the spot and walk obediently to his pilot's directions?

To realize his idea, this persistent designer overcame many obstacles: he invented the mechanism himself, mastered the skills of aluminum welding, laser cutting, 3D printing, created a reduced prototype and built one. His project stands out even among the most interesting self-made devices you've read about.

Please sit back and relax while reading this rather lengthy article. During the scrolling through, you will learn about some remarkable inventor and his resourcefulness, irrepressible life energy and practical advice to help you realize your dreams, and someone, perhaps, will be pushed to tell about his own project.

Become the adventure builder
Total votes 3: ↑3 and ↓0 +3
Comments 0

How to make a robot? What is first

Level of difficulty Easy
Reading time 3 min
Views 4.4K

I develop robots, and I'm often asked, "How to make a robot?" and "Where do you find information and what resources do you use?"

If you don't know where to start and want to create your own robot, this article is for you. In it, I will try to explain the process and also share the first steps you should take.

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Total votes 2: ↑2 and ↓0 +2
Comments 2

Robots in Medicine: Applications and Possibilities

Reading time 7 min
Views 650

We continue to cover the world of robotics. In this article we will talk about how automated robotic systems that used to work only at the factories and plants, became utilized in medicine with further improvements. We will provide the real-world examples of such applications, as well as talk about equipment and the prospects of doctors and robots working together. 

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UAVCAN HITL UAV Simulator for PX4

Reading time 2 min
Views 2.5K

Hi from RaccoonLab, a team of enthusiasts in field robotics! We want to share our true-HITL UAVCAN-based simulator for PX4.

We believe a unified UAVCAN bus for drone onboard electronics will become a mainstream approach shortly. Our simulator is already based on UAVCAN (in opposition to UART-MAVLINK) and emulates exactly the same messages as real UAVCAN-sensors.

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Total votes 2: ↑2 and ↓0 +2
Comments 0

Controlling Brushless Motors from Windows

Reading time 4 min
Views 1.4K

In this video, we will look at how to connect brushless motors to a Windows computer via USB. We are going to connect a network of Servosila brushless motor controllers to the computer. The other option is CANbus interface, but we will look at CANbus in a dedicated video. A regular USB cable is used. Note that the USB cable is not used to power the controller and its motor.

The first brushless motor controller in network appears to Windows as a Virtual COM port. Once connected via USB, it can be found in a general list of devices in the Window's "Settings" window. Up to 16 controllers can be connected this way via a single USB cable to the same control computer or a PLC. If one of the interconnected brushless motor controllers is connected to a computer via USB, then that particular controller becomes a USB-to-CANbus gateway for the rest of the network.

If your computer happens to have more that one serial port, you may wish to check a COM port's number assigned by Windows to the controller. Then, you pick this COM port in a drop down menu in the Servoscope software, and click Connect. If the COM port is not listed in the drop-down menu, click the Refresh button. If everything is good, the controller appears in a list of devices. Double-click to open up a control and configuration window.

Video & Read more
Total votes 5: ↑3 and ↓2 +1
Comments 0

Controlling Brushless Motors using Raspberry PI

Reading time 5 min
Views 3.1K

In this video tutorial, we will control a pair of brushless motors from a Raspberry PI computer. We will use one of the computer's USB ports to connect a network of brushless motor controllers. We will power the computer, the controllers, and the brushless motors using a single battery, similar to a autonomous vehicle design.

The first motor is an outrunner type, a kind of what you would use for a vehicle propulsion. The bigger motor comes with a quadrature encoder which means it can be used as a powerful servo.

I made a cable to power my set up. On one end, the cable has a socket for plugging the battery. The cable splits into a two parallel parts to power the controllers, and the Raspberry PI. The bottom part of the cable further splits to power a pair of brushless motor controllers.
By the way, the controllers need 7 to 60 Volts DC. I put proper connectors at the ends of the cable, so that I could just plug it into the controllers.

Servosila brushless motor controllers come in rectangular or circular form factors. The controllers have USB and CANbus ports for connecting to control computers such as Raspberry PI.

Video & Read More
Total votes 6: ↑5 and ↓1 +4
Comments 0

Passcode Data Protection by Using FPGA and Verilog

Reading time 4 min
Views 2.7K

There are many situations when you need to protect your data, and different tools can be used to do that. For example, a safe. We develop a passcode data protection mechanism by using an FPGA board and Quartus Prime software. It allows demonstrating the basic concepts of a combination lock such as entering data, setting and checking a passcode, and displaying data.

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Total votes 5: ↑3 and ↓2 +1
Comments 0

Robotic Floor Washer

Reading time 16 min
Views 1.8K

When we think about robots, the first thing that comes to mind are robotic vacuum cleaners. The reason is simple: they are the most "solid" demonstration of success of "consumer" robotics. So making one sounds like a good idea... at first.

But isn't it a bit counter productive - to build something that popular, something we can buy in a store at a commodity (small) price? Should we build something similar, but NOT a vacuum cleaner? Something like... a floor washer, perhaps? Yes, a robotic floor washer.

In this tutorial I am going to build a fully working prototype of a robotic floor washer. By "fully working" I mean that it is going to wash floor, instead of moving dirt around like most robotic "moppers" do. While by "prototype" I mean it is going to be the first step towards production-ready unit, but not a production-ready unit yet. Let me explain.

First of all, it is not going to be THAT solid. You can grab a robotic vacuum cleaner that you got from the store by any part, including wheels and bumper and lift it. It will not fall apart. Ours probably will. The reason is, to make a device "mechanically solid" is a separate task, and if we focus on it, then "robotic" tasks will become more difficult to achieve. So we are going to do what engineers usually do: first they build C3PO without the outside body, wires everywhere and so on. And only then they put a gold-covered outfit on it.

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Total votes 12: ↑12 and ↓0 +12
Comments 11

Tensodrone that do not break, and what does architecture, robotic manipulator and copter have in common

Reading time 8 min
Views 1.6K
We had ten broken drones in a year, test flights twice a day, three PhDs in the team, a prototype of sushi sticks and a desire to find a way to stop hitting drones.

Very controversial, very unusual, very strange, but it works! At the intersection of architecture, collaborative robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles. 

Introducing: Tensodrone™.



Tensodrone is a multi-rotor UAV of a new design with collision protection, made on the principle of tensegrity. This approach allows for the combination of the protective cage and the airframe in one structure, increasing impact resistance with less weight. The project is a vivid example of the interaction of various teams of the Center for Competences of the National Technology Initiative in the field of «Robotics and Mechatronics» established at the Innopolis University in 2018.
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Top 10 RPA Service Providers to Automate your Business Processes

Reading time 6 min
Views 5.9K
Adaptive service providers in Robotic Process Automation or RPA implementation domains are finding solutions to fill emerging service gaps in industries impacted by changes across the world at the macro-level. Traditionally, RPA is used extensively in manufacturing-intensive industries and healthcare industries. However, the newer world dynamics are driving immense adaptation and RPA use is evolving at a faster pace in services delivery as well.



Mainly business functions like outsourcing, financial services and insurance, banking, procurement outsourcing, Human Resources Outsourcing which used RPA in a limited way are being further adapted to drive exponential growth in RPA services verticals by service providers with a vision to build newer paradigms for Automated services. RPA service providers India are setting new trends, as they develop customized solutions for every industry player.

Analysts estimate that the Global Robotic Process Automation Market is poised to grow to $7.2 billion by 2025 at 32.6% CAGR (Research and Markets Report, 2020). Growth of CAGR for RPA in India is at 20% by 2025.

In the newer world framework, organizations need to make strategic decisions and consciously adopt higher technology platforms like RPA for higher efficiency, performance and cost effective ROI. For local businesses, finding the best RPA service providers is a game changer.

As the demand for robotic process automation increases market participants include Uipath, Automation Anywhere and Blue prism.

Here are some of the top globally trusted RPA service providers:

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MEMS accelerometers, magnetometers and orientation angles

Reading time 8 min
Views 12K


When it's necessary to evaluate the orientation angles of an object you may have the question — which MEMS sensor to choose. Sensors manufacturers provide a great amount of different parameters and it may be hard to understand if the sensor fit your needs.

Brief: this article is the description of the Octave/Matlab script which allows to estimate the orientation angles evaluation errors, derived from MEMS accelerometers and magnetometers measurements. The input data for the script are datasheet parameters for the sensors. Article can be useful for those who start using MEMS sensors in their devices. You can find the project on GitHub.
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Total votes 5: ↑5 and ↓0 +5
Comments 0

GoROBO: an educational initiative from the ITMO University startup accelerator

Reading time 3 min
Views 1.3K
GoROBO is an ITMO University project through and through: one of the co-owners graduated our mechatronics MA program, and two other employees are current postgrad students.

Let’s talk about the educational environment they want to create, why they chose to build such an unusual startup, and what awaits GoROBO clubs in the future.

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Total votes 5: ↑5 and ↓0 +5
Comments 0

Inside ITMO University: The robotics lab

Reading time 4 min
Views 1.7K
The Department of Computer Science and Control Systems at ITMO University houses a robotics lab. In this article we’ll take a look at the projects its staff is working on, and show you the machinery on site: industrial manipulator robots, robotic hands and dynamic positioning system testing equipment.

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Total votes 13: ↑13 and ↓0 +13
Comments 0

Android Robotics up to 2019: The real story; in 5 parts; part 1

Reading time 23 min
Views 4.2K
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Quite a long time ago, seven years ago to be precise, i wrote a series of posts describing the state of android robotics in the world. At the time i was a high school student, with a keen interest in android robotics, who absorbed a bit of knowledge from English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Russian internetz and wanted to spill it somewhere.

While the posts were not too professional, and not to my standards of today, they were worthy enough to get stolen and even get translated by unapproved English Habrahabr mirrors, and to this day, appear in searches.

After those posts were written, Habrahabr got split. Removal of everyone outside of pure coding who were considered «not cake enough» to Geektimes felt like an insult and so i left the platform. Yet, the website was reunited last year, and much to a personal surprise, fairly recently an English version of Habrahabr was released.

During all these years i managed to be kicked from one university, finished another with a thick thesis on «Usage of Robotics in Disaster Conditions», lived in the Republic of Korea for half a year, and most importantly, not only expanded my knowledge of android robotics in such ways that the Robotics folder on the main hard drive is now more than 300GB in size, but also expanded the knowledge via journeying and personally meeting projects of the past and present, creating quite a decent archive on Youtube and met not only with the robots, but the engineers and scientists as well.

While i am still nowhere to be a robotics engineer, (and in the daily life i attempt to be a traditional slice-of-life artist), i feel that my tiny gigabytes of knowledge might be worthy of sharing, and today on Habr i'm publishing the real story of Android Robotics from the beginning up to 2019.
Total votes 18: ↑17 and ↓1 +16
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