Weekly Robotics #338
Today is the last day to submit your proposal to our FOSDEM 2026 Robotics and Simulation DevRoom. It's going to be glorious. If you can, I highly recommend being there! In other news, on December 11th, I'm attending the Paris HW Meetup. If you're there too, let's grab a coffee!
Tangram Vision Launches Credit-Based Pricing for MetriCal [Sponsored]
Tangram Vision's MetriCal, the multi-sensor calibration platform for cameras, LiDAR, IMU, and more, now offers flexible credit-based pricing. Pay only for successful calibrations (3 credits base + 1 per modality). Start with a free 15-credit trial or explore Enterprise options for unlimited usage.
Introduction to Robot Standards
ASTM created this mini-course as a succinct introduction to robotics standards. It’s a good way to test the waters and see what’s out there to implement before diving deeper into applying them in your products.
hello-slam: A beginner-friendly SLAM mini-course with Jupyter notebooks
This repository contains interactive Jupyter notebooks that introduce the fundamentals of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The notebooks provide a step-by-step look at Bayes Filter, Kalman Filters, Particle Filters, and Graph-based methods, combining theoretical explanations with Python code.
µcad programming language
µcad (pronounced microcad) is a description language for modeling parameterizable geometric objects. Simple basic shapes can be composed to create complex geometries, which then can be rendered into STL or SVG files for 3D printing or CNC milling.
The language looks surprisingly effective, check out this example to get an idea of how simple it is to create complex shapes.
space_ros_turtlebot3_demo: Space ROS (RACS2) demonstration based on TurtleBot3
If you wanted to run a Turtlebot in space, you could start with this JAXA project. It will teach you how to bridge NASA’s Core Flight System (cFS) with ROS 2. On itself, this tutorial can also be a good starting point for setting up a TurtleBot 3 if you ever need some instructions.
Saving A Rental Ebike From The Landfill
If you are reading this newsletter, chances are you enjoy taking things apart, understanding them, and repairing them. In such a case, you might enjoy this video, where the author buys a couple of rental bikes and goes on a journey to fix them. There are some good lessons in hardware debugging here!
NEW Robotic Olaf Revealed! Inside Disney Imagineering R&D
It’s always a joy to peek behind the scenes of Disney’s engineering efforts. This time, they are introducing Oalf, a new bipedal character that will roam Disneyland in Paris and Hong Kong. In the video you can learn about other platforms and engineering involved.
Physical Intelligence raises $600M to advance robot foundation models
Days after showing pi0.6, Physical Intelligence announced it had raised $600M in its Series B. Congrats!
Events
- European Robotics Week: Dec 03 - Dec 04, 2025. Tallinn, Estonia
- iREX 2025 — International Robot Exhibition: Dec 03 - Dec 06, 2025. Tokyo, JP
- ROSCon India 2025: Dec 18 - Dec 20, 2025. Pune, India
- FOSDEM 2026: Jan 31 - Feb 01, 2026. Brussels, Belgium
- Embedded World 2026: Mar 10 - Mar 12, 2026. Nuremberg, Germany
- European Robotics Forum: Mar 23 - Mar 27, 2026. Stavanger, Norway
- Commercial UAV Forum: Apr 22 - Apr 23, 2026. Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Open Hardware Summit: May 22 - May 23, 2026. Berlin, Germany
- ICRA 2026: Jun 01 - Jun 05, 2026. Vienna, Austria
- 2026 Energy Drone & Robotics Summit: Jun 22 - Jun 24, 2026. Houston, Texas, United States of America
For more robotic events, check out our event page.
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