Weekly Robotics #260
On Saturday this week, Weekly Robotics has a birthday! It’s been five years since I started this project. One thing I did well was not missing a single issue in all this time. That was an ultimate exercise in consistency for me, and I’m glad I continued on this path. As usual, the publication of the week section is manned by Rodrigo. Last week’s most clicked link was non-mathemtical introduction to Kalman filters, with 16.1% opens.
Weekly Robotics is being developed thanks to the following business sponsors:
Xometry: Manufacturing on Demand [Sponsored]
Need custom parts for robotics & automation? Xometry is your one-stop shop for manufacturing on demand. Get instant online quotes on CNC machining, laser cutting, 3D printing, urethane casting, and more.
ManipulationOnTheMove
“Why do mobile robots come to a stop when they grasp something or put something down? Humans are quite capable of performing such manipulation tasks while walking or even running. By performing tasks on-the-move overall execution time for multi-step tasks can be significantly reduced, and the resulting motion is more natural and graceful. This project develops an architecture for allowing mobile manipulators to perform reactive manipulation tasks on-the-move. Reactive control allows for robust performance in complex, dynamic environments, such as grasping moving objects”.
Long-range ROS 2 data transmission using SiK Telemetry Radios - General - ROS Discourse
Want to use ROS 2 with some long-range radios? Check out this short write-up on using SiK Telemetry Radios on 433MHz and 915MHz bands by Max Polzin.
Making robots with ADHD
Adam Purdie made an excellent blog post on his life as a roboticist diagnosed with ADHD. I recommend it, especially if you were ever wondering if you might have the same condition.
TRACEPaw
Researchers at NTNU University of Science and Technology developed TRACEPaw, a sensorized paw for robot quadrupeds with an embedded microphone and a camera to estimate 3D force vectors acting on the foot and recognize terrain types.
Remembering Brandon Gilles Founder of Luxonis
Brandon Gilles, the founder of Luxonis, sadly passed away from Long Covid complications in July. In this post, you will find a message from Brandon’s wife and his colleague and a way to donate to the family.
Autodesk Fusion 360 for Linux
For years, I was annoyed by being unable to run Autodesk Fusion 360 on Linux, but here is a workaround by Steve Zabka. This repo will be a game changer for anyone looking to create models and test them in simulation without having to dual boot or work on multiple machines.
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is back in flight after unscheduled landing - The Robot Report
In July, Ingenuity performed an unscheduled landing on its Flight 53. The flight was likely cut short due to the navigation camera not synchronizing correctly with the IMU. Flight 54 did not experience any issues.
From the Desks of ROS Maintainers: A Survey of Modern & Capable Mobile Robotics Algorithms in the ROS 2
Some of the top roboticists in the ROS 2 world created a write-up on algorithms for mobile robotics and Nav2. I have only skim-read through it, but this paper is a treasure trove for anyone looking to level up their knowledge in robot navigation.
Publication of the Week - Follow Anything: Open-set detection, tracking, and following in real-time (2023)
This paper presents Follow Anything (FAn), which can detect, track, and follow. The method is multimodal and can identify objects from input text, images, and clicks. The detection takes advantage of the Segment Anything Model (SAM) created by Meta. If an object is lost, the algorithm can re-detect it in three ways, thus increasing its robustness. The author made [a video] (https://youtu.be/6Mgt3EPytrw) explaining the article with examples and provided the code on this GitHub page.
Business
ANYbotics Seires B Pitch Deck
Péter Fankhauser shared the ANYBotics pitch deck on his LinkedIn lately. Since then, TechCrunch did an analysis on it that you might find helpful too.
Skydio to sunset consumer drone offerings
Skydio is sunsetting the consumer drone business to focus on the enterprise and public sectors. Earlier this year, the company announced a $230M Series E at a $2.2B valuation.