Weekly Robotics #275

By Mat Sadowski
Issue 275

Holiday Mat here again. Today is the last scheduled issue of the newsletter in my off-grid run. I should be back on track with the next issue. See you then!

Automata: The Extraordinary “Robots” Designed Hundreds Of Years Ago

youtube.com

“It’s often said that if you really want to understand something, then what you should do is build it”. I can’t imagine a more powerful way to start a documentary on automatons. The documentary is one hour long, so ensure you are sorted with snacks and hot coffee and enjoy!


New Project: Juggling Robot

jpieper.com

Josh from mjbots started working on a new project: a BLDC motor-based juggling delta robot, and I’m looking forward to following Josh’s progress!


Advanced Manufacturing at Building 1232a at NASA Langley Research Center

youtube.com

This video shows ISAAC, a ginormous robot arm that can place composite fiber to create structures for test and development.


Manchester researchers design and fly world’s largest quadcopter drone

manchester.ac.uk

Engineers at the University of Manchester built and flew a quadcopter made of foamboard that weighs 24.5kg and measures 6.4m (21 ft) corner to corner. The only thing I’m wondering about with this project is if GFQ really stands for Giant Foamboard Quadcopter?


Fluid Reality: High-Resolution, Untethered Haptic Gloves Using Electroosmotic Pump Arrays

youtube.com

This research from CMU’s Future Interfaces Group can be attractive to anyone looking into haptic interfaces for robotics. These fingerpad arrays have 20 haptic pixels per square centimeter, allowing the user to feel the objects in virtual reality.


Counting Crashes to Improve Device Reliability

interrupt.memfault.com

Tyler Hoffman from Memfault created this excellent write-up on monitoring IoT device crashes that could be an inspiration for many companies in our sector.


The 5 levels of Sustainable Robotics

robohub.org

In this article, Andrea Keay proposes five levels of sustainable robotics that are inspired by the levels of autonomy for autonomous vehicles.