New video: How to program a robot over the Internet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO2nCd9ZpFQ Also here are some comparisons with other robots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-1-9E7XooM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7ICjHKHKzk

A picture of David Sands painted by an ST robot arm using AI software developed by Pindar van Arman

R12 is now 10 years old! 10 years ago an enthusiast designed a cardboard cutout of the R12. It really is superb and great for young (or old) to try. You can get the designs from our downloads page - look for 2 files starting "cardboard..."

Sneak peak: automatic position learning using vision

Normally with RoboForth positions are programmed using a teach pad. In JOG mode the user moves the robot in increments over and then down onto the object to be picked up, maybe making small adjustments in X,Y,Z and gripper angle then clicks the learn button on screen.

ST Robotics have been working on using a camera to locate an object and send coordinates to the robot controller. This includes the correct angle for the gripper. The software then learns the position as a PLACE name. The actual coordinates of the object are not of interest. The system can return to the learned position under program control.
If the position changes it may be quickly re-learned using the same vision system.

The process of learning the position involves moving the robot with camera over the object until it is in the viewport of the vision system. Rather than use the teach pad a joystick is employed which allows for continuous motion in straight lines in X,Y and Z directions.

The picture above shows the development setup. Please see the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxcdBjwoNvQ

Ultimately it will be possible to learn many different positions and have different objects.

Talk to your robot!

Control of an ST robot is a man-machine conversation so why not use speech?

In reality you really need text to program anything complex but once programmed you could easily have a few voice commands. The speech engine we use is like the macro buttons on RobWin. You can say a single word but have the system send a whole string to the robot. Do see it in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTh_0ZR7-aE&t=1s

We have created an art form out of an R12 robot. It has no works inside but red and blue LEDs. Then we put it in a glass cabinet in the reception in Orwell House (Cambridge).

We now have JERK in the software. Jerk is basically the rate of increase of acceleration (like acceleration is the rate of increase of speed). To better understand it imagine you are in a car which suddenly accelerates. At the start you will push back in the seat so your personal acceleration will be delayed. In a robot this is when all the elasticity in the drive is taken out before actual acceleration can begin. Its worst manifestation is when the robot stops e.g. to grip something. Deceleration stops but the robot moves on before bouncing back. So with JERK this deceleration tapers off resulting in a smooth stop. The other new feature is you can program a special deceleration for emergency stop. We are not interested in precision in this case, we just want to stop as soon as possible. All this is now version 17 of RoboForth. I have developed the finest robot software on the planet and that's it. No more.