Come with me - if you want to live.

I finally watched Terminator Salvation the other night.

I couldn't work out if the machines actually knew who Kyle Reese was or why they wanted to capture him - and also why they didn't just kill him when they had the chance!

There was also the matter of how lightly guarded skynet central was (despite apparently producing about 1 T800 per second), and how those motorcycle robots were supposed to get up if someone knocked them over.

What I really wanted to talk about though, was the Robopocalypse. Not so much the idea that robots will eventually rise up against their human masters, but just about how robots (or any machine) can be dangerous if people are careless around them.

I used to be vice-president of the Sydney University Mechatronics Organization, which held a yearly robot wars competition. Now, as you can imagine, robots designed to tear each other to bits would be equally (more?) effective at maiming pathetic squishy humans, so it was hard to disregard OH&S.

Despite a strong emphasis on safety, the university was in a difficult position when it came to allowing students to use their facilities. If we were injured in one of the workshops or laboratories, then the uni was liable - even if we were being properly supervised or if it was due to our own negligence. However, if we attempted to work on the robot outside of the university, we were without the appropriate tools and safety equipment and were significantly more likely to injure ourselves. This created many headaches and administrative woes, which ultimatley turned what should have been a fun and simple activity for students into a legislative nightmare.

This is why I am so much in favor of the smaller and safer robo-one style competition. I think it is a more elegant form of robot combat, for a more civilized age.





This video is from a new humanoid competition called RT Corp under 1kg Robot Fight. Like robo-one, it emphasizes lightweight robots which wrestle each other in a ring.

I think that this is a better direction for schools and universities who want to encourage students to learn about robots and mechatronics while having a bit of fun.

1. Robot wars robots are glorified remote control cars. There, I said it. Many designs, like wedges or saws don't need any additional circuitry to control their weapons. The design is primarily in the mechanical field, and students will learn very little about the electrical or software side.
2. It's so much safer. There are no dangerous weapons, and the weight limit is also much lower (unless you're these guys). The machining process is also much simpler (use tin-snips instead of table saws, solder instead of welding, etc).
3. You get to keep your robot at the end. One of the most annoying things about robot wars is that if you lost, your robot was toast. Nothing gets damaged or destroyed in a wrestling match, so you are free to upgrade and modify parts for next time.
4. The emphasis is on design and technique, not raw power. Software, real-time control, electrical systems and weight distribution are just as important as how strong your motors are.
5. It's just as exciting. Robots can take their inspiration from boxing, tae-kwon do, ju-jitsu, MMA, akido, pancrase or any other type of martial art.

The biggest drawback is that it can be quite expensive to build these little guys, but probably not by a huge margin. Our 13kg Robot wars Robots cost $300-500 (excluding the remote controls, which were borrowed), but I can see a under 1kg robot being build for a similar amount.

If that doesn' convince you, just look at how much fun these guys are having!

Two steps forward...

I did a lot of work today, improving the robobuilder motion system and writing some custom functions to take advantage of the special features that the wCKs have to offer.

Unfortunately, my efforts were met with a minor setback when I managed to strip another gear - this time in the poor robot's knee. Unlike the first time, or the time after that, the gear which needed replacing was the first gear in the set - the one which is driven directly by the motor.

This leads me to believe that it broke simply due to regular wear and tear - not because of any specific negligence on my behalf.

Gears tend to be under more stress the further away from the motor they are, because they rotate slower, but with more torque. This is why (I assume), I didn't receive any replacement #1 gears with my kit.

Therefore my plans have been put on hold until I can get my hands on a replacement. This should serve as another important selection criteria for servos - metal gears are worth the extra money.

So today's post will not, as I had intended, consist of more awesome videos of my robot doing awesome stuff.

Instead, please enjoy a variety of other people's robot's doing other people's stuffs.



Above is an earlier version of HINA, doing demonstrations for the robo-one competition. I'm fairly sure that the bottle of water is full, which means that there is quite a lot of power in that little robot. As usual, mujaki has put a lot of effort into the custom body parts and it looks absolutely stunning.

In the not too distant future, I'd like to have a go at customising my servos - particularly given the problems I'm having with these plastic gears.



From cute to creepy.

This is phoenix, a hexapod with an amazingly lifelike gait and behaviour. It looks like a real insect, especially when it goes into attack mode!

Phoenix is able to move so fluidly due to an inverse kinematics engine (another interest of mine). This enables fine control over the body and individual limbs of the hexapod, without compromising the balance or posture of the rest of the robot.

When I can get this servo fixed, I'll upload some more videos of my own - please bear with me. If anyone knows where I can get replacement wCK gears (preferably metal) in Australia - let me know.

All work and no play

I was just reading over some of my previous posts, when I suddenly realised:

They are really boring.

Useful - I hope - to those of you who are interested in building humanoid robots, but probably not that exciting to read.

There were two reasons I decided to create this blog. Firstly, I wanted to have what I have just now decided should be called a "blogbook". This is a collection of my notes on the project of writing software for my humanoid robot, so that I can refer back to it when I forget something, or at least a space where I can get my thoughts to sit down and stay in one place. Making it avaliable online adds the important contribution of allowing other people to read about my mistakes, and how not to make them.

The second reason for starting this blog is that I find humanoid robots completely fascinating. I find that enthusiasm is contagious - everyone has a favourite science/music/drama teacher who was so passionate and dedicated to their subject that they made learning something you wanted to do. I hope that reading about my endeavours will encourage more people to learn about robots and the field of mechatronics. Perhaps you will start your own robotics project.

Up until now, most of the posts have fallen very much into the former category, so the remainder of this post is dedicated to the latter. Lets look at some cool robots!



First up, we have HINA by mujaki. I personally love this video - when I first saw it, it set my imagination on fire. All of the servos and parts are completley custom made, and it reminds me of Plum and Kotoko from Chobits. Not only does it bridge the uncanny valley most successfully, but the video demonstrates exactly why we all should want a tiny robotic servant within the next 10 years.



The red robot is an early version of Omni Zero - before he put on all that weight. I find it interesting the way that he jogs in place, which I assume is a method of getting feedback for him to have dynamic balance. The best thing about Robo-one is that it tackle's the problem of bipdeal robots so casually - for decades, the problem of humanoid robotics seemed unsolvable, but now it's progressed to the level that robots can not only walk - they can wrestle.