ArtBot

New video of a robot trying to push a box

I made a video showing a robot trying to push a box which is too heavy and thus try to mimic the contortion of the body in order to make it.
Although it is impossible to compete with what is done in the animation world, I still have a robot with many DOF specially in the Torso and Arms so there are many possibilities to explore. For a first test, I implemented  3 sequences:

• The first one is the robot flex its legs and keep the upper body almost straight;
• The second one the robot bents over the box;
• And in the third one, the robot is tired (and desperate) and put one hand on its head.

I am not really happy with the first sequence but the second and third sequences are quite convincing. It is really a question of rhythm and I still need to improve the software here. Also I need to add feedback on the grippers so that the robot "knows" it is in contact with the box.

It is a good exercise to highlight the IK and path planning capabilities but for sure still lot of work to be done to make a more funny and compelling video clip.

In the next video,  I wanted to play with prisma (c) an application really nice which allow the creation of artistic effect on videos and/or photos. So I created a short sequence (less than 15s) of the robot pushing the box and ran Prisma (c) on it!  Funny to watch

ODOI project published in "Planète robots"

Thanks to Planète Robots who dedicated one page to the ODOI project:

 

ODOI project featured on 3ders.org and relayed on Flipboard

Thank you to 3ders.org for publishing an article on the ODOI project!

The article is available is entitled "3D printed walking robot expresses human-like movement and moods"

Besides the article has been relayed on Flipboad 3D printing section as well:

ODOI project viewed on intorobotics Website

A description of the ODOI project is available on IntoRobotics a wellknow website discussing robotics news and DIY projects. Thanks Dragos.

First video of ODOI

Here is the first video of ODOI doing its first steps:

 

There are really a lot of room for improvements here but I wanted to make public the video anyway and consider it as a milestone and then, we can measure the progress.

The main point is that the gait I am working one, based on an articulated foot and a passive articulated heel, is validated. The robot is working almost like a human being without bending the knees al the time like robots using gaits based on ZMP. In this way, the gait I propose is quite novative.

The most difficult part is the lateralization and the control of the upper body which is jiggling a lot as you can see on the video.

 

Des petits robots humanoïdes avec une démarche qui se rapproche de la notre

Développer un robot humanoïde avec une marche possédant une fluidité proche de celle de l’être humain demeure un défi pour les chercheurs bien que le Petman de Boston Dynamics soit une démonstration que des progrès significatifs ont été réalisés dans ce domaine.

Robotique en Chine

Cet article de China Daily (voir ci-dessous) est intéressant car il présente une analyse du secteur de la Robotique en Chine, avec une revanche pour les pays industrialisés qui sont dans la situation des acteurs des Telecom au début des années 2000 – avantages technologiques sur les acteurs locaux et donc ils peuvent vendre à des prix élevés.  Néanmoins ils doivent construire des usines en Chine et peut être seront-ils obligés dans le cadre de contrats d’envergures d’accepter de transférer de la technologie ? Un air de déjà vu dira t’on.

Malgré son retard technologique, les exemples « exotiques » en dehors des chaines de montage sont nombreux.