Contextual Robotics Director testifies in Washington DC

Henrik Christensen, the director of the Contextual Robotics Institute at the Jacobs School, testified March 16 in front of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan group that monitors and investigates the national security impllications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and China.

The hearing's theme was "China's pursuit of next frontier tech: computing, robotics and biotechnology."  Christensen's testimony was part of a panel on military and industrial robotics. He was quoted on the topic of industrial robotics and China in a January story in The New York Times.

Below is a summary in tweets of Christensen's testimony:

1/ @UCSanDiego #robotics expert @hiskov testified @ US-China #economic& #security review commission on industrial & military #robots today

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

2/ @hiskov #Robotics is an industry tinvented and developed in the US. Today many industrial robots are made in Japan, Germany and China.

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

3/ @hiskov: Until 2013 US was the largest market for #industrialrobots. Today the Chinese market is 2.4 times larger than the US market.

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

4/ @hiskov The Chinese #robotics industry is only emerging. Most #robots sold in China are made by joint venture companies the norm there.

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

5/ @hiskov: China wants to the leader in #industrialrobotics. Growth in US is 9-13% in this area while it's more than 40%+ in China.

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

6/ Today many #robotics companies are investing in China rather than USA because that's is where the big opportunity is.

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

7/ But US #universities and #innovation ecosystem still attractive to college grads. So #robotics companies house R&D centers in US.

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

8/ @hiskov: It is still our opportunity to lose. #robotics #industrialrobotics #manufacturing /end.

— UCSD Engineering (@UCSDJacobs) March 16, 2017

More info on the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego here: http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/contextualrobotics/

Christensen's website here: http://www.hichristensen.net/

#ILookLikeAnEngineer: Paul Epperson

Meet the next student with our campaign who hopes the hashtag #ILookLikeAnEngineer will inspire peace of mind and positive change.

Name: Paul Epperson

Major: Computer Science

Graduation Date: June 2018

Why did you choose engineering at UC San Diego?

I chose engineering at UC San Diego because I wanted to be able to make real things. As someone with an interest in computer science, I had a desire to be able to design and create practical code that would provide useful solutions to applicable problems.

What are your career goals?

My career goals are to help design and implement software solutions for hard, science-based problems. The closer to outer space and robots, the better.

Do you have a favorite quote or mantra?

"As I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown . . . I sort of realize there’s a fundamental truth to our nature: Man must explore . . . and this is exploration at its greatest." - Dave Scott, becoming the 7th person to step on the moon.

What are three things that are unique about you?

I actively study calculus and linear algebra because I find the subjects really enjoyable. I fantasize about controlling robot swarms in space. I composed and improvise on some of my own musical piano themes.

What does this campaign mean to you?

I appreciate efforts by groups of people to shift social perspectives away from otherwise inordinate stereotypes. I support actions to better define what it means to be a certain individual in a world where there are many distinct definitions, accurate or inaccurate. Hopefully this gives a wide spread of people peace of mind, confidence and inner strength to enact positive change.

MiPosaur robot gets to meet Spiderman creator Stan Lee

MiPosaur, a robot created by toymaker WowWee in collaboration with the UCSD Robotics group got to spend some quality time with the Real Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman and many, many other heroes from the Marvel universe.

Lee featured the robot on his blog, http://www.therealstanlee.com/

We're quoting here:

The MiPosaur is a highly intelligent robotic creature with an incredible, evolving intelligence and personality. It can sense its own surroundings and environment, and Interact with them in a unique and lifelike way. MiPosaur comes with an interactive TrackBall equipped with BeaconSense™ technology; with it, the MiPosaur can chase the trackball, play with it, "smell" it like food, go for a walk, as well as alter its moods depending on the various interactions.  The MiPosaur is fully interactive with the WowWee MIP™ robot and a BLE enabled app, compatible with both iOS and Androidsmart devices, and features additional activities and games.

You can see MiPosaur in action here:

UC San Diego Robotics organization to compete in new season of BattleBots

We sat down with the founders of Triton Competitive Robotics (TCR), mechanical engineering major Jeffrey Wang and Mahaela Johnson to discuss their student organization.

Q: Tell us about your organization in your own words:

M: Triton Competitive Robotics provides resources to students interested in building robots to enter into competitions. Students can pitch their idea for a competition to enter and then TCR will put together a team of students to work on a robot for the competition as well as provide workshops and funding.

J: Our mission really is to build and strengthen the robotics community here by making sure there’s nothing stopping someone that wants to pursue a robotics project. We’re working hard to make sure everyone has access to resources that will help them - and one way to do this is by collaborating with other organizations. For example, samcad, a student org that focuses on 3D modeling, just put on a very successful SOLIDWORKS workshop for us.

Q: Why did you decide to start this organization?

J: I remember attending an orientation freshman year and talking with someone about the lack of robotics student orgs on campus. I’ve since discovered them (IEEE does great work, for example,) but none of them really focused on the projects I wanted to pursue. Our goal is to fill that gap.

M: I was at home watching BattleBots and I thought, UCSD has an amazing engineering program and we’re more than capable of creating our own Battlebot; we should do this. Since then, the scope of our organization's interests has expanded to all robotics competitions.

Q: What projects is your organization working on right now?

M: We currently have two projects. One is a 3 lb autonomous fighting robot that we plan on entering into next year’s Robogames competition. Our other project is our BattleBots team which is being led by Jeffrey.

Q: How can interested students get involved?

J: All of our project meetings are open to the public (you can find the times/locations on Facebook or by emailing us.) Currently, all positions are filled for the two projects but as we start building we would potentially need more team members. Keep in mind that if you and some friends have a different competition you’re passionate about, we can help you compete!

Q: Contact info?

M: Find us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/tritonrobots/ or email either of us at mkj002@ucsd.edu and jewang@ucsd.edu

Interested in sponsoring or mentoring? Send an email to tcr.ucsd@gmail.com.

This amazing autonomous robot tracks and follows an RC copter

A team of undergraduate computer science students completed their final project for their CSE 190 class, taught by alum Chris Barngrover: an autonomous robot that follows a remote-controlled helicopter around.
They started off with a TurtleBot, a low cost personal robot kit equipped with open source software. The robot includes a Kinect and a netbook. Students used the open-source Robot Operating Software to program its tasks.
The students are: Frank Bogart, Mike Lara, James Lee and Kenny Yokoyama. 
We're impressed with the results!

SDK now available for MiP robot developed by UC San Diego and toymaker WowWee

Robotics enthusiasts and coders rejoice! Toymaker WowWee has released a software development kit (better known as SDK) for MiP, the first consumer self-balancing robot that the company developed in partnership with the UCSD Robotics Lab.

 MiP can already do many things on its own, including balancing, fetching you a drink and dancing. But it was created to be hacked. The SDK is available for both Android and iOS.

"Tell your friends, fork our project, buy our robot and share with us your own projects! These are the best kinds of positive feedback to us," the toymaker says on Github.

These two Jacobs School-related robots were featured in Science special issue on robotics

We were excited to see both WowWee's MiP and Brain Corporation's eyeRover make an appearance in Science magazine's special robotics issue that came out Oct. 10.

MiP, which appears in this infographic, was designed by the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab, led by  Prof. Thomas Bewley, and by toymaker WowWee.  MiP, short for Mobile Inverted Pendulum, can balance itself and drive around on two wheels. You can interact with the robot using intuitive hand gestures. More on MiP here and here.
Meanwhile, eyeRover is partially the brain child of Jacobs School alum Marius Buibas (Ph.D. 2011). Buibas led the design of the robot's hardware--the electronics, mechanics and 3D-printed body. The difference between eyeRover and other robots is that it can be taught to do a task, rather than programmed.

According to Science:

EyeRover may look like a toy, but it's packed with some of the most advanced robotic technology ever devised, including a prototype computing platform designed to emulate the human brain. Unlike conventional computer chips and software, which execute a linear sequence of tasks, this new approach—called neuromorphic computing—carries out processing and memory tasks simultaneously, just as our brains do for complex tasks such as vision and hearing.

 There is a common thread between the two robots: Nick Morozovsky, a student in Bewley's research group, who just earned his Ph.D. from the Jacobs School. Morozovsky developed a tool combining hardware and software to evaluate various motors to balance MiP. He also worked part-time at Brain Corporation and was the architect behind an earlier version of eyeRover that inspired the robot featured in Science. Industry recruiters, take note: Morozovsky is currently looking for a full time job.

Bonus: the special issue's online version features a video of origami robots, which then postdoctoral student Michael Tolley helped develop. Tolley will join the Jacobs School faculty Nov. 1.

This soft rubber robot is propelled by controlled explosions

And Mike Tolley, soon to be a professor of mechanical engineering here at the Jacobs School, does it again. This time, he presented a soft robot that uses controlled explosions to jump at the IROS 2014 conference in Chicago this week.
The three-legged robot made of silicon rubber is propelled by a butane-oxygen reaction. Check out the video to see it in action. Cool slow-motion shots start a little bit before the one-minute mark.
Full IEEE Spectrum story here.

Expert in origami robots, soft robotics and programable matter to join Jacobs School faculty

Michael Tolley, who will become an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School Nov. 1, is one of the co-authors on a paper about self-folding robots published in Science today. Tolley worked on the project while a postdoctoral researcher at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.

"I am very excited to pursue similar unconventional approaches to the design and fabrication of robotic systems at UCSD," Tolley said in an email.

According to the paper:

The robot starts as a flat sheet with embedded electronics, and transforms autonomously into a functional machine. To accomplish this, we developed shape-memory composites that fold themselves along embedded hinges. We used these composites to recreate fundamental folded patterns, derived from computational origami, that can be extrapolated to a wide range of geometries and mechanisms. This origami-inspired robot can fold itself in 4 minutes and walk away without human intervention, demonstrating the potential both for complex self-folding machines and autonomous, self-controlled assembly.

 On his website, Tolley describes his contribution as "development of origami-inspired design and fabrication approaches for the fabrication of function electromechanical machines."

The paper has received ample media attention, including:

The Wall Street Journal

The New York Times

NBC News

IEEE Spectrum 

and

NPR

In addition to origami robots, Tolley is interested in soft robotics. He has developed untethered soft robots with integrated power and control systems. Check out this video:


Tolley also has worked on programmable matter, a substance that can follow directions to change its physical properties. According to his website: 

Imagine a system that assembles a pile of regular, mass-produced components into an iPod, computer, robot, or tool with embedded sensing and computation. Objects can be assembled or repaired on-the-fly, and deconstructed to be recycled into new objects when they are no longer needed. This technology would open up new possibilities for rapid prototyping, space exploration, sustainable technology, and evolutionary design.

 Cool videos illustrating the process below:

Robot and computer scientists featured on Innovate 8 TV show

MiP, the robot created by the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab and WowWee and ThoughtSTEM, a company founded by two Jacobs School computer science grad students were recently featured on Innovate 8, a program produced by CBS News 8 in partnership with UC San Diego and the San Diego County Office of Education. 
Watch below:

MiP goes to Los Angeles

LA-area UC San Diego alumni will get an exclusive look at MiP, the toy robot designed by toymaker WowWee and the UCSD Coordinate Robotics lab during an Inspiring Minds event May 13 at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel.
Tom Bewley, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, who heads the coordinated robotics lab, will be the featured speaker.
Below is his ambitious agenda:

What are the simplest robotic designs for overcoming various obstacles? How can advanced algorithms for coordinating robotic sensor vehicles help us better respond to environmental hazards?

Where did the radiation from Fukushima, the oil from Deepwater Horizon, and the ash from Eyjafjallajökull go? Where will a category 5 hurricane developing over the Gulf of Mexico make landfall? Robotic sensor vehicles, advanced control algorithms, and high-performance computing will help us to quickly and accurately answer such questions in the future; recent major advancements of such coordination algorithms will also be discussed.

How do you inspire K-12 students to take an interest in STEM? Make it fun! Attendees will also have a chance to meet MiP, the first of an engaging new line of consumer toys and educational curricula, developed in collaboration with WowWee Robotics, designed to do exactly that.

 More info about the event here.

More info on MiP here and here.

Engineer, toy company president explore the frontiers of science and technology at event

MiP, a robotic toy that was developed as a collaboration between the UCSD Coordinated Robotics Lab and toymaker WowWee.

A big thanks to CONNECT, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship in the San Diego area, for featuring mechanical engineering professor Thomas Bewley and tech transfer officer Dave Gibbons during one of their Frontiers in Science and Technology events. Bewley and Gibbons were speaking with Peter Yanofsky, the president of WowWee USA. The trio worked together on MiP, a toy robot that moves around on two wheels thanks to balancing technology developed in Bewley's lab.

Bewley spoke about his lab's ongoing work in robotic vehicle design and about some of the unique design and commercialization challenges the team faced with MiP. Yanofsky spoke about the complex process of creative prototyping, refinement of a toy's playspec, design for manufacturing, production and distribution. Gibbons served as moderator for the event.

Excerpts from the program overview:
 

Mix a bunch of university robotics fanatics together with a nimble high-tech toy company willing to take creative risks, and what do you get? A dynamic new line of game-changing self-balancing robotic vehicles that become instant hits at the Computer Electronics Show (CES) and overnight media darlings, and which are poised to shift the needle in the public’s perception of robotics in our everyday lives.

“MiP, short for Mobile Inverted Pendulum, sways gently when standing or moving, and steps back to regain its balance when disturbed,” says Prof. Bewley, director of the Coordinated Robotics Lab at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering. “In a very real way, the dynamics of MiP mimics life.”

Of course, with organic moves like that, MiP can’t resist dancing to your music library, boxing with other MiPs, playing stacking games, or simply kicking around ping-pong balls. And, with its (included) carrying tray, built-in bluetooth, free apps, infrared sensors, and remarkable hackability features, the perennial “yes, but can it bring me a beer” question is one major step closer to being solved.