Robotics Education Journal
01/31/2020 On its 130th anniversary, 15 January, 2020, in Kyoto City, Japan, Kubota, a Japanese firm producing tractors and assorted mechanized vehicles announced a new autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) offering, the “X tractor – cross tractor”. It is an esthetically pleasing design with robust functionality. It is interesting to briefly compare its features with those of the venerable Norway, Maine-based c-Link Systems Forager UGV, which has seen a variety of iterations since the early 2,000’s and, today, serves markets ranging from construction to Search & Rescue.
01/26/2020 Sunflower’s Home Awareness System includes three components: an autonomous drone called the Bee, motion and vibration sensors disguised as garden lights that are to be deployed around one’s home, and a weatherproof charging station called the Hive. If alerted to suspicious activity via a smartphone app, the homeowner can deploy the Bee, which will autonomously check out the activity and live stream its observations. Afterwards, the Bee automatically returns to the Hive, which performs AI-backed data processing and analysis.
01/24/2020 CareerCast.com tracks the Top 10 Best Jobs in Engineering on an annual basis in its Job Rated Report, and describes the jobs and prevailing compensation levels. As noted there, "according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts, virtually all engineering careers have a positive projected growth outlook.” The top locations for both employment and income for some of the best engineering jobs are Texas, California, Oklahoma, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan areas, and Alaska. The three highest average incomes for the engineering profession are in Chicago, Dallas and Anchorage, Alaska.”
01/18/2020 In November 2019 a White House summit on Partnerships in Science and Technology announced near-term goals that include a partnership between NOAA and Ocean Infinity to conduct deepwater ocean mapping of the U.S. shoreline and U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. “This is an exciting step for Ocean Infinity as we combine our leading deepwater exploration technology with NOAA’s prominent authority in ocean science,” Sean Fowler, director of business development for Ocean Infinity, said in a prepared statement. Only 43% of the 3.4 million square nautical miles of coastal and deepwater U.S. territory is currently mapped to modern standards.
01/14/2020 The NAVY wants future robotic warships, or unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to not only abide by the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS), but also to have the capability to communicate their status in standard English. COLREGS lay down the rules for how 2 ships should navigate when drawing near each other, and computer software onboard USVs is said to currently manage this, but when 3 or more USVs converge, things get more complicated. When 3 or more manned ships converge, bridge crews typically sort out navigation verbally via VHF radio, so the question is how will USVs overcome the current “bottleneck” when one encounters a 3-ship interaction but with no ability to converse?
01/11/2020 AUVSI Miami News reported January 9, 2020 in an update from Finance.yahoo[dot]com, that Asia-based QYSEA exhibited new upgrades to its FIFISH maritime submersible robot at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. Both FIFISH V6+ and FIFISH W6 models were shown. This remarkable omni-directional underwater drone is equipped with 4K UHD video recording and imaging sonar capability. With its 6 thrusters, it has both “active distance lock” to remain a fixed distance from an object it is observing, and can maneuver in 3 dimensions using head tracking control. FIFISH can also freeze its motion in a maneuver called “posture hold”.
01/10/2020 The DOD is, by all accounts, moving quickly in the unmanned ground combat systems arena. According to DefenseNews[dot]com, the U.S. Army has picked QinetiQ North America to build 4 “light” robot combat vehicle (RCV) prototypes, and Textron to build 4 “medium” scale RCV prototypes, pending completion of contract negotiations. DefenseNews[dot]com further announced that “Through a rapid contracting mechanism, the National Advanced Mobility Consortium is coordinating the Army’s awards to industry, and the service expects to be officially under contract with both companies by mid-February, according to the statement.”
01/05/2020 In the rapidly advancing era of automated cars, it’s no surprise that there has been a worldwide explosion in semi-autonomous and autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). These “robot mules” span military, commercial and research markets. Notably, in late 2019, the U.S. Army selected General Dynamics to produce UGVs under its Small Multipurpose Equipment Transports (SMET) program. Defense Blog reported that an Army contract worth $162.4 million “for up to 624 robotic mules was awarded in October to GDLS, a business unit of General Dynamics. Delivery to Soldiers begins in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2021.” See SMET details, below, and a photo gallery of a representative sample of commercial, research and military UGVs illustrating the latest generation of robotic mules. This update starts with the pioneering German UGVs of WW2, and the circa-2006 CMU Crusher.
12/29/2019 “STEAM” is an expanded version of STEM, and stands for “science, technology, engineering, arts and math”. The "RoboGuts™ S.T.E.A.M. Education Program", which uses the RoboGuts™ circuit board, is an education program that is positioned to be competitive with VEX, LEGO MindStorms, and Arduino STEM learning systems. In its favor, the RoboGuts™ STEAM Education teaches the whole manufacturing process, and includes a beginner’s section using BASIC language to teach structured programming style. The system will be exhibited at the upcoming CES show in Las Vegas.
12/27/2019 “Deep learning” is a machine learning method in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) that processes several layers of data in artificial neural networks to deliver an output. MIT has provided a fascinating collection of free courses and lectures on Deep Learning that are hosted by MIT's Lex Fridman, and MIT will be supplementing this library with additional lectures in January 2020.
12/22/2019 The U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command, a DOD group, recently released a study noting that eye, ear, muscular and brain enhancement is “technically feasible by 2050 or earlier.” It is expected that the civilian healthcare market will be a strong driver in the development of new cyborg military technologies.
12/18/2019 The BBC is getting its toes wet in the virtual news pond, having announced in the last week that it has begun posting automated news updates. In presenting the majority victory by Boris Johnson and the Conservatives, the BBC commented on how computers wrote initial election results, and were uniquely needed. "This is about doing journalism that we cannot do with human beings at the moment," said Robert McKenzie, editor of BBC News Labs. Other leaps forward in automated journalism are taking place in China.
12/09/2019 On 14 September 2019, relatively inexpensive drones were used to temporarily disable 5% of the world’s oil supply in an attack on the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil processing facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia. A new form of low-cost but technically sophisticated drone warfare was upon us. In a study released today, the National Robotics Education Foundation (NREF) reviews major players developing counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) weapons. C-UAS systems are being urgently deployed to protect our municipal buildings, stadiums, airports, universities and commercial businesses from drone attacks whether by individual machines or massive drone swarms.
12/07/2019 In a significant consolidation of robotics and AI media on December 5th, Robotics Business Review (RBR) and RoboBusiness were acquired by B2B online publisher WTWH Media. RBR is a major online outlet in the robotics and AI arena with a significant readership comprised of industry marketing executives, robotics professionals, educators, researchers, military and law enforcement, and dedicated hobbyists. RoboBusiness is a major annual trade show event that has been held by RBR for many years.
12/06/2019 Boston Dynamics just announced, yesterday, Spot Release 1.1! This dog-like robot performs data collection, infrastructure monitoring, hazmat inspections and can be used in dangerous missions such as disposal of IEDs. Other applications include security and even package delivery. Boston Dynamics states it is prioritizing business customers, so hobbyists note, Spot is not at this time being marketed to consumers as a robot pet.
11/30/2019 Benjamin Minick of the International Business Times (IBT) reported earlier this month that Boeing plans to fly an unmanned fighter jet in 2020 that is piloted by artificial intelligence (AI). His headline included the statement: “Battle For The Skies Set To Change Forever”. Plans are underway to adopt the new platform to fly as a wingman. It, reportedly, also may be used to fly solo in independent missions.
11/28/2019 The Army Research Laboratory on May 29 published footage of soldiers scrambling through an urban training exercise site at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland with 22-pound M249 and 25-pound M240B machine guns affixed to the end of their harnesses. This was a step up from the 20-lb defensive shield tested last year. One sergeant using the third arm with a carbine "dove into a prone fighting position from a sprint ... [and] the Third Arm provided immediate stabilization to improve marksmanship for the soldier."
11/23/2019 This comprehensive Aviation / Aerospace update by MilitaryFactory.com lists 93 UAS designs along with countries of origin. Images of active and conceptual designs in development are shown. Entries are listed by service year, with expandable thumbnails and brief descriptions of different battlefield roles.
11/19/2019 Steve Trimble of AviationWeek.com reported November 18 from the Dubai Airshow that the Chinese exhibited a prototype ornithopter drone dubbed the “Orthopaedist’s Ornithopter,” as branded on the founding company’s business cards. Beijing-based Implant Aircraft Co. Ltd. is testing multiple versions of the machine, which is privately developed but intended for the Chinese military. The goal is a noiseless, tactical drone with a 2-hour endurance.
11/10/2019 From leaked photos of the much-anticipated DJI Mavic Mini to an up-close view of the new Jupiter Tricopter, a “game changing UAS”, the latest edition of David Place’s Unmanned Systems News (USN) is a must-read packed with these stories and much more. Btw, in this release, David noted in his intro: "ALCON - A SPECIAL THANK YOU to all of you Veterans who have served, or are currently serving, our great country! I sincerely hope that each of you enjoy a terrific Veterans Day and thanks again for your service! Please find attached the current edition of my Unmanned Systems News which includes the title of the original article, a couple of relevant sentences to pique your interest and a hyperlink to the original article. I hope that you find this compilation useful. This is my THIRTY-FOURTH newsletter for calendar year 2019, hence the designation # 19 - 34." We echo David's Veterans Day wishes to our servicemembers! Given the rich content in this edition of USN, NREF is posting David's entire USN#19-34 edition, below. You can subscribe to the free USN newsletter simply by emailing David Place—and we highly recommend it!
11/09/2019 November 8, 2019 SOUTHFIELD, MI – Five Lawrence Technological University students and LTU computer science professor CJ Chung will work with a Korean auto parts company and a Russian tech giant to create a taxi service from Detroit’s TCF Center to downtown Detroit hotels for the 2020 North American International Auto Show in June.
LTU will assist Hyundai Mobis, the parts and service arm of the Korean automaker, and the Russian technology company Yandex, in the development of 10 four-passenger sedans in the largest demonstration to date of Yandex’s robotic taxis in the United States. The vehicles will be programmed to take passengers to their destinations, although there will be a driver who could take control if needed.
11/05/2019 A new robot is showing promise to control lionfish, an invasive species that is in the water of the Bahamas and spreading south. The Guardian can dive hundreds of feet below the surface and stun lionfish with electrodes, then suck them into a holding tank. As it happens, the lionfish is a big hit on restaurant menus. The Guardian was developed by renowned roboticist inventor Colin Angle, who also developed the Roomba. Angle launched the “Robots in Service of the Environment” nonprofit to support the project. With no natural predators and with potent venom, lionfish can reduce the fish population around a coral reef by as much as 79%.
11/02/2019 The shape of things to come may include self-assembling bridges that then disassemble into interchangeable pieces termed “smarticles”. Swarms of smarticles might then move on to reassemble at another time and place into a building or other structure of utilitarian use for the military in the field. As sci-fi as this sounds, smarticles R&D is well underway.
10/26/2019 Renowned RC blogger and enthusiast Jim T. Graham recently interviewed Lucien Miller of Innov8tive Designs, on RCGroups.com, a great website for drone and RC hobbyists that we heartily recommend. Jim T. has also posted an article on BADASS Power Systems to the site that you’ll want to read. Below, we’ve provided relevant links and fascinating highlights of the interview. These suggest that the electric motor market is vaulting forward in fascinating ways—for that reason, we believe this technical summary is a must read!
10/23/2019 HitecRCD began engineering servos for non-hobby applications in the last several years and accumulated the experience and expertise to enter the drone market. As reported by InsideUnmannedSystems.com, Shawn Spiker, drone services sales and training manager at Hitec said: “We were already supplying servos, supplying foam aircraft and making transmitters, and we had all the engineering attributes to make our own complete drone—so there was nothing we had to reach outside for. The company decided to create a more competitive offering and developed a new product line from scratch.”