SRS Meeting Presentations
- June 19, 2010 - Humanoid Robotics
- Dr.
Rawichote Chalodhorn (Choppy) presented on humanoid robotics and strategies
for balance and walking. Here is a PDF of his
presentation (2.3M).
- May 15, 2010 - Alchemy Project
- Professor Pedro Domingos talked about the
Alchemy Project.
Alchemy is a software package providing a series of algorithms for statistical relational
learning and probabilistic logic inference, based on the Markov logic representation.
Alchemy allows you to easily develop a wide range of AI applications, including collective
classification, link prediction, entity resolution, social network modeling, and information
extraction.
- April 17, 2010 - Parallax Propeller Chip
- SRS member Michael Park presented on and demonstrated the
Parallax Propeller Chip,
an option for robot control and other applications. Here is a PDF
of his presentation (1.6M).
- March 20, 2010 - Wireless power and personal robotics
- Josh Smith of
Intel Research Seattle presented on
wireless power and personal robotics, a sampling of the research being done at Intel
Labs Seattle.
- February 20, 2010 - SMART / LEGO Mindstorms
- Gus Jansson and David Schilling showed us their latest
LEGO Mindstorms NXT creations and talked about
the uses of and sources for cool sensors.
- January 16, 2010
- This meeting was canceled because Renton Tech's campus was closed for the holiday weekend.
- December 19, 2009
- Tyler Folsom presented on a plug-in hybrid electric / human-powered light vehicle and showed
video clips from the DARPA Grand Challenge and a concept presentation.
- November 21, 2009 - Autonomous Robotic Buoys
- Professor Steve Riser, UW oceanographer, presented on
autonomous
robotic buoys (Argo Floats) that swim the earth's oceans gathering
temperature, salinity, and current flow data giving scientists a view of
the global ecosystem and effects of climate change around the world.
- October 17, 2009 - RepRap
- Wahid Tanner and Lou Amadio talked about their work on RepRap. Here's a copy of the
presentation (PDF, 1.2M).
- September 19, 2009
- (No presentation this month.)
- August 15, 2009 - Surface Mount Soldering for the Masses
- Richard Greenway convinced us that anyone can solder SMT parts! He gave demonstrations and
shared hints, tricks, and skills for surface-mount soldering, from prototyping with SMT parts
and assembling circuit boards to doing modifications or repairs of assembled boards.
You can see his presentation
slides (PDF, 580k) and
speaking notes (PDF, 13k),
or download a
ZIP of presentation materials (10M) from Richard's site.
- July 18, 2009 - Swap Meet
- No formal presentation this month. A swap meet was held in the parking lot
following the show-and-tell portion of the meeting.
- June 20, 2009 - Automobile status monitoring
- Cathy Saxton presented her RAV4-EV
Monitor, explaining how she learned to communicate with the RAV4-EV's internal
computers and her project for showing useful diagnostic and energy-efficiency
information on a color OLED screen.
- May 16, 2009 - FIRST Robotics
- FIRST Robotics Team 2046,
Bear Metal explained this
year's FIRST Robotics Competition, talked about their design, and demonstrated their robot.
- April 18, 2009 - Assistive and Rehabilitation Technology
- Yoky Matsuoka talked about her
research into future assistive and rehabilitation technology by merging robotics and neuroscience.
- March 21, 2009 - "The Raven"
- Professor Bruce Hemingway
talked about the final project from his current
Embedded Systems
class and brought some hardware that demonstrated on-the-fly poetry with wireless nodes.
- February 21, 2009 - Robot Sensors
- Steven Kaehler presented on robot sensors: what they are, how they work,
and where to get them. Here's a copy of the
presentation (PDF, 1.3M).
- January 24, 2009 - Technology at Seatac Airport
- Wally Wesson, Team Leader of the Port of Seattle BDU (Bomb Disposal Unit) group,
explained the features and uses of their Hazardous Duty Robot, and the team showed
the robot functionality. The Port's robot is a product of
REMOTEC,
a Northrup Grummen subsidiary. Their unit is comparible to a current Model F6A.
Other Hazardous Duty Robots are available from
Allen Vanguard: Vanguard and Defender;
iRobot: Pacbot and R-Gator;
Mesa Associates; and
Foster Miller: Talon.
Some of these types of robots are only available for purchase by police,
security, and military organizations.
- November 15, 2008 - Personal Robotics at Intel
- Joshua Smith, leader of Intel's Personal Robotics project, presented
on technologies Intel is developing to help personal robots function in
unstructured human environments. Electric Field Pretouch -- a sense that some
species of fish use but humans do not -- allows the robot to "feel" objects
without touching them. Electric Field Pretouch is used for both arm alignment
and hand pre-shaping prior to grasping.
The Perceptive Arm includes E-Field Pretouch and vision, and makes use of an object
recognition algorithm developed at Intel. Herb is a mobile manipulation
robot that can navigate in populated environments, pick up cups, and
open drawers.
- October 18, 2008 - Robotic Monitoring of Power Equipment
- Professor Alex
Mamishev, director of the
UW Sensors, Energy, and
Automation Laboratory (S.E.A.L.) at the UW, presented on the development of
several sensing technologies for monitoring of power system
infrastructure, including mobile robots for inspection and maintenance.
- September 20, 2008 - Relationships with Personified Robots
- Rachel Severson, UW psychologist,
presented her group's research on children's and adolescents' social and moral
relationships with personified robots.
- August 16, 2008 - RFID Tags
- Evan Welbourne from UW presentated on
RFID Tags and Tracking, Localization, and
the Future. Here is a link to
his presentation.
- July 19, 2008 - Robotic Fish
-
Daniel Klein
and Emmett Lalish
from UW
talked about the robotic fish project and future Robotic Fish in Schools, Remote Control,
and Localization.
- June 21, 2008 - Motor Control
- Larry Barello explained his techniques for motor control. This presentation (as
well as other useful robotics information) is on
Larry's site.
- May 17, 2008 (part 1) - FIRST Robotics
- Local FIRST Robotics
Competition (FRC) Teams explained the 2008 competition, showed their robots,
and explained the challenges they faced this year.
- May 17, 2008 (part 2) - BioRobotics Lab Tour
- SRS members went on an afternoon tour of the
BioRobotics Lab at the UW.
- April 19, 2008 - ProtoBox
- Jim Kindsvater introduced the
Maximum Robotics "ProtoBox."
This module is intended as a learning platform for beginning Atmel AVR
enthusiasts. Mounted in a pocket-size plastic enclosure, the enclosed
pc board includes an ATtiny13, a switched 3 volt battery pack, an ISP
connector, and an external 8 pin connection header wired to
corresponding pins on the ATtiny. Also on the board is a socket for a
28 pin ATmega8 with a similar connection header. Mounted to the outside
of the box is a 320 pin bread board for building experimental projects.
- March 15, 2008 - High Altitude Balloons and Dangerous Robotics
- Paul Verhage of Boise Schools in Boise, Idaho, talked about flying
high altitude instrumented balloons with cameras and
other sensors, and "dangerous robotic projects" that shoot things.
- February 16, 2008 - Developing MSRS Device Services
- Joseph Fernando returned to talk about Microsoft
Robotics Studio and how to develop MSRS device services.
- January 19, 2008 - Harjit Singh, MicroMice
- Hajit Singh presented on the evolution of his MicroMice: what he learned, and
how he improved his designs as a result. Hajit's robot Zeetah III took first place
in the MicroMouse competition at Robothon 2007.
- December 15, 2007 - Blake Hannaford, UW BioRobotics Lab
- Professor Blake Hannaford presented on the UW
Bio Robotics Lab (BRL).
He also invited us to come on a tour some time.
- November 17, 2007 - Microsoft Robotics Studio
- Joseph Fernando talked about Microsoft
Robotics Studio.He will come back in a few months and expand on this talk.
- October 20, 2007 (part 1) - Wiring Board
- Jim Kindsvater demonstrated the
wiring board
sold by Maximum Robotics. The board
is based on an Atmel ATmega128 processor and has 40 digital I/O, 8 analog
inputs, 6 analog (PWM) outputs, 2 serial ports, and an I2C port as well
as an onboard USB/serial converter so the board can be directly
programmed from a remote computer. Also furnished is the wiring language
program which allows easy programming in a 'C' like environment with
simple commands for reading sensors and controlling lights, motors, and
servos.
- October 20, 2007 (part 2) - TechShop
- TechShop is a new
equipment-sharing concept which will be
introduced in Seattle in mid 2008. It will have multiple machine tools
available for rent on a daily participation basis. Available equipment
will include lathes, mills, welders, a water-jet cutter, laser
lithography, vacuum forming machines, embroidery, laser etching and
cutting, full electronics lab, PC stations, CAD stations, etc. etc. etc.
All new equipment will be furnished. The facility will feature 24/7
operation with techs on-site. There will be 3-hour qualification class for each
complex machine. A meeting room, lab, lounge, and private work
facilities will also be available in a 25,000 square foot facility.
Also, an on site retail shop with metal, plastic, & electronics supplies
will be provided.
- September 15, 2007 - Balancing Robots
- Members showed their balancing robots, and then the meeting moved outside for
rides on Segways brought by a couple of members and Jack from
Segway of Seattle.
- August 18, 2007 - OpenCV
- Jim Wright presented
OpenCV,
an image processing library.
- July 21, 2007 - Wearable Sensor-Platforms
- UW grad student Brian Ferris presented his work focusing on
wearable sensor-platforms and interesting activity recognition and
inferencing functions that can be performed on those platforms. As cell
phones and PDAs begin to include more interesting sensors (WiFi,
accelerometer, digital compass, etc), he is exploring interesting things
that can be done. So far, his work has focused mostly on WiFi
localization of human users. His current work focuses on automatic
mapping of indoor environments using the simple cell phone sensors
(described above), as opposed to full-on robotic SLAM (simultaneous
localization and mapping) techniques. For information about Brian and his research,
visit Brian's website
Information about SLAM is at
http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ajd/.
- June 16, 2007 -
BOKU
- Michael Miller of Microsoft showed a presentation on BOKU, a simple
graphical programming environment for young children.
- May 19, 2007 (part 1) -
FIRST Robotics
- Local FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Teams explained this year's competition
and showed their robots.
- May 19, 2007 (part 2) -
EAGLE CAD
- After lunch, Jim Wright gave his class on the
EAGLE Layout Editor for
schematics and PCBs.
- April 21, 2007 -
Robotic Easter Egg Hunt
- Instead of the usual presentation this month, we held a contest for
autonomous robots to collect plastic Easter eggs.
- March 17, 2007 - SMART:
Seattle Mindstorms and Robotic Techies
- David Schilling and Gus Jansson explained the new
LEGO Mindstorms NXT controller
and options for programming it and building custom electronics for it. They
demonstrated several NXT creations, including two walking robots and a couple
of "mini-crate contraption" robots that move around LEGO crates
and balls. Here is a copy of the
SMART presentation (PPT, 500k).
- February 17, 2007 - WiMo Robot
and Microsoft Robotics Studio
-
Brian Cross introduced us to WiMo (pronounced "Weemo"), a Windows Mobile Robot.
The name comes from the "Wi" from "Windows" and "Mo" from "Mobile."
He explained its origin and evolution as Windows Mobile Robot he developed with no
prior robot-building experience. The entire system consisted of a
Windows laptop with Bluetooth (for code development in MSRS),
Windows-Mobile-capable cell phone with Bluetooth (to receive and execute
the code), and an OOPIC with a Bluetooth module on the robot to execute
the control functions.
The laptop sent code developed and compiled in Microsoft Robotics Studio (MSRS)
to the cell phone for storage and execution. The robot is actually just
the cell phone and OOPIC coupled wirelessly via Bluetooth. He explained
the basic physical configuration of each component and how they are
connected and talked about some things he hopes to do with WiMo in the
future.
His demonstrations included: driving the robot from the laptop keyboard,
making the robot speak text typed into the laptop, verbally commanding
the robot to "dance," showing the wireless connectivity by physically
separating the laptop, cell phone, and robot while still operating it,
retrieving real-time images from the cell phone's camera to the laptop
screen, and -- in less than 5 minutes -- creating and executing code to
control the robot with a proportional USB joystick plugged into the laptop.
and balls. Here is a copy of the
WiMo presentation (PDF, 800k).
- January 20, 2007 - GYRE
Project
- David Bliss, Matthew Dockrey, and Amelia Lacenski
explained the GYRE project, an experiment conducted
under NASA's
Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program.
The GYRE team has built an autonomous free-flying robot capable of
orienting itself using visual cues and navigating in a microgravity
environment. Here is a copy of the
GYRE presentation (PPT, 1.3M).
- December 16, 2006 - Robot Sensors - Steve Kaehler
- Steve presented a discussion about sensors and their
applications in robotics. Here is a copy of
Steve's presentation on
sensors (PPT, 1.5M).
- November 18, 2006
- Lloyd Spencer and Kevin Sikorski from
CoroWare presented on how they
built their robots with
Phidgets. Here is a copy of their
presentation (PPT, 2.7M)
and a movie (WMV, 4.2M).
- October 21, 2006
- David Shoemaker discussed the latest information on and status of the
LiftPort Space Elevator Project.
- September 16, 2006
- Z-Corp demonstrated their 3-dimensional
printers.
- August 19, 2006
- Ryan Wistort explained his 5-legged walker, the
RyBOT.
- July 15, 2006
- Monty Reed explained the concept and evolution of the
LIFESUIT. Here is a copy of
Monty's
presentation (PDF, 2M).
- June 17, 2006
- Larry Barello showed the robotic parachute that he's been working on
and demonstrated examining the signaling in the device using a nifty PC
oscilloscope that he just got.
Jim Wright held an EAGLE class.
- May 20, 2006
- Stewart Tansley
and John Wingfield presented some of their experiences as Microsoft
representatives at the first Maker Faire
held in April in San Mateo, CA. The Faire brought together the creators of MAKE
magazine, the MythBusters, and thousands of tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters,
educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors. Called
alternately a "Woodstock for Inventors," a "Burning Man for
Geeks," or a "Giant Do-It-Yourself Science Fair," Maker Faire
was a unique event that celebrated the use of science and technology in fun
and creative ways. Stewart presented a personal review of the event in
a photo show; John presented one of the Microsoft Coding4Fun
projects highlighted at the event, .NET programming for LEGO Mindstorms.
- April 15, 2006
- Karl
Böhringer, Associate Professor in UW's Microelectromechanical Systems
(MEMS) department, presented "Micro Manipulation and Micro Robots:
Algorithms, Devices, and Applications."
Abstract
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are tiny machines built with
techniques derived from the microelectronics industry. Very large
numbers of MEMS can be conveniently fabricated in parallel. However,
the control and assembly of such massively parallel microsystems gives
rise to numerous challenges in modeling, algorithms, as well as in
physical implementation.
In this presentation, we explore parallel micro manipulation and micro
assembly by investigating a cilia-like micro conveyor, a precision
docking system for future "pico-satellites", a walking microchip, and
selfassembling micro devices.
Biography
Karl Böhringer is an associate professor in Electrical Engineering
with adjunct appointments in Computer Science & Engineering and in
Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He
received both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from
Cornell University and his Diplom-Informatiker degree from the
University of Karlsruhe, Germany. He was a visiting scholar at the
Stanford Robotics Lab and Transducer Lab and a postdoctoral researcher
at the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the faculty
at the University of Washington.
His current interests include micromanipulation and microassembly, as
well as biomedical implants and bioMEMS for single-cell genomics and
proteomics. His Ph.D. thesis was nominated for the ACM doctoral
dissertation award. He received an NSF postdoctoral associateship in
1997, an NSF CAREER award in 1999, and was an NSF New Century Scholar
in 2000. His work was featured among the Top 100 Science Stories in
Discover Magazine's 2002 "Year in Science." In 2004, he received the
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Academic Early Career Award and a
sabbatical fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science (JSPS).
- March 18, 2006
- Eric
Klavins, assistant professor in UW's Control and Robotics
department.
- February 18, 2006
- Steve Kaehler presentated
"So you
want to build a robot" (PDF, 1M), where he talked about current robot
products you can buy, questions to ask and answer to get started, and what
resources are available to help.
- January 21, 2006
- Dieter Fox,
Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science &
Engineering at the University of Washington.
- December 17, 2005
- Jacob Rosen, UW's
BioRobotics Laboratory.
- November 2005
- Rolf Rysdyk, Autonomous Flight Systems Lab
(UW AFSL).
- October 2005
- Issaquah F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Team - I.R.S.
- September 2005
- Embedded Linux - Karl Lunt, Dave Hylands.
- August 2005
- Various - Tyler Folsom, Jim Wright, Pete Miles.
- July 2005
- Sim of SRS Robot - Lee Leahy + Robot Rovers - Paul Verhage.
- June 2005
- Carangiform Locomotion Update (UW, robot fish) - Kristi Morgansen.
- May 2005
- MEMS (UW) - Kevin Wang.
- April 2005
- Barbaric Robotics - Jim Wright.
- March 2005
- ARC Lab (UW) - Sam McKennoch.
- February 2005
- GYRE Project (UW) - David Bliss, Matthew Dockrey, Lee Zeman.
- November 2004
- RTC Machine Shop - Kinsey Fobes, Francisco Martinez.
- October 2004
- RTC - Kinsey Fobes, Jim Milstid, Dave Marshall.
- September 2004
- Digital Flocks (UW) - Bruce Hemingway.
- July 2004
- TurboCAD - Cathy Saxton.
- June 2004
- Photosensor Secrets - Bill Beaty.
- May 2004
- Space Elevator (LiftPort) - Michael Laine.
- April 2004
- Carangiform Locomotion (UW, robot fish) - Kristi Morgansen.
- January 2004
- LEGO Mindstorm Robots - Dave Schilling & Gus Jansson.
- December 2003
- Lloyd's Exc. Robot Adv - Lloyd Spencer + I/F'ing to LEGO sensors - Larry B.
- November 2003
- PSoC - Greg Verge.
- October 2003
- Batteries - Larry Barello + Eagle PCB Design S/W - Jim Wright.
- August 2003
- Neural Networks - Doug Kelley.
- May 2003
- International Schools Robotic Club - Jacob Eggler.
- February 2003
- DARPA Challenge, Scarab GCXC - Martin Calsyn.
- January 2003
- Combat Robots - W.A.R.
- November 2002
- Evolution Robotics - local sales guys.
- October 2002
- Making Sumo Wheels - Pete Miles.
- July 2002
- Piezo Sensors - Doug Bell + FF Robot Navigation - Gary Teachout.
- June 2002
- Flame Detectors - Gary Teachout.
- May 2002
- Segway Human Transporter (HT) - local sales guys.
- April 2002
- Mars Polar Lander - Jeff Slostad.
- December 2001
- Fugro Seafloor Surveys - Paul Jubinski.
- November 2001
- Haptics/Biorobotics (UW) - Blake Hannaford.
- September 2001
- Artificial Muscles (UW) - Kristen Jaax.
- August 2001
- Atmel Microcontrollers - local sales guys.
- July 2001
- Probablistic Navigation (UW) - Dieter Fox.
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