David Kohanbash, Author at Robots For Roboticists

Sensor characteristics guide – How to understand your sensor

Hi all Ok, so you read my last post on sensor types (you did, didn't you? if not check it out here) and you now know which sensor you want to use. How do you choose which sensor option to choose? That is a great question, this post will go into details of the various sensor characteristics you might see…

Systems & Sensors

Sensor types (modalities) for robots to experience the world

Hi all There are many different sensor types that can be used on a robot, and most robots will have many different sensor types. I am going to talk about the common types and avoid some of the more application specific sensors such as environmental, radiation and chemical. When I think of sensors I divide them into two categories. You…

Testing

Why Test Robots? – Field Testing Series – Part 1

This post is part of a series on testing robots with a focus on field testing. It will start with why we test robots, work its way through planning for a field test, to performing the test, and finally what to do after the test. We will conclude with a description of many common tests that we subject our robots…

Misc

Robot Books: The basics, the middle, and a lot of math.

Hi all Here are my recommended robotics books. I hope you enjoy. Please put your favorite robotics books in the comment section below. This first book Robot Builders Bonanza is a hobbyist level book but I still recommend it. This book introduces the basics of mechanical, electrical, microprocessors, and sensors that are used in modern robots. It is some good…

Software & Algorithms Systems & Sensors

Software that Forms a Robot

Hi all While many people find it boring, one thing that has always interested me is the software infrastructure of a robot. By infrastructure I mean the code that all robots have and that binds everything else together. This includes the things like the interprocess communication (IPC) method, the system executive, the health monitor and the user interface. I will…

Electrical & Electronics

PCB Design Tutorials

Hi all I got a question about PCB design for robots. I am not going to recreate what is already out there so here are some links. UPDATE: Contextual Electronics has released the entire KiCad course online. Check it out here! The two places that I have used to get PCB's built are: - Advanced Circuits - A traditional fab…

Electrical & Electronics

E-stop and M-stops

Hi all Just a quick note on e-stops (emergency stops) and m-stops (mobility stops). There are various levels of e-stops. In an ideal world an e-stop would kill power to ALL power, however in complex systems we often settle for less. Some reasons for a weaker e-stop is to keep the computers and other sensors from turning off. In many…

Mechanical

Mechanical Tolerancing

Hi all I do not have much to say here except I have seen many cases where tolerancing was wrong in mechanical parts. A general rule is that if you need to assemble parts with a hammer since you can not slide them in your self, it is not correctly toleranced and can cause problems later on. Also if you…

Computing & Networking

Embedded Computers

Hi all When choosing a computer for your robot there are many options to choose from. How do you decide which one is correct? This post is going to go through some of the standard computing platforms and explain the good and the bad. We will look at both some standard form factor computers as well as some specific single…

Electrical & Electronics Misc

Electronics Engineering Books + FPGA Books

Hi all Here are some books that I like for electronics (including FPGA's). If you have any favorite electronics book please leave it in the comments below. The first one is the Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill. This is a very in-depth book that starts with the basics and ohms law and works its way up to analog…

Computing & Networking

Wireless routers for robots – Ubiquity

Hi all This is going to be a quick post. I have used many wireless routers on robots over the years and they have all failed on me. Most of them probably failed due to the vibration, shock, and dust. The one vendor that I have found so far that has a reliable product is Ubiquiti. Not only is it…

Software & Algorithms

Software repositories or just plain repo

Hi again There are many software repositories out there that can be used for backing up your files or sharing them with others. Repositories can be useful when you are the only developer or also when you are working with a team. It should also be noted that you can use the repos for storing things besides code such as…

Electrical & Electronics Mechanical

Motors and Feedback (encoders)

Hi all There are many types of motors and feedback methods to choose from. Which do you need? Keep reading to find out more about selecting your motor stackup. Since most field robots are DC powered I am skipping the many types of AC motors that are out there. In addition to this post you can find out all about…

Robots

CHIMP disaster response robot

Cool robot of the day. CHIMP is the CMU entry in the DARPA disaster response challenge. It can walk, climb, and drive. It is interesting that they developed their own drive joints. If anyone knows why or some details please leave it below in the comments. Will CMU be able to win this like they did in the prior DARPA…

Misc Research

Conferences and Journals

This page is out of date. Click here for updated Conferences There are many conferences and journals serving the robotics community. Among other differences conference articles are often not reviewed by anyone other than the authors, while journal papers are usually peer-reviewed. Even if the journal is peer-reviewed there are many different levels of peer review and not all journals…