Apple Vision Pro

April 2024: The brief edition.

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf update, I haven’t actually thought of a title for this as until I stop and think, I am not really sure what I have done in April.

The Elephant in the room

So the last time I wrote a post, I was super excited about a show (which went super well), I had done tons of work on the Inmoov robot, and Compsoft had received some Apple Vision Pro’s. Exciting times!!!

Sadly a few personnel things were also going on, and still are. I have sadly split up with my partner which has made the last month a real struggle. I know, everyone has been there, life is about ups and downs, and at the time I thought I was doing the right thing for myself, however, I am not quite sure now. Life has been pretty tough recently, however, I am lucky that I have amazing friends and family looking out for me.

Robotic and Automation Show

We smashed it, we could not have asked for a better show. Our stand was super popular and everyone loved our tech. We were told many times we had the most engaging stand. We got to chat with some outstanding people and make some new contacts. We are not set to do another show in May 🙂

Inmoov Robot

Since the show, I haven’t done a great deal on the robot. I have replaced its neck as it was not working very well. I have printed a new arm/hand but have not had time to build it and I have sped it up for the Apple Vision Pro demo. Oh and fixed the other arm. Once I get my mojo back I hope to continue improving it.

Rover Robot / ROS2

I have started designing and building my own robot, and I have only made the briefest progress however this is something I want to achieve this year, ideally before July. I am following some rough guides on it so that I have some sort of direction. It is very similar to:
https://articulatedrobotics.xyz/tutorials/mobile-robot/project-overview/

It will run ROS2, SLAM and will have Lidar and a vision system. I hope to drive it outside remotely. This will help me learn more about robotics and ROS2.

ROS2 mentorship

As I mentioned last month I got invited into a ROS2/Robotics mentorship program however I have just not been in the right place mentally to keep up with it. Sad really but I have to be honest with myself. The classes happen at very odd times so it’s quite easy to miss them.

Brilliant App

A long-running theme of mine is to improve my Maths as I need it for Robotics, I have tried a few things out there however the one that seems to keep my brain moving (so far) is the Brilliant App, it’s really good but a little expensive. I am sure I will cave and buy it as it seems to keep me engaged.

Shed

Due to my partner and I splitting up, I had to get stuff out of her garage. This was a lot of LEGO, which is now in my new 6×9 Shed. Thanks to my dad for buying it for me for my birthday 🙂

Unity

At work, I have been looking into Unity, Spatial computing with the Apple Vision Pro, and digital twins. The plan is to try and use Unity to move a 3D model of the blue robotic arm in Mixed reality while it mimics it in real life. I have made some progress but I haven’t used Unity for years. Unity seems to have made the decision to create a new framework for the Apple Vision Pro (PolySpatial), instead of adding the device to the Mixed Reality template which supports Quest, Hololens, and Magic Leap. You also need a pro license to use it (£1800py).

Goals

I know I have a list of goals defined and I am on track to smash them however my focus at the moment is to get my brain firing up, and get the MOJO back to how I used to be at the peak of the O2 Labs / LEGO times. Those were fun times and I really was doing some epic things.

March 2024: Robot Edition

Posted on by burf2000

Hello and welcome to another Burf Update, this one focuses on ROBOTS and the Apple Vision Pro.  I know, you’re probably thinking, hang on they all feature robots?  What’s different?  Well at work, we received 2 Apple Vision Pros to play with, these $3500 devices are not in the UK yet, but the boss managed to get 2.  These super cool devices allow you to do spatial computing (had a go, it really is a game changer).

So when they arrived, my company (Compsoft Creative) wanted to do something cool with them, so after a brief chat, we decided we would use them to control my Inmoov Robot.

So after a 3-day intense workshop trying to get the head/hand/finger data from the Apple Vision Pro (Good work Dave), to control the robot, we decided to take it to the next level!

So we are going to take the Inmoov robot to the Robotic and Automation Show at the NEC next week.

The Rush

As you can see in the videos above, my Inmoov robot is a bit rough, it’s had a very hard life. So I decided it was time to make it look better before the show (which is in about 2 weeks). Work was kind enough to give me time to do it as they needed the robot for the show and there was a lot of work to do.

So what did I manage to do:

  • New head with a new camera and built-in speaker
  • Completely rewired the robot, and all connecting blocks removed
  • New chest plates, sensors, etc
  • New back plates
  • Fingertips added
  • Ears added (not sure about them)
  • A new neck which is a lot stronger
  • Printed a case for the power supply
  • Setup a Compsoft profile in MyRobotLab (took hours to get this to work well)

 

One-off the list

So one of my goals for the year was to finish the Inmoov robot, and I can say pretty confidently that I have achieved this. If the robot stays in 1 piece for the show, I can also say it is classed as reliable.

Anycubic Kobra 2 Max 3D printer

Bloody game-changer, that’s all I can say! So my work bought a 3D printer to help out with the printing needed to update the Inmoov robot because 3D printing is slow as hell. It takes hours/days to do anything large.

Not now it doesn’t, this 3D printer is at least 5-6 times faster than my old one. So 16h print takes 3 hours (standard speed, there is a sports mode!). Honestly, it’s the most epic exciting toy I have played with for ages. This opens up a lot of crazy ideas now.

Goals for the year

It’s always good to look back at the goals, let’s see if we can cross some off

This year’s Targets

  • Finish printing the 3D parts, make improvements to the body
  • Rebuild / Fix the head as the eyes do not function very well
  • Learn MyRobotLab (MRL)
  • MRL: Be able to say some words, and it can perform a custom gesture
  • MRL: Be able to track or detect people using OpenCV
    Plan to do a bit more on this
  • MRL: Be able to call a custom API
    Plan to do a bit more on this
  • MRL: Learn more about AIML (there is a Udemy course)
    Started watching the AIML course
  • Fire up the KinectV2 sensor that’s in the robot
    Not done yet, however, Inmoov does not support this.
  • Improve the wiring in the Inmoov robot as it is a mess

So over half the list has been done, 1 is no longer possible (Kinect) so I may replace that with something else. That is a great start for the year.

ROS2 mentorship

So I saw an offer on LinkedIn offering free mentorship on robotics and ROS. Of course, me being me, I applied for it and got accepted into the group. It has weekly sessions and lots of useful resources etc, however, due to me being super busy with the Inmoov robot, I am massively behind. I see this as a great way to kickstart me into ROS2, even if I can’t keep up.

Vehicles Update

So Jeff the Narava has been sold as I barely used it and it seemed a waste of money. Also, the Harley is up for sale for the same reasons. My dad gave me his 250cc scooter (well swapped for some LEGO) and my Gwiz is on the road and I am LOVING IT. The Gwiz AC version is so much fun. It’s now my main vehicle