BeetleCam is back!

Beetlecam is an RC all-terrain vehicle with a DSLR pan-tilt mount created by Burrard and Lucas.  It marries two of my strong interests – robotics and photography. I would be interested to see how an autonomous version of the same vehicle would fare – something that would explore the wild and keep track of the different species of wildlife it encounters.

They’ve captured some awesome pictures that are both alluring and playful.

Do check out their teaser video and for more information head on over to http://www.burrard-lucas.com/

LEO10 in the news

A hearty congratulations to my students for making the media with their recent accomplishment at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition held in Michigan in June 2010. They placed 8th out of 48 teams in the design challenge during their debut.Their robot is featured in the front, while my robot Rio is in the background. You can also see our humanoid, HOAP-3 in the edge of the picture. The team members are Dev Chandan (team lead, mechanical), Hitesh Dhiman (software, ROS expert) and Ankit Sachdev (electronics, embedded systems). The picture was taken in my lab.

This is impressive on two counts -

1. The LEO10 team consisted of just 3 rookie members. Most teams have an average of 8 to 20 members.

2. This is the team’s first robot. Most teams have existed for atleast half a decade.

Given this precedence, I’m excited about the upcoming year’s design and I wish the team the very best.

To read the full article, click on – NUS team’s Robotic Turtle is no slouch

Alternative link

Rio 2 – The Holonomic Telepresence Robot

Rio has been constantly evolving in its application and is currently been outfitted as a Telepresence robot for remote surveillance, patient care, elderly and child monitoring applications. While the fundamental technology behind Telepresence robots are equivalent to web-conferencing, the real challenge lies in delivering enterprise level QoS. We are now evaluating methods for data compression on the fly to minimize latency, increase video resolution and to improve the controller frequency.

A robot’s birthday

Quite possibly my fastest fabrication to implementation for a full fledged autonomous robot. Rio, our holonomic robot, works; flawlessly too.

It was fabricated (mechanical and PCBs), wired, tested and ready to go in less than 12 days, quite a miracle given the failure rate in robotics, the lead time for procuring parts in Singapore and the paperwork involved.

Here’s Rio all wired up and good to go.

Don’t stare at the wheels too long, they make your head spin. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upio7feAY6w)

Rio, DAvinCi @Robocup 2010

We’ve been working hard to complete the beta version of Rio just in time for Robocup 2010, which is being held in Singapore from June 19 to June 25.

Just the holonomic version of Rio will be on display – it’ll demonstrate its resourcefulness in guiding “visitors” in a demo environment. Do drop by the A*STAR Booth for quick chat.

The Evolution of Rio

I never imagined that I would be going through so many iterations of Rio. And these are just from the Alpha prototype to the Beta. Also, I could not accommodate the countless other versions that superseded the Alpha. I need to employ Agile methods in my design planning and fix elements of the design in short iterations.

Rio and Phoenix Content Updates

I’d like to draw your attention to content updates for two of my robots, Rio and Phoenix.

Please follow-on to watch the newly uploaded videos of both.

Video: Better Ideas, How to?

I came across this impressive video that illustrates the process of generating new ideas. It’s really well made and has taken a considerable amount of effort. See for yourself.

Farmer, Designer, Scholar

It just amazes me how hunger can be the best motivator.

Here’s a story of a man who started engineering machines so that he could pay off his father’s debts. He is only a farmer with no formal education. Truly inspiring.

Read on : http://www.hindu.com/seta/2010/01/14/stories/2010011450151400.htm

One Seventy Seven

The Beautiful Beast Cometh.

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