Flexibility Envelope http://flexibilityenvelope.com SELF RECONFIGURING MODULAR ROBOTICS AND THE FUTURE CREATED Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:01:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= SELF RECONFIGURING MODULAR ROBOTICS AND THE FUTURE CREATED Flexibility Envelope no SELF RECONFIGURING MODULAR ROBOTICS AND THE FUTURE CREATED Flexibility Envelope http://flexibilityenvelope.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://flexibilityenvelope.com Travelling in a Self-Reconfiguring World http://flexibilityenvelope.com/travelling-in-a-self-reconfiguring-world http://flexibilityenvelope.com/travelling-in-a-self-reconfiguring-world#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:15:33 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1698 As I wrote in “Rooms and living spaces in a SRCMR world” many things change when your living space becomes active and can do things for you.

One maybe unexpected change is how we perceive travel.

Self-reconfiguring modular robotics (SRCMR) will make travel transparent and almost unnoticeable. No more hassle, stress and wasted time and [...]]]> As I wrote in “Rooms and living spaces in a SRCMR world” many things change
when your living space becomes active and can do things for you.

One maybe unexpected change is how we perceive travel.

Self-reconfiguring modular robotics (SRCMR) will make travel
transparent and almost unnoticeable. No more hassle,
stress and wasted time and at the same time
it will also make it significantly cheaper and greener by
using infrastructure investments more efficiently and allowing
the use of less fuel and energy demanding ways of travel with
the same convenience.

The basics are simple. Since your room is active and not permanently
attached, it can move itself around with you in it.

How can it do that? Well, when you are in one of these smart apartments,
the only thing you see is the inside walls, floors, ceiling and the
view from the window, right? What happens beyond that thin
layer of modules is not your business. This might sound strange
but how much do you actually know about what goes on in and
outside your regular walls?

So with active walls etc that can be controlled, we can move the
room around with you in it and you wouldn’t notice it much .
You will feel dynamic forces, alas we cannot circumvent Newton,
and naturally the view from your window disappears, or will be
replaced with a screen showing an image. But from many other
perspectives, you will be in your home and it will be hard to
notice that you are travelling. That is surely a step up from
travelling as it is today!

Now I bet you are thinking that this is just as far off as
jet packs and other things you see in the Jetsons.
And parts of it might very well be. But we can build a
system that integrates just enough of this new world
with what we already have, to get a simple but totally
new transport system much sooner than you think.

From the inside, a trip in this new fashion would be a non-event.
You would only notice some sounds, movement etc and depending
on your mode of travel you might need to be strapped in
as you would in a car or plane. But other than that you are in a
smaller version of your own home. It might look like this cabin
that is available on the Airbus 380

Singapore airlines suites

or like this Japanese capsule hotel, depending on your budget.

9h hotell

9h Hotell

And you are free to do pretty much what
you regularly do at home, talk to friends you travel with, use the
computer, watch TV and sleep.

On the outside, much more is going on. You will be picked up
by regular trucks using custom trailers. You might be driven
straight to your destination or to an air/sea port or train station
where you are automatically transferred between the different
modes of transportation until you arrive at your destination.

When it becomes this easy to travel you can travel more
and further than you do today. Imagine that you
could accept spending an evening, a night and a morning at
home, as I expect you do that quite often anyway.
That would give you 12-14 hours of travelling time, and that
is more than enough to go from London to Tokyo.
And all that without noticing it all that much. Spending what
in practice is no time at all (remember you would have been
at home doing what you did anyway), you just increased your
action radius to half-way across the globe. Pretty amazing.

This was an introduction to travelling with SRCMR systems. It
included an early implementation that based itself on a little bit
of SRCMR in the first step and then used old school familiar
means of transportation. I will be writing more about travelling
that is completely based on SRCMR soon.

Thanks Christina and Mårten for reading drafts of this.

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/travelling-in-a-self-reconfiguring-world/feed 0 Rooms and living spaces in a SRCMR world http://flexibilityenvelope.com/rooms-and-living-spaces-in-a-srcmr-world http://flexibilityenvelope.com/rooms-and-living-spaces-in-a-srcmr-world#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:53:45 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1695 One really amazing thing that SRCMR can do is to totally transform our houses and apartments. It will do so in two deceivingly simple ways. First, it allows you to move and change your inner walls and floor surfaces etc at will*

Secondly, it can create and change all your major furniture pieces like tables, [...]]]> One really amazing thing that SRCMR can
do is to totally transform our houses and apartments.
It will do so in two deceivingly simple ways.
First, it allows you to move and change your
inner walls and floor surfaces etc at will*

Secondly, it can create and change all your major furniture
pieces like tables, chairs, sofas and beds etc.

So what you say, how will this change much?
Or why would I want to move my walls around?

Well it is actually a bigger change than you might think.
It will change what you look for when you buy your home.
The fact that you can change the space and adapt it to
different uses, means you only need to buy the amount
of space you need simultaneously.

You can then use all of the space for different purposes at
different times.

So let’s look at how this might play out in a real world scenario:

Say you want to have some friends over for a party. First, you
need a big kitchen to prepare the food so you turn nearly
all of the space in to one large kitchen. When you are finished
there, you need a bath so some of your space is turned in to
that. When your guests start to arrive, you need one big
open space to mingle in and three small restrooms to avoid ques.
For the sit down dinner you need a big table and many chairs,
and when that is done a dance floor and a lounge area with
sofas and chairs would be created. When the party is over, 4 of your
friends would like to spend the night, because you are going shopping
together tomorrow the space is turned into 5 small bedrooms.

The flexibility of a SRCMR apartment can do all that. (And much more!)

The best thing is, that since you only need to buy 20-40 square metres,
you can afford to buy an apartment in that nice area you always wanted
to but could not afford!

How is that for a wow factor!

The value of flexibility in your apartment is shown nicely by Gary
Chang, and although he is using old school technology he gets an amazing
amount of features into his small apartment.

* To begin with I do not include the
supporting or outer walls. It will do that
some day too, but it will start with the
simpler inner walls that divide your
home up into bedrooms, living rooms
etc. Even that relatively simple start will bring
tremendous change!

Thanks Christina and Mårten for reviewing this post,
all remaining errors are my own!

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/rooms-and-living-spaces-in-a-srcmr-world/feed 1 IROS and the Modular Robotics Workshop http://flexibilityenvelope.com/iros-and-the-modular-robotics-workshop http://flexibilityenvelope.com/iros-and-the-modular-robotics-workshop#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:35:44 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1793 It is time for IROS and the Modular Robotics Workshop again, and from the program it looks really interesting. I will naturally attend the workshop on Sunday and then I will attend some standards meetings on Monday (thanks Craig and Raj for letting me lurk and learn). I think that getting good, open international standards [...]]]> It is time for IROS and the Modular Robotics Workshop again, and from the program it looks really interesting. I will naturally attend the workshop on Sunday and then I will attend some standards meetings on Monday (thanks Craig and Raj for letting me lurk and learn). I think that getting good, open international standards in place early is essential for SRCMR.

I will also do a number of podcast episodes (check out the ones I have already done here: http://bit.ly/eZwV8e)

For the rest of IROS you find my program in the postpage (it is quite long) and I am still looking for more things that are interesting from a SRCMR perspective, so if you have any tips I would much appreciate them.

 

*Final version not received   Compiled on September 21, 2011

Day Time Paper Title or Activity Authors Session Room  
Monday, September 26, 2011 15:15-15:30 Virtual Chassis for Snake Robots MoAT5.8 David Rollinson, Howie Choset Symposium: Bio-Inspired Robotics I − MoAT5 Continental Ballroom 5
15:15-15:30 Stretchable Circuits and Sensors for Robotic Origami MoAT9.8 Jamie Paik, Rebecca Kramer, Robert Wood Novel Actuators I − MoAT9 Continental Parlor 9
16:00-17:30 A Rapidly Reconfigurable Robot for Assistance in Urban Search and Rescue* MoBPT10.15 Alexander J Hunt, Richard J. Bachmann, Roger, D. Quinn Interactive I − MoBPT10 Golden Gate Room
16:00-17:30 An Ultra-High Precision, High Bandwidth Torque Sensor for Microrobotics Applications*MoBPT10.3 Benjamin Finio, Kevin Galloway, Robert Wood Interactive I − MoBPT10 Golden Gate Room
16:00-16:15 Semi-Plenary Invited Talk: Robotics at Boston Dynamics* MoBT5.1 Gabriel Nelson Symposium: Bio-Inspired Robotics II − MoBT5 Continental Ballroom 5
16:15-16:30 Semi-Plenary Invited Talk: Progress on 100 Milligram Robotic Insects* MoBT5.2 Robert Wood Symposium: Bio-Inspired Robotics II − MoBT5 Continental Ballroom 5
16:30-16:45 Design of a Miniature Integrated Multi-Modal Jumping and Gliding Robot MoBT5.3 Matthew Woodward, Metin Sitti Symposium: Bio-Inspired Robotics II − MoBT5 Continental Ballroom 5
16:45-16:50 Learning to Control Planar Hitting Motions in a Minigolf-Like Task MoBT8.4 Klas Kronander, Seyed Mohammad Khansari-Zadeh, Aude Billard Learning for Control − MoBT8 Continental Parlor 8
17:00-17:15 Variable Impedance Due to Electromechanical Coupling in Electroactive Polymer ActuatorsMoBT9.7 Sanjay Dastoor, Mark Cutkosky Novel Actuators II − MoBT9 Continental Parlor 9
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 08:00-08:15 Semi-Plenary Invited Talk: History of Microrobotics and Vision for the Future: Microassembly and Beyond* TuAT3.1 Toshio Fukuda Symposium: Microrobotics I − TuAT3 Continental Parlor 3
08:00-08:15 Using Response Surfaces and Expected Improvement to Optimize Snake Robot Gait Parameters TuAT8.1 Matthew Tesch, Jeff Schneider, Howie Choset Bio-Inspired & Biomimetic Robots − TuAT8 Continental Parlor 8
09:15-09:30 Caliper: A Universal Robot Simulation Framework for Tendon-Driven Robots TuAT7.8 Steffen Wittmeier, Michael Jäntsch, Konstantinos Dalamagkidis, Markus Rickert, Hugo Marques, Alois Knoll Software Architectures & Frameworks − TuAT7 Continental Parlor 7
10:00-10:15 Combining Imitation and Reinforcement Learning to Fold Deformable Planar ObjectsTuBT7.1 Benjamin Balaguer, Stefano Carpin Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
10:15-10:30 Bimanual Robotic Cloth Manipulation for Laundry Folding TuBT7.2 Christian Bersch, Benjamin Pitzer, Sören Kammel Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
10:30-10:45 Toward Simpler Models of Bending Sheet Joints TuBT7.3 Lael Odhner, Aaron Dollar Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
10:45-10:50 Bi-Manual Robotic Paper Manipulation Based on Real-Time Marker Tracking and Physical Modelling TuBT7.4 Christof Elbrechter, Robert Haschke, Helge Joachim Ritter Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
10:50-10:55 Understanding the Difference between Prox and Complementarity Formulations for Simulation of Systems with Contact TuBT7.5 Thorsten Schindler, Binh Nguyen, Jeff Trinkle Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
10:55-11:00 Curved Surface Contact Patches with Quantified Uncertainty TuBT7.6 Marsette Vona, Dimitrios Kanoulas Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
11:00-11:15 Estimation of Unknown Curvature using a Coarse-Resolution Sensor and Contact Kinematics TuBT7.7 Tri Cong Phung, Hansang Chae, Min Jeong Kim, Dongmin Choi, Seung Hoon Shin, Hyungpil Moon, Ja Choon Koo, Hyouk Ryeol Choi Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
11:15-11:30 Singular Surfaces and Cusps in Symmetric Planar 3-RPR Manipulators TuBT7.8 Michel Coste, Philippe Wenger, Damien Chablat Contact and Deformation − TuBT7 Continental Parlor 7
14:55-15:00 Development of a Fabric Sensor Using Tension-Sensitive Electro-Conductive Yarns in Recognition of Slippage TuCT9.6 Van Ho, Daisuke Kondo, Shima Okada, Takahiro Araki, Emi Fujita, Masaaki Makikawa, Shinichi Hirai Novel Sensors − TuCT9 Continental Parlor 9
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 08:00-09:30 Real-Time Swept Volume and Distance Computation for Self Collision Detection*WeAPT10.1 Holger Täubig, Berthold Bäuml, Udo Frese Interactive V − WeAPT10 Golden Gate Room
08:00-09:30 Development of a Fabric Sensor Using Tension-Sensitive Electro-Conductive Yarns in Recognition of Slippage* WeAPT10.24 Van Ho, Daisuke Kondo, Shima Okada, Takahiro Araki, Emi Fujita, Masaaki Makikawa, Shinichi Hirai Interactive V − WeAPT10 Golden Gate Room
08:30-08:45 Optimal Maintenance Strategy in Fault-Tolerant Multi-Robot Systems WeAT8.3 Satoshi Hoshino, Hiroya Seki, Jun Ota Networked Robots − WeAT8 Continental Parlor 8
16:00-16:15 Modeling Mutual Capabilities in Heterogeneous Teams for Role AssignmentWeDT8.1 Somchaya Liemhetcharat, Manuela Veloso Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
16:15-16:30 Collision Avoidance for Persistent Monitoring in Multi-Robot Systems with Intersecting Trajectories WeDT8.2 Daniel E. Soltero, Stephen L. Smith, Daniela Rus Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
16:30-16:45 Evaluation of a Power Management System for Heterogeneous Modules in Self-Reconfigurable Multi-Module Systems WeDT8.3 Zhuowei Wang, Florian Cordes, Alexander Dettmann, Roman Szczuka Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
16:45-16:50 Generalized Programming of Modular Robots through Kinematic Configurations WeDT8.4 Mirko Bordignon, Kasper Stoy, Ulrik Pagh Schultz Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
16:50-16:55 Energy-Aware Coverage Control with Docking for Robot Teams WeDT8.5 Jason Derenick, Nathan Michael, Vijay Kumar Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
16:55-17:00 Optimization of Personal Distribution for Evacuation Guidance Based on Vector FieldWeDT8.6 Masafumi Okada, Teruhisa Ando Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
17:00-17:15 Intent Inference and Strategic Escape in Multi-Robot Games with Physical Limitations and Uncertainty WeDT8.7 Aris Valtazanos, Subramanian Ramamoorthy Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
17:15-17:30 Optimisation Model and Exact Algorithm for Autonomous Straddle Carrier Scheduling at Automated Container Terminals WeDT8.8 Binghuang Cai, Shoudong Huang, Dikai Liu, Shuai Yuan, Gamini Dissanayake, Haye Lau, Daniel Pagac Multirobot Coordination & Modular Robots − WeDT8 Continental Parlor 8
Thursday, September 29, 2011 08:55-09:00 Optimization of Stochastic Strategies for Spatially Inhomogeneous Robot Swarms: A Case Study in Commercial Pollination ThAT4.6 Spring Berman, Radhika Nagpal, Adam Halasz Symposium: Stochasticity in Robotics and Biological Systems I − ThAT4 Continental Ballroom 4
10:50-10:55 Programmable 3D Stochastic Fluidic Assembly of Cm-Scale Modules ThBT4.5 Michael Thomas Tolley, Hod Lipson Symposium: Stochasticity in Robotics and Biological Systems II − ThBT4 Continental Ballroom 4
10:55-11:00 Hierarchical Congestion Control for Robotic Swarms ThBT4.6 Vinicius Graciano Santos, Luiz Chaimowicz Symposium: Stochasticity in Robotics and Biological Systems II − ThBT4 Continental Ballroom 4
14:45-15:00 (Self-)assembly from the nano to the macro scale* ThCT4.1 Nikolaus Correll, M. Ani Hsieh, Mark Yim Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
14:45-15:00 Communication Assisted Navigation in Robotic Swarms: Self-Organization and CooperationThCT9.1 Frederick Ducatelle, Gianni A. Di Caro, Carlo Pinciroli, Francesco Mondada, Luca Gambardella Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
15:00-15:15 Enhanced Directional Self-Assembly Based on Active Recruitment and Guidance ThCT4.2 Nithin Mathews, Anders Lyhne Christensen, Rehan O’Grady, Philippe Rétornaz, Michael Bonani, Francesco Mondada, Marco Dorigo Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
15:00-15:15 Effect of Sensor and Actuator Quality on Robot Swarm Algorithm Performance ThCT9.2 Nicholas Hoff, Robert Wood, Radhika Nagpal Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
15:15-15:30 Self-Assembly for Maximum Yields under Constraints ThCT4.3 Michael Fox, Jeff Shamma Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
15:15-15:30 The Distributed Co-Evolution of an Embodied Simulator and Controller for Swarm Robot Behaviours ThCT9.3 Paul Jason O’Dowd, Alan Winfield, Matthew Studley Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
15:30-15:35 Flocking: Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Robot Recognition ThCT9.4 Benjamin Fine, Dylan Shell Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
15:30-15:35 Towards Language-Based Verification of Robot Behaviors ThCT4.4 Anthony Cowley, Camillo Jose Taylor Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
15:35-15:40 Self-Assembly of Modular Robots from Finite Number of Modules Using Graph GrammarsThCT4.5 Vijeth Rai, Anne van Rossum, Nikolaus Correll Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
15:35-15:40 Gas Source Localization in Indoor Environments Using Multiple Inexpensive Robots and Stigmergy ThCT9.5 Maurizio Di Rocco, Alessandro Saffiotti, Matteo Reggente Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
15:40-15:45 Reynolds Flocking in Reality with Fixed-Wing Robots: Communication Range vs. Maximum Turning Rate ThCT9.6 Sabine Hauert, Severin Leven, Maja Varga, Fabio Ruini, Angelo Cangelosi, Jean-Christophe Zufferey, Dario Floreano Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
15:40-15:45 Constrained Task Partitioning for Distributed Assembly ThCT4.6 James Worcester, Joshua Rogoff, M. Ani Hsieh Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
15:45-16:00 Human Swarm Modeling in Exhibition Space and Space Design ThCT9.7 Masafumi Okada, Yuichi Motegi, Ko Yamamoto Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
15:45-16:00 Structure Synthesis On-The-Fly in a Modular Robot ThCT4.7 Shai Revzen, Mohit Bhoite, Juan Antonio Miguel Lim Macasieb, Mark Yim Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
16:00-16:15 Constraint-Aware Coordinated Construction of Generic Structures ThCT4.8 David Stein, Timothy Ryan Schoen, Daniela Rus Symposium: (Self-)assembly from the Nano to the Macro Scale: State of the Art and Future Directions − ThCT4 Continental Ballroom 4
16:00-16:15 ARGoS: A Modular, Multi-Engine Simulator for Heterogeneous Swarm Robotics ThCT9.8 Carlo Pinciroli, Vito Trianni, Rehan O’Grady, Giovanni Pini, Arne Brutschy, Manuele Brambilla, Nithin Mathews, Eliseo Ferrante, Gianni A. Di Caro, Frederick Ducatelle, Timothy Stirling, Alvaro Gutierrez, Luca Gambardella, Marco Dorigo Swarms and Flocks − ThCT9 Continental Parlor 9
16:45-17:00 Quadrocopter Ball Juggling ThDT9.1 Mark Wilfried Müller, Sergei Lupashin, Raffaello D’Andrea Novel System Designs: Sensing and Manipulation − ThDT9 Continental Parlor 9
17:00-17:15 2-DOF Contactless Distributed Manipulation Using Superposition of Induced Air FlowsThDT9.2 Anne Delettre, Guillaume J. Laurent, Nadine Le Fort-Piat Novel System Designs: Sensing and Manipulation − ThDT9 Continental Parlor 9
17:15-17:30 Compact Design of a Torque Sensor Using Optical Technique and Its Fabrication for Wearable and Quadrupt Robots ThDT9.3 Sarmad Shams, Dongik Shin, Jungsoo Han, Ji Yeong Lee Lee, Kyoosik Shin, Chang-Soo Han Novel System Designs: Sensing and Manipulation − ThDT9 Continental Parlor 9
17:30-17:45 Development of a High Efficiency and High Reliable Glass Cleaning Robot with a Dirt Detect Sensor ThDT9.4 Yoshio Katsuki, Takeshi Ikeda, Motoji Yamamoto Novel System Designs: Sensing and Manipulation − ThDT9 Continental Parlor 9
]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/iros-and-the-modular-robotics-workshop/feed 0 The Flexibility Envelopes Spectacular Cubelets Competition http://flexibilityenvelope.com/the-flexibility-envelopes-spectacular-cubelets-competition http://flexibilityenvelope.com/the-flexibility-envelopes-spectacular-cubelets-competition#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:03:48 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1614 So yoyu think the Cubelets from Modular Robotics looks coool and you would like to play?

But you diden’t get one of the 250 prototype kits, and now they are out of stock

That is where the flexibility Envelope comes to the rescue!

You can win free tinkering time in the:

[...]]]> So yoyu think the Cubelets from Modular Robotics
looks coool and you would like to play?

But you diden’t get one of the 250 prototype kits,
and now they are out of stock :-(

That is where the flexibility Envelope comes to
the rescue!

You can win free tinkering time in the:

Spectacular Cubelets Competition

The rules are simple:

What you have to do?
1. Write a guest post for this blog that I like and publish on the
topic Self-Reconfiguring Modular Robotics.
You can write as many as you would like, between 500 and 1500 words on
a technical aspect or maybe something on the social, ecological or
economical impact. It’s basically “anything goes”, If you would like
to, you can send me a short draft to check with me before you write
the final thing.
2. Come up with something really cool that you would like to build,
write a description of it and why you think it is cool!

Mail this to per@flexibilityenvelope.com

The best thing is that you can do this whenever you want to. The price
structure is such that in 4 weeks I will announce an order of the
post/suggestions that I like and they will be first,second, third etc
and then I will add the post/suggestion I like the most every 4*
weeks, so it is never to late to participate!

Then I will send the units to you* absolutely free for one month, and
you can tinker to your hearts content, I will also try to help you get
the most out of the kit with any support you need, and if you make any
cool things I would love to publish posts or videos on the
www.flexibilityenvelope.com

I am so excited to finally have this great example on the power of
Modular Robotics in my hands and it feels great to be able to make it
available to everyone in this way. So keep the suggestions coming and
let’s make awesome stuff together!

*Until more kits become available there is a significant waiting time,
but I know MR is working hard to make more kits available.

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/the-flexibility-envelopes-spectacular-cubelets-competition/feed 0 Victor Kuo talks about how he is working on solving the cross talk problem when using radio communication between modules in SRCMR in the eighth episode of the Flexible Elements podacst! http://flexibilityenvelope.com/victor-kuo-talks-about-how-he-is-working-on-solving-the-cross-talk-problem-when-using-radio-communication-between-modules-in-srcmr-in-the-eighth-episode-of-the-flexible-elements-podacst http://flexibilityenvelope.com/victor-kuo-talks-about-how-he-is-working-on-solving-the-cross-talk-problem-when-using-radio-communication-between-modules-in-srcmr-in-the-eighth-episode-of-the-flexible-elements-podacst#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:47:22 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1778 Victo Kuo

In this episode we hear Victor Kuo talk about how he has developed radio communication that can handle many transmitters sending at the same time, which was a major obstacle to using radios for module to module communication. This will be a very powerful tool as it can handle the communication in all distances [...]]]> Victo Kuo

Victo Kuo

In this episode we hear Victor Kuo talk about how he has developed
radio communication that can handle many transmitters sending at the
same time, which was a major obstacle to using radios for module to
module communication. This will be a very powerful tool as it can
handle the communication in all distances from global communication,
to near distance and ultra near distance and also could be used to
communicate when the modules are connected.

Victor Kuo is currently a PhD student in robotics from the Australian
Centre of Field Robotics, University of Sydney and is a student member
of the IEEE. He received a B.E (Hons) in Mechatronics Engineering and
B.Sc in Computer Science from the University of Sydney, Australia. His
research interests include cellular and modular robotics, distributed
robotics and wireless communication architectures.

The Show at IT Conversations

http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4894.html

 

Show Notes:
- Victor Kuo http://www.cas.edu.au/content.php/232.html?personid=301&stage=pub#pub
- Robert Fitch http://www.cas.edu.au/content.php/232.html?personid=244
- Towards A Parallel Wireless Radio Communication Architecture for
Modular Robots
Victor Kuo and Robert Fitch
http://www.cas.edu.au/download.php/Kuo2009ACRAParallelWireless.pdf?id=2162
- Search for A Parallel Wireless Radio Communication Architecture for
Modular Robots by
Victor Kuo and Robert Fitch in Modular Robots: State of the Art at
http://modular.mmmi.sdu.dk/icra10workshop/papers/modular-robots-icra2010
workshop.pdf

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/victor-kuo-talks-about-how-he-is-working-on-solving-the-cross-talk-problem-when-using-radio-communication-between-modules-in-srcmr-in-the-eighth-episode-of-the-flexible-elements-podacst/feed 0 Hardware is Hard…that is why we do Self-reconfiguring modular robotics http://flexibilityenvelope.com/hardware-is-hard-that-is-why-we-do-self-reconfiguring-modular-robotics http://flexibilityenvelope.com/hardware-is-hard-that-is-why-we-do-self-reconfiguring-modular-robotics#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:25:22 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1701 In a post on ModRobotics.com called Hardware is Hard, Eric Schweikardt describes some of the problems he and the team had developing their Cubelets. (They have now shipped the first 100 kits, and one of them came to the Flexibility Envelope, check it out here: and here)

What Eric and the team are doing is seriously [...]]]> In a post on ModRobotics.com called Hardware is Hard,
Eric Schweikardt describes some of the problems he
and the team had developing their Cubelets.
(They have now shipped the first 100 kits, and one
of them came to the Flexibility Envelope, check it
out here: and here)

What Eric and the team are doing is seriously hard stuff.
Developing, testing, debugging and at the same time they must
continuously adjust everything to production. And production is
in itself a nightmare, coordinating 100′s of parts form nearly
as many suppliers located all over the world, and then assembling
thousands of Cubelets: very hard indeed!

In this there is actually a beautiful illustration to why we try to develop
(Self-reconfiguring) modular robotics. Because I can pretty much ignore
all that when I build things with the Cubelets/Modules, because I know that the different
Cubelets/Modules will be compatible. I can buy modules from one
supplier not hundreds of different parts from companies all over the world.
I can also test different ideas and configurations of Cubelets/Modules safely,
as apposed to soldering stuff together randomly which will most likely not end well.

So SRCMR can, with good standards, insulate most people from
most of thees problems. And this might be true even if you would like
to develop your own complementary Cubelets/Modules to fill a hole in the lineup
of existing Cubelets/Modules. There are so many things you do not have to care
about and that allows you to focus on what is relevant for your new module!

I usually promote the many benefits of SRCMR, and they sure are
many and they are significant, but this might be one that is not considered
fully. It makes things practically possible, and that’s the ball game ladies and
gentlemen, few other things matter after that.

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/hardware-is-hard-that-is-why-we-do-self-reconfiguring-modular-robotics/feed 0 Progress report from Neil Desmond http://flexibilityenvelope.com/progress-report-from-neil-desmond http://flexibilityenvelope.com/progress-report-from-neil-desmond#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 00:25:07 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1685 This is three nice videos with a rundown of the latest prototypes Neil has done of his interesting self-reconfiguring modules, check his work out at www.selfreconfigurable.com and www.youtube.com/user/DesmondInnovation

I think it is great that Neil shows us that you can develop and research Self-reconfiguring modular robotics(SRCMR) even if you do not have a big lab [...]]]> This is three nice videos with a rundown of the latest prototypes Neil has done of
his interesting self-reconfiguring modules, check his work out at
www.selfreconfigurable.com and www.youtube.com/user/DesmondInnovation

I think it is great that Neil shows us that you can develop and research
Self-reconfiguring modular robotics(SRCMR) even if you do not have a big lab
or a big budget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVio4W4RoE4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoDi6HzcJ8Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy2uhyT5AjQ

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/progress-report-from-neil-desmond/feed 0 The Kilobots in action http://flexibilityenvelope.com/the-kilobots-in-action http://flexibilityenvelope.com/the-kilobots-in-action#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:44:48 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1678 An interesting video of the progress Michael Rubenstein is making on the Kilobot project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyDAuqorGo

If you want to know more about the kilobot and the systems capabilities here are som additional videos and a link the podcast interview I did with Michael Rubenstein on the Kilobots project att ICRA 2010 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Building [...]]]> An interesting video of the progress Michael Rubenstein is making on the Kilobot project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnyDAuqorGo

If you want to know more about the kilobot and the systems capabilities
here are som additional videos and a link the podcast interview I did
with Michael Rubenstein on the Kilobots project att ICRA 2010 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Building and programming 1024 robots in ep 2 of the Flexible Elements Podcast with Michael Rubenstein

A system rundown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx8rvBB_A7I

Some simpler behaviors of fewer Kilobots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISMwLCFwgK4

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/the-kilobots-in-action/feed 0 Juan Gonzalez Gomez talks about his open source 3D printable snake robots in the seventh episode of the Flexible Elements podacst! http://flexibilityenvelope.com/juan-gonzalez-gomez-talks-about-his-open-source-3d-printable-snake-robots-in-the-seventh-episode-of-the-flexible-elements-podacst http://flexibilityenvelope.com/juan-gonzalez-gomez-talks-about-his-open-source-3d-printable-snake-robots-in-the-seventh-episode-of-the-flexible-elements-podacst#comments Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:39:58 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1725 Juan Gonzalez Gomez and a long snake robot

In this episode we hear Juan Gonzalez Gomez talk about the snake modular robots he is developing. Everything is fully open source, so if you want to test making your own you can get started right away. But we start from the beginning and hear how [...]]]> Juan Gonzalez Gomez and a long snake robot

Juan Gonzalez Gomez and a long snake robot

In this episode we hear Juan Gonzalez Gomez talk about the snake
modular robots he is developing. Everything is fully open source,
so if you want to test making your own you can get started right
away. But we start from the beginning and hear how he got started.
As for so many others active in the field, it was with the work
of Mark Yim, and that is also where the Y in the name of his
modules comes from. Gonzalez Gomez also talks about the
different gaits already implemented in the snakes -
there is even one that regular snakes can’t do! He also talks
about the work with CPG, Central Pattern Generators, and the
cooperation he is starting with biologists to develop
new approaches to CPG gaits.

Robotic Side-Winders Coming to a 3-D Printer Near You

Juan Gonzalez Gomez was born in Madrid in 1973. He studied a 6-year
bachelor degree on Telecomunication engineering at UPM (Universidad
Politecnica de Madrid) and got his doctorate in robotics at UAM
(Universidad Autonoma de Madrid). He has been researching in modular
robotics since 2002. Currently he is a visiting professor at Robotics
lab in the UC3M (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid). Also, he is a
passionate of the open source movements. All his designs (software,
hardware and mechanics) are completely open and available to everyone.

Show Notes:

- Juan Gómez home page
http://www.iearobotics.com/wiki/index.php?title=Juan_Gonzalez:Main
- Juan also have a great Youtube channel with many interesting videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/obijuancube
- For the latest news on his progress, I can recommend Juans Twitter
feed! http://twitter.com/Obijuan_cube/
- Juan works at the Robotics lab
http://roboticslab.uc3m.es/roboticslab/ in the Universidad Carlos III
in Madrid http://www.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/home
- The Y in the module name Y1 comes from the name of one of the great
researchers on the area called Mark Yim, who is a a great inspiration
to all of us working in the area! http://ai.stanford.edu/users/mark/
- The Reprap project is a very impressive open source 3D Printer that
you can build for yourself, for a amazingly low price
http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page
- A commercial derivate of RepRap providing kits and parts
http://www.makerbot.com/
- A video with several gates
http://www.youtube.com/user/obijuancube#p/u/77/RJL-buxNiD4
- Milling your own circuit boards with an open source mill
http://blog.onshoulders.org/index.php?blogID=Mill&e=
- A great video about milling your own CB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-5SRtwx3kY
- A minimal configuration solution based on two modules moving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la7x5ONP1nU
- For more information on using sensors in modular snake robots Search
for “Towards the Sense of Touch in Snake Modular Robots for Search and
Rescue Operations” by Juan Gómez in  Modular Robots: State of the Art
at http://modular.mmmi.sdu.dk/icra10workshop/papers/modular-robots-icra2010-workshop.pdf
Other papers on snake locomotion aided by sensors:
- A video showing how their snake is not hinderd by obstacles but
actually can use them to climb, absolutely fascinating Obstacle aided
locomotion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9HJtI7ILo
Further reading:
-A snake robot with a contact force measurement system for
obstacle-aided locomotion Pål Liljebäck, Kristin Y. Pettersen, and
Øyvind Stavdahl
- A hybrid model of obstacle-aided snake robot locomotion Pål
Liljebäck, Kristin Y. Pettersen, Øyvind Stavdahl, and Jan Tommy
Gravdahl
Some links to novel sensor designs:
Design of a Small-Scale Tactile Sensor with Three Sensing Points For
Using in Robotic Fingertips Van Anh Ho, Dzung Viet Dao, Susumu
Sugiyama, and Shinichi Hirai
http://www.mint.se.ritsumei.ac.jp/conferences/10/ICRA2010hoSensor.pdf
Two-Dimensional Dynamic Modeling of a Sliding Motion of a Soft
Fingertip Focusing on Stick-to-Slip Transition Van Anh Ho and Shinichi
Hirai Novel Modular CPG Topologies for Modular Robotics Fernando
Herrero- -Carrón, Francisco de Borja Rodríguez, and Pablo Varona
http://www.mint.se.ritsumei.ac.jp/conferences/10/ICRA2010hoModel.pdf

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/juan-gonzalez-gomez-talks-about-his-open-source-3d-printable-snake-robots-in-the-seventh-episode-of-the-flexible-elements-podacst/feed 1 CkBot Modules used to create PR2 copy http://flexibilityenvelope.com/ckbot-modules-used-to-create-pr2-copy http://flexibilityenvelope.com/ckbot-modules-used-to-create-pr2-copy#comments Sun, 24 Jul 2011 10:32:41 +0000 Per http://flexibilityenvelope.com/?p=1568 Something very significant happened, when Nick Eckenstein and Matt Piccoli in ModLab, led by professor Mark Yim, made a copy of Willow Garage’s PR2 using 3 types and a total of 22 CkBot units. This is a very substantial step towards a universal machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suStKs2hSv8

The development time was reported as less then a month [...]]]> Something very significant happened, when Nick Eckenstein and
Matt Piccoli in ModLab, led by professor Mark Yim, made a copy of Willow
Garage’s PR2 using 3 types and a total of 22 CkBot units. This is a very
substantial step towards a universal machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suStKs2hSv8

The development time was reported as less then a month on half time
as this was not the only project Nick and Matt was working on at the
time, and this can safely be said to be just a small fraction of what I
presume is the development time for the PR2. And even more
impressive is the actual assembly time of the mini-PR2 it was all
done in 2 or 3 hours. Matt says “That’s one of the many beautiful
things about modular robots” and I can only agree!

The actual assembly time of the mini-PR2 was short, it was all done in 2 or 3 hours.
“That’s one of the many beautiful things about modular robots”
                                                                                                                                                        Matt Piccoli

One very impressive thing is that you can replicate an expensive
robot in a much cheaper way. The PR2 cost a bit more than $400.000,
whereas the units comprising the copy reportedly cost less $5000.
And the $5000 price is not really comparable to the PR2 anyway.
It only would be comparable if you kept the units assembled in this
particular way all the time, forever, which you are unlikely to do.
If you buy the units for $5000 you can actually assemble a great
variety of robots and solutions as opposed to a conventional robot
where you pay for and only get one type of robot.
So in all practical cases the price for having a CkBot copy of the
PR2 for a few days/weeks/months whenever you like to have one,
would be much cheaper then $5000. Maybe closer to $50 rather
than $5000, and that is cool. And that is still the price you get
when the modules are build by hand and are not yet optimized
for low cost ease of production so I presume there is much room
for price reduction when modules are made industrially, then we
might be looking at $5 or even $0.50, which would be game changing.
As an added benefit, the copy has all the other great features of
a modular robot, one being robustness. Because the copy only used three
different types of units, keeping a few spare units on hand would not be that
expensive. And If you needed to order more, they are/will be a standard
component which would be easier to get then a special component for a
specific robot.

The concept of a general, universal machine that can simulate any
imaginable physical machine or structure is a very powerful concept.
I think it is safe to say that the impact of a universal (physical)
machine will be at least as great as that we have seen coming
from the Universal Computing Machine, and they have been
astounding to say the least.

I think that this is a fantastic development and it is one of the
things that make me believe that many great things will come
from the SRCMR community in the future!

For more information please visit the home of the CkBot
Modular Robotics Lab (ModLab) http://modlabupenn.org/

Just so that nobody gets the wrong picture here, I would just
like to say that I am a great fan of Willow Garage and the PR2.
I think that they are doing great work and that the PR2 is a
great robot, and I do not only say that because it can get me
a beer! But it can also do my laundry and play pool with me!
An all around nice dude, that just happens to be a robot,
Benders ancestor basically :-)

]]> http://flexibilityenvelope.com/ckbot-modules-used-to-create-pr2-copy/feed 0