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I have a Baxter Research Robot. The theory was that you would make up for the imprecise gear train (backlash at the gripper of 10-20 mm) with visual servoing. B
by tlb 10y ago
I have a Baxter Research Robot. The theory was that you would make up for the imprecise gear train (backlash at the gripper of 10-20 mm) with visual servoing. But this turns out to be hard. A big limitation is that the gripper-mounted cameras are 30 FPS (less if you try to use both) and add a full frame of delay, so the visual servo loop has to be really slow (like, 1/2 second to zero in on an object). That means it's far less productive at simple operations like loading parts into boxes than humans.
Also, its industrial design is really bad. I hate its hulking arms and smiling animated face. It's surprising that you can ruin an industrial product with ugly visual design, but there you are. For another example, see the Boeing X-32. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-32#/media/File:USAF_X32B_250.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-32#/media/File:USAF_X...
- nitrogen 10y agoRant: Sheesh, now even Wikipedia is using full-page JS popups that fail to load and make the page unusable. Seriously webdevs of the world, do we actually test our own work on phones? At least I was able to see the image first. I was wondering how much of the X-32's shape was constrained by functional requirements, and the same for the Baxter. Can a safer arm be made without looking as you describe?
- tlb 10y agoThe X-32 and X-35 were two candidate designs for the Joint Strike Fighter. The X-35 was chosen. They had the same functional requirements, but the X-35 looked less silly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_X-35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_X-35 You could easily avoid having a decorative face. The general arm configuration might look OK with some other ID.
- mrfusion 10y agoWhat do you use yours for?
- tlb 10y agoMachine learning research. But I'm currently using Fetch and simulations instead.