Category Archives: Robotics

Students can join the robotics club in the fall and work on projects that can go on to competitions in spring

DUBLIN, Ga. Dublin City Schools students are keeping their science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills sharp this summer to prepare them for competitions this fall.

Irish Gifted Academy middle schoolers are learning all about robotics, which is something 7th grader Ryleigh Byxbe never thought she'd do.

"At first I did not like it because I was sleepy and moody, but after I built the robot it turned out to be a fun camp," said Byxbe.

6th grader Rashun Waters and his partner built their robot without any instruction.

"The thing that inspired me was actually being deprived of stuff. Basically our box had nothing useful, so I basically just had to scrap and find whatever and just make this. It wasn't even on the instructions," he said.

After they build the robots, they learn how to code them. Engineering teacher Andrew Harvey also teaches them about STEM careers.

"A basic level coder can start off straight out of school at $80,000, and it's one of the fastest growing industries and job mobility. They can move anywhere and have a job. That's the beauty of this, they're not restricted," Harvey said.

Waters and Byxbe are already thinking of ways they can put their skills to good use in real life.

"Some of it might be able to help blind people or deaf people. Basically, they might not even need service dogs and the service dogs could basically just become companion dogs and they could live a normal and happy life," said Waters.

"If we go on quarantine again, we could make bigger robots, like circle robots like the one we saw and we could like put stuff stuff inside of it like a carry out. Somebody could order food and we could put it inside of it and it could deliver it to the person," said Byxbe.

Harvey says students can join the robotics club in the fall and work on projects that can go on to competitions in spring.

This camp is only available for Irish Gifted Academy students this summer, but the instructor hopes to open it up to more schools throughout the region in the future.

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Dublin Irish Gifted Academy students learn to build and code robots - 13WMAZ.com

Robotics is a big part of the Raspberry Pi and microcontroller communities. The merging of code and electronics to make an object move is a great motivator for STEM education. Because motors draw far too much current for a typical GPIO pin to handle, we need to use a motor controller or driver board to protect the GPIO by enabling the Pico to control a chip on the board.

Kitronik has released two motor control boards for the Raspberry Pi Pico. The $13 (9) Pico Motor Driver is the smallest board, aimed at basic Pico robotics projects and ideal for learners who want to make a quick robot with DC motors and simple sensors. The $18 (13.20) Pico Robotics Board is larger and comes with many more motor options. With this board we can control up to eight servo motors, two stepper motors and four DC motors, but we lack ready access tothe GPIO inputs found on the Pico Motor Driver, but for those of us skilled with a soldering iron these can be easily added using the solder pads underneath where our Pico resides. Both of the boards come with power input terminals for use with batteries / power supplies up to 10.8V. The single power source provides power to the robot and the Raspberry Pi Pico which simplifies the design of a project.

We put both of these boards on the bench and built a few test projects to take advantage of the features found on both boards.

The larger of the two boards is the Kitronik Pico Robotics board and with the larger size we get more features. Packed into the 2.6 x 2.2 inch (68 x 56 mm board is a space for the Raspberry Pi Pico, or Pimoronis Pico Lipo along with four motor outputs driven by dual DRV8833 motor drivers. We can use these terminals to power four DC motors or two stepper motors. Moving to the right side of the board, we see eight headers for use with hobby servos such as the SG90 or MG90S. The headers interface directly with the servo using the Signal, Voltage, Ground (SVG) common pinout. On the far left of the board is a power input terminal where we can connect a battery pack and provide upto 10.8V for powering the many motors and to power the Raspberry Pi Pico via a built-in regulator. We can connect the Pico to the computer and to the external power source at the same time as there is a diode between the regulator and the 5V pin of the Pico which will prevent accidental damage.

The smaller of the two boards is the Pico Motor Driver board, measuring just 2.44 x 1.33 inches (62 x 34 mm) ; this board is solely designed for use with two DC motors via a DRV8833 motor controller. Power input remains the same with a 10.8V max input and a diode in place to prevent over voltage of the back powered Raspberry Pi Pico. What is unique to this board in Kitroniks range is that we have screw terminal breakouts for four GPIO pins and 3V , GND which are useful for sensors and inputs to give our robot vision. In front of the screw terminals, and printed on the underside, are the GPIO pins used for the terminals, with the exception of the motors which are abstracted in the Python libraries. The Pico Robotics board does not have any GPIO broken out in this manner so there are only labels for the motors. But remember that we do have access to the GPIO using the solder pads, located underneath the Pico.

Integrating either of the boards into a chassis is made easier thanks to mounting holes on the boards. These are used to secure the board to the chassis. If you are 3D printing or laser cutting your own chassis then the position of the mounting holes can be added to the project for a bespoke fit. If you are using a generic robot chassis, then there should be a suitable position.

The Pico Robotics Board is clearly designed for larger, more complex robotics projects, evident by the sheer number of motors and servos that can be driven from it. It also hides a PCA9685PW IC which is used to communicate with the board over I2C. The Pico Motor Driver is a simpler board and uses PWM to control the speed of motors.

This means that the MicroPython and CircuitPython libraries for both boards are incompatible, but the syntax of the libraries means we can port code from one board to another by simply switching between the libraries. Just remember that the Pico Motor Driver is not compatible with servos and stepper motors.

We tested DC motors, servos and a large stepper motor on the Pico Robotics Board and the only issue we found was determining the pinout of our stepper motor, everything else just worked with the minimum of effort. Keep in mind that a stepper motor can pull around 1.2 Amps at 4V so your external power source may get a little warm.

The frictionless onboarding process afforded by the great hardware is what helps makers to concentrate on building their project. The Pico Motor Driver, while only capable of DC motor control, is also a frictionless experience, we even created a tutorial on how to build a simple Pico-powered robot by using this board and how to use it with a simple switch input.

Our tests centered around the provided MicroPython libraries, but just as we were coming to the end of the tests we were alerted to official CircuitPython libraries for the boards, so we flashed the latest version of CircuitPython to our test board and then copied the appropriate libraries to the board. The CircuitPython library is almost identical to that of MicroPython, with only the use of utime versus time being a difference. This means that we can port our projects from one version of Python to another.

Both of these boards are geared towards robotics. The Pico Motor Driver is the best option for those looking to quickly build their first robot. The screw terminals for basic GPIO access are most welcome, more wouldve been nice but we have enough for basic projects. The Pico Robotics Board is a much more powerful beast and the plethora of motor options provided is impressive. If your robot relies on stepper or servo motors then this is the board that you will naturally gravitate towards.

Another option for GPIO access, which Toms Hardware Editor-in-Chief Avram Piltch tried successfully, is to attach Pimoroni stackable headers to the Pico so it has female pins on its top surface which you can connect to jumper wires.

Whether your robot is large or small, these two boards are just the thing no matter your ambitions or skill set. The MicroPython and CircuitPython libraries are simple to use and provide an abstracted means to control your robots. From simple DC motor speed controls to high precision stepper motors, the libraries abstract the complexities away and provide a means for makers to create.

The lack of GPIO access on the Pico Robotics board is a shame, as we are using I2C there are plenty of GPIO pins that couldve been broken out for use. The GPIO access on the Pico Motor Driver is great for basic inputs such as obstacle sensors, ultrasonic sensors and bump switches, but if you need more, consider getting a stackable header for your Pico. The single power source is fantastic and removes the need for two power sources which can be tricky to neatly enclose in a project.

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Kitronik Pico Motor Driver and Pico Robotics Board Review: R2-P1C0 - Tom's Hardware

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To get more information on Exchange Traded Concepts Trust - ETCT ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF and to follow the companys latest updates, you can visit the companys profile page here: Exchange Traded Concepts Trust - ETCT ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETFs Profile. For more news on the financial markets be sure to visit Equities News. Also, dont forget to sign-up for the Daily Fix to receive the best stories to your inbox 5 days a week.

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Exchange Traded Concepts Trust - ETCT ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO) gains 1.2290% for June 24 - Equities.com

Imagine flexible surgical instruments that can twist and turn in all directions like miniature octopus arms, or how about large and powerful robot tentacles that can work closely and safely with human workers on production lines.

A new generation of robotic tools is beginning to be realized thanks to a combination of strong "muscles" and sensitive "nerves" created from smart polymeric materials. A research team led by the smart materials experts Professor Stefan Seelecke and Junior Professor Gianluca Rizzello at Saarland University is exploring fundamental aspects of this exciting field of soft robotics.

In the factory of the future, man and machine will work side-by-side -- in harmony, as a team, joining forces whenever necessary -- just as if the robot co-worker was made from flesh and blood. While collaborative robots (cobots) are already being deployed in industrial production lines, real hand-in-hand teamwork involving robots and their human counterparts is still some way off. The problem lies in the physical proximity of human co-workers, whose actions -- unlike those of a robot -- do not follow predictable algorithms. A human worker can become tired or distracted and may act suddenly or even illogically as a result. This has clear implications for safety and explains why the robot arms currently used on production lines are often housed in cages. For anyone who gets too close, things can get dangerous. Typically, industrial robots are large, heavy machines. But they are also powerful, fast and agile and are used for a wide range of operations, like welding, assembling, painting, stacking and lifting. However, the motions that they execute are dictated wholly by the programs that control them. And if someone gets in their way or too close, the consequences can be serious.

The team led by Professor Stefan Seelecke and Junior Professor Gianluca Rizzello of Saarland University and the Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology (ZeMA) in Saarbrcken are working on new, smart types of robot arms. 'Our technology is based on smart polymer systems and enables us to create novel soft robotic tools that are lighter, more maneuverable and more flexible than the rigid components in use today,' explains Stefan Seelecke. An accidental shove from one of these robotic arms of the future would be more like being pushed by a human co-worker (and less likely to land you in hospital).

The material used for these new soft robot arms is a special kind of polymer known as a 'dielectric elastomer'. The Saarbrcken researchers are using this composite material to create artificial muscles and nerves. The special properties of dielectric elastomers make it possible to develop systems inspired by the ingenious designs found in nature. These elastomers can be compressed, but can then be stretched to regain their original shape.

"We print electrodes onto both sides of the elastomer material. When we apply a voltage, the two electrodes attract each other, compressing the polymer and causing it to expand out sideways," says Dr. Gianluca Rizzello, Junior Professor for Adaptive Polymer-Based Systems. The Italian research scientist has been working in Seelecke's team since 2016. The elastomer can thus be made to contract and relax, just like muscle tissue.

"We exploit this property when designing our actuators," explains Rizzello. By precisely varying the electric field, the engineers can make the elastomer execute high-frequency vibrations or continuously variable flexing motions or even remain still in a particular desired intermediate position.

The researchers then combine a large number of these small "muscles" to create a flexible robot arm. When combined in this way to form a robot tentacle, the interplay between the muscles produces motions that mimic those of an octopus arm that can twist and turn in all directions. Unlike the heavy, rigid robotic limbs currently in use, which, like humans, can only execute motions in certain directions, these new robot tentacles are free to move in almost any direction. Gianluca Rizzello together with his doctoral student Johannes Prechtl recently won the Best Paper Award at the RoboSoft 2021 conference for their work on developing a prototype dielectric-elastomer-based tentacle - just one of the numerous accolades earned by Professor Seelecke's research team. The team hopes to have the tentacle prototype fully developed in about a year's time.

When it comes to imparting intelligence into polymeric materials, Gianluca Rizzello is something of an expert. He provides the control unit (i.e. the robot's 'brain') with the input needed to move the arm in an intelligent manner -- a highly complex and ambitious task.

"These systems are significantly more complex than the robot arms in use today. Using artificial intelligence to control polymer-based components is substantially more challenging than controlling conventional mechatronic systems," says Rizzello. As the elastomer muscles also have sensor properties, they can act as the system's nerves, which means that the robot arm does not need to be equipped with additional sensors.

"Every distortion of the elastomer, every change in its geometry causes a change in the material's capacitance, which enables the team to assign a precise electrical capacitance value to any specific deformation of the elastomer. By measuring the capacitance, we know exactly what shape the elastomer has adopted, which allows us to extract sensor data," explains Rizzello.

This quantitative data can then be used to precisely model and program the motion of the elastomer arm. The focus of Rizzello's research work is on developing intelligent algorithms that can train these novel robot tentacles to move and respond in the required manner.

"We are attempting to uncover which physical properties are responsible for the behavior of these polymers. The more we know, the more precisely we can design the algorithms to control the elastomer muscles," says Dr. Rizzello.

The technology being developed in Saarland will be scalable. It can be used to create miniature tentacles for medical instruments or to make large robot arms for industrial applications. But unlike the heavy robot arms in use today, the robot limbs built from smart elastomers will be far lighter.

"Our robot arms don't need to be driven by motors or by hydraulic or pneumatic systems - they can be powered simply by the application of an electric current. The elastomer muscles can also be produced in shapes that meet the requirements of a particular application. And they consume very little electric power. Depending on the capacitance, the electric currents that flow are in the microampere range. This type of soft robot technology has huge promise for the future as it is both energy efficient and cost-effective to manufacture," says Stefan Seelecke in summary.

Continued here:

Soft robots -- smart elastomers are making the robots of the future more touchy-feely - Manufacturing.net

Most people know him as a successful musician, but will.I.am is also a philanthropist with deep roots in Boyle Heights and a love of robotics.

On Wednesday he talked about how he's combining the two.

It has the competition of a sporting event and the joy of entertainment, which is why will.i.am sees robotics as the perfect way to get kids engaged in STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and math.

"If I was 15 right now I'd be in robotics because that is the ultimate level of creativity," he said.

The lead member of the Black Eyed Peas, the 46 year old started the i.am Angel foundation in 2009. It provides a college track program, scholarships, and FIRST robotics clubs for kids in East LA.

"I was born and raised in Boyle Heights, in the projects Estrada Courts and it was beautiful and the struggle was hard."

With the goal of easing the struggle for the next generation by providing STEM knowledge and skills, he's partnering with LA Unified to expand the robotics program from 1,200 kids to 12,000 throughout the entire district.

"Having people like Will that students can see in themselves, someone who grew up in their neighborhood is absolutely critical," said Austin Beutner, the LAUSD superintendent.

At Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, the superintendent and the super star held a mini competition in a sport will.I.am says is the only one where everyone who competes can turn pro.

"Pro means you're filling jobs that are infilled at the moment and pro also means you're creating jobs we can't even imagine right now."

The district will provide the funding to get the program going with the i.am.angel foundation providing teacher training, guidance for the teams, and sponsorships for competitions.

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will.I.am of Black Eyed Peas is Teaming Up With LAUSD for Expanded Robotics Program - NBC Southern California

Results from the DOTS competition were released yesterday, after an intense month with teams from around the world designing new algorithms for robot swarms tasked with delivering emergency food parcels.

The ScenarioIncreases in the number of emergency food parcels distributed by food banks have accelerated over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in those going to children. Robot swarms could help streamline the distribution of these emergency food parcels, while freeing up time for volunteers and workers to interface with the users and provide human contact.

What if you could unbox a swarm of robots and immediately use them to power your organisation and transport needs? You could use them to organise the stock room of a small retail shop, or retrieve boxes in a pop-up distribution centre for school lunches.

In the DOTS competition run jointly by the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, Toshiba Bristol Research and Innovation Laboratory and the South Gloucestershire Councils UMBRELLA project, the robots used are called DOTS (Distributed Organisation and Transport Systems) and they fit the problem at hand: they dont rely on maps or any complex infrastructure, making them both versatile and adaptable.

After years of research in swarm algorithms and hardware, were now at stage where we can think of real-world applications. Robot swarms make so much sense as out-of-the-box solutions that can scale and adapt to a variety of messy real-world environments.

Sabine Hauert, Associate Professor of Swarm Engineering and lead of the DOTS competition.

The RobotsThe DOTS are custom-built 25cm robots, that move fast, have long battery life (8 hours), can communicate through 5G, WiFI, and bluetooth, house a GPU, and can sense the environment locally, as well as lift and transport payloads (2kg per robot). They are housed in the new Industrial Swarm Arena at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, which is accessible remotely and 5G enabled.

Its taken three years to design and build the DOTS robots and simulator. I wanted the DOTS to individually be quite capable, with the latest sensing and computational capabilities so they could make sense of the world around them using distributed situational awareness. Its been really rewarding to see them in action, and to see that others can use them too. Many of these robots were built at my house during lockdown where I have a dedicated workshop. said Simon Jones, Research Fellow and designer of the DOTS at University of Bristol.

The ChallengeOver the past few weeks, participants in the competition have brainstormed and engineered solutions to tackle the challenge. The warehouse is a simulated 4m x 4m x 4m room in Gazebo with a 0.5m-wide strip along the right wall, acting as the dropoff zone. The 10 carriers that the robots must retrieve are scattered at random. Following the swarm robotics paradigm, each robot runs the same codebase: the challenge is therefore to engineer a solution where the emergent behaviour of the collective swarm results in fast retrieval.

One of the simplest solutions is for a robot to perform a random walk. As soon as a sensor detects a carrier, it can home in on the carrier and pick it up. Given enough time the robots will, collectively, retrieve all the carriers. From this basic implementation, more complex behaviours can be layered such as adding a bias for movement in a particular direction or having the robots interact to repulse or attract.

Of course, in the real world, the robots would have to contend with obstacles as well as faults in their hardware and software. The submitted solutions are also tested for their robustness and ability to overcome these hurdles. An extra level of complexity is added with the task of retrieving carriers in a given order.

Its been a great learning experience to see the whole pipeline from code to simulation to running with the real robots in the arena feels like this is where progress is made towards that vision of robots integrated into our everyday lives, said Suet Lee, PhD Student at University of Bristol who helped support the teams.

The Results

With 7 team submissions from around the world, it was exciting to see what solutions would emerge. In the end, scores were quite tight. For teams that needed extra time, well be hosting a demo round later this summer.

The winners were Swarmanauts. The team included David Garzon Ramos, Jonas Kuckling, and Miquel Kegeleirs, PhD students at IRIDIA, the artificial intelligence lab of the Universit libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. They are all part of the ERC DEMIURGE project team (PI Mauro Birattari) where they investigate the automatic design of collective behaviours for robot swarms.

You can see their controller in action over the 6 tested scenarios here (unordered retrieval, unordered with lost robots, unordered with obstacles, ordered retrieval, ordered with lost robots, ordered with obstacles)

It was exciting to participate in the DOTS competition. We enjoyed the challenge of devising and testing coordination strategies for an industry-oriented robot swarm. Next time we would like to also try automatic methods for designing the collective behavior of the robots, said David.

In second came BusyB with team members Simon Obute and Rey Lei.

Rey and Simon had the following to say about their experience, through this competition, our knowledge of controlling and sensing for robots has been enhanced. It was exciting that our simple algorithm inspired from chemotaxis search behaviour performed well in comparison to other competing strategies. The introduction session was also helpful, because it gave us the opportunity to meet and form the BusyB team. As a team, we now look forward to the next DOTS competition! Hope we can achieve more next year!

And finally, in third we had Simple Solution by Hany Hamed and their feisty controller.

Winners will be receiving this fancy award at home soom.

There were plenty of bloopers along the way with all teams, heres one sample of how things can go wrong in slow motion:

Finally, well done to all the other teams, UGA Hero Lab, Missing in Action, Str. Robot, and C5PO for their great submissions.

Translation to reality

In the end, a simulation is no substitute for a real world environment, as useful as it is for testing. What occurs is the reality-gap, the error that arises from the difference between the noisy real-world environment and the simplified simulation environment. Simon was able to demonstrate a baseline controller in reality in the video below. To help transfer, the same code designed in ROS2, is built to run both in simulation and reality. Some changes were needed, such as slowing down the robots to avoid motion blur on the cameras, but many of the behaviours translated well like the obstacle avoidance, and overall swarm strategy.

It was an amazing experience to work with our cool lab-built robots! I enjoyed designing Hardware kits and it was rewarding to see it all working in real-life.

Aswath G Indra, MSc Robotics Student at University of Bristol.

Next stepsFor a first DOTS Competition, it was great fun and were really happy with what was achieved by all involved. We have many of ideas for next year, like how to speed up computation, adding new tasks (like organising the warehouse), and will be looking to give more time to the teams to use the real-hardware remotely.

Mahesh Sooriyabandara, Managing Director at the Toshiba Bristol Research and Innovation Laboratory, said This is a great first step towards making an internet of robots and robot swarms that are useable out of the box. Weve been working with the Bristol Robotics Laboratory for the past 3 years to build first the robots and then the new Industrial Swarm Arena. Were hoping many can use this infrastructure in the future, running their code in a digital twin before transferring to the new swarm testbed.

The DOTS Competition was supported by Simon Jones, Emma Milner, Suet Lee, James Wilson, Aswath Ganesan Indra, Sabine Hauert, and the Toshiba BRIL team.

PhD Student

President & Co-founder

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Simulations, real robots, and bloopers from the DOTS competition: Powering emergency food distribution using swarms - Robohub

Hyundai Motor Group has made a major move into the world of mobile robotics, announcing that it has acquired a majority stake in Boston Dynamics from Japanese technology firm Softbank. Most famous for its ever-impressive robotic dog named Spot, Boston Dynamics will now work together with the automaker on technologies that advance human mobility.

Boston Dynamics first put Spot on sale in June of last year, and among its stable of agile machines the dog-like quadruped is undoubtedly the star of the show. We've seen it go to work herding sheep in New Zealand, tracking the vital signs of COVID-19 patients and inspecting construction sites, to list just a few of its responsibilities.

But Boston Dynamics is no one-trick pony. It has also developed a back-flipping humanoid robot called Atlas, a leaping, wheeled robot called Handle and an advanced version of Handle called Stretch, which is optimized for warehouse work and is expected to go on sale next year.

All of this appears to have caught the eye of the Hyundai Motor Group, which reportedly entered talks last year with owner Softbank to buy the robot-maker. The deal has now been made official and values Boston Dynamics at US$1.1 billion, with Hyundai now holding an 80-percent controlling stake and leaving Softbank with the remaining 20 percent.

Hyundai describes this as another step in its transformation into a "Smart Mobility Solution Provider," to go alongside its other investments in autonomous driving, AI, urban aircraft and robotics. The two will work together on robots for wide-ranging applications, from logistics to manufacturing, while also continuing to expand Boston Dynamic's lineup of mobile machines.

The promo video for the announcement can be viewed below.

Hyundai x Boston Dynamics | As mobility evolves so does humanity

Source: Hyundai

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Hyundai buys Boston Dynamics, maker of Spot the robotic dog - New Atlas

KINGSPORT The Dobyns-Bennett High School robotics team, Cyber Tribe 4020, recently finished second in its 29-team division in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) Skills Challenge.

The challenge was called Infinite Recharge at Home.

However, it did not move on to the international round for the Game Design or Innovation competitions.

The Skills Challenge division was composed of teams from 17 states, as well as Mexico, Turkey and Vietnam. Including all competition groups, Cyber Tribe was ranked 10th in the world out of the 1,412 teams that participated in the coronavirus-modified robotics skills competition this year.

Rather than traveling to a regional, in-person, competition or attending the world championships in Houston with hundreds of teams, FIRST developed a remote model for 2021, according to Cyber Tribe coach and D-B engineering teacher Angela Conrad.

Team members are

William Armentrout

Ruth Brent

Lorelai Buckley

Pierce Byers

Emily Cai

Isaac Call

Abigail Caveness

Mason Craft

Brianna Earls

Marcus Espeland

David Floyd

Lydia Garrett

Paul Garrett

Tyler Golden

Athrv Grewal

Ozzy Hale

Levi Hochstetler

Jackie Liu

LeBette Long

Samuel Loparo

Jacob Mai

Nathan Mai

Robert Morriss

Anthony Nakhoul

Neekon Nejad

Grace Nelson

Zackary Newman

Graham Owens

Jakob Price

Stefan Radojcic

Casey Roberts

Kousha Sadeghi

Caleb Salyer

Alexis Schubert

Fathima Shaikh

Bindiya Srinath

Ivy Sullivan

Jesse Vaughn

Jackson Woodward

Conrad said the Skills Challenge required teams to develop and operate their robot at home, completing challenges involving student- controlled precision driving, autonomous precision driving, autonomous collection of game pieces and student-controlled game piece shooting. Scores were based on speed and accuracy in all these challenges.

Videos were submitted by teams and reviewed by FIRST officials to document challenge scores.

While creating an at-home experience with similarities to an in-person robotics competition, FIRST also developed a Game Design Challenge and an Innovation Challenge.

For teams that were prohibited from meeting or working in-person to complete robot Skills Challenges or did not choose to work in-person, these two additional activities gave teams options to compete which could be completed entirely online.

The Cyber Tribe was one of 502 teams from the approximately 3,700 FRC teams active in 2020 that completed both of these challenges, plus the robot Skills Challenge for 2021. Only three teams from Tennessee competed in all three challenges.

Conrad said this all-in mentality shows the determination of Cyber Tribe to make the best of a coronavirus-modified season and to try to keep the team as cohesive and experienced as possible for hopefully normal competitions in 2022 and beyond.

For the Game Design Challenge, Cyber Tribe created a pirate-themed robotic competition game called Blockade Busters, featuring game pieces representing cannonballs and doubloons (gold) as well as a playing field including a ship mast with deployable sails, a brig, treasure chests and lighthouses.

Robots were required to collect and shoot cannonballs, acquire and place doubloons, climb a ladder, and pull a chain to unroll a sail.

For the Innovation Challenge, Cyber Tribe created a concept called Kingsport Recharge, composed of a subscription-based box of items. Boxes would be assembled and delivered monthly to help people heal the mind, body, and community from the impact of the coronavirus, as well as the other stressors remaining from the pandemic. Boxes would include things like healthy recipes, hiking/biking routes, arts and crafts, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) projects and stress relief ideas.

The Innovation Challenge group worked with the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce and Healthy Kingsport and reached out to local businesses to develop the healing ideas.

The Cyber Tribe members participating in Game Design and Innovation faced competition from other FIRST teams from around the world. A very small portion of teams were selected to advance from their competition groups into a playoff system to determine global champions.

Although Cyber Tribe did not make it to the playoffs in either of these challenges, the team members gained skills in creating their concepts, developing and capturing details in presentations, documents, images and videos, as well as clearly and concisely conveying team ideas in live interviews with judging panels.

Conrad said gifts of money, materials and mentor time from the teams sponsors, mentors and teachers are essential to meet the needs of the financially and technically demanding robotics competitions. Sponsors included Kingsport City Schools, Eastman Chemical Co., Kiwanis Club of Kingsport, Bank of Tennessee, Citizens Bank, BAE Systems, Milligan College, Tri-City Extrusion, Fastenal, Ballad Health, Lowes, Edward Jones Inc., AEP, Rockwell Automation and various individuals.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or mentor for Cyber Tribe, contact Conrad at aconrad@k12k.com.

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Cyber Tribe robotics team makes some noise in FIRST competition - Kingsport Times News

The hydrogel material comes from different-sized seaweed particles. Credit: Orlin Velev, NC State University

Hydrogels merge two physical forms of the same seaweed material for strength, flexibility.

3D-printable gels with improved and highly controlled properties can be created by merging micro- and nano-sized networks of the same materials harnessed from seaweed, according to new research from North Carolina State University. The findings could have applications in biomedical materials think of biological scaffolds for growing cells and soft robotics.

Described in the journalNature Communications, the findings show that these water-based gels called homocomposite hydrogels are both strong and flexible. They are composed of alginates chemical compounds found in seaweed and algae that are commonly used as thickening agents and in wound dressings.

Merging different-size scale networks of the same alginate together eliminates the fragility that can sometimes occur when differing materials are merged together in a hydrogel, says Orlin Velev, S. Frank and Doris Culberson Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State and corresponding author of the paper.

Water-based materials can be soft and brittle, he said. But these homocomposite materials soft fibrillar alginate particles inside a medium of alginate are really two hydrogels in one: one is a particle hydrogel and one is a molecular hydrogel. Merged together they produce a jelly-like material that is better than the sum of its parts, and whose properties can be tuned precisely for shaping through a 3D printer for on-demand manufacturing.

We are reinforcing a hydrogel material with the same material, which is remarkable because it uses just one material to improve the overall mechanical properties, said Lilian Hsiao, an assistant professor of chemical and molecular engineering at NC State and a co-author of the paper. Alginates are used in wound dressings, so this material potentially could be used as a strengthened 3D-printed bandage or as a patch for wound healing or drug delivery.

These types of materials have the potential to be most useful in medical products, in food products as a thickening agent, or in soft robotics, said Austin Williams, one of the papers first coauthors and a graduate student in Velevs lab.

Future work will attempt to fine-tune this method of merging of homocomposite materials to advance 3D printing for biomedical applications or biomedical injection materials, Velev said.

This technique may have uses with other types of gels, like those used in coatings or in consumer products, Hsiao said.

Reference: Printable homocomposite hydrogels with synergistically reinforced molecular-colloidal networks by Austin Williams, Sangchul Roh, Alan Jacob, Lilian Hsiao, Orlin D. Velev and Simeon Stoyanov, 14 May 2021, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23098-9

Former NC State Ph.D. student Sangchul Roh is the papers other first coauthor. Coauthor Simeon Stoyanov from Wageningen University participated in the conception of the new material.

The research is funded by the National Science Foundation under grants CMMI-1825476, CBET-1804462 and ECCS-2025064.

Read more here:

Researchers Develop 3D-Printed Jelly for Biomedical Materials and Soft Robotics - SciTechDaily

Based in Greenville Texas, the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit and VEX Robotics-centered organization, is back to showcase the incredible talent and skill of a range of student competitors by hosting the first-ever Live Remote VEX Robotics World Championship, which will begin Monday and continue until Friday, May 29.

Leveraging the REC Foundation's Live Remote Tournament interface, teams from around the world will be able to compete in real-time tournaments or live skills matches to be crowned champions.

Greenvilles teams will physically be competing at REC's Central Command at Innovation First, at 1519 I-30, and the event will begin streaming live at 12:30 p.m. Monday, on REOs YouTube channel (just search on YouTube for REDFoundation).

During the live remote event, students from the third grade through college will compete in timed robotics competition matches with their custom-built robots. Like at past world championships, competitors will have the opportunity to see familiar faces, activities, and share the excitement of the event.

To ensure the safety of its robotics community due to the pandemic, this unique event will adapt to a virtual format. Typically, the annual VEX Robotics World Championship attracts more than 30,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 70 nations.

"We have been inspired by our robotics community that has constantly innovated and problem-solved during this most challenging season. We are excited to host the first-ever remote robotics championship to recognize their resilience," said Dan Mantz, CEO of the REC Foundation. "While it's not possible to hold a large event because of the COVID-19 outbreak, teams will be able to safely compete remotely with other competitors from all over the world. Through the creative process of designing, building, and programming robots, students gain a wealth of technical knowledge and communication skills that will serve them well throughout their lives."

VEX Robotics Competition and VEX IQ Challenge teams have untilApril 18, 2021to qualify for the World Championship. Working with their peers to build a robot to compete in this season's engineering game challenges at the regional, state, and national levels, teams have also adhered to safety guidelines at each of those levels, and as recommended by the REC Foundation. Competitors, teams, coaches, and parents have trained and competed to prepare for this world event.

"We are proud of all VEX Robotics competitors who through the ups and downs of the year still took on the challenge of participating in VEX Competitions. Your determination and perseverance show us that the leaders of tomorrow are truly remarkable. To the parents, mentors, and coaches, thank you," said Tony Norman, Co-Founder and Co-Inventor of VEX Robotics.

The REC Foundation's Live Remote VEX Robotics World Championship 2021 is presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation. Other global sponsors that support the program year-round and this event include: Autodesk, Dell, Google, MathWorks, Microchip, NASA, Tesla, Texas Instruments, and VEX Robotics.

More information about the event can be found at vexworlds.com.

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International remote robotics tournament to begin Monday - Herald-Banner