Weekly Robotics #326

Issue 326

Most of this week, I'm at Open Source Summit in Amsterdam. Tomorrow, I'm giving a very opinionated talk on open-source robotics. How opinionated, you might ask? Let's just say I'm going to mention washing machines.

As a side note, if you happen to be in the Bay Area in September, I highly recommend checking out Actuate; it's going to be meaty.

Large Behavior Models and Atlas Find New Footing

Large Behavior Models and Atlas Find New Footing cover

It’s time to update your AI-adjacent dictionary with a new term: Large Behavior Models (LBMs). The LBMs were developed by Toyota Research Institute, and in this work, they collaborated with Boston Dynamics to deploy these to Atlas with some excellent results.

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Getting Started With Ultra-Wideband & Measuring Distances

This is a very well-documented tutorial on setting up Ultra-Wideband (together with code for MicroPython and C++). With this technology, you can expect the localization to be accurate within 10cm and to work reliably in a 10-meter range.

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Small robots, mighty vision: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s DINOv2-enabled robot rovers and the future of planetary exploration

Small robots, mighty vision: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's DINOv2-enabled robot rovers and the future of planetary exploration cover

I came across this project in the ROS News for the week update, and it was too good not to grab it.

DINOv2 is a self-supervised Vision Transformer Model. The linked article described how JPL integrated it into their Visual Perception Engine, enabling powerful perception on compute-constrained robots.

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Announcing CRISP: Closing the Gap Between ROS 2 and Robot Learning

Here is an announcement from ROS Discourse, where Daniel San José Pro introduces CRISP, a set of open-source ROS 2 controllers that help you bridge ROS with action models. I’m looking forward to seeing how this solution plays with LeRobot!

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Watch robots compete at the World Humanoid Robot Games in China

Watch robots compete at the World Humanoid Robot Games in China cover

The first World Humanoid Robot Games are underway in Beijing, China, with participants from 16 countries including the US, Germany and Japan. Robots athletes will attempt to compete across a range of events including athletics, football, dance and martial arts. Organisers say the purpose of the event is to trial and refine current robotics. They say sports are a way to test a robot’s decision-making, motor skills and controllers that could be later applied in real-life settings like factories and homes. It’s all part of China’s push to become a global leader in humanoid robotics. The government has a national plan to build a world-class humanoid industry by 2027.

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I Made A CLEVER Mini Robot

I Made A CLEVER Mini Robot cover

I never thought I would be enjoying end credits on a YouTube video, but here we are. The build is relatively simple, but it looks like great fun!

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Vacuum cleaner makes a break for freedom after developing ‘mind of its own’

I found this story of the robot vacuum on the run quite entertaining.

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Events

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