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Project Tango Announced

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Project Tango was just announced by Google’s ATAP group (http://www.google.com/atap/projecttango/). The project developed 3D localization and mapping capable of running in real-time on a phone. We expect the technology developed as part of Project Tango to be transformative for the robotics industry and are proud to have been a part of the process.


OSRF has been a partner with ATAP on the Tango project since May 2013. Our role was to bring our open source ROS (http://www.ros.org) software and expertise to bear on the problems that Tango is tackling. While Tango isn’t strictly a robotics project, there is a lot of similarity between their needs and what we have encountered over the years working with robots.

Among our contributions were developer tools for debugging, data logging, and data visualization. Project Tango used popular ROS tools, including rviz and rosbag, for development and debugging on a second screen, such as a desktop or laptop, both for live and recorded data.

Somewhat surprisingly, we also helped out with managing the complex code base that became Tango. With a large team of geographically distributed developers working at a furious pace, it’s not easy to keep track of the software in a project like this. Fortunately, we’re intimately familiar with this challenge from the past six years of ROS development. Project Tango was able to leverage the catkin build system developed for the ROS ecosystem to bring together the work from their many contributors.

In addition to integrating new code, catkin was used to integrate many existing libraries including familiar ROS dependencies such as OctoMap, OpenCV, and Eigen. To support both on-device and desktop debugging, catkin was used to enable compiling for Android devices as well as desktop targets from the same source tree.

Our work on Project Tango resulted in new features, bug fixes, and polish being added to many of our core tools, all of which have been made available to our community.

Reflecting on the VRC and the DRC Trials

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Having recovered from our exhilirating (and exhausting) trip to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials in Florida, we’ve been mulling over the results of the Trials and looking back on the simulation-based Virtual Robotics Challenge (VRC) that we held in the summer.

As you’ll recall, the goals of the VRC were two-fold. First, we wanted to identify the teams from around the world who are the best at writing software for remote supervisory control of a humanoid robot in disaster response situations. After the VRC, the top seven teams were given access to an Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics, with which they then competed in the Trials. And because they only had a few months between receiving their robot
and heading to the Trials, the second goal of the VRC was to force teams to build and test their software in simulation so that they could be up and running with a working system as soon as they took delivery of the Atlas hardware.

Looking at the results, we’re feeling pretty good about the VRC. At the Trials, which saw sixteen teams compete, five of the top eight teams were previously top finishers in the VRC (the top eight from the Trials qualified for continued DARPA funding). And their relative performance at the Trials almost matched their relative performance in the VRC:

Team DRC Trials finish VRC finish
IHMC Robotics 2nd 1st
MIT 4th 3rd
TRACLabs 6th 4th
WRECS 6th 2nd
TROOPER 8th 8th

So a majority of the top teams at the Trials had first competed and won in simulation, and they were then able to transition their software from simulation to hardware in a very short period of time (they had also received a very capable Atlas robot, which surely contributed to their successes).

We’re proud of these results and we feel that they bode well for the use of simulation in future robotics projects, in competitions, and in education.

It’s also worth noting that team WRECS started out as an unfunded “Track C” team, yet placed 2nd in the VRC and 6th in the Trials, outperforming most of the fully funded teams along the way. Perhaps we’ll see more of this kind of non-traditional source selection in future programs.

Update from the DRC Trials

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Hugo, John, Morgan, Nate, and Steffi had a fantastic first day at the DRC Trials here in sunny, windy Florida. The demos are a huge hit with the crowd (especially all those kids who are here on field trips). Hundreds of people have tried their hands at controlling a Gazebo-simulated Atlas robot using the Oculus Rift and Razer Hydra. Here’s one happy participant:

Trying the Oculus / Gazebo demo

There are so many awesome robots here; it’s a bigger production than you can probably imagine. Here’s Nate being interviewed live on the Jumbotron:

Nate interview

Check our Twitter feed for updates and more photos.

Oh, and the OSRF swag is going quickly, so if you’re at the event, stop by our booth soon!

OSRF welcomes our OPW participants

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The OPW logo

OSRF is pleased to welcome Louise Penna Poubel, Tashwin Khurana, Binnur Görer and Ana Marian Pedro, our interns for the Outreach Program for Women!

OPW 2013 participants

Louise got her B.S. in Electromechanical engineering from Chiba University in 2011 and her double M.S. from the European Master in Advanced Robotics (EMARO) at Warsaw University of Technology and Ecole Centrale de Nantes in 2013. Her masters research focused on whole-body online imitation of human motion by humanoid robots, using the Nao robot and the Kinect sensor. At OSRF, she will be adapting the WebGL interface of Gazebo to work on mobile devices. In her free time, she enjoys 3D printing, puzzles, traveling and extreme sports.

Louise’s blog: http://myshumi.net/

Tashwin is pursuing a Master’s in Computer Science at Lehigh University. She has been working at the VADER lab (Vision, Assistive Devices, and Experimental Robotics Laboratory) with Prof. Dr. John Spletzer for over a year and loving every minute of it! Tashwin has been focusing on the Lehigh Mapping Trike project, which will be used as a means to construct large-scale, three-dimensional maps in outdoor pedestrian zones. As an OPW intern, Tashwin will be building an Open Street Maps (OSM) API plugin for the Gazebo Simulator.

Tashwin’s blog: http://khuranatashwin.wordpress.com

Binnur is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Computer Engineering, Boğaziçi University. She has recently completed her MSc. thesis which is titled “Developing a Fitness Coach Robot for Elderly People in Assisted Living Environments”. Binnur’s supervisor is H. Levent Akin. She is a member of the Robotics Research Group and the Cerberus RoboCup Standard Platform League Team. Binnur’s research focuses on social robotics. As an OPW intern, she aims to integrate an SDF editor into Gazebo. This contribution will allow users to make changes in the current model while the simulator is running.

Binnur’s blog: http://robot.cmpe.boun.edu.tr/~binnur/

Ana Pedro is an M.Sc. Computer Science Candidate and a member of the Center for Automation Research in De La Salle University, Manila. She is currently working on her thesis on mobile robot localization and is interested in developing robotic applications for children and education. Ana Pedro will be working on an educational challenge using CloudSim, ROS and Gazebo.

Ana Pedro’s blog: http://thelittlerobotblogs.wordpress.com

We’re excited to see the work that Louise, Tashwin, Binnur and Ana Pedro will be doing over the next few months. Check their blogs often to follow along with their experiences and contributions!

Visit the OSRF booth at the DRC Trials in Florida!

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The Commonwealth Club of SF logo

In just a few short days, OSRF will be flying out to the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials in Homestead, Florida! The DRC Trials will take place at the Miami-Homestead Speedway on Friday, December 20, and Saturday, December 21. OSRF played a pivotal role in the DARPA Virtual Robotics Challenge back in June, and we’re very excited to attend the next stage of the competition and have the opportunity to watch real robots in action! A total of 17 teams qualified for the Trials, and their robots will be competing on 8 tasks including vehicle driving, ladder climbing, hose manipulation, and more.

While we’re itching to gawk at the awesome robots all day long, we’ll also be hanging out in the OSRF booth at the Expo. We’ll set up shop with a number of demos, videos, and of course lots of OSRF swag. Come on by and try to get the high score on our TurtleBot racing game, or check out the Sandia hand, which can be seen on some of the competing Atlas robots. You can also try your hand at clearing rubble with a Gazebo-simulated Atlas robot. You’ll be fully immersed in the robot’s world once you strap on the Oculus Rift and have a look around. You’re guaranteed to look like a winner in the process.

Stop by our booth to chat, play with our demos, pick up some free stuff, or just observe us awkwardly.

OSRF employees playing with Oculus Rift demo

Join the Cool Kids Club by trying out our Atlas Rubble Clearing Demo!

Screenshot of TurtleBot in Rviz

Cruise around a simulated racetrack in our TurtleBot racing game.

Robots at SF Commonwealth Club

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The Commonwealth Club of SF logo

Looking for that perfect Christmas present? Look no further. For a very reasonable amount you can buy that certain someone a ticket to hear OSRF CEO Brian Gerkey at The Commonwealth Club of California.

Brian, along with Rich Mahoney from SRI and Steve Henn from NPR, will be discussing “Robots in Unconventional Workplaces.”

Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Time: 6:00 pm

Where: SF Commonwealth Club
595 Market Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA
(directions)

RSVP: Here

Given OSRF’s involvement in the DARPA Robotics Challenge, we know Brian will have lots to offer on the evening’s topic.

A new www.ros.org

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Cross-posted from the ROS blog.

When we started work on ROS, like most young open source projects, our greatest need was to recruit early adopters and fellow developers. So we targeted that audience: we built a wiki, filled it with documentation, tutorials, and code examples, and made the wiki the landing page at www.ros.org.

Well, times have changed. Now, six years into the project, we have a broader audience to consider. We want to reach teachers who are considering using ROS in their classrooms, managers who want to use ROS in a new product, journalists who are writing stories about ROS, and many, many others.

So, in celebration (just a bit late) of ROS’s sixth birthday, we’re pleased to present a new www.ros.org.

ros-org-screenshot1.jpg
ros-org-screenshot2.jpg

After all, a grown-up ROS deserves a grown-up website. Don’t worry: the wiki is still there, as are all the other ROS sites on which we depend.

Btw, like most things we do, the website itself is at GitHub. If you run into a problem or have an idea for improving the site, open an issue and we’ll have a look.

Look for OSRF at Bay Area Science Festival

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Bay Area Science Festival logo

For any parents feeling guilty about all the candy their kids will be eating this week, there’s no better antidote than a healthy dose of educational fun. That’s exactly what’s in store this Saturday at the Bay Area Science Festival.

Some of us from OSRF will be bringing a few TurtleBot robots up to San Francisco to take part in the Robot Zoo. The Robot Zoo is a featured attraction at the Festival’s Discovery Days at AT&T Park this Saturday, Nov. 2, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Organized by Silicon Valley Robotics, the Robot Zoo is taking over Willie Mays Plaza and will feature fellow Willow Garage spin-offs Unbounded Robotics, who will be showing off their brand-new UBR-1 robot, and Suitable Technologies who will be showing off their Beam.

Details, logistics, and more information is here.

OSRF Participating in GNOME’s Outreach Program for Women

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Open Source Robotics Foundation is a participating organization in the latest GNOME Outreach Program for Women.

In an effort to get more women involved in free and open-source software and robotics, OSRF is offering Outreach Program for Women internships from December 10, 2013 to March 10, 2014. The application deadline is November 11, 2013. Before the application deadline, applicants must get in touch with OSRF to discuss the individual projects they are interested in working on.

Participants will work remotely from home, while getting guidance from an assigned mentor and collaborating within their project’s team and the rest of the community. The projects include software development, web development, 3D modeling, user experience, and/or graphic design. Feel free to email us with additional proposals if you do not see one that fits perfectly. The stipend for the program is $5,000 (USD). Any woman who has not previously participated in the Outreach Program
for Women or Google Summer of Code is welcome to apply.

Check out the list of potential ideas for the program. Feel free to ask questions and propose suggestions at opw@localhost