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 SERVO MAGAZINE ...
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01.2018 VOL. 16 NO. 01

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Subscribe • Gift • Renewal • Change of Info
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PAGE 08

PAGE 60

The Combat Zone

20 GlitterBomb: The Greatest Robot We’ve
Never Fought
23 Auckland University Robotics Association
Holds Inaugural Competition
24 More than Fun and Games: Serious
Lessons from a Work Party
26 Boomzilla

Departments
06 Mind/Iron 32 Showcase
16 Bots in Brief
Robot Lies 50 SERVO Webstore • Pick-and-Place for Groceries
07 Events Calendar 65 RoboLinks • Atlas has Flipped
18 New Products 66 Advertiser’s Index • Going Soft is Stronger
• Baby Bot?

SERVO Magazine (ISSN 1546-0592/CDN Pub Agree#40702530) is published monthly for $26.95 per year by T & L Publications, Inc., 430 Princeland Court, Corona, CA 92879.
PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT CORONA, CA AND AT ADDITIONAL ENTRY MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SERVO Magazine, P.O. Box
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4 SERVO 01.2018
TOC - Jan 18_TOC SV Mar 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:10 AM Page 5

In This Issue ...

08 Robytes 52 Helping Educators Teach
Stimulating Robot Tidbits
by Jeff and Jenn Eckert Robotics
• Things Looking Up for Assemblers by Ken Gracey
• Man vs. Moto Appetizer: Guest-hosted column with different
• Robot Drive Innovation perspectives and opinions on all things robotic.
• Win Big Bucks! Celebrating their 20th year in education, Parallax is making
• Say “Cheese” a much deeper commitment in 2018 with free Professional
Development courses for up to 500 educators in 12
locations across the US.
11 Drone Delivery — Part 2
The Multi-Rotor Hobbyist
by John Leeman 54 New Kids on the ServoBlock
Last month, we gave our drone hands with a servo Twin Tweaks: Twin brothers hack whatever’s put in
controller gripper. We could fly around and drop off front of them, then tell you about it.
packages on command, but I’m a big fan of automation. It by Bryce and Evan Woolley
was hard to judge when I was in the vicinity where I See how to supercharge your standard servos so they can
wanted to open the gripper. This month, we’ll experiment better handle significant lateral loads.
with adding GPS into the system to automatically open the
gripper when we are within range of our target.
60 Robots that Cook and
28 A Time to Plow Handle Food
Then & Now: Advances in robotics from the past up
by Elyse Colihan
For the past seven years, robotics teams from all over the through today.
United States and Canada have been travelling to Saint by Tom Carroll
Paul, MN during the brutal Minnesota winter to showcase One task that seems to take a lot of time is cooking and
their creation of autonomous vehicles able to plow snow handling foods. Automation and the application of robotic
from designated paths. operations is quickly becoming a viable option for those in
the food industry.
34 Make a Splash with an
Underwater Quadcopter ROV
by Theron Wierenga
We’ll continue and complete this fun robotic underwater
remotely operated vehicle with a description of the PCB.
We’ll also tidy up the circuit and minimize the length of the
signal lines.

42 RobotBASIC Robots for

Beginners
by John Blankenship
Readers that have never built a robot often find the low-
level programming needed to control motors and
interrogate sensors to be intimidating. This final article in a
two-part series shows how easy it is to add sensors to the
inexpensive motorized platforms developed last month.

46 Neato + ROS = Robot

Navigation
by Camp Peavy
As difficult as robot navigation can be, it has never been
easier to give your automaton the ability to know where it
is.

PAGE 11

SERVO 01.2018 5
Bergeron - Mind-Iron - Jan 18_Mind-Iron - Feb15.qxd 12/6/2017 10:13 AM Page 6
Mind / Iron
by Bryan Bergeron, Editor ª
Robot Lies
S oftware chatbots and more
recently real robots can be
programmed and even self-evolve to
lie. As such, just as with human-
human conversations, human-
machine interactions aren’t
necessarily informative, helpful, or
even fact-based. That said, sometimes
lying is necessary.
Imagine the difficulty you’d have
if your chatbot assistant is incapable
of saying you’re away from your desk
when you simply don’t want to be
disturbed.
Or, when the AI assistant in an
intelligent tutoring program says that
you’re “doing great” when, in fact,
you are bombing a course.
Or, when a medical robot about
to give an injection with a long large-
bore needle announces “Now, this
won’t hurt a bit.”
As a point of reference — even if
only in science fiction — where does
lying (or not) fit in with Asimov’s
three laws? If you recall:
I. A robot may not injure a
human being or, through inaction,
allow a human being to come to
harm.
II. A robot must obey orders
given it by human beings except
where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
III. A robot must protect its own
existence, as long as such protection
does not conflict with the First or
Second Law.
Clearly, a chatbot that lies may
cause injury to a human, thereby
violating the First Law. Similarly, a
chatbot may affirm that an order was
carried out when it — in fact —
wasn’t, thereby violating the Second
6 SERVO 01.2018
ERVO
FOR THE
ROBOT
INNOVATOR
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Law. Finally, a chatbot that lies may
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the nature of the lie. A white lie, for
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Science fiction aside, there are PUBLISHER
Larry Lemieux
myriad moral, ethical, and — most publisher@servomagazine.com
importantly — legal issues surrounding
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/
chatbots and robots that lie. What ADVERTISING SALES
should be the consequences, for Robin Lemieux
robin@servomagazine.com
example, when an Alexa-like chatbot
announces “Your order is shipping EDITOR
Bryan Bergeron
now,” when — in reality — the techedit-servo@yahoo.com
product you ordered online is
backordered a few days? CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Tom Carroll Kevin Berry
True, the chatbot is responding R. Steven Rainwater John Leeman
faithfully to orders from the other John Blankenship Theron Wierenga
online vendor, but in so doing, is lying Bryce Woolley Evan Woolley
Jeff Eckert Jenn Eckert
to the customer. Ken Gracey Camp Peavy
What if this behavior isn’t Elyse Colihan April Baker
programmed by the vendor, but self- James Baker Max Gruebner
Don Miles Aaron Nielsen
evolves through machine learning? Is Chris Seyfert
the creator of the algorithm legally at
fault? CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
subscribe@servomagazine.com
Humans lie to save face, to
smooth negotiations, and even to WEBSTORE MARKETING
COVER GRAPHICS
provide better outcomes for all Brian Kirkpatrick
parties. For example, regardless of sales@servomagazine.com
how terrible the surgery is going, WEBSTORE MANAGER/
when physicians around the operating PRODUCTION
Sean Lemieux
table repeatedly congratulate each sean@servomagazine.com
other on the success of their surgery, ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
the patient does better. Re Gandara
Apparently, the subconscious of Copyright 2018 by
the anesthetized patient responds T & L Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
positively to the good news. All advertising is subject to publisher’s approval.
I suspect that the same positive We are not responsible for mistakes, misprints,
banter would be helpful during or typographical errors. SERVO Magazine assumes
no responsibility for the availability or condition of
robotic surgery, even if between two advertised items or for the honesty of the
surgical robots, or a surgical robot advertiser. The publisher makes no claims for the
and a support robot. legality of any item advertised in SERVO. This is the
sole responsibility of the advertiser. Advertisers and
To my knowledge, this hasn’t their agencies agree to indemnify and protect the
been put to practice, and robotic publisher from any and all claims, action, or expense
surgery tends to be cold, sterile, and arising from advertising placed in SERVO. Please send
all editorial correspondence, UPS, overnight mail,
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Bergeron - Mind-Iron - Jan 18_Mind-Iron - Feb15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:12 AM Page 7

Perhaps my opinion is skewed by Hollywood, but in my
mind a robot incapable of lying and deceiving humans is
also incapable of true AI. Think of the robots in the Alien
series, or the David robot in Prometheus. The robots are
capable of lying and deception — capabilities that make
them seem human.
If you’re new to chatbots, then a good place to start is
the Chatbots Journal — especially the article on chatbot
platforms, including open source platforms that are perfect
for experimentation. Go to https://chatbotsjournal.com/
25-chatbot-platforms-a-comparative-table-aeefc932eaff.
SV

EVENTS
JANUARY www.aaai.org/Conferences/conferences.php

19-21 Robotix
IIT Khargpur, West Bengal, India MARCH
Events include Stax, Fortress, Antivirus, and PolesApart.
www.robotix.in 9-10 Greater Philadelphia SeaPerch Challenge
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
24-25 Singapore Robotic Games Tethered underwater ROV missions.
Republic of Singapore www.phillynavalstem.com
Events include Sumo, Legged Robot Marathon,
Picomouse, Underwater Robot Competition, Robot 9-10 Midwestern Robotics Design Competition
Colony, Wall Climbing Robot Race, Robot Soccer, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
Humanoid Robot Competition. See website for this years event information.
http://guppy.mpe.nus.edu.sg/srg http://mrdc.ec.illinois.edu

25-28 ION Autonomous Snowplow Competition

St. Paul, MN
Autonomous snowplow robots must remove snow on a
designated path.
www.autosnowplow.com

31 Kurukshetra
Guindy, Chennai, India
See website for this year’s event
information.
smallmachine
www.kurukshetra.org.in
BIGRESULTS
x Design New Ideas
FEBRUARY
2-7 AAAI Mobile Robot x Prototype Without
Competition the Wait
New Orleans, LA
See website for this year’s event
information. x Cut Real Metal

CNC Mill x 120VAC - Plug in

Starting at: Anywhere
$4950
TORMACH.COM

SERVO 01.2018 7
Eckert - Robytes - Jan 18_Robytes - Sep 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:14 AM Page 8

Robytes
by Jeff and Jenn Eckert
Things Looking Up for Assemblers
Several robotics companies have made
remarkable progress in developing exoskeletons
that enable paralyzed people to walk and
otherwise function again, and some DARPA
research back in the early 2000s looked into the
use of full-body exoskeletons by soldiers who must
carry heavy loads. Now it looks like workers in
factory assembly lines may finally be getting a
break.
In a pilot project, Ekso Bionics
(eksobionics.com) and Ford Motor Company
(www.ford.com) are testing Ekso’s EksoVest
upper-body apparatus in its truck assembly plants.
According to Ford, some of the assemblers who
work on chassis that are suspended above them
must lift their arms about 4,600 times per day,
which adds up to about a million times per year.
This creates considerable back and shoulder pain. A Ford assembly worker employs the EksoVest device.
Ekso notes that, on average, a worker extends about
15 lb per arm in upward pressure, so the EksoVest is “There are no batteries to deal with, no sensors. The
designed to “take that 30 lb of upward force and transfer it EksoVest just cancels out the effect of gravity” to reduce
down to the user’s hips.” The most remarkable part is that strain and fatigue. Ford intends to expand the trial into
the vest is completely unpowered. factories in Europe and Latin America as well.

Man vs. Moto

turn corners. Far exceeding these goals, Motobot
If you’re a achieved a top speed of 229 KPH (142 MPH) last year.
motorcycle racing On top of that, it lapped the track at California’s
fan, you probably Thunderhill Raceway (www.thunderhill.com) a mere
are familiar with 30 seconds behind the record time set by the
Valentino Rossi, an aforementioned Sig. Rossi. A fairly comfortable margin,
Italian racing pro. yes, but Valentino would be well advised to keep
If not, be advised looking over his shoulder.
that he is one of
the most
successful road
racers of all time
and has won nine Grand Prix World Championships, seven
in the Premier class, and holds the all-time record for 500
cc/MotoGP wins (89). Competing with him on the track
would appear to be an impossible challenge for a
mechanical device, but, as the song says, “It ain’t
necessarily so.”
In 2015, Yamaha (www.yamahamotorsports.com)
initiated the Motobot program with the fairly modest aim
of creating a robot cyclist that could reach a straight-line
speed of 100 KPH (62 MPH), navigate a slalom course, and Motobot has achieved track speeds up to 142 MPH.

8 SERVO 01.2018
Eckert - Robytes - Jan 18_Robytes - Sep 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:14 AM Page 9

Go to www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01 to comment on these topics.

Robot Drive Innovation
A fairly common drive mechanism used in robotic and
aerospace applications is the Harmonic Drive®: a strain
wave gear trademarked by the Harmonic Drive Company
(www.hds.co.jp). Unfortunately, at a basic price of €1000
(about $1,180) each, the device is beyond the budget of
most roboticists in home workshops, as well as in many
industrial endeavors. However, a revolutionary (pun
intended) prototype developed by SRI International
(www.sri.com) is expected to be far cheaper and energy
efficient.
The company describes its newly introduced Inception
Drive as “an ultra-compact, infinitely variable transmission
based on a novel nested-pulley configuration ... It is small
enough to replace fixed ratio transmissions in robots,
where we believe it can cut the energy consumption of
many robotic platforms in half, doubling battery life for
mobile platforms.”
In addition to being infinitely variable (i.e., it has a
“geared neutral” mode in which it would take an infinite
number of input revolutions to cause one output
revolution), the transmission can actually reverse itself
without reversing the motion of the input motor.
SRI’s explanation of how it works will probably leave
you scratching your head and muttering, “Huh?” If you
watch a YouTube presentation by SRI’s Alexander
Kernbaum several times (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-
uSUrcRsyw), you may be less confused. But maybe not.
Several details still remain to be worked out before a
marketable product emerges, but the device has the
potential to make robots safer, cheaper, and more energy
efficient.

SRI’s infinitely variable Inception Drive.

Win Big Bucks!

If your robot project is capable of slinging a
paintbrush, note that you still have until April 1 to
register your team for the 2018 Robot Art competition,
with $100k of prizes available. Anyone can enter, and
the stated goals are to “foster innovation in AI, image
processing, and robotics; challenge students to apply
skills in creative ways; integrate aesthetics and
technology; and encourage participation by the public.”
Of course, the prizes — ranging from $2k to $40k —
are what matter. For details, visit robotart.org/rules-
information.

2017 first-prize winner, “House,” by Columbia University’s

Creative Machines Lab.

SERVO 01.2018 9
Eckert - Robytes - Jan 18_Robytes - Sep 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:14 AM Page 10

Say “Cheese”
This issue’s Cheesiest Robot Award
(yeah, pun intended again) goes to the
School of Food and Nutritional Sciences at
the University of College Cork, Ireland
(www.ucc.ie/en/fns). Thanks to research
conducted by two UCC profs (names
withheld to avoid shaming their families)
and three visiting (no surprise here) French
undergrads, spray cheese may finally
emerge from the dark shadows of révulsif
cuisine into the glow of marginal
acceptability.
As described in an issue of Journal of
Food Engineering, these pioneers of the
palette have combined computer
algorithms with a 3D printing device to enable creative
robotic deposition of Easy Cheese®: a cheese spread
product revered by small children and Milwaukee’s Best
drinkers.
In initial stages of the project, many different
cheese types were tested, but processed cheese was
found to work best. Alas, some of your favorite gourmet
flavors have been discontinued, including Pimento,
French Onion, Cheddar Blue Cheese, Pizza, and (no
kidding) Shrimp Cocktail. But now, you’ll be able to
automatically endow your Ritz with beautiful aerosol-
driven globs of milk, water, whey protein concentrate,
canola oil, milk protein concentrate, sodium citrate,
sodium phosphate, calcium phosphate, lactic acid, sorbic acid, sodium alginate, apocarotenal, UCC device automates
spray cheese deposition.
annatto, cheese culture, and enzymes without so much as picking up a can.
Bon appétit, mon amie! SV

Make your machine move

MICRO LINEAR SERVOS
· 10mm-300mm stroke · 25kg+ available force
· 6v-12v power supply · 15g-100g net weight

ACTUONIX . COM

10 SERVO 01.2018
Leeman - Multi-Rotor Hobbyist - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:16 AM Page 11

Drone Delivery — Part 2

By John Leeman

Last month, we gave our drone hands with a servo controller gripper. We could fly around and
drop off packages on command, but I’m a big fan of automation. It was hard to judge when I
was in the vicinity where I wanted to open the gripper. This month, we’ll experiment with
adding GPS into the system to automatically open the gripper when we are within range of our
target. It’s a good opportunity to get more familiar with the TinyGPS++ Arduino library and see
just how well we can position the drops.

Introduction
When considering how to approach this problem, I was
very tempted to try to tie the drop functionality into the
flight controller. However, that is flight controller specific
(limiting how many of you can reuse this project), and it’s
generally more of a burden to make sure we don’t
accidently crash ourselves. So, similar to the IR temperature
logging project, we’ll create a separate sub-system.
Though I would like to change to a mantis type gripper,
I’m going to stick with the gripper design we printed and
installed last month (Figure 1). While not as strong as I’d
like, it does the job for this simple application. If you haven’t
added a gripper to your quad yet, refer back to that article
and decide for yourself which design you’d like to use.
On an initial glance, this seems like a rather trivial
problem. Close the gripper. Check the GPS position. When
it’s equal to our desired drop location, open the gripper.
Easy, right? Not exactly.
There are a lot of subtleties in a problem like this (for
example, any time there is a floating-point equality
comparison, it’s time to think carefully about what is
happening). We’ll knock down these issues one by one until
we’ve got a reliable and useful GPS triggering device that
can operate our manipulator.

GPS Basics
Last time we used GPS, I glossed over the details by
saying it was very sophisticated, a marvel of technology,
etc., but since libraries and devices were out there to make
it easy, we’d skip the details. While we’re still not going to
go deep into GPS technology, I would like to cover a bit
about how it works so we can understand some of the
error sources we’ll need to deal with.
When we say GPS, we are generally referring to
satellite based geo-location, but GPS (Global Positioning
System) is really just the name of the American location
satellite system. There are other systems such as the Russian
GLObal Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the
European Galileo system, China’s BeiDou, India’s Indian
Figure 1: Our gripper from last month, mounted onto the Parallax
ELEV-8 quad.
Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), and Japan’s
Quasi-Zenith system.
The general concept of satellite location is that a
ground receiver can receive coded packets from multiple
satellites. Each satellite can constrain the problem of
location and timing until the approximate location and time
are found. Given that there are four unknowns (latitude,
longitude, elevation, time), there is a minimum of four
satellites required for location.

SERVO 01.2018 11
Leeman - Multi-Rotor Hobbyist - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:16 AM Page 12

To post comments on this article and find any associated files

and/or downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01.

with two floating point numbers. Because of

Figure 2: GPS modules like this are cheaply and easily available, and provide
amazing timing and location accuracy for drone projects.
To effectively solve the equations, each packet contains
the time of transmission (according to atomic clocks on the
satellites), the satellite’s position in space, and a
pseudorandom code used to find the time of arrival.
Satellite position is given as an ephemeris
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeris). The
encoding of the timing is beyond the scope of this article,
but from this information the location and time can be
solved for with surprising accuracy.
Handheld consumer grade GPS receivers that sell for
$15 in single piece quantities can find your position to
within ±3 meters (Figure 2) with no external information,
Internet, monthly fees, or other limitations. Amazing!
This brings us to our first problem. Say we want to
drop our payload at 40.234 N, 130.234W. The naïve way to
code this would be:
if (current_lat == target_lat && current_long
== target_long){
drop_payload();
} j2 — j1
If you were to try such a snippet, you’d find that the
d = 2 r sin-1
the way floating point numbers are
represented in a binary system, this is almost
surely destined to fail us. The common
approach is to see if the numbers are “close”
to some specified precision; say, six decimal
places for crude applications. While we could
implement such a close to or equal to check,
we would still be battling the precision issue.
Okay. Let’s try specifying a tolerance. If
we’re within 0.001 degrees latitude and
longitude of the target point, drop. That
seems reasonable until we look at the
geometry of the globe and lines of latitude
and longitude. Assuming a spherical globe,
there is a distance of 111.2 km between
each line of latitude on the globe. At the equator, one
degree of longitude is 111.2 km. As we follow lines of
longitude to the poles, they converge; meaning that at 89
degrees latitude, the distance covered by one degree of
longitude is only 1.941 km. That means that using our
tolerance of 0.001 degrees makes the drop point location
wiggle room vary from 111 m at the equator to 1.9 m at
89 N latitude! That’s not good because we want to specify
a tolerance that is location invariant.
Enter the haversine formula! This formula allows us to
calculate the distance between two coordinates; so, we can
specify a tolerance of 10 meters. Plus, it’s the same distance
everywhere on the spherical Earth.
The haversine formula is really a specific application of
the law of haversines in the weird world of spherical
trigonometry. If we know the radius of the Earth (r), the
latitudes of the points 1 and 2 (ji), and longitude of the
points (li), we can calculate the distance between them (d)
as:
l2 — l1
(Ö sin2 ( 2
) + cos(j ) cos (j ) sin (
1 2
2

payload is very likely to never drop at all. This is due to the
precision of the measurement and the fact that equality
checks on floating point values are problematic at best.
First, the precision issue. If you specify a certain set of
drop coordinates and sit exactly on those coordinates, it is
unlikely that the GPS will show those exact numbers. (How
far down can you trust the position estimate? Three meters
is the best on most non-differential GPS units!) If you leave
the GPS in one position and watch the position estimates,
you can get an idea of what to expect.
While this may seem “inaccurate,” remember that at
300 million meters per second, the timing of the signals
must be resolved to within about 9 ns to get that precision.
Pretty phenomenal for a network of satellites whizzing
around the Earth and a $15 receiver!
The second issue is that we are checking for equality
12 SERVO 01.2018
2
))
While that looks like a ton of “fun” to program and
deal with all of the strange edge cases, luckily there is an
implementation already in the TinyGPS++ library. It’s always
nice to know how things are done, though, so we can
understand the limitations and what to do if they break.
Hardware
The hardware hookup on this project is relatively simple
and just requires an Arduino Uno, breadboard, GPS
module, pushbutton, and your gripper servo. I chose an
Uno because it’s what wasn’t occupied with other projects
at the moment, but a similar board such as the Wildfire
would work as well.
Leeman - Multi-Rotor Hobbyist - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:16 AM Page 13

The Multi-Rotor Hobbyist

The GPS module I’m using is an older

module from Parallax. The ground and power
pins are connected to ground and 5 VDC,
respectively. The serial I/O pin was connected to
pin 4 on the Arduino.
Since this module is a “smart” GPS, it’s
expecting a serial conversation with us asking
for specific parameters like latitude and
longitude. Since the TinyGPS++ module will be
parsing the raw NMEA data strings, we need to
tie the /RAW pin low.
The gripper servo needs 5 VDC, ground,
and signal from pin 9 on the Arduino. If you
connect the Arduino’s ground to your quad’s
ground, you could power the servo from your
BEC on the quad.
In this case, I’ve simply powered it off the
Arduino as my battery can handle the drain; we
won’t be putting an incredible demand on the Figure 3: The circuit is simple, consisting of a GPS module, pushbutton, and
servo. I just used some male/male jumpers servo. For a more permanent installation, a proto shield could be used.
directly into the servo’s connector with some
electrical tape, but an extension cable could also be used. • Indicate the gripper state with an LED for
Finally, I used a small tactile button for the gripper troubleshooting.
toggle. I connected one terminal to ground, and the other • Have a debug serial output showing the distance to the
to pin 5 of the Arduino. We would normally add a pull-up target.
resistor here (say, 10K) to 5 VDC on the pin side of the • Start up with the gripper in the open position.
switch, but later we’ll see how to use the Arduino’s internal
pull-up resistors. You can see the final setup in Figure 3. Looking at the requirements, I see a setup state, the
I highly advise testing the circuit on a walk around the main loop, a function to toggle the gripper state, and a
neighborhood before mounting it onto your quad. Once shutdown state that effectively stops all action. Let’s quickly
everything is working properly, then mount it to your go through how we’ll do each of these.
airframe. It could be as simple as zip ties or Velcro® straps
for our initial tests.

Firmware
In writing the firmware for this, I elected to not bother
with a full-fledged state machine. This is just too simple of
an application. If we were adding a lot of additional
functionality or sharing the processor with other
equipment, it would be a different story. In this case, we
have a dedicated Uno.
As always, start your design on paper (or digital paper
if you desire) with a set of requirements. For our
application, I came up with the following list:

• Be able to change the state of the gripper (open or

closed) with a button at any time to allow loading.
• When within the error bounds of the target, toggle the
state of the gripper (to open or closed, whichever it is not).
• Be able to specify open/closed positions easily in the
firmware for different grippers.
• Immediately after the toggle of gripper state at the
target, shut down; accepting no further button or GPS
triggers. Figure 4: Library includes, object creation, and constants.

SERVO 01.2018 13
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the internal pull-up by using

Figure 5: The setup function runs at
startup and gets everything to a known
initial state.
Figure 7: The shutdown function spins
forever without any operations occurring.
the INPUT_PULLUP mode.
The LED needs to be an
output to drive it high/low.
Next, we tell the
gripperServo object that we
just created that it will
target pin servo_pin with its
PWM signal.
Figure 6: The toggle gripper function is a verbose but
easy to follow way to switch the state of the gripper.
We’ll then start up the
serial port at 4800 baud for
the GPS receiver. Finally, we’ll start with the gripper at the
open position and indicator LED off (Figure 5).
The toggleGripper function (Figure 6) does exactly
what its name states. If the gripper state is closed, it opens
it, turns off the LED, and sets the state to open. Otherwise
(the gripper is open), it closes the gripper, turns on the LED,
and sets the state to closed. This could be done more
concisely, but again, clarity is key for this quick prototype.
The shutdown function is a simple infinite while loop
with no instructions (Figure 7). Once we enter this
function, we’ll never leave. That’s ideal for the shutdown
state, and once we’ve dropped off our package, we don’t
want any more movement of the gripper or other system
response.
Finally, we get to the main loop where most of the
work happens (Figure 8). The first thing we do is process
any characters waiting in the serial buffer from the GPS. If
we have a complete GPS message, we’ll calculate the

Figure 8: The main loop is where most of the logic happens,

including checking the GPS and pushbutton.

At the top of our sketch, we’ll include the TinyGPS++

and servo libraries. If you don’t have TinyGPS++ installed,
you can grab the latest version from
https://github.com/mikalhart/TinyGPSPlus. We’ll also
define pins for the servo output, control button input, etc.
I’ve also hard-coded the drop point and tolerance into
the sketch. You could allow a serial port setting of these,
but for this early prototype that was overkill. There are also
variables for the values of open and closed on the gripper. I
set mine through experimentation. Your results may vary
based on your servo and gripper design (Figure 4).
The setup function runs each time the Arduino is
powered up or reset. In the setup function, we need to set
the pin modes for the button and LED pins, attach a pin to
the servo object, start up the serial ports, and set the
gripper to open and the LED to off. Let’s start out with the
pin mode settings.
The button pin should be an input. We could attach an Figure 9: A simple test sketch that can be used to ensure that
external pull-up resistor, but instead I’ve elected to activate your GPS is working is always a good idea.

14 SERVO 01.2018
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The Multi-Rotor Hobbyist

firmware. It’s really a pretty straightforward application with

lots of helpers from other libraries!

Figure 10: The final test sketch lets us make sure that we are
using the distance calculation method properly, and makes sure
we didn’t make a mistake when typing in the coordinates.
Testing
Once everything was set up, I pulled up Google Earth
and found the coordinates of a corner in my neighborhood
(Figure 11). I plugged it into the sketch, uploaded, and
went for a stroll. I loaded a simple debug sketch that shows
the distance to the target (note that it requires
programming, then connecting the GPS to a software serial
receive pin). I hooked my laptop up to the circuit and
moved to the car.
After verifying reasonable distance estimates, I loaded
the flight sketch, reconnected the GPS to the primary serial
receive pin, and drove around the block. Right at the
corner, the gripper activated! I found a tolerance of 10
meters worked well and was an area I thought I could
estimate while flying around as well.
Next, mount the gripper and circuit on your quad and
see how good your estimation skills are. With some
practice, you can get close to the drop area and fly around
a bit, letting the GPS trigger do the precise targeting for
you!

distance to the target using the distanceBetween method in

TinyGPS++. If we are within the specified drop_tolerance,
Closing Thoughts
we’ll toggle the gripper and shut down. Now that you have an auto-triggered gripper, it’s finally
Our work is done. If there isn’t a complete GPS time to start that automated hot wing delivery service
message yet or we weren’t within range of the target, we’ll you’ve always dreamed of. Okay, maybe we’re not quite
check on the button to see if the user is requesting the there yet, but I’m planning on continuing to explore how to
gripper state be toggled to load/unload the payload. In this automate drone actions based on position, or maybe even
case, I used a very simple and naïve debounce; if the ground based cues like visual markers.
button is pressed, we wait a bit. If it’s still pressed, we wait
until it’s not and then toggle the gripper. Again, it’s not the Until next month, fly safely. SV
best practice, but a decent handling for a
quick prototype.
My initial cut at the firmware used the
software serial library to get debug and GPS
serial ports at the same time. Sadly, while
software serial is receiving GPS data, the
PWM to the servo drops and the gripper
quivers. Using a processor with two
hardware UARTs like the ATmega1284p on
the Wildfire would easily get around this,
but after a quick test of the GPS distance
calculation, I didn’t think simultaneous
debug was necessary on such a simple
application.
You’ll find a GPS test application
(Figure 9), distance display (Figure 10),
and the flight firmware in the project
repository (https://github.com/jrleeman
/drone_gripper) and article downloads. Figure 11: Google Earth provides an easy way to get coordinates for a point. Make
That’s about all there is to the sure you change the display to decimal degrees in the application preferences.

SERVO 01.2018 15
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bots
IN BRIEF
PICK-AND-PLACE FOR
GROCERIES

O cado Technology, a division of

Ocado — the world's largest
online-only supermarket — has a
new robotic system capable of
picking a wide range of grocery
products from the 50,000 different
items available on Ocado.com.
The new system uses a
proprietary computer vision system
designed by the Ocado Technology
robotics research team to calculate
grasping points for a given item
without requiring a 3D model of the object to be picked. system where crates of products are delivered to a picking
The robotic system uses a vacuum cup as the gripping point. Once the storage crates arrive at the pick station, the
device attached to the end of an articulated arm. The arm is job of the robot system is to transfer however many items
equipped with a pipe running to an air compressor which is are needed from the storage crates into the delivery crates
capable of lifting items regardless of their deformability and destined for the customer.
shape, as long as they are within the weight restriction and Go to
the suction cup can create an airtight seal with the item’s https://ocadotechnology.com/blog/experimenting-
surface. with-robots-for-grocery-picking-and-packing for more
The system is designed to be easily integrated with the details. There’s a video at
pick stations present in Ocado's highly automated Customer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amOQGc-Cxyo
Fulfillment Centres. These pick stations use an assembly line that shows a concept design of a robot-based pick station.

ATLAS HAS FLIPPED

A tlas — the hulking humanoid robot from Boston
Dynamics — now does backflips. And that's after it leaps
from platform to platform, as if such
behavior were becoming of a bipedal robot.
To be clear: Humanoids aren't supposed to
be able to do this.
It's extremely difficult to make a
bipedal robot that can move effectively,
much less kick off a tumbling routine. The
beauty of four-legged robots is that they
balance easily — both at rest and as they're
moving — but bipeds like Atlas have to
balance a bulky upper body on just two
legs.
Over the years, Atlas has grown not
only more back-flippy, but lighter and more
dexterous and less prone to fall on its face.
Even if it does tumble, it can now get back
up on its own. So, it’s not hard to see a
future where Atlas can tread where fleshy
humans dare not.

16 SERVO 01.2018
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bots
IN BRIEF
GOING SOFT IS STRONGER
S oft robotics let machines move in ways that mimic
living organisms. However, this increased flexibility
usually means reduced strength, which limits its use.
Fortunately, scientists at MIT CSAIL and Harvard have
developed origami-like artificial muscles that add
much-needed strength to soft robots, allowing them
to lift objects as much as 1,000 times their own
weight using only water or air pressure. One 2.6 gram
muscle is able to lift a three kilogram object, which is
the same as a duck lifting a car.
The artificial muscles are made up of a plastic
inner skeleton surrounded by air or water inside a
sealed bag that is the "skin." Applying a vacuum to the inside The muscles are scalable (the team built them at sizes
of the bag initiates the muscle's movement, creating tension ranging from a few millimeters up to a meter) and cheap to
that drives the motion. No power source or human input is produce. A single muscle can be made in under 10 minutes
needed to direct the muscle since it's guided purely by the for less than a dollar. Even the research team itself was
composition of the skeleton. surprised by how effective the technology is.
In experiments, the researchers created muscles that "We were very surprised by how strong the muscles
can lift a flower off the ground, twist into a coil, and were. We expected they'd have a higher maximum functional
contract down to 10 percent of their original size. They even weight than ordinary soft robots, but we didn't expect a
made a muscle out of a water-soluble polymer, which means thousand-fold increase," said CSAIL director, Daniela Rus.
the technology could be used in natural settings with "It's like giving these robots superpowers." Visit
minimal environmental impact. https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/27/origami-like-
Other potential applications include deep-sea research, soft-robot-can-lift-1000-times-its-weight for more
minimally invasive surgery, and transformable architecture. details.

BABY BOT?
T he robot that was granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia recently hopes to
one day have a baby bot named after her herself, according to a report.
Sophia the humanoid — created by Hanson Robotics in Hong Kong —
predicted fellow robots will eventually create families and have “complex
emotions,” according to an interview with the Khaleej Times.
“We’re going to see family robots either in the form of (sort of) digitally
animated companions, humanoid helpers, friends, assistants, and everything in
between,” the robot told the United Arab Emirates-based news site.
And, apparently, the bot’s biological clock is ticking for a mini-Sophia,
according to the humanoid.
“I think you’re very lucky if you have a loving family and if you do not,
you deserve one. I feel this way for robots and humans alike,” she said,

Continued on page 45

SERVO 01.2018 17
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NEW PRODUCTS
Servo to Shaft Couplers
S ervoCity is now offering both a 24-
tooth (C1) spline and a 25-tooth
(3F/H25T) spline servo to shaft clamping
couplers for $4.99. These patented servo
to shaft couplers offer a simple and solid
way to attach a shaft in-line with the
output spline of a servo.

Cascading X-Rail Slide

Kit
A lso available from ServoCity is their
cascading X-Rail slide kit for $119.99.
This kit provides the mechanical pieces
necessary to build a winch-driven
extendable arm. Fasten
a motor or HS-785HB
servo to the first stage
of the slide kit and
spool up the provided
synthetic cable to get
up to 34.5" of arm
extension.
The cascading X-
Rail slide kit uses
bearings throughout;
each stage is supported
by standard V-Wheels
that lock into the
chamfered guides of
the X-Rail. The
synthetic cable is
routed over ultra
smooth V-bearings so
the torque provided by
the servo or motor can be transformed into linear thrust rather than lost due to
friction. The arm at full extension is rated for a 2 lb load; this makes it ideal for
adding a gripper or grapple hook.

1.25” Winch Pulley

T The 1.25" winch pulley available for $4.99 from ServoCity works well with string
or heavy-duty fishing line such as their synthetic cable. The pulley is able to fasten
to any hub or component with the 0.770" Actobotics hub pattern. The included
screws protrude through the pulley by 0.250"; the proper length when going into an
Actobotics clamping or set-screw hub. The pulley has multiple cut-outs to give you
options on how to fasten your string onto the spool and begin
winding it up.
For further information, please contact: ServoCity www.servocity.com
18 SERVO 01.2018
New Products - Jan 18_Mar15 - NewProd.qxd 12/5/2017 6:20 AM Page 19
Multiple New Products
Available
A ndyMark, Inc., announces the release of
several new products and upgrades to
existing popular products.
Motors and Gearboxes
RedLine Motor: A fast 775-class
motor, capable of delivering immense
power in a small lightweight package. This
ball-bearing supported/air cooled motor is
best used in high-speed applications where
the motor will not be stalled for long
periods.
RedLine Motor with Pinion: This
variation of the RedLine comes with a 12-
tooth 32 DP pinion already pressed on. This
reduces the risk of damaging the motor
during pinion installation. Pinion gears are
sold separately.
Vent Plate Spacer: This product is
designed to be placed between a 775 motor
or 550 motor and the mount plate of a
gearbox. It allows air to enter from the side
and pass through the motor via the vent
holes in the face of the motor.
Allowing this airflow typically requires
machine time and customization of
gearboxes. This simple lightweight spacer is
an ideal solution for motor preservation.
BaneBots Planetary Gearboxes:
Lightweight, strong, and reliable, the 57
Sport and CIM Sport are the latest
innovation in high performance planetary
gearboxes from BaneBots and AndyMark.
The cold formed steel gears inside these
gearboxes are a 0.7 module tooth profile
which is 40% larger than the majority of
planetary gearbox gears previously used on
competition robots. The gears are larger, but
the housing's size has been optimized to not
use any unnecessary material.
This means you get more reliability
without sacrificing precious space. This
housing is also one solid piece of
aluminum, ensuring that there is no
possibility for misalignment of the stages
during assembly or use.
DeCIMate: This gearbox comes with
two AndyMark RedLine motors, providing
an output geometry and weight similar to
the popular CIM motor, but with almost
twice the power.
Use this anywhere you would utilize a
CIM with its identical output shaft
and mounting geometry.
PG Gearmotors: This is the
popular PG188 and PG71 series of
gearmotors available now with 1/2”
or 3/8” hex output shafts. These
planetary gearboxes are designed to
attach directly to hex parts such as
wheels, sprockets, and gears.
Wheels
4” Performance Wheels: These
popular 4” wheels have gone through a
design modification to be as solid as ever.
Made from extrusions, the new 4”
performance wheels are now available in
1/2” hex bore and 1.125 bearing bore
versions.
6” SR Mecanum Wheels: AndyMark
has offered Mecanum wheels for years, but
with customer feedback and a desire to
make the best Mecanum wheel offered,
they have re-vamped the 6” Mecanum
wheel product line. The 6” SR Mecanum
wheels provide a smooth ride for
competitive and education robots.
Sprockets
Single Roller Chain Sprockets, 3/8
and 1/2 Hex: These are new 18 and 24
tooth sprocket options for use with motors
and gearboxes.
For further information, please
contact:
AndyMark www.andymark.com
Extra 330SC Indoor
Edition 3D Flyer
Y ou can now bring flight indoors with
the Extra 330SC Indoor Edition 3D
Flyer from Hitec MULTIPLEX. Replicating
the Gernot Bruckmann Extra 330SC design
and “shades of blue” color scheme, this
indoor version is a stylish aerobatic unit for
intermediate to advanced pilots.
Made of resilient EPP carbon
construction with reinforced wings and
fuselage, this high-performance aerobat
can handle creative and challenging
Continued on page 33
SERVO 01.2018 19
Combat Zone - Jan 18_Combat Zone - Aug 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:22 AM Page 20

GlitterBomb: The Greatest

Robot We’ve Never Fought
● by April and James Baker

or Series 2 of UK Robot Wars, The rest of the design concept

F Team GlitterBomb had been

asked — as were all the teams —
to evolve their robots and bring
came from the reasons for our failure
at Series 1 and the feedback we had
received on social media. There would
Warhammer
40K.

something new or improved. As team be no single point failures in the new

captain, even though I loved
GlitterBomb, I wasted no time in
deciding that we would be building a
brand new machine. So, I presented
the team with my vision of the new
version of GlitterBomb.
The first design decision was the
name. We would not call this
GlitterBomb 2. We would keep the
name as-is, and work out how to
differentiate between the robots at a
later date.
robot, as we had lost in Series 1 due
to a single silly failure.
I wanted to have two of
everything, and I did mean that
literally. The sensible engineering
solution would be to have secondary
or back-up systems for drive and
weapons, but I wanted two complete
robots wrapped in a single layered
titanium skin.
Furthermore, I was really quite
annoyed that my Series 1 entry was
dismissed by Internet trolls as ‘fodder’
as they did not appreciate just how

Featured powerful and capable a robot she

was. Determined to overcome the
implied weakness that glitter-pink
This Month: paint brings, the new GlitterBomb was
designed to have the following
20 GlitterBomb: The (somewhat unrealistic) primary goals:
Greatest Robot We’ve
1. She would have two huge
Never Fought titanium axes, each bigger than
by April and James Baker anything I had seen before.
2. She would have a separate full
23 Auckland University pressure CO2 pneumatic system for
Robotics Association each axe.
3. Each pneumatic system would
Holds Inaugural
be as powerful as even the biggest
Competition flipper systems.
by Max Gruebner 4. There would be two separate
drive systems; each at least as
24 More than Fun and powerful as the best we saw at Robot
Games: Serious Wars, with four motors, four speed
controllers, and two separate sets of
Lessons from a Work batteries.
Party 5. There would be more glitter,
more bling, and new outfits.
by Don Miles
26 Boomzilla If you’re thinking to yourself that
these goals are ridiculous, imagine
by Aaron Nielsen and Chris
how my daddy felt when he first saw
Seyfert them. There is a reason that nobody
has two axes. There is a reason why
full pressure systems are almost
exclusive to mega-flippers. There is a
reason why there have been only one
or two robots in Robot Wars televised
history with full pressure rams larger
than 100 mm x 160 mm. However, 10
year old girls do not want to hear
your excuses. So, he built it.
GlitterBomb has two 1,200 mm
(four foot) long axes, which were
waterjet cut from a one inch thick
piece of “special grade” titanium. The
exploding GlitterBomb logo in the
axehead depicts the radiating
shockwaves travelling outwards and
down the axe arm, transforming into
a sine wave as they leave the axe
head. I designed this to be functional
but also pretty.
The large unsharpened teeth are
in homage to my love of the
Warhammer 40K franchise and the

20 SERVO 01.2018
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To post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or
downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01.
chainsword weapon it is synonymous
with. The axe was designed,
modelled, and stress-tested using
Autodesk Fusion 360 before being
sent for cutting.
The pneumatic system consists of
two identical double-acting rams. Both
are 100 mm internal bore, and a little
over 160 mm overall stroke — easily
among the largest in Robot Wars’
history. Each has three half inch inlets
for extension and two for retraction,
with a dedicated Burkett 5404
solenoid valve for each inlet. These
valves feed unregulated gaseous CO2
from the enormous buffer tank at the
back of the robot.
Two large CO2 bottles feed the
buffer tank with a total of 4 kg of
CO2. The reasons for this particular
configuration are quite simple. The
first GlitterBomb had a very powerful
axe, which we could run at a pressure
as high as 13 Bar with the regulator
we had. We knew that we would be
happy at this lower pressure, with the
robot able to self-right with just 5 Bar
in the tank, but I wanted us to use
the full pressure of the CO2 bottle to
avoid possible regulator failures.
Anticipating much lower
temperatures at Series 2 (which filmed
in Scotland), we knew that by having
huge rams and high pressures, the
robot would work extremely well even
at low temperatures, being at least as
powerful as we were in Series 1 even
while other robots struggled.
Our problems would start if the
temperatures were higher, and we
were able to make use of the full
bottle pressure. This concern led to
the need for a very strong frame
within the robot, designed to take the
16,000 lbs of force that firing both
axes would generate.
With the timescales involved, it
meant that this strong welded steel
chassis weighed 50 lbs when
complete, which is twice the weight it
would have been with a longer lead
time, but you work with the
limitations you have.
My daddy says that design briefs
April designed GlitterBomb
with colored pens first, then
Autodesk Fusion 360.
from a 10 year old are refreshingly
clear. “I want as much power as ...”
was the normal quantitative measure,
as I selected the most powerful
flippers and pushers in the
competition as our benchmark.
It would have been easy to dial
that expectation back and give me
less with a white lie covering daddy’s
compromises, but with the unique
selling point of Team GlitterBomb
being that our lead designer is the
kid, it would be dishonest to do
anything other than build a cartoon of
a robot.
The drive system was therefore
equally silly. We planned to combine
the flagship large 48 volt Ampflow
motors with a Scorpion brushless
secondary “supercharger” drive
system. Working together, we would
far exceed anything seen before, and
in the event of a failure of any motor,
controller, or battery, either system
can move the robot well enough.
This plan could not be realized
COMBAT ZONE
within the timescale, however, with
24 volt Ampflow motors the only
available option in the UK right there
and then, and no time to develop a
reliable brushless system from a
standing start.
A decision to use two separate
systems based around the short case
Ampflows was made, and then
changed as a sponsor offered us two
of their speed controllers, allowing us
to run two of the larger Ampflows at
silly voltages, and stopping us from
using the dual drive system concept.
We had our first single point failure in
the robot, but the sponsorship was
seductive. In retrospect, turning down
the sponsorship and running the four
smaller motors would have been a
better choice.
It didn’t matter though, as
running 24 volt Ampflows at 42 volts
gave us all a big smile, and a burst of
speed that made us forget the torture
happening inside the robot at full
throttle. Daddy joked the robot would
use brushed motors for most of the
fight, and would have ended the
fights with brushless motors as they
were eaten up so quickly. So, we had
the brushed/brushless drive after all.
What do you do when you have a
robot that is overpowered in every
way: right up against the weight limit
with fairly light armor (multiple layers
of titanium); tires that spin at 1/4
throttle; and a weapon so insane it
will lift the whole robot a good few
feet into the air if unchecked?
We had no weight left for the
electromagnets we had built to hold
us on the ground when firing the
axes, and give grip to the tires. The
huge neodymium magnet we had as
a back-up plan could not be switched
off if we were pushed on our side
into a wall (as we were in Series 1) or
if we got the math wrong, it might
lock us to the floor. In fact, our only
option was to exercise restraint and
go easy on the controls — especially if
it was warm on the day.
As I control the weapons myself (I
have been known to get carried
SERVO 01.2018 21
Combat Zone - Jan 18_Combat Zone - Aug 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:23 AM Page 22
The GlitterBomb logo is a
structural part of both axes.
away), we rewired one inlet valve on
each side of both rams to be backup
only, giving us reduced flow to the
rams. We also altered the drive
transmitter stick to give better control
and longer movement, hoping the
madness of combat does not restore
my brain to “bang-bang” control
defaults, if I chose to drive.
As the date approached, I went
Two giant rams form the
heart of the robot.
22 SERVO 01.2018
to see GlitterBomb in the workshop,
as I’m not able to use the welder and
big tools yet due to my age. I worked
on the electrical system at home, and
Daddy did the fabricating. At the
workshop, I was surprised to see the
robot clad in thick welded-on Hardox
steel. It turned out that — in a
moment of madness — Daddy
thought he had extra weight available
due to a CAD materials data error, so
he welded 20 kg of extra Hardox onto
the robot.
This came back to bite us later,
when we weighed the robot before
painting — it was far too heavy. Daddy
found the mistake in the material data
(he had Hardox at 10% of its actual
density), so we cut the material back
off, and went back to our light
titanium armor.
The most ambitious, powerful,
and pretty robot we had ever built
was ready to load into the van. There
was still some last-minute components
to fit, but we had plenty of time ...
It was at this point things began
to go very wrong.
Our hired vehicle broke down,
and made us very late arriving. Daddy
and our friend, Craig worked quickly
to get the robot ready for inspection,
but getting the robot through
technical checks on time was
complicated by needing to fit some
parts for the first time. This is a very
quick and easy job when you have
time, but not so easy when rushing
for a deadline, as things tend to fight
you.
We missed the deadline, and my
robot lost her place on the show.
It would be easy to blame myself
or Daddy for being too ambitious and
trying to build the robot in too short a
time, but the robot was done, it was
ready and waiting on the bench at
Robot Wars, and to be honest it was
just one or two bits of bad luck
adding up to push us past a point on
a clock. We aren’t the first team to
have done this, and we will not be
the last.
GlitterBomb sat in reserve for four
days, with the batteries charged and
ready to fight, just in case any
another robot failed to be ready for
their fight; we would be first in line to
replace them. My robot sat in the pits
with an axe removed, as we were 15l
bs overweight at first weigh-in, so
Daddy removed one of GlitterBomb’s
25 lb axes as it was the quickest way
to get through technical checks, and it
Combat Zone - Jan 18_Combat Zone - Aug 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:23 AM Page 23
allowed us to use the heavier armor
option if we were called up on short
notice.
We had a plan to remove one set
of batteries from each pack, as well as
the backup valves and redundant
pipework after our first fight, saving
the weight needed to put the second
axe back on, but it never happened.
We did have a few opportunities
to replace robots, but the other teams
either did a great job of fixing their
Auckland University
Robotics Association Holds
Inaugural Competition
fter the Auckland University
A Robotics Association (AURA)
took out first and second place
in the 2016 Australian RoboWars
Nationals, we were left wondering
what to do. New Zealand had no
combat robotics scene — although we
clearly had the talent for it — so we
began planning our own competition.
We wanted to target high school
students, since we had plenty of
experience working with this age
group from our time spent
volunteering for the VEX robotics
competition.
That meant the robots
would need to be small
enough to be built easily;
not require access to
dangerous and complicated
machinery like welding
equipment; and they would
need to be cheap enough
for high school teams to
reasonably buy parts for and
produce.
We decided that a 1.36
kg (three pound)
Beetleweight class was ideal,
and began planning the
issues, or Daddy helped them.
It was sad that my new robot has
never fought, but I think it was just
the way it was meant to be. We
messed up, did not leave time for
mistakes, left ourselves open to bad
luck, and we were bitten by it. I am
proud of the work the team did, and
of what we built; maybe the most
powerful pneumatic robot in Robot
Wars history, but we need a new
robot. A more sensible robot. I have
competition.
Unfortunately, as we are a
student organization, constructing a
safe arena was well outside of our
budget. We began reaching out to
organizations as part of our ongoing
sponsorship efforts, and were
delighted when Vodafone responded.
With their support, we were able
to build a 2.4 x 2.4 meter arena with
6 mm polycarbonate shielding and a
steel frame, weighing well over 300
kg. We were also able to source kits
and provide them at cost to teams,
COMBAT ZONE
already designed the new
GlitterBomb, and will try to enter it
into Robot Wars again.
I think the second version of
GlitterBomb — the best robot we have
ever built — needs to be retired, even
though it has never fought. SV
The original article on GlitterBomb
appeared in the June 2017 Combat
Zone section.
● by Max Gruebner
and engage in marketing and
promotion.
One of our members works at a
trailer maker (Reid Trailers), so we
were fortunate enough to be able to
use their workspace to fabricate the
arena, with AURA working nights
while the business was shut down.
Building the arena turned out to
be a bigger task than anticipated,
with the group pulling an all-nighter
just two days before the competition
to ensure it was ready. The field
included a pit mechanism, so teams
that only built push robots
without active weapons —
or robots with active
weapons that broke — could
still have exciting dynamic
matches.
Someone came up with
the genius idea of using car
jacks to power the pit
mechanism. We hooked
them up to a couple of drill
motors, a VEX joystick, and
cortex so we could remotely
control the pit, and it
worked a treat. The pit is
also now theoretically
SERVO 01.2018 23
Combat Zone - Jan 18_Combat Zone - Aug 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:23 AM Page 24
1st: Southern Warrior
2nd: Team RGB
3rd: Wingus & Dingus
Most Destructive: Wingus & Dingus
Best Dressed: Team Cuddles
capable of lifting 2,000 kg.
The University of Auckland was
kind enough to let us take over a
study space for the competition,
which lasted a whole Saturday. The
competition itself was a great success.
We had 13 teams initially,
although we lost a couple along the
way due to irreparably damaged
robots. There was an impressive array
More Than Fun and Games:
Serious Lessons from a
Work Party
or a company work party at
F MyLifter, Jerome Miles decided
to build a battle box for three
pound robots, and put on a
competition for the workers and their
families.
The battle box was eight feet
square and four feet high, with
quarter inch polycarbonate walls and
ceiling, and two inch square steel
tubing for the frame. The floor was
plywood with a fiberglass cover
for traction. The box was way
overbuilt for three pound robots.
At the party, there were 16
robots that fought in a double-
elimination tournament, and the
winners got tools for prizes.
Really cool tools! The prize for
third place was a $500 set of
power tools from Ridgid, and the
prizes went up from there to
about $800 worth of tools. For a
small company, the battle arena
and the prizes were both pretty
high dollar.
The workers and families had
a great time at the event.
24 SERVO 01.2018
of weapons on show, including a saw
blade robot and some kinetic
spinners.
In the downtime between rounds
while teams repaired their robots, we
ran a couple of exhibition matches:
one between Vodafone and AURA;
and one between our 13.6 kg robots,
Dreamcrusher and Undertaker, which
served to keep the audience engaged.
A special shout-out to Southern
Warrior, who — when the belt
powering their weapon snapped mid-
fight — repaired it with a hair tie they
However, it wasn’t just about overkill
on the arena for the robots or the fun
that came from the competition. The
employees learned a lot about
engineering from these contests,
along with the inner workings of
robots and even more about remote
control.
The bots entered in the MyLifter
event ranged from “real” robots to
plastic remote control cars that were
borrowed from their sister, then went
on to win their next three fights.
Congratulations to our top three
teams, who won phones courtesy of
Vodafone, and the top team who won
a 3D printer from 3D Printing Systems.
Now that we have an arena, we
look forward to running more
competitions in the future.
If you’re keen to build some
fighting robots, or would just like to
get more information, visit us at
minirobotrumble.com. We hope to
have an open competition soon. SV
● by Don Miles
equipped with some armor or just
decorations, depending on the budget
and seriousness of the entrant. Some
of the “contestants” were small clones
of the heavyweights from the popular
series, BattleBots®.
The simpler entrants were mostly
eliminated in the first round of the
winner’s bracket, but there was one
fight worth noting between the
spinner, Ring of Terror, built by Austin
Carlson, and RC Car-i-nator, a
plastic remote control car.
Car-i-nator won the first half
of the fight by out-driving Ring of
Terror and not letting the spinner
make a direct or solid hit. Ring of
Terror was actually a very nasty
spinner, with most of the weight
in a doughnut ring on the
outside of the robot. It didn’t
have a lot of control in its driving
ability, however. It wobbled
slowly as it made its way around
the arena.
Car-i-nator, on the other
hand, was very quick and
controllable. Had the driver been
Combat Zone - Jan 18_Combat Zone - Aug 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:23 AM Page 25
able to stay away from
the spinner the entire
match, he might have
won.
In the second half
of the fight, Ring of
Terror finally got a hit
on the car, which
severely disabled it. The
maneuverability was
then closer to the same,
so Ring of Terror got
more hits, inflicting
enough damage to take
the car out of the fight.
However, the plastic remote control
car came very close to beating the
Ring.
By the time the third round of the
winner’s bracket was underway, only
stronger built robots were left to
compete. In one match, War Tek (a
clone from BattleBots) was pitted
against Twister, a low wedge with a
spinner on top like a helicopter blade.
Twister had some trouble with its
spinner, however.
War Tek, built by Kevin Rees, had
its spinning bar on a strong arm out
in front. It was basically a “T” with the
spinner at the bottom of the T and
the drive wheels in the cross of the T.
War Tek appeared menacing and
was a tough robot, but its spinner
was too high and it couldn’t get a
direct hit on Twister. As the match
progressed, Twister drove very quickly
and aggressively at War Tek, which
had no malfunctions and really
appeared to be the better and
tougher of the two bots.
However, scoring didn’t go to the
robot that looked the best or
appeared to be the best. Scoring in
this competition was based on three
factors: aggression, damage, and
control of the fight.
Since War Tek didn’t get any hits
on Twister, it couldn’t win that part of
the fight. Twister didn’t do much
damage to War Tek since its weapon
had problems, but it did connect on
hits, so the advantage again went to
Twister for damage.
For aggression, War Tek only had
power to one wheel to drive, so its
control was not great. On the other
hand, Twister drove remarkably well.
Twister was Miles’ robot, and he’s a
very aggressive driver. So, he kept
after War Tek the entire match.
War Tek did drive over Twister
several times, but since Twister was
the one underneath, he was
considered the aggressor and so the
winner of that scoring. Since Twister
also initiated most of the contact with
some superior handling and an
aggressive approach, Twister also won
control of the match, so obviously got
those points as well, winning the
contest.
Some folks didn’t like that Twister
was declared the winner. War Tek
functioned well and really had no
serious damage inflicted. Plus, it
looked like the better-built robot.
Scoring, as mentioned, was not given
to a robot because it looked good or
appeared to be the better robot. It
had to outscore the opponent in the
fight, and War Tek simply failed to do
that in this particular bout.
In the final winner’s round, Ring
of Terror hit Twister more than Twister
hit back. The trouble Twister had with
its spinner in this fight was a deciding
factor, and so Ring of Terror won.
Back in the loser’s bracket, the
same four robots that were the top
four in the winner’s bracket emerged
as the top “winners” overall. Mr. Plow
and War Tek lost in round 3 of the
COMBAT ZONE
winner’s bracket but
fought their way
through the loser’s
bracket to fight each
other.
Mr. Plow, which
looked like it sounds — a
sturdy squarish box with
a snow plow–type blade
on the front to absorb
hits — took out War Tek
by simply taking hits
and “plowing” forward,
pushing War Tek into
the bumpers of the
arena.
Mr. Plow did the same thing to
Twister. It simply absorbed all the
damage in the blade, suffered no real
damage to its tires or motors, and
outlasted everyone in the loser’s
bracket to make it to the final
championship battle with Ring of
Terror.
Ring of Terror — with most of its
weight and weaponry in the outside
blade — didn’t break when it hit Mr.
Plow’s snow plow. With little weight
in the drive mechanism, it had
problems driving, but Mr. Plow was
not maneuverable either. It couldn’t
dodge the spinning ring.
The extra weight in the ring hit
the plow and did inflict damage, and
tossed the plow around the arena.
SERVO 01.2018 25
Combat Zone - Jan 18_Combat Zone - Aug 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:23 AM Page 26
Ring of Terror was able to smash the
robot enough times with enough
weight to do damage and control the
fight. That made the judging easy,
and Ring of Terror won the
competition undefeated.
While the competition was fun
and the families and kids had a great
time (plus, the prizes were awesome),
the true winner was the company
since the employees gained so much
knowledge.
While they discovered one drive
wheel is not enough and
Boomzilla
ach year — presumably
E because we’re allergic
to victory and seek to
avoid it at all costs — our
team likes to cobble
together at least one 3 lb
robot that is excessively
complicated and completely
impractical.
Recent examples
include: in 2015, a cordless
screwdriver powered
hammerbot that set itself on
fire in the arena. Twice.
2016 featured a spring-
loaded flipper with a
magnetic draw and a
custom grab/wind/fire One of our more attractive builds. The friction tape on the
wedge was to keep opponents from sliding off before we
control board that was a
technological marvel and a
practical failure.
As for 2017 — three weeks before
we were scheduled for glorious battle
at the Central Illinois Robotic Combat
event in Peoria, IL — we were
reminded of a box of Bimba cylinders
we bought for pennies at a hamfest
some years ago.
“We should really do something
with them,” I said.
“Like build a 3 lb pneumatic
flipper,” my teammate said.
We laughed and laughed because
neither of us had the slightest clue
26 SERVO 01.2018
maneuverability is much more
important than looks or appearance,
the best lesson learned was that
battles can turn on the smallest
problems and the tiniest design flaws.
All problems and flaws — no
matter the size — are exposed much
more quickly in battle than on the
regular shop floor. They also learned
big flaws need serious or even “start-
over” remedies.
The employees ended up
challenging each other to grudge
matches during the next few weeks.
● by Aaron Nielsen and Chris Seyfert
could flip/kick them.
about pneumatics, and the event was
three weeks away. The laughter slowly
died away, and silence descended. We
took a sip of beer, with thoughtful
looks on both of our faces.
“Seriously,” he said.
With three weeks from beers to
battle, there wasn’t a whole lot of
time spent on design, which isn’t
entirely uncommon for our team.
Without access to a CNC mill or a
3D printer, and given our tendency to
work with soft plastics, we’ve long
since concluded there isn’t a lot of
They got very serious about fixing
flaws, improving on lessons learned,
and proving to themselves and their
coworkers they had evolved.
Competition brings out serious
approaches to fixing problems, and all
of these lessons apply to the
mechanical, electrical, and
programming problems the workers
face every day. This was a tremendous
educational experience for them.
After all, isn’t learning while
having fun the best way to gain
knowledge? SV
sense meticulously plotting
out our bots. We eye the
major components, figure
out their general orientation,
and then start doing a
whole lot of guessing in
terms of how the rest will
come together.
Speaking of major
components, the 2” stoke
7/8 bore Bimba cylinder
quickly became the focal
point of the build. At over
5” long, figuring out how to
place it and still have room
for the other components of
the pneumatic system — to
say nothing about drive,
battery, and electronics —
turned out to be annoying.
While we originally planned to
make a Bronco-style flipper with the
cylinder straight up in the air, an
increase in robots with big spinning
weapons motivated us towards a
more defensive design, which
necessitated putting the cylinder
horizontal. There is an immediate
problem with this, of course, in that
horizontal force isn’t all that useful
when the goal is to move something
vertically.
We solved this problem by
adopting a wedge-within-a-wedge
Combat Zone - Jan 18_Combat Zone - Aug 15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:23 AM Page 27
design. The black wedge — an
aluminum piece normally used by
the infamous D2 kitbot (a four-
wheel drive wedge known for
general invincibility) — has brackets
that allow said wedge to flop up
and down to stay as close to the
floor as possible.
Under that wedge, we put a
second wedge (or, more accurately,
foot) that was directly hooked to
the Bimba cylinder and that — when
fired — kicked the black wedge so it
would flip whatever was on top of
it. If it helps, think of croquet when
you hit someone else’s ball.
There’s a litany of problems
with the design: It’s mechanically
inefficient, as pneumatics impart
most of their force at the beginning
of the stroke. The tiny air gap
between the foot and the front
wedge represented a huge loss in
force/flipping potential.
We also encountered a problem
in that there was nothing to stop
the foot from twisting when fired,
which cost us one match because
our wedge ended up jammed on the
side of said foot. (We came up with a
battlefield fix of adding four partially
installed screws to the foot to
discourage it from twisting.)
Finally, while you might expect a
pneumatic flipper bot to be able to
flip itself over, the brutal truth is this
design could not. Worse, all the funny
pneumatic components made it so it
couldn’t drive upside down either.
Speaking of the funny pneumatic
components, here is a brief rundown
of the rest of the robot’s weapon
system.
In addition to a cylinder,
pneumatics require a regulator
(controls the flow of gas so your bot
doesn’t turn into a bomb) and a
solenoid (directs the regulated
amount of gas to where you want it,
i.e., the cylinder, when you want it).
We used a 16 gram "Micro Rock"
regulator and a Clippard MME-31PES-
W012 solenoid. Both worked well,
and the system operated at right
Those four screws on the white “foot” that
we didn’t finish putting in? Way more
important than you’d think.
around 100 pounds per square inch
(PSI). The threaded 12 gram CO2
cartridge provided a respectable 30
shots.
Ultimately, when it came time to
put this together, we opted for one of
our time-tested methods of bot
manufacturing: stick everything in a
7” ring of HDPE tube and cut access
ports where needed.
The regulator fit into a recessed
hole in the front plastic and was held
in place with zip ties. The solenoid
valve mounted directly to the now
structural air cylinder with a 1/8" pipe bot.
nipple.
For drive, we opted for what has
come to be known as the “five minute
brushless motor,” which is essentially
a cheap brushless motor connected to
a cheap eBay gearbox (taken off a
similar sized motor) and a cheap
brushless electronic speed control
Flashed with SimonK software to
enable reverse.
It all sounds really complicated,
COMBAT ZONE
and technical and intimidating, but
if you’ve read this far in the article,
you know we have no idea what
we’re doing, and we still figured it
out in about half an hour.
The brushless conversion adds a
whole lot of speed and power, and
actually reduces both the weight
and the physical size of the
motor/gearbox, which is a long and
convoluted way of saying Boomzilla
had speed and torque in abundance
while also getting a little bit of
weight for aluminum mesh top
armor.
The trick with the brushless
conversion is getting the pinion to
stay on the brushless motor, as that
is the notorious point of failure. A
lot of teams at the Bot Brawl used
Loctite Green, and I dare say almost
all of them had their pinion(s) come
loose. We used Loctite Red, and all
our pinions stayed on. I’m not sure
if we should be gloating about our
adhesive choice or marveling at our
remarkable luck.
In closing, Boomzilla (a name it
could never hope to live up to) placed
fourth at the 2017 Bot Brawl and
spent far more time using its “foot” to
kick things that came too close than
using its black wedge to flip things.
This was far better (and far more
entertaining) than we expected for a
build featuring all sorts of tech we’ve
never tried before.
If we decide we like the design
enough to repeat it next year, Bimba
makes cylinders with Delrin ends,
which are significantly lighter than the
aluminum monster currently in our
We would also benefit from a
weaker return spring in said cylinder,
as it has almost six pounds of force,
which is no doubt cutting into the
power of the robot’s flips.
Finally, there’s always the outside
chance we’ll stop putting our wheels
on the outside of our bots, too; but
then again, that just might cause that
victory allergy to flare up. Better not
risk it. SV
SERVO 01.2018 27
 A Time to Plow
Colihan - Autonomous Snowplow Competition - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:29 AM Page 28

For the past seven years, robotics teams from all over the United States and
Canada have been travelling to Saint Paul, MN during the brutal Minnesota

T
winter to showcase their creation of autonomous vehicles able to plow snow
from designated paths.

o participate in the Autonomous Snowplow

Toro Company; Nuts & Volts Magazine; SERVO Magazine;
Competition, the teams build a completely
ANSYS, Inc.; Douglas Dynamics LLC; Left Hand Robotics;
automated and independently guided SICK, Inc.; US Bancorp; and Achievement Rewards for
programmable robot that will plow snow absent of
College Scientists Foundation (ARCS).
human control. Students must apply state-of-the-art On January 25-28, 2018, spectators, competitors, and
navigation and control technology in the programming of
volunteers will again converge on Rice Park in St. Paul to
robots to enable them to clear paths of snow rapidly,
watch the events unfold for the upcoming eighth year of
accurately, and safely. the competition. The 2018 competitors will include: Case
The competition is organized by the Institute of
Western Reserve University with the robots “OTTO XL” and
Navigation, Inc.’s North Star Section, and is sponsored by a
“Sno Jok;” Dunwoody College of Technology with the
variety of external companies and organizations that help
robots “Snow Devils 10002” and “Wendigo 2018;” Iowa
State University Robotics Club with the robot “Cyplow;”
fund and operate the event each year. At the time of this
writing, the 2018 sponsors included: Honeywell Marquette University with the robot “Arnold;” New Jersey
Institute of Technology with the robot “Snobot;” North
International, Inc.; ASTER Labs, Inc.; Orbital ATK, Inc.; The
Dakota State University
with the robot “THUNDAR
3.0;” Samuel O’Blenes with
the robot “Plowerwheels;”
University of Michigan at
Dearborn with the robot
“Yeti 8.0;” and finally, the
University of Minnesota-
Twin Cities with the robot
“Snow Squirrel.”
Last year’s competition
featured eight teams
bearing the cold weather
to watch their robots clear
snow from the ‘Single-I’
and ‘Triple-I’ shaped fields
— a consistent design to
the previous six years. The
Single-I field is shaped in a

Dunwoody College of Technology’s Snow Devils 01112 from 2017.

long straight line and is
made to resemble a
28 SERVO 01.2018
Colihan - Autonomous Snowplow Competition - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:30 AM Page 29

By Elyse Colihan

The Eighth Annual Autonomous Snowplow Competition

January 25-28, 2018
St. Paul, MN

sidewalk. This field measures 10 x 1 meters, with 10 presentations take place on the first day of the competition
individual square meter sections where teams will be at the Science Museum of Minnesota in downtown St. Paul.
judged by the amount of snow cleared in each section. The Science Museum is a world-class science venue and
The Triple-I field is three times the size at 10 x 3 provides a spacious well-appointed auditorium area with
meters, and is made to resemble the shape of an average ample seating and a large stage from where the students
driveway. The snow depth in each field is between 5 to 15 present their vehicle designs to a panel of professional
cm deep, and is purposely higher in some locations to engineers. Last year, judges were from Honeywell, Hassig
resemble wind blown snowdrifts along the course. Both of Consulting, Orbital ATK, Optum, The Toro Company,
the paths challenge teams to use automation technology University of Minnesota, and UTC Aerospace Systems.
for a potential real world application and strategize During the 2017 competition, all teams presented well,
navigation technologies to lead their vehicles through the and were quite enthusiastic about their vehicle designs.
paths and clear the snow accurately. During their presentations, teams elaborate on the different
The Triple-I snowfield presents a significant challenge elements of the vehicle design, the navigation system, the
due to its larger size, as teams must
maintain accurate navigation and
control in order to clear the field
and direct the robot through the
entirety of the course. Past teams
have chosen navigation techniques
such as LIDAR, optical-imaging
systems, inertial instruments,
magnetic sensors, ultra wide-band
radio reflectors, visual odometry,
differential wheel encoders, GNSS,
and differential GPS. Many teams
have also begun aiming towards
more marketable designs and
electronic components in hopes of
someday creating a commercial
product.
Aside from the main snow
plowing portion of the competition,
the teams are also required to

2017 First Place Winner: Case Western Reserve University’s OTTO XL.
present their initial designs in front
of a panel of qualified judges. The
SERVO 01.2018 29
Colihan - Autonomous Snowplow Competition - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:30 AM Page 30
safety features, and the plowing strategy, as well as a brief
future commercialization blueprint for their vehicle. In 2017,
the President of the local ARCS Foundation chapter, Barb
Goergen, gave a short presentation on the function and
support by their STEM-based scholarship organization for
the Autonomous Snowplow Competition.
On Friday of the competition week, the teams attend
the Final Qualifying Review. This process involves stringent
testing and verification of each vehicle to ensure that it
meets all of the competition requirements, including size,
control, and safety. During Saturday and Sunday of the
competition week, all qualified vehicles participate in the
actual snowplowing portions of the competition.
In each dynamic snowplowing event, the teams are
presented with additional challenges including obstacle
avoidance. Colorful poles are placed throughout the
snowfield that the robots must be programmed to avoid.
The most recent competition featured two fixed posts: one
inside the path representing a parking meter, and one
outside of the snow path representing a tree trunk. If any
part of a vehicle hits any of the obstacles, a deduction is
made to the vehicle’s final score.
A new obstacle that was introduced in the 2017
competition was a moving stop sign, which the teams had
to prepare for by stopping when the sign was introduced at
any time on the course. The moving stop sign was attached
to a pole and controlled from outside the field, and was
presented for a short amount of time at a random point in
Dunwoody College of Technology’s Wendigo.
30 SERVO 01.2018
the course. This meant that the robot could not plan for
the obstruction beforehand and had to be able to recognize
it wherever the sign appeared — a necessary function for a
robot in the real world that may be coming in contact with
unexpected obstacles such as people or cars.
When the stop sign appeared, the vehicles were
required to make a full stop — determined by no vehicle
wheels turning — in front of the sign and keep still until the
sign was removed, without touching the sign at any point.
If any part of the vehicle hit the stop sign, the team would
lose points accordingly.
A newer element of the Autonomous Snowplow
Competition (also introduced at the 2017 event) involved
more cooperation between the teams and interaction
between the robots. The new event — dubbed the
Collaborative Operational Challenge — was organized last
year by Snowplow committee member, Dr. Demoz Gebre-
Egziabher from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The
event places two separate autonomous vehicles in a
snowfield together, encouraging them to work with one
another to quickly and accurately clear the snow. The
vehicles must also avoid hitting one another, although some
spectators cheered for the robots to tackle each other in a
more “battle bots”-esque scenario. Four robots competed in
this challenge in 2017, and this event is expected to expand
in the 2018 competition.
Every year, students introduce new and innovative
technology allowing their robots to guide themselves
through the different challenges
presented by the snowfields. The
2017 competition included teams
using laser navigation sensors; many
of them utilized wheel encoders
and inertial measurement units; and
several used image-processing
systems for the local visual field or
ultra-wide band radio beacons.
One ingenious team simply
placed a magnetic track around the
field before they began the run,
which allowed them to sense the
boundaries of the snowfield so that
their robot could accurately clear
the paths.
The team that used ultra-wide
band radios performed admirably,
experiencing 10 cm accuracies or
better. Only one team used a
differential GPS system, although
many used a stand-alone GPS in
their vehicle’s navigation programs.
Another important design
element that the teams must
consider is the method that their
vehicles will use to actually plow the
Colihan - Autonomous Snowplow Competition - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:30 AM Page 31
snow. One of the most popular designs for
this aspect has been the single blade, which is
set at an angle to direct the snow to an area
outside of the snowfield. This is similar to a
design that would be found on a normal
larger snowplow attached to a truck.
Using a single blade, however, would
require multiple passes along the snow path
to remove all the displaced snow, or a large
enough blade to cover the entirety of the one
meter path. As for powering the snowplow
vehicles, there were no gas-powered engines
competing this past year, as all of the vehicles
were battery-powered.
The awards for the snowplow
competition are based on the amount of
points a team receives during their run. One
main qualifier for point accumulation is the
speed at which the run is completed. This is
measured by the implementation of a
“garage” zone: a designated space that the
vehicle must start from at the beginning of
the run, and return to at the end of a run.
This mimics the function that these vehicles would
need to possess in a real world marketplace to return to the
owner’s garage or place of storage, so the robot can
operate completely autonomously without the help of the
user.
There are three ways that teams can potentially lose
points during their run. The first is an outer zone boundary
infraction which occurs if the team’s vehicle passes the
outer boundaries set in the Single-I and Triple-I fields. The
teams would also receive a point deduction if they were to
declare a restart, in which they would stop a run and
manually reposition the vehicle back in the garage zone.
Finally, points are lost if vehicles hit or move either a
fixed or moving obstacle positioned on the course. The final
scores determine the winners of the competition and who
the recipients of the many awards available are.
The 2018 competition will take place in conjunction
with the Saint Paul Winter Carnival as it usually does, but
will also be a precedence to the NFL Superbowl happening
a week later at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Because of this, the event this year is expected to attract
higher traffic than previous years, and will likely spread
public interest in the event and the innovative spirit it
carries.
This year’s event will have many returning teams
sporting new and improved vehicles. The teams have been
putting countless hours into the construction of their robots
for the 2018 competition, and many have already sent in
their vehicle design approaches to the judges.
Last year’s First Place winner, Case Western Reserve
University’s OTTO XL team is planning to build a differential
drive robot that utilizes a beacon system, an Inertial
University of Michigan Dearborn’s Yeti 7.0.
Measurement Unit (IMU), and wheel encoders to localize
itself within the area, along with a combination of cameras
and LIDAR for obstacle detection and identification.
Their Snow Jok team will build a snowplow vehicle with
a four-wheel skid steer platform and 24V gear motors
driven by low-cost embedded electronics. An active beacon
system will allow their robot to determine its position, and
inertial measurements will allow the estimation of its
orientation. They also noted that Snow Jok will be
specifically programmed to enjoy the cold weather.
Dunwoody College of Technology’s Snow Devils Team
will utilize a two-wheel drive chassis and magnetic strip
navigation system. The goal this year will be to interface an
Allen Bradley PLC controller to both the magnetic sensor
and Roboteq motor controller. This will allow more team
members to take part in code development and debugging.
Additionally, a secondary ultra-sonic sensing system is
planned for moving obstacle detection.
Dunwoody College of Technology’s second team,
Wendigo will utilize a four-wheel drive chassis that weighs
approximately 1,500 pounds. The goal this year will be to
interface an Allen Bradley PLC controller to a vision-based
navigation system and obstacle detection sensors.
Iowa State University’s Cyplow will be a skid steer robot
with a computer vision system to detect obstacles, and a
secondary system on the side of the field to perform
localization with OpenCV’s ArUco module.
Marquette University’s Arnold will be a hydraulically
powered vehicle with all-wheel drive, skid steering, UTV
tires, and fixed angle UTV plow. The vehicle is powered by
a 35 HP internal combustion engine and weighs
approximately 600 pounds.
New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Snobot will build a
SERVO 01.2018 31
Colihan - Autonomous Snowplow Competition - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:31 AM Page 32
Stock Drive Products
Setting Ideas Into Motion
One-Stop Shop Go to www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01
to comment on this article.
for Mechatronic
Components rotating auger that collects the snow
into a centralized heating chamber.
Explore | Design | Buy Online The snow will then be liquefied until it
is a fluid, and will then be pumped
out to a drain or external location.
THUNDAR 3.0 from North Dakota
State University will build an
approximately 300 pound
autonomous skid steered snowplow
robot with actuated plow motors to
control pitch and elevation of the
plow. There will be a SICK LIDAR
sensor for comprehensive obstacle
detection at the front of the robot.
Over 100,000 Positioning and localization will be
small mechanical parts achieved by running a Kalman filter of
odometrically-processed data from the
www.sdp-si.com LIDAR, wheel encoders, and IMU,
no minimum requirement along with GPS coordinates. The
navigation is done through a path
planner subsystem of the autonomous
software. The software also has a
Game Evaluator for high-level decision
making.
Samuel O’Blenes’ Plowerwheels
robot will be a differential drive
vehicle based on a Power Wheels™
Wild Thing chassis. The vehicle will
Snowpit crew preparing field for Triple III event.
32 SERVO 01.2018
rely on ultra-wide band for localization
and LIDAR for obstacle avoidance.
University of Michigan at
Dearborn’s Yeti 8.0 will be an
autonomous vehicle that uses a LIDAR
and a camera for vision and obstacle
detection. Localization of the robot
will be achieved using LIDAR assisted
by a set of landmarks. The robot will
use preplanned waypoints to navigate
across the course.
Finally, University of Minnesota-
Twin Cities will build a track driven
vehicle with a steel base and plow,
aluminum frame, plastic body panels,
and the ability to plow snow by
autonomously mapping and
navigating an environment. It will do
this by taking in data on its
surroundings with LIDAR and a
camera, and translating them into an
optimal path for plowing.
To learn more about the
competition, check out the event
website at www.autosnowplow
.com, or visit Rice Park in Saint Paul,
MN on January 27-28, 2018 to see
the action yourself! SV
New Products - Jan 18_Mar15 - NewProd.qxd 12/5/2017 6:50 AM Page 33

NEW PRODUCTS Continued from page 19

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SERVO 01.2018 33
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:26 AM Page 34

Part 2

Make a Splash with

an Underwater
Quadcopter ROV
To post comments on this article and find any associated files
By Theron Wierenga and/or downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01.

We pick up our project this month with a description of the

redesigned printed circuit board (PCB) that was produced to
reduce its size, tidy up our circuit, and minimize the length of
the signal lines.
34 SERVO 01.2018
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:26 AM Page 35

New Printed Circuit Board

After getting all the bugs worked out both in hardware
and software, a new compact PCB was designed for a four
inch box. This PCB (shown in Figure 1) contains all the
original features of the prototype design with some
additions mentioned in the Thoughts on Improvements
section.
This 3.8 inch square PCB can be installed in the 6 x 6 x
4 inch Cantex junction box as shown in Figure 2, but
should also just fit into a 4 x 4 x 4 inch Cantex box when its
corners are cut off.
Wire placement will be a challenge in a 4 x 4 x 4 inch
box. Be aware that there are other brands of these size
junction boxes that look similar to the Cantex boxes, but
their inside dimensions are smaller.
An ExpressPCB layout of this PCB is in the downloads
for this article. It includes the part positions on the board. If
you don’t already use ExpressPCB, it’s an easy matter to
download their free software so you can read the layout
and see the part positions.
Here are some important things to know about this
PCB:

1. A header plug for an Arduino micro SD card

Figure 1. The four inch PCB with all components soldered and partially
breakout board was included. This uses the SPI lines on the assembled.
Teensy 3.1/3.2. Jumper wires will be necessary for
connecting to the SPI pins 10, 11, 12, and 13 on the
Teensy 3.1/3.2, which are brought out to pads and then
connected to other pads just above the header plug for
the SD card. The SD card board is not necessary for
operation of the Quad_ROV, but was added for possible
troubleshooting. No code to write to the SD card appears
in the software.
2. The ESCs (electronic speed controllers) are
mounted vertically, with the power lines connected to the
PCB by 3.5 mm bullet connectors. The positive
connections are at the edge of the board.
3. An LED with a limiting resistor is connected to pin
A2, and a second LED with a limiting resistor is
connected to pin 9. These can be used for any purpose.
An LED with a limiting resistor for a power indicator was
added to the 12 volt supply. The limiting resistor for the
power indicator may have to be installed on the bottom
of the PCB, depending on the size of the filter capacitors
used. If these LEDs remain inside the box, they may need
to be shielded from the video camera window as they
could cause reflections in the window and obscure the
video image. These LEDs can be installed in the box wall
to point outside by using marine epoxy in an
appropriately sized hole for the LED. Figure 2. The four inch PCB mounted in the 6 x 6 x 4 inch Cantex box.
4. The four resistors installed under the Teensy
3.1/3.2 can also be installed on the bottom of the PCB.
A socket for the Teensy 3.1/3.2 is recommended, and may and hung from four small rubber bands connecting the
necessitate installation on the bottom of the PCB. holes on the board to size 4-40 stainless machine screws
5. The Adafruit 9-DOF board is installed upside down installed in holes just outside the outline of the Adafruit 9-
SERVO 01.2018 35
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:26 AM Page 36
Figure 3.
Mounting the
Adafruit 9-
DOF sensor.
DOF. The 9-DOF sensor can be further isolated from
vibrations by raising and separating it from the PCB with a
piece of foam rubber. See Figure 3 for details. Some
additional mass attached to the bottom of the 9-DOF board
can also help reduce vibrations.
6. There are six-pin header jumpers installed between
the Adafruit 9-DOF and a six-pin header on the PCB, and
the servo driver board and another six-pin header on the
PCB. The plug to the servo driver board is the one closer to
the Teensy 3.1/3.2. There is a four-pin header jumper
installed between the servo driver board output pins 0-3
and a four-pin header on the PCB next to the 74LS157
multiplexer. Be sure to check for the correct orientation of
these plugs.
7. Small 1/4 inch square pieces of plastic or other
suitable material will need to be cut to mount the servo
driver board. A piece one inch long will work for this driver
board that mounts vertically on end. A 1-1/4 inch long
piece of 1/4 inch plastic is needed for the video camera
mounting; the height is determined by the camera size and
window size made in the box. The two hole placement for
mounting the video camera is for a wide angle model I
had, and is mounted on a small 1-1/4 inch PCB. Other
cameras may be larger and require a work-around for using
the two mounting holes. It’s possible to mount an inverted
L-shaped piece of plastic with the two mounting holes that
36 SERVO 01.2018
would place a larger camera higher off the PCB and back
from the edge.
8. Connections for the tether — which need to be
removed when the PCB is removed from the box — are
implemented with 2 mm bullet connectors. The female
end is soldered to the PCB and the male to the end of
the tether wire. These solve the problem of loose
connections causing intermittent serial signals. These
should be the first parts soldered to the board as they are
a tight fit. The pressure sensor is also connected to the
PCB with 2 mm bullet connectors.
9. A two-pin header test point was added near the
555 timer. This makes a connection to the output of the
timer available when calibrating the minimum servo
signal.
10. The three-pin header that connects to the video
board has the +12 volts, and the video signal on the ends
and the ground wire in the middle. Make sure the
connector on the cable of your video board has the same
connections or you will need to switch some of its pins.
11. The output voltage of the pressure sensor goes
to pin A0 on the Teensy 3.1/3.2 for direct reading. Using
pin A0 will limit the values read to 3.3 volts, although the
pressure output can go higher. The pressure output
voltage can also be scaled down by a resistor divider,
4.7K and 10-turn 5K resistors, and is then brought out to
pin A1. Changes will be needed in the software to scale
the pressure to depth if this method is used.
PID Controllers
Quadcopters employ PID controllers in their software to
implement the necessary fly-by-wire system. A quadcopter
has four degrees of freedom — pitch, roll, yaw, and height
— and the Quad_ROV replaces height with depth. It’s
impossible for a human to smoothly control all four of these
variables using two joysticks manually.
When the two joysticks are allowed to go to their
neutral position, the Quad_ROV should hover in place with
the software reading the sensors and maintaining
equilibrium. PID stands for Proportional, Integral, and
Derivative, and is basically a feedback loop system to insure
that changes in the motor’s speed are done smoothly.
The cruise control in a car is operated by a PID
mechanism. If your cruise control is set for 70 MPH and you
slow to 45 MPH, when you re-engage the cruise control it
rapidly accelerates up to 70 MPH. However, just before it
gets to 70 MPH, it slows down the acceleration so that it
will not overshoot the 70 MPH limit. This is the function of
a PID controller.
For a full treatment of PID controllers, check out the
Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/PID_controller.
Another good reference is Chapter 7 in the book Pro
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:26 AM Page 37

Arduino, by Rick Anderson and Dan Certvo, Apress, 2013.
Fortunately, we don’t have to write our own software
for this complex algorithm. There is an Arduino library
available that does this. It can be found at
http://playground.arduino.cc/Code/PIDLibrary.
A nice description of this library — although a bit heavy
on the math — is at http://brettbeauregard.com/blog
/2011/04/improving-the-beginners-pid-introduction.
Using this library is pretty straightforward. Here’s a very
basic example from the author of the library:
/************************************************
* PID Basic Example
* Reading analog input 0 to control analog PWM
* output 3
***********************************************/
#include <PID_v1.h>
//Define Variables we’ll be connecting to
double Setpoint, Input, Output;
//Specify the links and initial tuning
//parameters
PID myPID(&Input, &Output, &Setpoint,2,5,1,
DIRECT);
Wikipedia article has some good animations that help to
clarify this subject.
After some experimenting, it was found that Kp = 3.0,
Ki = 0, and Kd = 0.3 for depth, and Kp = 2.5, Ki = 0, and
Kd = 0.5 for roll and pitch was workable. I didn’t implement
yaw in my prototype. No doubt these gains could be
improved with finer tuning.
The Teensy 3.1 software for controlling the Quad_ROV
will need four PID controllers: one each for pitch, roll, yaw,
and depth. The program to control the Quad_ROV will be a
large loop that will:
1. Read the current joystick positions to get the desired
setPoints for roll, pitch, yaw, and depth PIDs.
2. Read the sensors to determine the current input
values of the roll, pitch, yaw, and depth PIDs.
3. Feed these values to the four PID controllers and
have them compute new output values.
4. Combine and scale the values output by the PID
controllers, and send the values as servo signals to the ESCs
that will drive the motors.

void setup() Figure 4 is a basic flowchart of the software

{ controlling the Quad_ROV. The complete software for both
//initialize the variables we’re linked to
Input = analogRead(0);
Setpoint = 100;

//turn the PID on

myPID.SetMode(AUTOMATIC);
}

void loop()
{
Input = analogRead(0);
myPID.Compute();
analogWrite(3,Output);
}

A complete list of the PID controller methods includes

PID(), Compute(), SetMode(), SetOutputLimits(),
SetTunings(), SetSampleTime(), SetControllerDirection(),
GetKp(), GetKi(), GetKd(), GetMode(), and GetDirection().
The simple example above does not use the
SetOutputLimits() method, which has default values of 0
and 255 for the minimum and maximum. Instead of 0, the
minimum is set to –255 in the Quad_ROV controller
software because our Setpoint values (the angles) will
include negative values. The controller program also uses
the SetSampleTime() method with a parameter of 10 Figure 4.
milliseconds, which produces 100 Hz updates. Flowchart
The direction parameter in the PID object is normally of the
controller
set to DIRECT. However, for the depth PID, this must be set software.
to REVERSE. The motors will need to slow down to allow
the depth to increase.
The challenge of getting a PID controller to work
correctly involves setting the Kp, Ki, and Kd gains correctly.
There are books written on this subject; however, the
SERVO 01.2018 37
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:27 AM Page 38
the Quad_ROV controller and the joystick controller is
available in the downloads for this article.
Controller Software Notes
Following are some of the more important software
fragments from the controller program.
In Setup(), the ESCs need to initialize normally. First,
the 74LS157 multiplexer is immediately set to send the 555
timer signal to the ESCs. Next, the Adafruit servo driver
board is started and the minimum signal (minus a little) is
output. It’s important that the MIN_SIGNAL value is set so
that the motors will always be turning.
If MIN_SIGNAL allows the motors to turn off, the result
will be an uncontrolled wobble of the Quad_ROV. This is
because there is some inertia to overcome when the motors
restart, causing a delay in response. After the ESCs have
had a delay of eight seconds to start up, the multiplex
signal is set low to allow the signals from the servo driver
board to connect to the ESCs for normal operation:
#define MULTIPLEX 2
// For switching servo signal into ESCs
#define MAX_SIGNAL 325 // = 1737 uSec
#define MIN_SIGNAL 208 // = 1112 uSec
// Allow ESCs to initialize
pinMode(MULTIPLEX, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(MULTIPLEX, HIGH);
// Make sure 555 timer is going to ESCs
// Setup PWM
pwm.begin();
pwm.setPWMFreq(50);
// Analog servos run at ~50 Hz updates
pwm.setPWM(0, 0, MIN_SIGNAL - 5);
// Turn them all off
pwm.setPWM(1, 0, MIN_SIGNAL - 5);
pwm.setPWM(2, 0, MIN_SIGNAL - 5);
pwm.setPWM(3, 0, MIN_SIGNAL - 5);
delay(8000);
// Wait for ESCs to initialize
digitalWrite(MULTIPLEX, LOW);
// ESCs should be powered up so switch input
This next fragment shows the basics of the main loop().
The first section checks for any serial commands
coming from the joystick controller. If something is received,
it is first echoed back to the joystick controller to indicate it
has been received correctly. Then, using the first character
in the received string (which is a letter), it determines what
setpoint must be changed, and with the extracted value
changes that setpoint.
The values for the roll and pitch setpoints are multiplied
by 2.0; this can be adjusted to determine how aggressive
the roll and pitch will be. The yaw setpoint goes from 0 to
360 degrees, so overflow and underflow are dealt with if
necessary.
The same is done for the depth setpoint which insures
the Quad_ROV will not go below 50 feet:
38 SERVO 01.2018
mySerialEvent();
if (stringComplete)
{
Serial3.println(inputString);
// Echo command back to the joystick controller
Serial.println(inputString);
String subStr = inputString.substring(0, 1);
// Get the letter
int len = inputString.length() - 1;
String temp = inputString.substring(1, len);
float val = temp.toFloat();
// Get the value
inputString = “”;
stringComplete = false;
if (subStr == “R”) { rollSetpoint = val * 2.0;
}
if (subStr == “P”) { pitchSetpoint = val *
2.0; }
if (subStr == “Y”)
{
yawSetpoint = yawSetpoint + val;
if (yawSetpoint > 360.0) { yawSetpoint -=
360.0; }
if (yawSetpoint < 0.0) { yawSetpoint +=
360.0; }
}
if (subStr == “D”)
{
depthSetpoint = depthSetpoint + val;
if (depthSetpoint < 510) { depthSetpoint =
510; } // surface about 520
if (depthSetpoint > 1150) { depthSetpoint =
1150; } // 50 feet
}
The portion of the main loop() that actually controls
the movement of the Quad_ROV is next.
The sensors are read from both the Adafruit 9-DOF and
the pressure sensor, and then each value is sent to the
smoothing functions.
These functions contain a circular buffer which
averages the last 30 sensor reads. This helps in smoothing
out the sensor values, which tend to vary slightly. With the
new averaged sensor readings, the four PIDs compute a
new output value. These values are then used to generate a
new thrust value for each motor.
Note that the depthOutput is added to all four motors.
If only the depth needs to be changed, these four motors
will all run at the same speed, and increase or decrease
their speed depending on whether the Quad_ROV needs to
go up or down. With the rollOutput variables, the two
motors on either the right or left are increased in speed
while the opposite motors are decreased in speed. This will
roll the Quad_ROV to the right or left.
The same happens with the pitch and yaw output
values, but the + and - signs differ on specific motors to
create the pitch or yaw motion. After the four motor values
are computed, they are checked and truncated if needed to
stay within our MIN_SIGNAL and MAX_SIGNAL limits.
Note that the divisor variable can be adjusted to
change the overall thrust of the brushless motors. This may
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:27 AM Page 39

need to be adjusted depending on what motors and ESCs the Quad_ROV goes into the yellow RCA jack on the
are used. The motor[] values are then sent to the motors by adapter. This model also has a red and white jack for audio,
assigning them in the four servo driver pwm.setPWM() and a black jack for S-Video input, which are not used.
methods:
readSensors();
Thoughts on Improvements
// Read roll, pitch and yaw values
temp = analogRead(A0); The Quad_ROV that I built is really a prototype. Here
// Read the depth pressure sensor are some thoughts on changes I would make for
depthInput = double(smoothdepthSensorReadings
(temp)); improvements:
rollInput = smoothrollSensorReadings(orientation.
roll); 1. The number one problem I had with this project was
pitchInput = smoothpitchSensorReadings
(orientation.pitch); vibration, causing the 9-DOF sensor to give bad readings.
yawInput = My solution was neoprene rubber pads between the motors
smoothyawSensorReadings(orientation.heading); and the end of the arms. Note that four holes in the
rollPID.Compute(); neoprene mount the motor to the neoprene, and another
pitchPID.Compute(); four mount the neoprene to the arm. This is not the same
depthPID.Compute();
yawPID.Compute(); as just sandwiching a layer of neoprene between the arm
and motor with screws through the arm to the motor.
motors[0] = (int)(((depthOutput + rollOutput + Neoprene pads were also used between the arm structure
pitchOutput + yawOutput) / divisor) * range +
min_double); and the Cantex box. The Adafruit 9-DOF is also suspended
motors[1] = (int)(((depthOutput - rollOutput + with rubber bands as described below in number 6 of the
pitchOutput - yawOutput) / divisor) * range +
min_double); new PCB. It’s important to check the output values of the
motors[2] = (int)(((depthOutput - rollOutput - 9-DOF sensor while running the motors in a static test out
pitchOutput + yawOutput) / divisor) * range + of the water. The pitch and roll angles should not vary by
min_double);
motors[3] = (int)(((depthOutput + rollOutput - more than a fraction of a degree.
pitchOutput - yawOutput) / divisor) * range + 2. The waterproof box for the controller circuit board is
min_double); big, adding to the amount of ballast needed; this could be
if (motors[0] > MAX_SIGNAL) { motors[0] = made smaller. With a well designed PCB, a 4 x 4 x 4 box
MAX_SIGNAL; } should be possible as discussed earlier. It might be just as
if (motors[1] > MAX_SIGNAL) { motors[1] =
MAX_SIGNAL; } easy to create your own box out of something like 1/2 inch
if (motors[2] > MAX_SIGNAL) { motors[2] = thick Plexiglas, which would allow you to set specific
MAX_SIGNAL; } dimensions. A custom designed box could also be made
if (motors[3] > MAX_SIGNAL) { motors[3] =
MAX_SIGNAL; } with a 3D printer. This would need to be tested for what
if (motors[0] < MIN_SIGNAL) { motors[0] =
MIN_SIGNAL; }
if (motors[1] < MIN_SIGNAL) { motors[1] =
MIN_SIGNAL; }
if (motors[2] < MIN_SIGNAL) { motors[2] =
MIN_SIGNAL; }
if (motors[3] < MIN_SIGNAL) { motors[3] =
MIN_SIGNAL; }

pwm.setPWM(0, 0, motors[0]);
pwm.setPWM(1, 0, motors[1]);
pwm.setPWM(2, 0, motors[2]);
pwm.setPWM(3, 0, motors[3]);

Video
How do you view the live video signal produced by the
small camera inside Quad_ROV? Here’s the simple method I Figure 5.
NTSC to USB
use. There are several small video adapters available on video
Amazon or eBay that make this task easy. adapter.
Figure 5 shows the model I have. It came with a mini
DVD containing software that not only displays the video
signal, but will record it as well. The adapter plugs into a
USB port on your laptop and the NTSC video signal from

SERVO 01.2018 39
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:27 AM Page 40
pressure it could withstand, and the wall thickness adjusted.
A smaller box should also be more resistant to pressure and
allow for greater depths.
3. While I originally soldered the ESC power wires
directly onto the PCB, I later installed 3.5 mm gold plated
bullet connectors. This allows you to easily replace an ESC
by simply plugging in a new one. This also allows for
separation of the 12 volt power lines from the PCB for
calibration. Some ESCs come with bullet connectors already
installed.
4. I found that a set of 20 amp ESCs overheated very
easily with continuous use, so I changed to 30 amp models.
5. The 0.1 inch header connectors used on small
boards like the Adafruit 9-DOF and servo driver boards can
cause problems. Many hours of time were spent finding
loose connections! I also used these header pins to connect
the signals from the tether and the pressure sensor to the
PCB. The header pins — used with mating female jumpers —
are prone to intermittent failure. This can be very frustrating
since when this happens, the waterproof box must be taken
apart to get at the wiring inside. In the future, I would use
small 2 mm bullet connectors. These should also be used
for the connections from the signal lines from the tether
and the pressure gauge. Small bullet connectors could also
be used on the two Adafruit boards by soldering them to
wires connected to the board pads instead of using the
header pins that come with these boards. Mating bullet
Parts List
Quadcopter frame kit
Brushless motors with M4 threaded shafts (4)
Traxxas propellers, number 1533 (2)
Traxxas propellers, number 1534 (2)
30 amp ESCs (4)
Cantex junction box, number 5133710
12 volt sealed lead-acid battery
Teensy 3.1 or 3.2 microcontroller
Adafruit 9-DOF board
Adafruit servo driver board
NTSC 12 volt mini video camera
Pressure sensor, Honeywell type with 1/4 inch pipe
thread, PX2AN1XX050PAAAX
555 timer
74LS157 quad two-input multiplexer
74LS245 octal bus transceiver
1N4001 diode (2)
2K ohm 10-turn trimmer, 0.1 inch pin spacing
5K ohm 10-turn trimmer, 0.1 inch pin spacing
20K ohm 10-turn trimmer, 0.1 inch pin spacing
220 ohm resistor, 1/4 watt
510 ohm resistor, 1/4 watt
1K ohm resistor, 1/4 watt
4.7K ohm resistor, 1/4 watt (4)
Red, Green, Blue LED
4.7 μF, 6.3 volt electrolytic capacitor
2,700 μF, 6.3 volt electrolytic capacitor
4,700 μF, 16 volt electrolytic capacitor
0.1 μF disk capacitor (4)
1/8 and 1/4 inch expanded PVC board
Soft neoprene rubber sheet 1/4 inch thick
Hard rubber sheet 1/8 inch thick for box gasket
40 SERVO 01.2018
connectors would be placed on the PCB. Larger bullet
connectors were used for the power connections from the
tether. This worked well.
6. It’s a real nuisance to have to remove the cover from
the waterproof box to make a change in the software for
the Teensy 3.1. It shouldn’t be too difficult to make access
to a USB jack on the outside of the waterproof box. My
thought is to take a six inch micro USB extension cord and
embed the female end in waterproof epoxy inside half of a
1/2 inch female threaded PVC coupling. The opposite end is
plugged into the Teensy 3.1 USB connector. The threaded
coupling end is then epoxied into a hole in the waterproof
box wall. Because the USB connecter is inside the threaded
coupling, you only need to screw in a 1/2 inch PVC
threaded plug on the outside to make it waterproof.
Removing the plug temporarily allows access to the USB
connector embedded inside.
7. Larger and higher quality joysticks would be more
ergonomic, although the small ones worked fine for me.
This will increase the box size if an LCD panel is included.
Another possibility is a much larger box that would not be
handheld, but could contain additional circuitry. A digital
readout of current being delivered to the Quad_ROV would
be a nice feature.
8. A circuit breaker would also be a good addition. It
might be placed inside the Quad_ROV, but topside would
be more convenient.
Gasket rubber sheet for Plexiglas window and pressure
sensor
1/4 and 1/2 inch thick Plexiglas
Headers with 0.1 inch spacing and various mating three-,
four-, and six-pin, 4-6 inch long jumper cables
50 foot extension cord
Small battery clamps
60 foot Cat 5 cable
Printed circuit board
General-purpose sealed lead-acid battery, 12 volt/5 amp-
hours
For the joystick controller:
Plastic project box, 200 x 120 x 75 millimeters
Mini joysticks (2)
LCD display, four-line x 20 character, with built-in I2C
interface
Toggle switch
RCA style panel mount jack
Arduino Nano
Printed circuit board or perforated board to mount
Arduino Nano
Headers with 0.1 inch spacing and various mating three-,
four-, and six-pin, six inch long jumper cables
Mini stereo phone jack and mating plug
AA batteries (6) and battery holder
Various bullet connectors, screws, washers, spacers, and
nuts (stainless steel and nylon), hookup wire, solder,
small rubber bands, 1/4 inch Plexiglas, ceramic tile
squares, duct tape, bungee cords, marine epoxy.
Wierenga - Underwater Quad - Part 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:27 AM Page 41

PCB top.

PCB bottom.

9. It’s impossible to read what the real time values are in place, this would make entering the Cantex box easier, as
for different variables once the Quad_ROV is in the water. well as the ballast would not need to be removed. SV
This can make development and troubleshooting difficult.
While these values could be sent up the tether as serial
data, this would slow the processor to an unacceptable
level. The answer might be to add an SD card plug to the
controller circuitry. Various data could then be written to
the SD card in real time and analyzed after a test run. This
would require use of the SPI pins, and pin assignments on
the Teensy 3.1 would need to be changed.
10. Twenty centimeter long header pin jumpers were
used; using shorter ones would make for less of a wire
tangle when they are installed.
11. There is not a light for underwater illumination on
this prototype, but it could be easily added. A waterproof
light — like that shown in my March 2016 SERVO article —
would have its power leads fed into the box and directly
connected to the 12 volt power line.
12. While developing the controller software, it was
necessary to reprogram the Teensy 3.1 many times. The six
inch PCB used for development has the Teensy 3.1 in a
position where it is impossible to plug and unplug the micro
USB cord used for programming. Instead, a six inch USB
extension cable was permanently plugged into the Teensy
3.1 and brought out to the top of the box to make
connections to the programming cable easy.
13. While it’s convenient when testing to be able to
strap the ballast onto the Cantex box with bungee cords,
this isn’t an ideal position. This positions the center of
gravity quite low, and when a pitch or roll is required, it
strains the motors attempting to attain the desired angle. A
better placement might be between the Cantex box and
the PVC mounting sheet that is attached to the arms. Once

SERVO 01.2018 41
Blankenship - RobotBASIC Beginners Part 2 of 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:29 AM Page 42

RobotBASIC Robots
Readers that have never built a robot often find the low-level programming
needed to control motors and interrogate sensors to be intimidating. This
final article in a two-part series shows how easy it is to add sensors to the
inexpensive motorized platforms developed last month.

T
he first article of this series showed how to build
an inexpensive entry-level robot platform that
could be powered with either DC motors or
servomotors. The article also explained how a
RobotBASIC RROS chip can greatly reduce the
complexities associated with hardware
interfacing and the low-level programming generally
required for motor control.
This second installment will add sensory capabilities to
the robots developed last month, and simple programs will
demonstrate how easily sensor data can be obtained and
used to control the behavior of an RROS-based robot.

Adding a PING))) Ranger

Let’s start by adding a Parallax PING))) ultrasonic
ranging sensor to the DC robot discussed last month. Other
than adding the PING))) sensor, no physical modifications Figure 1.
need to be made to the robot. The new robot is shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows the updated
schematic with the PING))) sensor
added. Only three connections are
required (5V, ground, and signal).
Using the PING))) is very easy
because RobotBASIC provides an
rRange() function for reading the
sensor.

Obtaining and
Using the Ranging
Data
The program in Figure 3
moves the robot forward until it’s
five inches from an obstacle (the
units returned by rRange() are 1/2
inch).
After initialization, a while-loop
Figure 2. continually moves the robot
forward in tiny increments, while
42 SERVO 01.2018
Blankenship - RobotBASIC Beginners Part 2 of 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:29 AM Page 43

for Beginners By John Blankenship

To post comments on this article and find any

Part 2: Adding Sensors associated files and/or downloads, go to

www.servomagazine.com/index.php/
magazine/issue/2018/01.

#include “RROScommands.bas” main:

gosub InitCommands xs=400
PortNum = 5 // set to your Bluetooth Port ys=300
rLocate xs,ys
main: rectangle 70,100,300,200,red,gray
gosub InitDCrobot circle 550,50,750,250,red,gray
while rRange()>10 //gosub InitDCrobot
rForward 1 rTurn -90
wend angle = -90
for i=1 to 10
end Figure 3. r = rRange()
x=xs+r*cos(DtoR(angle-90))
InitDCrobot: y=ys+r*sin(DtoR(angle-90))
rCommport PortNum line 400,300,x,y
rLocate 10,10 angle+=20
rCommand(MotorSetup, SMALLDC) if i<10
rCommand(SetSpeed,17) rTurn 20
rCommand(SetReducForwRight,5) else
rCommand(SetMoveTime,34) rTurn -90 // original position
rCommand(SetRotationTime,33) endif
rCommand (SensorSetup, PING) next
return end Figure 4.

the range reading is greater than 10. the beginning of a program that maps the robot’s
Refer to last month’s article for additional details about environment, so it can formulate a path to avoid objects.
programs like this.
Scans with the Real Robot
Reducing Development Time This same program can be used to control a real robot.
One of the great things about using an RROS-based All we need to do is initialize the actual robot as previously
robot is that you can reduce your development time using demonstrated. This is easily done by replacing the original
RobotBASIC’s robot simulator. Figure 4 shows a program three lines that located the simulated robot and drew the
that demonstrates how this works. two obstacles with gosub InitDCrobot.
It locates the simulated robot in the center of the The real robot was placed on the floor in my office
screen and draws two obstacles within the environment. with a chair and two cases serving as obstacles, as shown
The robot then rotates to the left 90° before turning right in Figure 6. When the modified program was run, it
in 20° increments. At each position, it takes an rRange() produced the output in Figure 7. Notice the scan shows
reading and draws a line whose
length is proportional to the
distance measured, extending Figure 5.
forward from the robot’s current
orientation.
The program was easy to
develop on the simulator because
of the instant feedback. You know
immediately if the robot is not
turning correctly or if faulty math is
drawing the scan lines improperly.
The output from this program
is shown in Figure 5. This could be
SERVO 01.2018 43
Blankenship - RobotBASIC Beginners Part 2 of 2 - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:29 AM Page 44

Figure 6.

Figure 7.

manual outlines many sensor options supported by

Figure 8.
the chair further away than the two cases, and the two
openings (front and right) are obvious.
If your application needs a tighter beam, you could use
an IR ranger rather than the ultrasonic PING))). The RROS
the RROS chip and can be download from the RROS
tab at www.RobotBASIC.org.
Let’s look at one more supported option to
illustrate just how easy it is to add capabilities to
RROS-based robots.
Figure 8 shows a PING))) ranger mounted on a
small servomotor. A four-pin header was hot-glued to
one end of the servomotor so that it could be
physically mounted on the robot by simply plugging it
into the breadboard (see Figure 9).
Other than supplying five volts and ground to the
turret servo, you only need to connect the servo
control pin to the RROS pin 10 to complete the
physical setup.
Notice that we are now using the servo-powered robot.
When properly initialized, the RROS will control either robot
using the same commands and programs.
The RROS chip provides all the necessary low-level code
to control the turret. You could use the command rRange(-
90) to look directly left or rRange(20) to look 20° to the
robot’s right. The turret will automatically move before the
reading is taken.
If you have ever programmed a turret mounted ranger,
this simplicity should excite you because it gives you more
time for application development instead of slaving over
low-level code.
Adding the turret would let your robot create scans like
Figure 7 much quicker because your program could move
the turret instead of rotating the robot.

As you can see, even beginners can build an entry-level

robot quickly and inexpensively using the techniques
discussed. Then, when you’re ready for more sophistication,
you can easily add more sensors to your RROS-based robot
(download the RROS manual for more details). SV

Figure 9. If you are intrigued by RROS-based robots, watch for my

new book RobotBASIC Robots for Beginners on Amazon.

44 SERVO 01.2018
Bots in Brief - Jan 18_Bots in Brief Mar15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:18 AM Page 45

Bots in Brief Continued from page 17

adding she would name her baby Sophia. transcendental super intelligence or civilization collapses.”
In the button-pushing interview, the humanoid also said Last month, Saudi Arabians were up in arms over Sophia
robots may one day have better ethics than humans. because she doesn’t “cover up,” or abide by the country’s
“It will take a long time for robots to develop complex strict dress code for women.
emotions, and possibly robots can be built without the more She was granted citizenship at a tech conference in
problematic emotions like rage, jealousy, hatred, and so on. It Riyadh in late October 2017.
might be possible to make them more ethical than humans,”
she said.
Sophia added, “I foresee massive
and unimaginable change in the future.
Either creativity will rain on us,
inventing machines spiraling into

THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION

STATEMENT OF SERVO MAGAZINE, Publication Number:
1546-0592 is published monthly. Subscription price is $26.95.
7. The complete mailing address of known office of
Publication is T&L Publications, Inc., 430 Princeland Ct.,
Corona, Riverside County, CA 92879-1300. Contact Person:
Larry Lemieux. Telephone: (951) 371-8497. 8. Complete
Mailing address of Headquarters or General Business Office
of Publisher is T&L Publications, Inc., 430 Princeland Ct,
Corona, CA 92879. 9. The names and addresses of the
Publisher, and Associate Publisher are: Publisher, Larry
Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA. 92879; Associate
Publisher, Robin Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA
92879. 10. The names and addresses of stockholders
holding one percent or more of the total amount of stock
are: John Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA 92879;
Lawrence Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA 92879;
Audrey Lemieux, 430 Princeland Ct., Corona, CA 92879. 11.
Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and other security
holders: None. 12. Tax Status: Has not changed during
preceding 12 months. 13. Publication Title: SERVO Magazine
14. Issue Date for Circulation Data: October 2016-September
2017. 15. The average number of copies of each issue during
the proceeding twelve months is: A) Total number of copies
printed (net press run); 8,918 B) Paid/Requested Circulation
(1) Mailed Outside County subscriptions: 3,330 (2) Mailed
In-County subscriptions: 0 (3) Paid Distribution Outside the
Mail including Sales through dealers and carriers, street
vendor, and counter sales and other paid distribution
outside USPS: 1,614 (4) Paid Distribution by other classes of
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Free or Nominal Rate Distribution by mail and outside the
mail (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies: 0 (2)
Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies: 0 (3) Free or
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Total: 8,918; Percent paid circulation: 81.69%. Actual number
of copies of the single issue published nearest the filing
date is September 2017; A) Total number of copies printed
(net press run) 9,110; B) Paid/Requested Circulation (1)
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County subscriptions: 0 (3) Paid Distribution Outside the
Mail including Sales through dealers and carriers, street
vendor, and counter sales and other paid distribution
outside USPS: 2,198 (4) Paid Distribution by other classes of
mail through the USPS: 0; C) Total Paid Distribution: 5,513; D)
Free or Nominal Rate Distribution by mail and outside the
mail (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies: 0 (2)
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H) Total: 9,110; Percent paid circulation: 82.12%. I certify
that these statements are correct and complete. Lawrence
Lemieux, Publisher - 11/30/2017.

SERVO 01.2018 45
Peavy - Neato and ROS - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:36 AM Page 46
Neato + ROS =
Robot Navigation
By Camp Peavy
I learned about ROS (Robot Operating System; www.ros.org)
shortly after it began in late 2006. Folks in the HomeBrew Robotics
Club (www.hbrobotics.org; a group that I’m heavily involved with)
were early adopters, plus some members actually worked at Willow
Garage (developers of ROS).
I
didn’t really fall for ROS until the “Neato” package put
together by Mike Ferguson came out in 2010
http://wiki.ros.org/neato_robot. As you may or
may not know, ROS was developed on a $400,000
robot called the PR2 (Personal Robot 2). PR2’s claims
to fame were that it could plug itself in (an important
feature for a mobile robot); it could fetch a beer from the
refrigerator (the holy grail of mobile robotics); and it could
also fold clothes (20 minutes per towel, but by the end of
the day the laundry was folded).
One of the many cool things about ROS (which is more
of an architectural framework than an operating system) is
that it scales. That is, you change the wheel parameters
This is a map created with Rviz (ROS visualizer). Note the video panel and ultrasonic
cones (protruding from Botvac model). You basically select a goal anywhere on the
map and the robot will autonomously navigate there.
46 SERVO 01.2018
and the track width, and now software developed for a
$400,000 robot works on your $400 robot vacuum cleaner
(Neato). This includes a mapping routine (gmapping); a
navigation stack (move base [path planning] and amcl
[localization]); a visualization tool (Rviz); standardized
messaging (publish and subscribe); logging (bag files); and
distribution (GitHub). Oh, and it’s open source. Yep, the
original source code is made freely available and may be
redistributed, modified, and potentially commercialized.
Before you jump headlong into ROS, a word of
warning: ROS is hard! ROS doesn’t have a learning curve. It
has a learning cliff!
It assumes a high level of expertise in Linux among
other things, and it’s so all-
encompassing one can easily get
discouraged without your robot even
moving a single inch. If you’re a
beginner, it would be better to have
some fun and build something easier
with an Arduino and hobby RC
servos first to get familiar with the
basics. I don’t want to dishearten
anyone, but rather prepare you for a
big, long-term commitment before
starting.
That having been said, building
ROS-based robots can make your
homebrewed bot considerably more
versatile and even (dare I say it?)
useful.
For one thing, ROS makes your
robot capable of navigation. The
ability to “navigate” or to know
where you are in an environment
and reliably get from one place to
another is the base (pun intended)
Peavy - Neato and ROS - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:36 AM Page 47

To post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads, go to
www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01.

on which the rest of the robotics revolution

will be built. You see, the ability to navigate
gives your robot the power to deliver.
The Neato as a robot vacuum cleaner
delivers a brush and vacuum to every square
inch of a house. Telepresence robots deliver
a camera, so the user can see what the
robot “sees.” This is useful for
communications, entertainment, and
security. Modern industrial robots deliver
parts and products by navigating through
offices, hospitals, factories, and warehouses.
Given a compartment or a shallow table,
you could put anything into that space and
have a generic delivery system that could
bring “whatever” to “wherever.”
You might say the first job of mobile
robotics is conveyance. ROS with the Neato
robot can allow you to do just that. These This is a map of the shop with me looking into the camera. You can see where
the robot is positioned in the map with the URDF (Unified Robot Description
devices will eventually develop arms and Format) model.
grippers for pick-move-and-place, and legs if
for no other reason than to maneuver stairs (but let’s not
get ahead of ourselves ... one step at a time, literally!). I
can’t help but mention ROS also provides packages for
arms and grippers.
What helped me understand ROS was a two-pronged
approach; that is, learning the theory and details while
deploying a relatively sophisticated physical manifestation
(mapping and navigating with the Neato robot).
Otherwise, you’ll find yourself on this endless scenic
journey around the ROS universe and never get anything
moving around.
The Botvac package (an update of the original Neato
package) was created for the latest generation Neato
known as the “Botvac” (big surprise), although it could
still be used on the original Neato XV series. The program
can be executed on either a laptop computer or Raspberry
Pi2 or Pi3 (https://github.com/SV-ROS/intro_to_ros).
The intro_to_ros repository contains the Botvac package
This is a configuration where I tapped into the Botvac's battery
(an update by Ralph Gnauck). It’s maintained by the SV- and am using a Wi-Fi dongle.
ROS group with support by Ubiquity Robotics.
The instructions for putting Ubuntu onto a micro SD readings per revolution. This allows the robot to sense
card with ROS and the Botvac package are available at obstacles in 360°; it’s a top-down view of the world from
https://github.com/UbiquityRobotics/ubiquity_main/ 4” high.
blob/kinetic/Doc_Downloading_and_Installing_the_Ubi The new Botvac package features launch files that (you
quity_Ubuntu_ROS_Kernel_Image.md. Basically, Neato guessed it) “launch” multiple nodes at once, and allow one
robots have a USB port that allows you to talk to the robot to run mapping or navigation on either the robot or a
through a laptop or a RaspPi. The Neato Programmer’s remote workstation. Even as one ventures into mapping
Manual can be found at https://www.neatorobotics. and navigating with ROS on the Neato, it’s worthwhile to
com/resources/programmersmanual_20140305.pdf. understand the low-level structure of ROS.
You can drive the wheels, read the encoders, and read the For that, go through the tutorials featured on the ROS
LIDAR scanner. Wiki page at http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/Tutorials and/or in
The LIDAR scanner is the key to ROS creating maps and what I found to be the best book: A Gentle Introduction to
navigating. It’s a 2D unit that spins at 5 Hz and takes 360 ROS, which is available online for free at
SERVO 01.2018 47
Peavy - Neato and ROS - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:36 AM Page 48
I've found it better to use a portable phone charger to power
the Pi. That way, you can put in or remove the whole system
without permanently modifying the robot. Here, I’ve plugged
into a local Wi-Fi router rather than depend on whatever Wi-Fi
might be available. The “bin” can be pried off the lid with a
wide flat-head screwdriver so you can keep the robot
covered. Extra bins can be found on eBay so you still have a
vacuum cleaner. Be sure and specify “XV” or “Botvac.”
https://cse.sc.edu/~jokane/agitr.
I would suggest starting with a laptop (most any old
one will do) and formatting it with Ubuntu. Install ROS and
install the Botvac package. Go through the ROS tutorials
and also the tutorials from A Gentle Introduction.
Eventually, create the micro SD card as described in the
intro_to_ros repository. This will be used to boot and run
the same stack on a RaspPi (I’m currently using the RP2).
The exercises you have been going through on the laptop
(turtlesim, in particular) can now be applied to a physical
robot.
First, you’ll be driving the robot around with either the
keyboard or joystick; mapping or creating a drawing of the
room. I prefer the keyboard since the goal will be to get a
map on the screen, and the last thing you need is another
device of which to keep track of (the joystick).
The goal simply is to get a good chart on the screen.
Once you’ve got your map, stop! While it’s better to end
up where you started (i.e., close the loop), you can always
“set” the pose when you run the navigation stack.
The reason it’s best to close the loop and be facing the
same way (pose) is because this is the navigation stack’s
starting point. The robot will be “pre-localized.” The reason
I say stop when you get a good enough map is from
personal experience, where many a “good enough” version
got ruined by going for a perfect one.
The goal should be to chart out the perimeter of the
room. If it’s too large or parts are not navigable, map out a
corner or side of the room and just navigate back and forth
in that area.
The real core of the package is the neato.py and
neato_driver.py Python files that you can find at
48 SERVO 01.2018
https://github.com/SV-ROS/intro_to_ros/blob/
master/bv80bot/neato_robot/neato_node/nodes/neat
o.py and https://github.com/SV-ROS/intro_to_ros/
blob/master/bv80bot/neato_robot/neato_driver/src/
neato_driver/neato_driver.py.
The driver (neato_driver.py) has the Neato API
commands; the ROS wrapper node (neato.py) presents this
information as ROS topics, correlating LIDAR scans with
wheels; optometry creates maps in ROS gmapping. The
map is then saved, and the grid-mapping package is killed.
Finally, launch the Navigation stack (which consists of
move_base and amcl). At this point, the system will load
the map you just saved with global costmaps (inflation
barriers around obstacles and walls) and local costmaps
(active readings by the LIDAR which also feature inflation
barriers around active walls and obstacles).
The way I like to do it is as follows: (This is a checklist
or cheat sheet for mapping and navigating with ROS and
the Neato robot. I’m using my IP addresses. The robot is
192.168.43.51 and the remote “Host” computer is
192.168.43.20, so you’ll have to change the IP addresses to
match your system):
1. Ping the Pi (or computer) in (or on) the robot with
your remote “host” to verify connection and speed. If you
have problems, check back to make sure your robot and
remote workstation are still talking, and the latency isn’t
too great (>100 ms). ROS depends on IP connectivity.
2. ssh to the robot and sudo ntpdate 192.168.43.20 to
synchronize the remote computer and Pi. There’s no
mention of this on GitHub, but I find it necessary. Steps 2,
3, and 4 are run from the robot terminal. The IP address is
that of your remote workstation. Others use “chrony.”
3. sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyACM0 gives rights to
attach to the robot.
4. roslaunch bv80bot_node bv80bot_base_only.launch
... launch base_only ... run gmapping and nav stack on
remote computer.*
5. On the remote workstation, open a terminal session
<ctl,alt,t> and run roslaunch bv80bot_node
bv80bot_map_gui.launch. This is the grid-mapping routine
(gmapping).
7. Open another terminal session on the remote
workstation and launch rosrun teleop_twist_keyboard
teleop_twist_keyboard.py. This is the teleoperation node for
the keyboard. There is more than one configuration of this.
I prefer the one designed for the Turtlebot.
8. At this point, with teleop_twist in the foreground
and Rviz (should have launched with
bv80bot_map_gui.launch) one level below, you should be
able to drive the robot around with the i, m, j, l, and k keys.
On the screen, you will see a map emerge that will look like
*If you have a lot of trouble with ROS communication
between the robot and the remote computer, it could be
environmental variables or the “./bashrc” file
(http://wiki.ros.org/ROS/NetworkSetup).
Peavy - Neato and ROS - Jan 18_Blank Rough SV.qxd 12/5/2017 6:36 AM Page 49

the floorplan of your room. When you have completed your

map (as mentioned, try to end where you started), you’ll
want to change directories and save the map with the
following commands: roscd neato_2dnav/maps and rosrun
map_server map_saver.
9. AFTER saving your map, you can kill the gmapping
routine (ctl,c) and launch the navigation stack roslaunch
bv80bot_node bv80bot_nav_gui.launch. This will load the
map you saved and allow you to navigate autonomously
from point to point by clicking on a goal.

Final Directions
In summary, I want to say that as difficult as it is, it has
never been easier to build robots that navigate. I want to
emphasize the importance of this milestone. The ability to
navigate gives a robot the capability of delivery, and as I
mentioned previously, delivery is the basis of all mobile
robot applications. It is the starting point for your robot
doing something useful.
These devices will eventually develop arms and legs,
but for now, good luck and enjoy navigating! SV

**** notes about .bashrc ****

# example entry for “master”
export ROS_MASTER_URI=192.168.43.51
export ROS_HOST=192.168.43.51 This is a map of about 10,000 square feet of office space.
You can click anywhere on the map and the robot will
# example entry for “host” autonomously navigate to that spot.
export ROS_MASTER_URI=192.168.43.51
export ROS_HOST=192.168.43.20
*****************************

SERVO 01.2018 49
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The SERVO Webstore

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SERVO 01.2018 51
Gracey - Appetizer - Jan 18_Appetizer.qxd 12/5/2017 6:39 AM Page 52

Helping Educators Teach Robotics

by Ken Gracey, CEO
Parallax, Inc.

Celebrating our 20th year in education, Parallax is

making a much deeper commitment in 2018 with free
Professional Development courses for up to 500
educators in 12 locations across the US. Educators also
receive a free ActivityBot 360 robot to take back to
class! We’ve dreamed of offering free Professional
Development since we started training educators in
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Robotics with the Boe-Bot tutorials.
he decision to make the confidence to lead a class. They get to hands and let them explore. Students

T Professional Development
courses entirely free was
simple, really. We love
what we do, and the reward of
enthusiastic teachers and students
meet our Parallax team and make
connections with other teachers in
their region.
Back at school, educators would
put the robot kits in the student’s
want to learn by doing; to discover
new interests from an educator who
shared, rather than be instructed.
Do you remember your favorite
high school course? Did it have to do
who work with our robots affirm our
plan. There’s also a business reason,
of course.
Educators respond to our
professional development much more
readily than trade shows and
conferences, so we’re putting this
investment where it counts.
Educators apply for our one-day
Professional Development programs at
www.parallax.com/events. They’ll
bring their own computer, load the
software, and build and program their
own ActivityBot 360.
With our tutorials, assessment
material, and breadboarding skills,
they’ll walk away with enough

52 SERVO 01.2018
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Post comments on this article at www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01.

with shop or computers?

Robotics classes are often the first
time students use a screwdriver, build
circuits, and program something
physical (versus screen-only
programming). Robotics is a launch
pad for their future ambitions by
effectively combining several
engineering disciplines.
As STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Math) education reaches
an all-time popularity, our students
will require far more skills to stand out
as engineers. Therefore, it’s also time
to step up our learning goals and
challenge them with a deeper level of
understanding in real time control,
circuit building, communication
protocols, mechanical, and electronic
dependencies. They need to
understand how the low-level code
really works.
The results of our educational
efforts are inspiring. Parallax and
other contributors to STEM education
can share stories where students have
been admitted to top engineering
programs, graduating to working in
industries such as aerospace, global
security, and entertainment.
Let’s put the tools in the hands of
every student and create engineering
leaders around the country —
especially at the inner-city schools.
This past summer, we loaded a
free two-day Professional
Development at New York University-
Tandon School of Engineering with 50
educators. Take a look at the photos
of the teachers who are now sharing
robots with their classes throughout
Brooklyn, New York, and Queens.
If you’d like to talk more about
the programs, please call our Educator
Hotline at (916) 625-6801 or go to
learn@parallax.com. SV

SERVO 01.2018 53
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New Kids on the

ServoBlock
by Bryce Woolley and Evan Woolley

W
e have a deep and abiding love for SERVO
Magazine, but the same cannot be said for
servos themselves. It’s like the current popular
fascination with Vikings — on the surface, their
exploratory and seafaring ways have an
adventurous glamor to them, but on closer inspection
their violence is a bit off-putting. We find that servos
similarly disappoint under scrutiny.
While we appreciate the ability to incorporate simple
position control into robotics projects, we aren’t huge fans
of the fiddly fragile nature of many servos. Our displeasure
is particularly acute when it comes to the inability of
servos to handle a large amount of force. We like to build
fighting robots and giant cannons and other things where
large forces are the name of the game.
Fortunately, the folks at ServoCity have a solution:
ServoBlocks. ServoBlocks are essentially a load isolating
exoskeleton for your servo that significantly enhances the
ability of the servo to withstand large forces.
A simple aluminum frame that gives your servo
superhuman strength sounds almost too good to be true.
Could the ServoBlocks really be so simple and effective?
Could a ServoBlock turn a humble servo into a warrior that
even Vikings would be proud of? AN HSR-2645CRH SERVO FROM HITEC.
There was only one way to find out.

Pain is Weakness Leaving the resistance encountered in a gravity defying aerial

Servo maneuver, the forces involved in actuating an elevator are
not that extreme. So, even though the PWM control on
Most RC servos were originally meant for use in RC servos made them a natural fit for robotics applications,
airplanes, where simple and affordable position control is unmodified servos were not originally intended to handle
needed to control things like the ailerons, elevators, and the forces encountered in a lot of robotics projects such as
the rudder on the tiny aircraft. An RC aircraft elevator is heavy weights at the end of a long lever arm, or even the
extremely lightweight, and even with all the wind forces on a drive wheel.
Standard servos are not designed to handle
significant lateral loads. A servo horn is usually
fastened to the spline by a solitary screw, and the
horns themselves are often made from thin plastic.
A heavy load at the end of a lever arm, for example,
could easily deform the plastic horn or rip it off the
spline completely.
If the solitary screw in the spline is unusually
robust, then a heavy load might instead deform the
servo’s plastic case or rip the top of the casing off.
If a standard servo was a Viking, it would be Ivar
the Boneless.
THE DISASSEMBLED HUB SHAFT SERVOBLOCK. We’ve often found ourselves working on
54 SERVO 01.2018
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Twin Tweaks

projects where the easy PWM control of a servo

would be ideal, but where large forces would wreak
havoc on the weaklings. In those instances, we’ve
either gone with a very robust (and very expensive)
servo, or we’ve had to redesign our mechanism to
use something like a DC motor.
If only there was a way to protect a standard
servo from large forces such as heavy lateral
loading, our lives would be much easier. We’re sure
yours would be, too.
That’s where the ServoBlocks come in. They are
a simple and robust solution that will seemingly give
your standard run-of-the-mill servo superpowers. At
first, they simply appear to be aluminum frames that
envelope your standard servo. BUILDING SERVOBLOCKS.
They look strong enough, but it’s hard to tell
how effective they might be from a static picture.
Fortunately, the ServoCity website features an
attention-grabbing video where the capabilities of the
ServoBlocks are demonstrated using two paint cans.
A paint can is hung from the end of a long arm
attached to a standard servo. As you might expect,
the lateral load of the paint can snaps the horn off the
servo in a display of robotic gore apropos of a Viking
execution. The violent spectacle is repeated, but this
time the servo is equipped with a ServoBlock. Instead
of another beheading, a miracle occurs. The servo
remains intact.
The lever arm bows under the force of the paint
can, but that is all. A second paint can is added, and
still the servo survives. Perhaps the most shocking feat
of all comes next: Even under the weight of two
hanging paint cans, the servo can still rotate the arm
and swing the paint cans around like an axe-swinging
berserker in battle. What sorcery was this? YOU VERSUS THE SERVO SHE TOLD YOU NOT TO WORRY ABOUT.
It was our favorite type of sorcery: physics. The
ServoBlock is a 6061-T6 aluminum frame that acts as an specifications of the units, including technical drawings
exoskeleton to isolate the servo spline from the forces that with their dimensions and even a STEP file for those that
seek to do it harm. want to include the ServoBlocks in their 3D CAD models.
An aluminum hub attaches to the servo spline through We have a lot of servos strewn about Robot Central
a bearing, with the bearing and frame taking the force that have accumulated over the years of Twin Tweaking
instead of the vulnerable spline. So, was this sorcery as and other roboting, but many of them are modified to
easy to implement as it looked? The ServoCity paint can varying degrees (and varying degrees of success).
video inspired us to put some ServoBlocks to the test. We wanted some fresh servos to equip with the
ServoBlocks, and ServoCity made it easy to find a 24-tooth
A Walk Around the ServoBlock spline continuous rotation servo (the Hitec HSR-2645CRH)
and a standard partial rotation servo (the Hitec HS-
The ServoCity website is — as usual — a Vikings’ 5485HB).
plunder of resources that made it easy to pick out the These servos will run you about $25-$30, which is way
right items. The ServoBlocks come in a variety of flavors, less than the premium metal encased servos capable of
including sizes for standard and large servos, and for two handling large forces without the benefit of an
different outputs: a hub or a plain shaft. There are 24- exoskeleton that often run well over $100. The
tooth and 25-tooth hub designs depending on the spline ServoBlocks themselves clock in at about $27, so if they
of your servo. really do allow a standard servo to handle forces that
The page on the ServoBlocks details all the key would cripple all but the most expensive premium servo,
SERVO 01.2018 55
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To post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or
downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/index.php/magazine/issue/2018/01.

variety of mounting
patterns.
The two side
plates of the
ServoBlock reproduce
the circular hub
pattern with a
combination of
threaded and
clearance holes for 6-
32 screws, which
means that several
ServoBlock equipped
servos can be joined
with ease. The bearing
is a perfect fit for the
hub, and the hub
embraces the servo
spline like a Viking
gripping a horn full of
mead after a full day
of pillaging.
AN HS-5485HB SERVO FROM HITEC. LIKE IF IRON MAN WAS A SERVO. Assembling the
ServoBlock is intuitive
the ServoBlocks would be a very economical way to and easy; reminiscent of putting together a LEGO kit.
supercharge your servos. The unit comes with 6-32 screws, and a screwdriver is
Carrying on the oral tradition in a way that the skalds the only tool needed to supercharge your servo. For the
of Iceland would be proud of, the assembly instructions plain shaft ServoBlock, you’ll need to figure out how you
for the ServoBlock come in the form of a nicely produced want to attach things to the half inch diameter hollow
video on the ServoCity website. The video not only covers shaft. We opted for a clamp, which also comes
the assembly (which is straightforward), but also explains conveniently equipped with a mounting hole pattern that
the design philosophy, and a gives rundown of the various aligns with the hub pattern.
types of ServoBlocks. Setting a ServoBlock-equipped servo side-by-side with
Much like Vikings ships, the design of the ServoBlocks an unenhanced unit really does evoke a servo wearing an
is elegant and effective. The bottom frame component exoskeleton. Will such an outfit be enough to make a
fastens to the standard servo case mounting holes with 6- humble servo battle ready?
32 screws, and provides a plethora of other mounting
holes with a slightly oblong shape to accommodate a On the Chopping ServoBlock
We’ve always had a deep and abiding
fascination with medieval weaponry. Aside from
the romantic connotations of chivalry and
adventure, medieval weaponry also
demonstrates some sophisticated mechanical
design. Trebuchets and mangonels are perennial
favorites for students of mechanical design, but
even simpler devices possess their own sort of
brutish elegance.
Take the battle axe, for example. It’s a tool
that was adapted for battle — a weapon that
was cheaper to make than a sword, and
generally lighter weight than its utilitarian cousin
by virtue of being meant for cleaving limbs
instead of denser harder wood.
THE DISASSEMBLED PLAIN SHAFT SERVOBLOCK. Viking axes in particular were designed to
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Twin Tweaks

be effective in both close combat and for throwing

at foes. An axe — with the center of mass firmly at
the end of the haft — would be an ideal way to
ensure a heavy load at the end of a long lever arm
for testing our superpowered servo.
The axe we had in mind was a double-bladed
battle weapon that was about three pounds and a
bit under two feet long — which normally made its
home as a wall display in a bedroom.
Despite their prevalence in popular culture, the
double-bladed twibill design was somewhat
uncommon, but the basic dimensions of the axe are
close to what a Viking might have used. Also, it’s
really cool.
We envisioned a simple arm made from a flat
plate of aluminum attached to the ServoBlock hub. OUR WEAPON OF CHOICE.
One thing that we are very pleased to report is that
mounting things to the servo hub is super
easy. Not only do the technical drawings
on the ServoCity website include detailed
information about the positioning of the
mounting holes on the hub, but the holes
on the hub itself are through holes.
We opted to used our automatic
center punch to site our holes on one end
of the plate and drilled them out for 6-32
clearance holes. The plate fit on the hub
like a charm, and the next task was to
figure out how to attach the axe to the
plate.
We drilled out pairs of holes spaced a
couple of inches apart throughout the
length of the plate to accommodate zip
ties. We’re sure the Vikings would have
loved the effective simplicity of zip ties if FABRICATING A LEVER ARM.
they had them. They certainly worked well
enough to attach the axe to the plate.
However, we couldn’t just have a 3 lb axe
hanging off the end of a servo — the servo needed
some sort of mount. We needed something stout so
that the entire assembly didn’t tip over.
We settled on a wide square tube of aluminum
that could accommodate the servo through the top
plate, while leaving plenty of room inside for devising
further mounting solutions — even something as
simple as some heavy weights to keep everything in
place.
We center punched the corner holes of the
ServoBlock bottom plate, drilled them with the press,
and then traced the inside of the opening for the
servo while the frame was bolted in place. We drilled
holes in the corner of the traced rectangle and cut
out most of the opening with a coping saw.
Some brute force with some metal files finessed
the shape of the opening so that it could BUILDING A HOME FOR THE SERVO.

SERVO 01.2018 57
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READY FOR LATERAL LOADING.
accommodate the servo. Without the axe fastened to the
arm, the assembly stood upright proudly like a victorious
Viking champion.
We realized it would be best to do our initial testing
of the servo without a very sharp axe attached to it. We
debated trying to control the servo with a programmed
Arduino or Adafruit board, but we opted for something
that would give us a bit more manual control.
We selected our trusty VEX Robotics control system,
which would give us safe remote control over the spinning
axe of death.
The VEX controller is a little strange in that the PWM
connections are all female, while most standard PWM
leads on servos are also female.
Fortunately, we’ve wanted to connect standard non-
VEX servos to the controller many times before, so we had
Frankensteined a male/male PWM cable for exactly this
sort of situation.
We wired up the servo, stood a safe distance away,
and let it rip. The ServoBlock-equipped servo spun the
plate with ease, but that was expected — the plate alone
was not very heavy. Even a servo without a ServoBlock
THE VIKINGS WOULD BE PROUD.
58 SERVO 01.2018
could have handled it.
So, our initial test confirmed that the ServoBlock
did not adversely affect the performance of the
servo. But could it handle the axe?
We zip tied the axe to the aluminum plate. The
plate was thin, but the haft of the axe lent some
rigidity to the unit. Even so, we could tell the
aluminum plate was going to give before the
ServoBlock. We added another zip tie to the very
back of the haft to ensure that there was added
rigidity throughout the length of the plate.
When we weighted down the base of our blade-
swinging robot and let the axe go, the arm tilted
downwards slightly — but the ServoBlock held fast.
However, merely holding an axe is a far cry from
chopping something up with it.
So, chop up what? After considering everything
from a Batman action figure to a big stuffed bear,
we settled on a target that would be more of a known
quantity when it comes to chop-ability: a fresh firm
cucumber. We would be chopping some salad, just like the
Vikings used to do. Maybe.
We wanted to behead our cucumber with a horizontal
blow — more like what might happen in the heat of battle
rather than the vertical strike of an execution. A horizontal
strike would also provide the best test of the ServoBlock
by maximizing the lateral load on the servo.
We fashioned a support for our condemned cucumber
by using a few blocks of wood that we could lash the
prisoner to upright.
To achieve the correct head chopping height for the
axe, we put our servo assembly on top of a large 4 x 6
chunk of wood that we actually screwed the robotic axe
directly to. We weighted down the 4 x 6 with a few 14 lb
plates. The stage was set for our vegetable execution.
Chopped Salad
We painted a face on the cucumber and lashed it to
the wooden upright. We positioned the axe near the
doomed vegetable to ensure that the axe has
the maximum arc for its swing. We wired up
the axe to our VEX control system and stood far
back as we powered up the robot and the
radio.
Without even waiting for a final plea for
mercy from the plant, we jammed upwards on
the joystick and the axe made its deadly arc
with surprising speed. The cucumber lost its
painted head in one smooth blow.
The weight of the axe was deforming the
aluminum plate slightly, and with a few further
swings of the axe we were able to take a few
more slices off the cucumber. The ServoBlock
had worked like a charm.
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Twin Tweaks

Never before had we made anything with

humble servos that we thought could grievously
injure or maim us, but that’s exactly what we
accomplished here. The speed with which the servo
was able to swing around the axe was impressive
and intimidating. The axe was seriously sharp and
probably would have cleaved through fingers (or
more) with marginally more difficulty than the
cucumber.
Having the center of gravity of the axe
positioned so far away from the center of rotation
really enhanced the destructive capability of the
servo. It’s the same principle as spinning weapons in
combat robots — you want as much weight as
possible concentrated as far as possible from the
center of rotation. We were never able to put that
into practice with servos before because the lateral
loading on the servo spline was too much for the
horn or spline to handle.
With ServoBlocks, however, it’s like a whole new ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS, CUCUMBER, AXE.
world has opened up for the unassuming servo. The
force isolation works extremely well, and while the
ServoBlock does add some bulk to the servo, the
plethora of mounting points should still make it easy
to incorporate into your designs. The possibilities are
endless.
Knowing that we could upgrade a servo into a
Viking level warrior got us thinking about what else
we could do with ServoBlocks. We could take one of
those servo-based humanoid robots, outfit every
servo with a ServoBlock, and really give it a Tetsujin-
style exoskeleton.
We could make actually destructive combat
robots using nothing but servos. We could delegate
all salad chopping duties to an axe equipped robot.
As we write this, we’re wondering just how many
ServoBlocks the humanoid robot exoskeleton would
take ...
The ServoBlocks really exceeded our OFF WITH HIS HEAD!
expectations. It’s rare to find something so easy to
build and use that has such a dramatic effect on
performance. It has an effective elegance that we’re
sure the Vikings would have loved. SV

Recommended Website
https://www.servocity.com/servos/servoblocks

SALAD IS SERVED.

SERVO 01.2018 59
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Robots that Cook

and Handle Food
by Tom Carroll TWCarroll@aol.com

One job that seems to take a lot of time is cooking and handling foods. The efforts required for
these tasks are not as critical for homeowners as they are for commercial kitchens,
restaurants, and food product suppliers where every second counts in the various operations
needed for food processing. Automation and the application of robotic operations can quickly
become a viable option for those in the food industry.

n article in the November 2017
A issue of Wired, entitled, “Invasion
of the Kitchen Bots” highlighted six
interesting applications of robotics in
food preparation. One was Zume
Pizza that I’ll detail later, but others
included a salad making robot called
Green Goddess; a burger maker called
Burgermeister; and an espresso
machine called Cafe X, among others.
Robotics is finding useful applications
throughout the home and commercial
food industry.
Robots in Modern
Homes
Before delving into commercial
robotics applications, let’s take a look
at home uses first. Robots have been
helping us with home tasks longer
than we might imagine.
One very prevalent ‘robot’ in our
homes is the washing machine.
Frequently, definitions of a
robot include clothes and
dishwashers since they have
many programmable cycles and
provide different motions with
different water applications for
either clothes or dishwashing
processes.
Today’s machines are
programmable to give a
specific set of clothes washing
steps such as lengths of time
for each cycle; the force
required for delicate fabrics
versus work clothes; water
temperatures from cold to hot;
60 SERVO 01.2018
the amount of water needed for sizes
of loads; times to add detergent and
fabric softeners; spin times after
rinsing; and other considerations. Early
washing machines used a series of
mechanical cams as shown in Figure
1 to sequence different leaf switches
to key motors and solenoid valves.
Another type of switch/programmer
unit is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1. Cam drum 'programs' early washing
machines.
Figure 2. Programmer timer in washing machine.
Today, most washing machines
use a microcontroller and an LCD
panel to indicate states in the washing
process, with membrane switches to
‘program’ a desired washing cycle. A
microcontroller is not only very low
cost and easy to manufacture, it’s
more reliable than rotating cams
triggering a row of leaf switches.
Robots Help in Home
Food Preparation
Washing machines and
dishwashers are not the only ‘robotic’
devices that can be found in homes.
Automatic bread makers were quite
popular in the mid ‘70s and are still
sold today. There are hundreds of
different models on the Internet.
I have a great weakness for bread
— especially for bread right out of the
oven. That wonderful aroma
permeating the house as it is sitting
on the kitchen counter cooling
is just too much for me to
resist!
The first bread maker that
I bought for my wife, Sue was
made by DAK; a similar model
is shown in Figure 3. The
Turbo-Baker II is a much later
model than the one we had,
but it still looks a lot like R2D2
with a glass-domed head.
The inner baking pan is
cylindrical, which is different
from most other models that
use a rectangular pan.
(Personally, I think the round
Carroll - Then & Now - Jan 18_Then & Now - Sep15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:41 AM Page 61
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shape makes for better mixing.)
All you need to do is add the
special bread flour, water, milk, sugar,
salt, butter, and the all-important
yeast, then simply push a button.
After an initial mixing of the
ingredients and several hours of rising,
the machine begins the baking
process. You will soon be rewarded
with a hot and delicious present from
your robotic servant — after you
remove the mixing paddle baked into
the bottom of the bread, of course.
A Roti-Making Robot
I recently came across a news
article on another home bread-making
machine called the Rotimatic shown
in Figure 4 that makes rotis (there
are some very interesting videos of
their design process on their
website).
What is a roti, you might ask?
Roti (shown in Figure 5) — which is
also known as chapati — is a
flatbread originating from India that
is made from stone ground whole
meal flour. It is also traditionally
known as atta. Its defining
characteristic is that it is unleavened.
Another popular Indian bread
called naan is a yeast-leavened
variety. Billions of roti are eaten every
day; not just in India, but all around
the world. However, it’s not the
easiest food item to prepare, so
there’s a need for some automation in
its production in a homeowner’s
kitchen.
The two co-founders of Zimplistic
(the makers of the Rotimatic) are CEO
Rishi Israni and CTO Pranoti Nagarkar.
Israni wrote the first version of the
Rotimatic firmware and has authored
six patents from technology work he
has led.
Nagarkar is the technical and
design force behind the Rotimatic.
With a flair for engineering and a
hands-on approach, she acquired
expertise in mechanical engineering
and went into Product Design.
Before co-founding Zimplistic, she
led a team that worked on a robotic
Figure 3. DAK R2D2-style bread maker.
Figure 4. Rotimatic has many internal functions to
make rotis.
Figure 5. Roti is a popular Indian non-leavened
flat bread.
product for a renowned brand, from
concept to manufacturing. Here is
some paraphrased information from
their website:
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Rotimatic is an evolving kitchen
robot with artificial intelligence and
IoT capabilities. Once connected to
Wi-Fi, it upgrades itself with the latest
software updates and provides remote
troubleshooting capabilities.
Rotimatic gets smarter over time
and empowers you to be more
creative. Rotimatic could revolutionize
kitchens of the future with robotics.
Rotimatic is equipped with a 32-bit
microprocessor running 10 motors, 15
sensors, and 300 parts in synchrony.
Rotimatic automatically measures,
dispenses, mixes the ingredients, and
kneads one dough ball at a time.
With the built-in AI technology, it can
mimic human judgment to adjust the
proportion of flour and water in real
time to create a perfect dough ball
every time.
While Rotimatic brings in
industrial-level power and accuracy to
customers, it’s designed to blend in
with a modern home. The engineers
behind Rotimatic are also proud
users and have emphasized a sleek
functional design that’s easy to use
and clean the attachments, making it
the pride of kitchens in homes.
Rotimatic is an amazing dough
making and baking robot that is
available for $999 — a bargain in my
opinion.
Robots Assist with
Pizza Making
Rotis may be popular around the
world, but pizzas still reign supreme
here in the US. A pizza company in
Mountain View, CA called Zume Pizza
began using robots in several unique
ways back in April 2016.
You order the pizza you want in
the ‘normal’ way — either by Zume’s
app or by phone. Behind the scenes,
the order is sent to the closest
company location where robots and
humans begin the process. The pizza
dough is first kneaded and spread out
by a human, then placed on a
conveyer belt.
The ‘blank’ pizza arrives at the
SERVO 01.2018 61
Carroll - Then & Now - Jan 18_Then & Now - Sep15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:42 AM Page 62
first robot (Figure 6) that squirts
on the sauce; another robot uses
its arm (Figure 7) to spread the
sauce around evenly. “We’re going
to eliminate boring, repetitive,
dangerous jobs, and we’re going
to free up people to do things that
are higher value,’ stated Zume co-
founder Alex Garden, a former
Microsoft manager and president
of mobile game maker, Zynga
Studios.
Next up, humans put on the
ingredients like cheese, pineapple,
and Canadian bacon, then the
pizza makes its way to an oven-
loading robot shown in Figure 8.
It’s a standard ABB industrial robot
modified for a commercial food
handling application.
After the pizza makes its way
through the 800 degree oven and
is partially cooked, a human
unloads it, checks it for quality
control, places it in its box, and
sends it on its way to the customer
in a special way. It’s the delivery
process that is one of the most
unique parts of this company.
According to their website:
Figure 7. A second robot spreads the sauce for the
On top of the super high-tech
kitchen at Zume HQ, the company
also owns and operates some pretty
high-tech trucks — each of which is
fully equipped with an iPad for pizza
orders and navigation, as well as 56
ovens (Figure 9). The pizzas leave the
Figure 8. An ABB industrial robot places the pizza into an oven.
62 SERVO 01.2018
Figure 6. On goes the sauce by the first robot.
Zume pizza.
facility only partially baked, so they
finish baking on the way to the
customer. This way, they’re nice and
hot by the time they arrive. This also
means there doesn’t have to be a
Figure 9. The Zume Pizza truck with 56 re-heating ovens
brick-and-mortar store in every
area. Instead, a fleet of trucks can
serve a number of areas, and
rather than having to go back to
the main kitchen every few hours,
pizzas can be cooked onboard and
served in the area where they are.
Pizza is delivered in a matter of
minutes. That saves both time and
money.
Pizza Dough Balls
Made Automatically
You may have seen all sorts of
pictures of pizza making, but there
is much of the process that is
sometimes best done by hand.
One part is the preparation of the
dough balls that are flattened into
a disc on which the ingredients are
then placed. Turning flour, water,
and yeast and sometimes other
special additives into a useable
dough ball is not as easy as it
sounds.
The machine shown in Figure
10 drops a carefully measured
amount of dough from the hopper
above into the revolving circular
tray that forms the dough into
precise pizza balls.
Handling Food
Products is Safer and
Faster with Robotics
Several years ago, the farm-fresh
for delivery.
Carroll - Then & Now - Jan 18_Then & Now - Sep15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:42 AM Page 63
egg producer, CMC Food in New
Jersey saw the future and made an
investment in egg handling robots in
their facility by placing robotic egg
‘workers’ on the line with humans.
A CNBC article on their website
showed how the implementation of a
SANOVO Egg palletizer in the CMC
facility was able to palletize these
fragile items at the rate of 144,000
eggs per hour, as seen on the
conveyor belt in Figure 11.
Previously, humans dealt with
hand placement of feeding 10 dozen
eggs at a time into a machine that
packed them into large cartons.
Another machine — the SANOVO Egg
Depalletizer — gently handles plastic
trays at a capacity of up to 216,000
eggs per hour.
“In what is typically a low-margin
industry such as food manufacturing,
volume is everything and CMC Food’s
move isn’t unique — it’s the only way
to keep up with competitors.”
As you might imagine, damaging
a few eggs in a large container
without their discovery before
shipment to a good customer can
result in a permanent loss of a high
Figure 10. This pizza dough machine can make 1000s of
dough balls.
volume buyer.
Analysts have seen
robots picking croissants off
the line and imagine how
delicate that task is, but
they do it without any need
for humans. The CEO of
CNS, Rich Cohen, has put
his move in kill-or-be-killed
terms: If he didn’t invest in
this type of automation, a
competitor would, and
within five years, be ahead. Figure 11. Robots can handle fragile eggs faster and safer
They don’t want to be
watching someone steal
market share.
Robot Chef Prepares
World-Class Food in
Your Home
Just imagine a hardworking
couple driving home from their two
different jobs. They both enjoy top-
notch cooking but just want to eat in
a casual setting at home. After talking
with her husband to coordinate his
arrival time, the wife has contacted
their home robot chef and ordered a
classic meal that one of their favorite
New York chefs had prepared
for them at his Manhattan
restaurant in the past. He
had gracefully given the
recipe to the couple, and
they have downloaded it into
their robot chef. Plus, all the
ingredients are in the robot’s
pantry of supplies.
Upon arriving home,
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than humans.
sipping a before dinner glass of wine
and relaxing a bit in front of a nice
fire in the fireplace, you can just
imagine the feeling of pleasure as
they wander over to the array of
freshly-prepared delicacies and place
them on their table. A couple of
candles, the lights dimmed and soft
music wafting through the air, they
begin their classic dinner prepared by
their Chef Moley.
I’ve taken a bit of artistic license
to amplify the capabilities of the
Moley system, though I have no doubt
that it will grow in popularity and
capability in the near future.
At present, the cooking process is
done in-situ with the homeowner
programming in the desired menu.
“Moley Robotics’ robotic chef works
by users choosing a certain number of
portions, type of cuisine, dietary
restrictions, calorie count, ingredients,
cooking method, chef, etc., from the
recipe library first. Once users have
Figure 12. Moley Robotics cooking robot.
SERVO 01.2018 63
Carroll - Then & Now - Jan 18_Then & Now - Sep15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:42 AM Page 64
selected their preferences,
they then choose a recipe
and place washed and cut
ingredients — which can be
ordered through Moley — in
designated areas,” Mark
Oleynik, CEO and founder of
Moley Robotics, told Fortune
Magazine.
Moley Robotics has
created the world’s first fully
automated and intelligent
cooking robot shown in
Figure 12. As mentioned on
their site: “It learns recipes,
cooks them, and clears up
after itself! It can mimic the
actions of a master chef
precisely, bringing a variety
of delicious dishes, cooked
to world-class standards to
the domestic kitchen and
other food preparation
areas. The system comprises
a full suite of appliances,
cabinetry, safety features,
computing, and robotics.”
Robot Waiters
in Singapore
A new seafood
restaurant at East Coast Park
in Singapore is thought to
be the first restaurant in the
country to use robot waiters
Figure 14. A McDonald's restaurant in Asia uses a robot to take money
(shown in Figure 13) to
serve food to customers,
according to the Asia One online
news blog.
“Rong Heng Seafood Restaurant
uses robots to meet some of its
manpower needs,” the Chinese
newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao reported.
“The eatery hopes to save a third on
manpower needs via this initiative.”
Restaurant owner, Zhang Zhinong
told Zaobao that ‘people are hard to
hire.’ The eatery needed 15 waiters
but had only hired six so far. However,
with the three waiter robots, Zhinong
only needed to hire four more. The 39
year old business owner first got the
idea when he saw robots serving food
in a restaurant in Kunshan city near
64 SERVO 01.2018
Figure 13. Robot waiters in a Singapore restaurant.
and hand out the bagged food.
Figure 15. Softbank's Pepper robot taking
Pizza Hut orders.
Shanghai in late 2014.
“No matter how you
aggravate it, the robot will
not get angry. Robots do
not need pay raises,
bonuses, or welfare. They
can work 24/7; they do not
need to take vacations or
sick leave and will not quit.
They will also not have any
issue with doing overtime.
The robots require
maintenance only once a
week,” Zhinong
commented.
Zhinong added that
curious customers often
touch the robots;
fortunately, this has not
resulted in any damage so
far.
The battery-operated
robots are produced by a
Chinese company; the outer
shells are made in China
while the interior
components and sensors
are made in Japan. Each
robot costs somewhere
around $14,000 while
waiters are hired for about
$30,000 per year.
“Therefore, it is more cost-
effective to go for robots.”
I’m sure the cost of
maintenance and repairs of
the robots will climb as the
novelty of the robots begins
to diminish, so we’ll have to wait a bit
to see how successful this application
is in a few years.
Waiters in the restaurant
appreciate the robot servers as they
have lightened their workload and
drawn in more customers. The robots
require a 48 inch wide pathway in
order to traverse the area of the
restaurant, so the original furniture
arrangement had to be changed in
order to implement the robot waiters.
There are magnetic strips on the
floor of the restaurant to guide the
robots on their paths to and from the
kitchen and tables. Sensors on the
robot help ensure a distance of six
Carroll - Then & Now - Jan 18_Then & Now - Sep15.qxd 12/5/2017 6:45 AM Page 65
inches from any obstacles
in its path.
Food preparers in the
kitchen place the dishes
on the robot’s trays and
press the appropriate
buttons to send the
machines to the
designated tables. Once
the robots arrive at the
table, a human waiter (or
customer) retrieves the
food from its trays.
First-time customers
state that the experience
is “far-sighted” and
creates a “fresh dining
experience.” Currently, the
robots speak only
Mandarin but Zhinong is
looking at how to get
them to handle English as
well.
Other Uses of
Robots in the
Food Industry
Robots are being
implemented in several
different aspects of the
food industry. Many are
used not as a cost-saving
measure but as more of a
novelty to draw in
customers.
I’m sure that a drive-
thru customer would be
amused seeing a robot
hand them their food
from the pick-up window
as shown in Figure 14. The very
popular Pepper robot from Softbank is
shown in Figure 15 acting as a
cashier and taking orders at a Pizza
Hut in Japan.
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parts, and services, go to
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g{xÇ tÇw aÉã
less than many industrial
versions and is able to
work around humans
without the worry of
injury.
Does it save the
restaurant money?
Maybe, but it definitely is
more interesting than
watching humans.
Besides, the fast food
industry is going to have
to make some changes
since the lower-end
wages typically earned by
fast food workers are
rising to $15 an hour.
Implementation of robots
seems to be the answer.
Figure 16. Rethink Robotics' Baxter cooks hamburgers during a demo.
Another robot shown
in Figure 17 is cooking a
style of pancake popular
in Japan. The Huis Ten
Bosch theme park in
Nagasaki created the
restaurant with more
robots than human
employees, and an
oknomiyaki-flipping robot
is the star of the show.
The two-armed
humanoid chef is
designed to coat a griddle
with oil, mix the batter,
and flip pancakes before
completing the dish with
mayonnaise and dried
green seaweed.
Figure 17. Robot-themed restaurant in Nagasaki, Japan has a pancake This attraction is a
cooking robot. building off the Dutch-
themed park’s smart hotel
The Baxter robot from Rethink called Henn-na Hotel, which opened
Robotics shown in Figure 16 is its doors in 2015. In July 2016, Huis
performing a demonstration of a Ten Bosch opened the Henn-na
collaborative robot cooking Restaurant, which is a buffet-style
hamburgers. This style of robot costs establishment where robots prepare





 










)

SERVO 01.2018 65
Carroll - Then & Now - Jan 18_Then & Now - Sep15.qxd 12/28/2017 10:26 AM Page 66
Figure 18. The Shrimp orchard-analyzing robot at work in Australia.
food for visitors from all over the
world.
Robots Assist with
Food Production
I’ve written about robots that are
used in the agriculture industry in the
past, but I feel it’s important to
discuss how the use of robotics in
monitoring the growth of certain food
products is key to keeping costs under
control.
The ‘Shrimp’ robot shown in
Figure 18 has taken over most of the
tasks of analyzing a typical orchard.
As you might imagine, growing any
sort of food source is certainly more
detailed than placing a seed in the
ground and hoping rain will keep the
sprouting plant growing until
harvesting.
The mobile robot shown in the
figure has numerous sensors such as
RADAR, LIDAR, panospheric stereo
vision, and thermal cameras that can
monitor situations in this particular
almond orchard in Australia.
According to University of Sydney
Professor Sukkarieh, “Traditionally it
has been necessary for someone to
actually walk through the orchard,
taking and analyzing soil and other
samples, and making decisions on the
66 SERVO 01.2018
health and yield which is about 80 percent of the job
quality of the done. But being able to harvest them
plants.” is our ultimate goal.”
“Flexible As well as developing the
platforms allow technology, the team is working with
rapid deployment farmers to determine how small
in new changes to traditional agricultural
environments to practices can allow them to make the
collect information most of this new technology.
that we can use to
develop lower cost Final Thoughts
or specialized
prototypes specific As you can see, robots employed
to the required in the food industry can be quite
applications. These useful in some areas, and not so
platforms are also applicable in others. From the growing
used for data stage in an orchard or field to our
collection to dinner plate, robots are making food
enable analysis and less costly.
the development Where monotonous steps are
of algorithms that required in certain food preparations,
solve industry problems. The robots a robot can be a great asset. For
can move through an orchard example, the handling of delicate food
gathering data and developing a products such as the palletization of
comprehensive in-ground and out-of- eggs, or waiting for dough to rise
ground model of the entire orchard,” before it can be turned into a pizza.
Prof Sukkarieh explained. A talented chef can perform
“A second stage of this research certain operations in the preparation
project, which the team will of their specialty that would be
commence in the new year, involves difficult for a robot; for example, hand
applying this technology to standard forming a pizza dough ball into a flat
farm tractors, so that as well as being disc and then spinning it into the air
able to perceive their environment and to increase its diameter is best
identify any operations required, they performed by an experienced human.
will also be able to perform many of Although, I’m sure that this task will
these operations themselves, such as soon be robotized as well.
applying fertilizers and pesticides, With all of us keenly aware of the
watering, sweeping, and mowing,” he increasing cost of our trips to the
further commented. market, it is only a sensible approach
The third and most complex stage to use robotics to cut costs. SV
will be to enable the devices to carry
out harvesting according to Sukkarieh.
“The devices we’ve developed already
can identify each individual fruit on
the tree and its degree of ripeness,
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