New parts on Thingiverse

01 Sep 2012 3d-printing  robots  It has been a while since I've posted to this blog, I'll avoid making the typical "that's about to change comment".

I do want to post links to a few relevant parts that I've uploaded to Thingiverse today. These are kinda old, but never got shared, and since our MakerBot PC almost died this week, I decided I had better get them out there before I lose them. Without further ado:

• The Asus Xtion "wide"-style Bioloid-frame mount is now posted. This is the mount that I have been using on Maxwell for almost a year, and is much more stable side-to-side than previous designs.
• An 8020 adapter for mounting tall masts on TurtleBots.
• Finally, I've uploaded the style-ized version of the TurtleBot gripper. These are tough to print, due to the overhang, but look pretty cool.

Navigating Apartments with ROS

23 Dec 2011 slam  maxwell  ros  While Maxwell tends to reside at the office most days, I've recently brought him home a few times. I'm now working towards some cool demos of mobile manipulation in a home environment, but the first step is of course to navigate that environment.

I've been trying for some time to use only the ASUS on the head, however, the thick carpeting and carpet/linoleum transitions really throw of my odometry at times. I finally dropped back and just used my low-cost Hokuyo. This evening I created a new map, without much effort at all, using gmapping and the Hokuyo:

Some preliminary tests show that my planner parameters will probably work well, even in the smaller environment (the map above is 10m x 10m). What is very apparent is that my laser doesn't pick up much of my furniture -- the larger room is actually mostly full with tables at various heights, which are only showing up as stray points to the laser. Adding the ASUS for 3D obstacle avoidance should help quite a bit.

Maxwell (Finally) Gets a Vertical Arm Lift

21 Dec 2011 maxwell  robots  ros  I've been saying for quite some time that I wanted to add a vertical lift to Maxwell. Earlier this month, he finally got that lift:


The linear actuator gives the arm 20" of additional vertical mobility, making it possible to grab objects at floor or table height, or hit most light switches. The lift is currently integrated into ROS arm_navigation, I'll have some awesome videos soon.

In addition to the arm upgrades, Maxwell recently got a new ASUS Xtion Pro Live to replace his Kinect. The ASUS device requires only USB (no 12V power) and is significantly less heavy, reducing neck and back stress (a common problem amongst aging robots). Speaking of aging robots, Maxwell turns one early next month.