开源

英特尔研究人员开发了$ 50 3D打印的“ OpenBot”,以提高机器人技术的可访问性

来自Intel Labs已经开发了一个开源3D打印的智能机器人,可以以不到50美元的价格建造。

一旦与现代智能手机结合使用,该增材机器人就可以自动导航,其实时感应功能使其能够执行诸如关注人员之类的侦察任务。基于PLA的Openbot也被设计为易于构建,其STL文件已在线免费提供。通过公开设计,研究人员希望创作者会修补并改善其机器人,以继续为其开发新的应用程序。

“Current robots are either expensive or make significant compromises on sensory richness, computational power, and communication capabilities,” stated the researchers in their paper. “We propose to leverage smartphones to equip robots with extensive sensor suites and access to a thriving software ecosystem, in a small electric vehicle that costs $50.”

The herculean cost of additive smart robotics

The industrial applications of smart robots have created a potentially lucrative market for businesses such asFranka EmikaClearpath。The advanced tech firms produce highly-sophisticated legged-robots and bionic arms, but these are often well out of reach for academic institutions, costing north of $10,000 each.

Previously developed low-cost four-wheeled alternatives can broadly be sorted into three classes: tiny robots, swarm robotics and larger vehicles based on RC trucks. Swarm bots are more economical to make, but they often feature very limited sensing capabilities. By contrast, larger custom-made creations have more abundant sensors, but it has proved difficult to develop autonomous navigation for them.

“机器人很昂贵。腿部机器人和工业操纵器的价格与豪华车一样多,而弗兰卡·埃米卡(Franka Emika)或ClearPath的最便宜的机器人至少成本为1万美元。”

Many modern smartphones come equipped with mobile AI processors, and their ability to run complex AI models in real-time has led researchers to experiment with a smart robotic cross-over. Similar projects to that of the Intel team have previously been launched on Kickstarter, with theBotiful telepresence device和theRomo智能手机驱动的无人机finding success on the platform.

TheWheelphone设计,在开源软件网站上广泛传播Githuba few years ago, probably represents the most similar layout to that developed by the Intel researchers. Unfortunately the technical limitations of the Wheelphone limited its top speed, and its high cost of around $250 caused it to be shelved, with the last update released around two years ago.

The chassis of the Intel team’s Openbot can be created in its entirety using 3D printing. Image via Intel.

英特尔二人的3D打印openbot

Inspired by projects such as Google’sCardboard VR device, the researchers hypothesized that a smartphone could play a similar role in robotics. Using off-the-shelf parts to create a cheap physical enclosure, while allowing the mobile to act as its ‘brain,’ has plenty of benefits. In addition to being more cost-effective, the vibrant ecosystem of existing mobile apps offer the potential for numerous applications to be developed using the same hardware.

Using only anUltimaker S5系统、团队生产底盘组成of a bottom plate which is fastened to a top cover with six screws. The top plate itself features a universal smartphone mount with an adjustable spring to make it compatible with different phones, and an opening for attaching a USB-poweredArduino微控制器。

The Openbot was programmed using a two-piece custom-designed software stack. In order to provide an interface for the operator to collect datasets and control the bot’s workload, the Intel team developed an android-based app. This was supplemented by an Arduino nano microcontroller, which controls low-level functions, and acts as a bridge between the vehicle body and the smartphone.

The bluetooth and networking capabilities of modern phones could be used to be used to connect the Openbot to other devices such as game pads. Image via Intel.
现代手机的蓝牙和网络功能可用于将OpenBot连接到其他设备,例如游戏垫。通过英特尔图像。

Taking a total of 23 hours to build, the smart robot proved capable of speeds of up to 150cm per second, making it markedly quicker than its predecessors. Aiming to assess the sensing capabilities of their Openbot, the researchers tested to see if it could follow someone independently, or even achieve autonomous navigation. Using mid-range smartphones, testing showed that the bot was able to track people at speeds of 10 fps or higher.

Although performance did prove to be device-dependent, even the cheapest phones were able to follow people for around 50 percent of the time. The researchers also trained a “driving policy” for use on smartphones, which was capable of navigating corridors and turning at intersections. Overall, the bot proved consistently able to deal with previously unseen environments, including novel objects, and dynamic obstacles such as people.

Concluding their tests to be a success, the Intel duo expressed optimism that their creation would make robotics more scalable and accessible than was previously thought possible.

“We have developed a combination of hardware and software that turns smartphones into robots,” they concluded in their paper. “We hope our work will open new opportunities for education and large-scale learning via thousands of low-cost robots deployed around the world.”

对于有兴趣建立英特尔研究团队自己的OpenBot本身的人,可以通过GitHub访问文件这里

以前的3D打印智能机器人

A number of other research groups have leveraged 3D printing to fabricate smart robotics, and these additive creations have taken on a vast array of shapes, sizes and functions in recent years.

2020年7月,工程公司Scheurer Swiss GmbHpartnered with a group ofETH Zürich学生发展“Rowesys”3D printed automated robotic weeding system。紧凑的杂草杀伤机器人设计为在农业农业中使用除草剂的可持续替代品。

来自纽约大学工程学院和theMax Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems(MPI-IS) have built an开源3D打印机器人狗。The ‘Solo 8’ is designed to be low-cost and scalable, allowing those with a limited budget to construct and build an additive pet of their own.

机器人工程师Georgia Institute of Technologyhave used 3D printed parts to create an节能的“懒惰”。The robotic mammal is currently being used at the亚特兰大植物园密切监视那里的动物,植物和环境。

The researchers’ findings are detailed in their paper titled “OpenBot: Turning Smartphones into Robots,” which was co-authored by Matthias Muller and Vladlen Koltun.

Nominations for the2020 3D Printing Industry Awards仍然是开放的,让我们知道谁是领导印第安纳州ustry now.

The fourth edition of the3D印刷行业奖奖杯设计竞赛is now underway. Enter your design for the chance to win a CraftBot Flow 3D printer.

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特色图显示了英特尔团队3D打印的OpenBot的图。通过英特尔图像。