Overview What is this place? Who is this guy? What have I
gotten myself into? What can I expect? How do you design a robot,
anyway? Whats the plan?
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What is this place?
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Artisans Asylum, Inc. Nonprofit community workshop 31,000
square feet Multiple craft areas Welding, machining, metalworking,
woodworking, electronics assembly, sewing, bicycle repair, and more
20-25 classes a month
Slide 6
Who is this guy?
Slide 7
Gui Cavalcanti Robotics Engineer and System Integrator, Boston
Dynamics, 2007-2011 Robotics Engineering, Franklin W. Olin College
of Engineering, 2009 Lab Manager and Research Assistant, Dr. Gill
Pratts Biomimetic Robotics Lab, 2005-2009 Research Assistant, Dr.
David Barretts Intelligent Vehicles Laboratory, 2004-2005 FIRST
Robotics Team 422, 2000-2004
Who Are You? Whats your name? Whats your background? Why do you
like robots? What are you hoping to get out of the class? Whats
your favorite robot and why?
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What have I gotten myself into?
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A Grand Experiment + Public, project-based education
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A Grand Experiment, Cont. LS3: $1,500,000 in components PETMAN:
$2,000,000 in components BigDog: $500,000 in components Robot Tuna:
$30,000 in components FIRST: $6,500 buy-in with donations
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A Grand Experiment, Cont. Most of you will know more than I do
in your areas of expertise
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A Grand Experiment, Cont. Teamwork is necessary in robotics,
but teamwork and education can sometimes be at odds Amateurs defer
to experts Its easier and less stressful to apply what you know
than force yourself to do something new Competition and deadline
stress can get in the way of digesting and learning meaningful
things
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What can I expect?
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From Yourself You will get out what you are willing to put
in.
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From Fellow Students Respect Help Knowledge Inspiration
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From Me Responsiveness Learning opportunities Project
organization Responsibility Trust
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What I expect of you
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My Expectations Of You Respect for everyone involved, and their
respective skill level Openness to feedback Lack of design
defensiveness Patience
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How do you design a robot, anyway?
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What is a robot? My definition: Autonomous physical agent
capable of manipulating the world around it Responds to sensory
input Makes decisions based on that sensory input
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Who is a roboticist? Myth: Someone who does everything equally
well and operates on their own Reality: Someone who has mastery of
their field within robotics, who has had significant exposure to
the other fields, and can work as part of a team
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Robot Design Many design styles feed into robot design Static
mechanical design Dynamic mechanical design Electrical design
Control system design Software design Sensing design System design
Each of the design styles in and of themselves are the subject of
hundreds of Ph.D. theses each year. All robots require elements of
all of these design styles
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Static Mechanical Design Design of load-bearing robotic
structures Straight out of a mechanical engineering textbook,
though advances in materials and manufacturing processes are slowly
changing the field
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Dynamic Mechanical Design Design of moving parts Actuation and
power transmission sizing Limb design Hose and wire routing Design
for controllability Most often dismissed form of robot design,
because its really hard and people assume its largely a solved
problem (like Static Mechanical Design)
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Electrical Design Design of electrical control systems and
power systems for electrical actuation Robot controllers
Communications Sensors Actuator amplifiers Largely regarded as
black magic compared to programming and mechanical design Is its
own field, but can be black boxed to some extent.
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Control System Design Design of the behaviors of robots to make
them usefully autonomous Layered; for example: 1.Actuator control
2.Limb control 3.Localization 4.Behavior planning 5.Goal
development Can be completely independent from actually writing
code Most difficult and least understood area of robot design, for
a number of different reasons Are we even smart enough to do this?
Is its own field of study, but sprawls across multiple
disciplines
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Software Design Implementation of Control System Design on
specific hardware Many different levels, from firmware to main loop
Is its own well-defined field, like Mechanical Design
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Sensing Design Selection of physical sensors and utilization of
their data in a meaningful way External sensors Homeostasis sensors
Proprioception sensors Can be thought of as an extension of
electrical, control or mechanical design, but I think its
significant enough to warrant its own design style
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System Design How on earth do you have a working robot at the
end of all of your disparate design cycles? Sizing power systems to
match actuation and other power load Resolving volume, weight and
component placement conflicts Routing wires, hoses, structural
members Taking a high-level, informed view of many incredibly
specialized fields Managing all of the engineering subteams
Optimized parts DO NOT make for optimized systems
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Whats the plan?
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Robot 1: Robot Vending Machine Purpose: Roam around the space
selling snacks, developing habits Requirements: Vend snacks on a
recurring, regular (read: Pavlovian) basis Safely stop for all
humans and obstacles Be capable of rerouting (by retracing) around
fixed obstacles Follow a course that covers the entire Asylum Look
awesome Play music and act in a way that does not inspire rampant
vandalism
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Robot 2: Robotic Shop Vac Purpose: Roam around the space
cleaning the aisles and inspiring others to clean Requirements:
Vacuum aisles as it patrols them Be rideable? Serve as a cleaning
center for Asylum members Safely stop for all humans and obstacles
Be capable of rerouting (by retracing) around fixed obstacles
Follow a course that covers the entire Asylum Look awesome
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The Mission
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Approximate Schedule 1.Introductions, Brainstorming, Team
Assignation 2.Programming and Control Intro and Kickoff
3.Demonstration of Control Systems 4.Top-Level Conceptual Design
5.Mechanical and Electrical Conceptual Design 6.Design Session,
Preliminary Design Review 7.Design Session 8.Critical Design
Review, Fabrication Plans 9-12. Fabrication
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Goals for Everyone Participate in a programming and control
system design exercise on a 4-person team Participate in conceptual
design and component selection for major subsystems Participate in
top-level design reviews Participate in design integration meetings
Participate in one design team and one fabrication team
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Design & Fabrication Teams Design Teams: Use components
selected during conceptual design exercises Conduct detail design
specific to one individual robot Conduct design reviews of other
robot teams work Create plans for fabrication teams Fabrication
Teams: Fabricate robot based on design team plans Debug design
issues on the fly
Design Team Roles Systems Engineer (1 person): Manages the
interaction between design teams, resolves inter-team conflicts
Controls Team (3 people): Designs top-level control system and line
to successfully navigate Tyler Street, and creates controls
flowchart for programming team Mechanical Team (3 people): Designs
frame and drivetrain components, and mounts for all supported
equipment Electrical Team (3 people): Develops the electrical
diagram for the robot, designing the electronics box and selecting
all major components, wire, and interconnects
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Fabrication Team Roles Production Manager (1 person): Sets
deadlines, keeps all fabrication teams on the same schedule,
resolves design conflicts that cross fabrication team borders
Programming Team (3 people): Implements the system developed by the
controls team on specific hardware, lays out lines to follow,
debugs robots Mechanical Team (3 people): Welds frame together,
machines drivetrain components, assembles mechanical systems,
widens holes/replaces parts/etc on the fly Electrical Team (3
people): Builds out and wires electronics box, debugs electrical
gremlins on the fly