[HN Gopher] Show HN: Open-source quadruped robot with robotic arm
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Show HN: Open-source quadruped robot with robotic arm
Author : nicrusso7
Score : 34 points
Date : 2020-09-15 17:37 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| xVedun wrote:
| This looks very cool! I wonder how close it is to the method that
| Boston Dynamics uses to control the their version. Did they
| simply train a machine learning algorithm for way longer than a
| hobbyist can or is there a ton of manual tweaking?
| 317070 wrote:
| Boston Dynamics (famously) does not use machine learning to
| control their robots. Maybe a little bit of computer vision,
| but all control is with more classical approaches.
| nicrusso7 wrote:
| thanks! well, good question. I think it's a mix between ML
| (probably not just simulations but also directly learn from
| real-world experiences) and more classic approaches. There are
| some very interesting examples on the Google AI blog like this
| one (https://ai.googleblog.com/2020/04/exploring-nature-
| inspired-...)
| hkt wrote:
| I've been looking for an open source robovac for ages. This will
| definitely do.
|
| (Obviously this isn't very serious. I do however think this
| project is great)
| nicrusso7 wrote:
| Oh well I can definitely add a vac-env on my todo list :D
| ptsneves wrote:
| I have been fantasizing about a similar setup for some time, but
| an arachnid instead of a quadrupod. I imagined it to pick up
| trash in land with a lot of vegetation. Never got around it
| because I am on my own personal project and this sounds like a
| massive amount of work for a single person. Congrats and good
| luck. Will bookmark it so I can get back to it when I am freer.
| Sounds like a very good starting point for this topic.
|
| One thing, why use a machine learning algorithm for path finding
| in the maze instead of just using an actual path finding algo?
| Did I miss something?
| nicrusso7 wrote:
| thank you very much! any feedback is welcome!
|
| Re the maze, I've got just the terrain so far - I'm working on
| the gym environment.. I was thinking to write 2 different
| versions of it, one in which the robot has a map of the maze
| and navigate it using a path finding algo (probably A*) and
| another version without any map (I'll probably need a lidar for
| this).
| ptsneves wrote:
| Some time ago I tried to use rt-rrt[1]. It should be quite
| suited for your setup, or at least more than A* i think.
| Actually when I get back to your project I will try to
| implement it inside your framework.
|
| [1] https://github.com/ptsneves/rt-rrt
| nicrusso7 wrote:
| Awesome! Any PR is welcome. In the meanwhile I'll have a
| look at your rt-rrt implementation.
| konjin wrote:
| Congratulations on your multi-millon dollar startup.
|
| Are you hiring?
| samatman wrote:
| I've thought about a similar platform, but as an agricultural
| robot for smallholding.
|
| If you have a quarter acre, you can have a nice garden, and
| it's kind of labor intensive but hopefully enjoyable, and you
| can get some nice food out of it.
|
| With five to ten acres, food security is in reach, and some
| left over for market. But it's really rather a lot of work, and
| the tools farmers use to make that work easy are massively
| oversized for the job, and require you to lay out the land
| according to the logic of a much larger farm.
|
| A pig-sized arachnid robot, with a vision module and a few
| replaceable tools for 'mandibles', a replaceable lithium pack
| for an abdomen: that could bring the amount of work back down
| to a part-time job.
|
| This is a company, not a project. But backed with open-source
| software so that the machine learning and supplemental tools
| can be improved by users, I think it could be quite a
| successful one, and make the world more robust and anti-
| fragile.
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