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LED Beam Charging, Swimming Robots, Camera guided dogs
irreverant take on robotics and automation
Thomas Norris
November 21, 2022
Gobble Gobble Wobble Wobble
Smart people do dumb things so will smart robots do dumb things too?
📣 Topics of the Day 📣
Stop charging the old fashioned way
Crazy swimming robots!
Autonomous dog robot craps on Boston Dynamics
Tech of the Day: PLC (programmable logic controller)
⭐ Job Posting of the Day! ⭐
Watch nerds being nerds testing the Mars rover
Stop Charging the Old Fashioned Way
Are you still plugging in male plugs into female receptacles? How disgusting! That's so old fashioned. Instead why don't you hook up a Nimbus Engineering Power Relay and bam send electricity over an led beam! Imagine you have mobile robots or other automation that's battery powered but now they can take a charge without going to an inductive charging or a traditional dock. PLUSSSSSS these units can actually power the units directly so you could have almost continuous charging while units are in motion. They've already count the Department of Defense as a customer plus have actually sold units already. This could all be fluff or totally a game changer when it comes to power delivery. Check them out and let me know what you think!
Crazy Swimming Robots
So the folks that invented these robots are either brilliant or just odd.
A couple of mad scientist made tiny, itty bitty, robots that swim. But not just swim. They can work together in a swarm. These guys were able to create a vortex with 4,000 of these little bots and get some plastic (trash) trapped in the vortex. Mind blown! Why the heck have we not started using a bigger version of these bots to clean the seas? Seriously we have a trash problem in the ocean. With a large army of these bots they could autonomously attack plastic in the ocean, trap it, and move it to a collection station. It's time we figure out how to help Captain Planet save the Earth.
Tech of the Day: PLCs
Say it with me..Programmable Logic Controller
What the heck is a plc. Simple. It's an industrial computer in it's simplest form. It's the brain of most automation systems. You can get online and order a plc ready for you to use. Just know that it's not as simple as ordering a plc and then you're ready to go.
Getting into plcs is like getting into home built desktop computers. You need to piece everything you need together. Buy a chassis, PLC, power supply, input and output modules, and other modules (like communication modules).....and also know how to program ladder logic and the basic process of how a PLC thinks.
When you run a plc program you're executing ladder logic. Ladder logic is like coding as if you're playing Donkey Kong. Program starts at the top and goes down the page in rungs. But before the plc gets to the code it actually scans all the inputs connected to it. Then it executes the program, makes changes to the outputs as required, then it does housekeeping (basically all the overhead stuff that needs to be done like communications, resets, etc)
Want to get into robotics or automation? Read up on plcs. It'll be well worth the time to develop an understanding of what underpins just about all the fun toys we have in our space. If you want to learn more check out information from Rockwell Automation. I would consider them the undisputed kings of the plc.
Ambivalent Plug of the Day
This week's ad is being paid for in lobsters (pronounced lawb-stars). I love those silly little crustaceans. My mouth is watering just at the thought of dipping myself, or I mean this meat into a bucket of butter. Don't judge me! Are you needing some help figuring out what to do with your distribution center? Not sure what the hell you're doing automating a process in your manufacturing facility? Did you lie on your resume and need a real automation engineer to save your ass? No problem! Call the guys at Conveyco. They're a great group of people treating customers with respect. If they can't help you you're hopeless.
Want your company to be featured? Sign up HERE
Autonomous Dog Craps on Boston Dynamics
Bad dog! Bad Dog! While BD has been busy filing lawsuits its competitors have been busy doing actually useful work. You know what's better than a dancing remote controlled dog? How about one that can go from point A to point B autonomously without an internal map?
A team of robot braniacs including Ananye Agarwal, a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon, have figured out how to out fight the other dogs in the pack. These dogs can climb stairs, jump gaps, and otherwise maneuver obstacles just based on camera inputs. It's freaking incredible. This is the tech that's really needed for robotic tech to really advance and be truly useful to mankind.
Happy Monday you Junkies! Get your fat pants ready...it's Turkey week. Like a true food athlete make sure to prep for the big day.
If you want to help us pay the bills check out our directory of robotics and automation companies.
JOB POSTING OF THE DAY
Most people think that sales people run the show...that's not true. Instead it's jobs like this one. Field Service Engineer at ATC Automation. You want to be a true automation hero? You want clients to celebrate your arrival? Be this person!
Have feedback? Not sure that I'm looking for it. If you have something constructive you can catch me on Twitter. @robotsrcoming
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