<html><head></head><body>Our very first customer at Mergeflow was very good at beating "not invented here" syndrome.He is a very successful innovator with a distinguished career. A physics PhD by training, he started his professional career doing semiconductor research in the R&amp;D department of a large, global technology corporation. He then moved on to running a new business unit (outside the R&amp;D department). After that, he led the spinoff unit of his company. There, he helped commercialize a whole range of technologies into successful spinoff companies.You get the idea. This is a true <a href="https://mergeflow.com/how-to/galilei-style-innovation" rel="noopener" target="_blank">science entrepreneur</a> who is at home in both R&amp;D and business. Also–and this is important–who said that you can’t be an entrepreneur in a large corporation?<h2 id="isPasted">"Not invented here" syndrome happens frequently, and understandably so</h2>At Mergeflow we often hear from innovators how they struggle with "not invented here" (NIH) syndrome in their organization. NIH syndrome refers to the tendency to avoid using products, knowledge, etc. that come from outside one’s own organization (cf. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here" rel="noopener" target="_blank">this Wikipedia article</a>).<blockquote>Many people view other people’s ideas and solutions as a threat, not as an opportunity.</blockquote>It is understandable that many people show NIH syndrome. When you develop a new technology, product or solution, it’s easy to think that you look less brilliant if you incorporate other people’s ideas. And unfortunately most educational systems enforce this way of thinking, from a very early age onward. As a result, many people view other people’s ideas and solutions as a threat, not as an opportunity.<h2 id="isPasted">So…how did he beat "not invented here" syndrome?</h2>Let’s start by looking at what our customer didn’t do.<h2 id="isPasted">Don’t try to change people’s minds</h2>It’s very tempting to address NIH syndrome heads-on. To somehow try to change people’s minds. Very often, people and organizations try doing this by organizing some kind of event or campaign. For example, this could be an (off-site) event where people talk about culture change and whatnot, and listen to some keynote speaker ("I’ve been to the Valley. And I’ve seen the light…" Narrator’s voice: "He only went there for a week, on an organized tour.").Our customer never did that. No mindset change, culture change, or other <a href="https://mergeflow.com/how-to/5-ways-to-escape-innovation-theater" rel="noopener" target="_blank">innovation theater</a>.Here’s what he did instead when he wanted to bring outside ideas into his organization:<h2 id="isPasted">Find individual people who are open to new ideas</h2>If you want to beat NIH syndrome, it’s good to start with "low-hanging grapes".For example, when our customer wanted to introduce a new idea to a team in his organization, he first approached the most open-minded person from this team. Once he had this person as an "ally", he engaged with the other team members (together with his ally).This didn’t always work. Sometimes he couldn’t find anyone who was open-minded enough. And in situations like that, he wouldn’t try to force anything but moved on instead.<blockquote>Can’t find anyone who is open to new ideas? If this happens, don’t try to force anything. Instead, move on.</blockquote><h2 id="isPasted">Use concrete information, not abstract "trends"</h2>"[TOPIC XYZ] is really trending hot. We need to act now!"You often see this in the context of so-called technology radars, for example. They look like dartboards, where the arrows represent topics (usually described at a very high-level, such as "machine learning" or "blockchain"). And the arrows in the middle of the dartboard represent those topics that need to be acted upon.This can be an interesting exercise, but it is not enough. First, what exactly do you mean by "act"? Who exactly should do what exactly, for how long, etc.? And what exactly do you mean when you say "machine learning" or "blockchain" in the context of your organization?So instead of abstract trends, our customer always used concrete information. Details depend on context, of course. But good examples might be companies with a relevant product or solution; a paper that describes a potentially interesting new technology; or sometimes just a blog post with an interesting idea such as a <a href="https://mergeflow.com/how-to/good-innovation-analyst" rel="noopener" target="_blank">plausible future scenario</a>.But don’t overwhelm people. Nobody has the time to go through a list of 50 companies or 100 papers. Instead, use a handful of findings, or even just a single finding.Note that "single finding" doesn’t necessarily mean "single document". For example, if a finding is a specific company, then this finding might include the founder’s bios, their patents, scientific publications, and news about the company.<h2 id="isPasted">Don’t tell people what to do. Instead, ask them for feedback, or to explain something to you</h2>"Hey, I just found this great paper, and you should really read it."Not a great conversation starter. First, you don’t want to corner people and make them feel like they missed something. Second, you might be wrong. What if your great finding isn’t that great after all? Or what if for some reason the finding is interesting but not relevant, i.e. won’t work in the context of your company?So instead, our customer took his finding and either asked people for feedback, or to explain the finding. He would ask them, "I’m no expert on this, but I saw this…what do you think?". And these feedback conversations were not just high-level generalities, but very specific and detail-oriented. Also, the "recipient" did most of the talking, not our customer.<blockquote id="isPasted">When you share an idea with someone, the other person should do most of the talking, not you. Otherwise you won’t learn anything.</blockquote><h2 id="isPasted">Use information that’s targeted to your audience</h2>It’s no secret that when you share new information with people, you make it easier for them if you reach them where they are.For example, when our customer introduced an idea to a researcher, he would try to find a research paper or other technical contents. This allowed the researcher to evaluate an idea in depth. And this resulted in substantially more valuable feedback or explanations–which led to clearer decisions and faster progress.By contrast, when he talked with someone from finance or marketing, he tried to find information that emphasized the business aspect. For instance, this could be a company’s business model, competitive landscape, a good narrative, or market information.Related readings:<a href="https://mergeflow.com/how-to/how-to-talk-like-a-scientist" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> How to talk like a scientist -&gt;</a><a href="https://mergeflow.com/how-to/talk-like-a-business-person" rel="noopener" target="_blank">How to talk like a business person -&gt;</a></body></html>

Featured image by Huseyin Bostanci from Getty Images.

Our very first customer at Mergeflow was very good at beating "not invented here" syndrome.

He was a very accomplished science entrepreneur. A physics PhD by training, his career spanned semiconductor research, leading a new business unit, and commercializing a whole range of technologies into successful spinoff companies.

In this article I describe the hands-on methods he used to beat "not invented here" syndrome in his organization.

How successful innovators beat "not invented here" syndrome: A real-life example

Another fascinating month for robotics. Researchers are the highlight of the month. Through their work, we are pushing the boundaries of self-awareness, complex structure and even the limits of life and death.&nbsp;Spoooky indeed.&nbsp;Take a seat and join us in this quick review of robotics news.And don&#39;t forget that you can also share your story. We would love to feature it in our next blog. Just email us at <a href="mailto:robotics.community@canonical.com" target="_blank">robotics.community@canonical.com</a><ul><li>This blog has also been <a href="http://ubuntu.com/blog/the-state-of-robotics-august-2022?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">posted in Ubuntu blogs</a>.&nbsp;</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Security for robotics</h2><h3 dir="ltr">Vulnerability in cute, smart Enabot Ebo Air robot found and fixed</h3>The <a href="https://na.enabot.com/ebo/AIR" target="_blank">Enabot Ebo Air</a> is a friendly smart home robot, designed to keep the family company. It allows you to interact with your family at home while you&rsquo;re away. It can take photos and videos as well as recognise faces, and you can steer it around the house via Wi-Fi. Recently, the security assessment firm Modux was asked to evaluate the security of the robot, and <a href="https://www.modux.co.uk/post/serious-security-issues-uncovered-with-the-enabot-smart-robot" target="_blank">found two important vulnerabilities</a>. Modux disclosed the issues to the manufacturer, who has since addressed the risks and released a fix.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU1ODQzODQ3LXRlc3QgMS53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The first issue found was the use of a shared password for the system administrator (root) account. The Enabot Ebo Air robot came pre-configured with a default system administrator password, which was weak and shared across all devices. An attacker could have used this to connect via SSH (secure shell), and gain full administrative permissions. The recommendation was to disable SSH functionality, which the manufacturer did.&nbsp;The second bug was a missing secure-delete functionality, which could potentially disclose information from the previous owner if the robot was resold. The robot did not effectively perform a secure deletion of data when a factory reset was initiated, leaving behind artefacts from previous uses of the device, including cleartext Wi-Fi passwords and session tokens from the previous owner. For this, the recommendation was to use a secure deletion functionality instead, overwriting all sensitive data multiple times.An attacker could have used these vulnerabilities to move the robot, access the camera, record video, speak through the microphone, among other tasks, effectively using it as a surveillance device. This event highlights the importance of security awareness and thorough testing, as robots continue to serve and accompany us more and more in our daily lives. <h2 dir="ltr">Amazon acquisition of iRobot - implications beyond data</h2>Every time Amazon launches or acquires a new company (especially one developing a device) the whole internet starts talking about the data and privacy implications. Yes, certainly data is important for Amazon. But that is not the whole story. Today I want to talk about the impact this acquisition has on investors and how this could boost the market.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU1ODg4NDM2LXRlc3QyLndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Funding a robotics venture is not easy. Between March 2020 and March 2021, robotics companies raised only 8% in capital compared to AI companies. AI-focused startups raised a total of $73.4 billion while robotics startups raised $6.3 billion. This is a paltry sum in comparison, especially when we saw an increasing need for robotics in several industries (due to COVID). &nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU1OTA4ODQxLXRlc3QzLndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">There are many reasons behind this. One of those, and the most important one, is the increased risk perception from investors. Robotics development is expensive and takes time.&nbsp;But moves like Amazon&rsquo;s show something to investors: a profitable exit. Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion. A success story is always needed to push investment, and this certainly makes one.&nbsp;This is not an isolated event. It comes after 2 years of really interesting acquisitions. Take <a href="https://www.zebra.com/gb/en/about-zebra/newsroom/press-releases/2021/zebra-technologies-to-acquire-fetch-robotics.html" target="_blank">Zebra&#39;s acquisition of Fetch</a>, or <a href="https://www.deere.com/en/news/all-news/2021aug5-bear-flag-robotics/" target="_blank">John Deere&#39;s acquisitions of ROS-based startups</a>. Investors are aware, now more than ever, that while the risk is high, the profit/ROI could be as well. Moves like <a href="https://ubuntu.com/blog/the-state-of-robotics-september-2021" target="_blank">Amazon launching Astro</a> create more incentives.&nbsp;Amazon&rsquo;s acquisition has various implications. Only time will tell whether this boosts the market, and how much.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Robotics awareness&nbsp;</h2>Robots are now able to learn a model of their entire body from scratch, without any human assistance. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.abn1944" target="_blank">Researchers from Columbia University</a> developed a visual self-model using deep neural networks that allowed a robot to learn the relationship between its motor actions and the volume it occupied in its environment.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU1OTM2ODEyLXRlc3QgNC53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The team found a way to visualise how the robot saw itself, finding a surprisingly accurate self-image. (<a href="https://www.hackster.io/news/columbia-university-researchers-gave-this-robot-arm-a-true-sense-of-self-cadeac6481a9" target="_blank">source</a>) The researchers placed a robotic arm inside a circle of five streaming video cameras. The video footage was fed to the network as the robot wiggled and contorted. This allowed it to learn exactly how its body moved in response to various motor commands.&nbsp;After about three hours, the robot learned the relationship between its motor actions and the volume it occupied in its environment. Much like an infant exploring itself for the first time in a hall of mirrors.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU1OTU2Njk5LXRlc3Q1LndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Robot inside a circle of five streaming video cameras This awareness allows the robot to plan motion, reach goals, and avoid obstacles in a variety of situations&mdash;another small but incredible step towards robots&rsquo; self-awareness. <h2 dir="ltr">Robotics and Smart textiles</h2><a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/new-shape-shifting-material-can-move-robot" target="_blank">Researchers at the University of New South Wales</a> are also working on a special project. They developed a new class of smart textiles that can shape-shift and turn two-dimensional material into 3D structures. The material is constructed from tiny soft artificial muscles. These muscles are long silicone tubes that can change shape thanks to hydraulics.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU1OTc3MTkxLXRlc3Q2LndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The UNSW team&#39;s smart textile enables fabric reconfiguration which produces shape-morphing structures such as this butterfly and flower that can move using hydraulics. (<a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/new-shape-shifting-material-can-move-robot" target="_blank">source</a>) The artificial muscles can be programmed to contract or expand into a variety of shapes depending on their initial structure. The smart textile can either be attached to existing passive material or yarn to create an active fabric.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU2MDAwMzM2LXRlc3QgNy53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Structure of smart textile (<a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/new-shape-shifting-material-can-move-robot" target="_blank">source</a>)&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Spider gripper&nbsp;</h2>What&rsquo;s next is not fabric, but something from a sci-fi movie. <a href="https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-engineers-get-grip-necrobotic-spiders" target="_blank">Rice University researchers</a> found a way to use dead spiders as robotic grippers. What started with a dead spider in a lab became a gripper; Necrobotics.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU2MDI3MDc0LXRlc3QgOC53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Functioning of the spider gripper (<a href="https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2022/07/necrobotic-spiders/" target="_blank">source</a>) If you haven&#39;t noticed yet, spiders&rsquo; legs curl up when they die. This is because spiders extend their legs with hydraulic pressure and when spiders die they lose this ability. Researchers tapped into the hydraulic infrastructure of dead spiders using a needle, and by pumping air, they extended the spider&rsquo;s legs. Releasing the pressure retracted the legs, allowing them to grab objects. <h2 dir="ltr">Congratulations to ROS Industrial&nbsp;for its 10-year anniversary</h2>Happy birthday <a href="https://rosindustrial.org/" target="_blank">ROS Industrial</a>! If you don&#39;t know it yet, ROS Industrial is an open source project that seeks to extend ROS and now ROS 2 to industrial hardware and applications.&nbsp;ROS Industrial identifies and prioritises capabilities for industrial robotics and automation to address current and future application problems. They also provide a wide range of user services, including technical support and training, to facilitate the continued adoption of ROS by the industry.<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-6yAk05et1Q?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-gtm-yt-inspected-12="true" id="26562603" title="ROS-Industrial 10 Year Anniversary Mash Up"></iframe> They help us all carry the flag of open source in the industrial and automation domain. For that, we are truly thankful and we&rsquo;re proud to be part of this community. &nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Robot Makers - Chapter 3 - Register now!&nbsp;</h2>Did you miss the interview with Akara Robotics CEO Conor McGinn? Don&rsquo;t worry,<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O3X7MM1mx8" target="_blank">&nbsp;the video is now available on youtube</a>.&nbsp;And don&#39;t miss our <a href="https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/6793/555737?utm_source=Canonical&utm_medium=brighttalk&utm_campaign=555737?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=engage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">upcoming interview with Russell Nickerson</a>, Engagement Liaison at MassRobotics. MassRobotics is a non-profit coworking space for robotics startups in Boston&#39;s Seaport, where Russell supports more than 60 residence startups.&nbsp;Based on his experience scaling robotics companies, Russell will share the dos and don&#39;ts of go-to-market strategy.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYxMTYwMTQ5MDQyLVtXZWJpbmFyXSBNYXNzUm9ib3RpY3MgUm9ib3QgTWFrZXJzIDIgKDIpLnBuZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><ul><li dir="ltr">Register now for <a href="https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/6793/555737?utm_source=Canonical&utm_medium=brighttalk&utm_campaign=555737?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=engage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chapter 3 of the Robot Maker series</a></li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Open source robotics &ndash; white papers</h2>We recently published a whitepaper about the importance of<a href="https://ubuntu.com/engage/robot-operating-system-choice?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=engage" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;choosing the right OS for your robot</a>. Picking the right OS could make a big difference in factors like security, maintenance and infrastructure for deployment.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU2MDcxNzI2LXRlc3QgOS53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><ul><li>Review the implications and explore <a href="https://ubuntu.com/engage/robot-operating-system-choice?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=engage" id="isPasted" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">why so many developers chose Ubuntu</a>.&nbsp;</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Open source robotics &ndash; video news</h2>Another month, another video. More news, more applications, more robots! &nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O29XoRFNc0k?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> If you want us to feature your robotics application, just send us an email at <a data-fr-linked="true" href="mailto:robotics.community@canonical.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">robotics.community@canonical.com</a>.<ul><li dir="ltr">And don&#39;t forget to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/UbuntuOS/?sub_confirmation=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">follow us for more robotics news, demos and tutorials!</a>&nbsp;</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr">Open-source robotics &ndash; ROS 2 shared memory tutorial</h2>After receiving questions regarding an error message issued by ROS 2 applications in snaps, we decided to put together a blog post on this matter <a href="https://ubuntu.com/blog/how-to-use-ros-2-shared-memory-in-snaps?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&ldquo;How to use ROS 2 shared memory in snaps&rdquo;</a><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjYwNTU2MDkzNDI3LXRlc3QgMTAud2VicCIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><a href="https://ubuntu.com/blog/how-to-use-ros-2-shared-memory-in-snaps?utm_source=wevolver&utm_medium=blog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">In this post</a>, we review the shared memory mechanism in ROS 2, explain why the shared memory feature causes error messages in snaps and propose different solutions to tackle it.As usual, we&rsquo;d love to get your feedback. Feel free to reach out on the <a href="https://forum.snapcraft.io/" target="_blank">snapcraft forum</a>.<h2 dir="ltr">Stay tuned for more robotics news</h2>As always, we would love to hear from you. Send a summary of your robotics innovation and project to <a href="mailto:robotics.community@canonical.com" target="_blank">robotics.community@canonical.com</a>, and we will share it in our next robotics newsletter or monthly video. Thanks for reading!

Monthly robotics news blog. Discover the latest innovations, products, research, tutorials, and security news for robotics.

The State of Robotics, August 2022

<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">The State of Robotics &ndash; May &amp; June 2022</h2>In May, robotics felt the waves of the Hawksbill and Jellyfish. Last month brought us the first LTS for ROS 2, Humble Hawksbill. As part of the ROS community, we welcome this new release and congratulate everyone who made it possible.In this round-up, we will talk about ROS, drones, football and robots that eat scrambled eggs.&nbsp;Yep, enjoy ;) &nbsp;&nbsp;And don&#39;t forget that you can also share your story. We would love to feature it in our next blog. Just email us at <a href="mailto:robotics.community@canonical.com" target="_blank">robotics.community@canonical.com</a>&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Security for robotics</h2><h3 dir="ltr">Critical vulnerabilities found in hospital robots</h3>Five critical bugs were <a href="https://technewsmax.com/2022/04/12/critical_vuln_hospital_robots/" target="_blank">recently found</a> in TUG autonomous mobile robots. These internet-connected robots are being used at hundreds of hospitals around the world to deliver medicine and maintenance supplies.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI4OTAxODY0LXR1Z2d5LWlubGluZS53ZWJwIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The zero-day vulnerabilities (CVSS scores ranging from 7.6 to 9.8), collectively called <a href="https://www.cynerio.com/jekyllbot-5-command-center" target="_blank">JekyllBot:5</a>, required a low skill set and could be exploited without any special privileges or user interaction. When exploited, they enabled remote attacker control of the robots and access to real-time camera feeds and device data. The vulnerabilities originated in TUG Homebase Server&#39;s JavaScript and API implementation, and a WebSocket that relied on absolute trust between the server and the robots to relay commands to them. Some HTML vulnerabilities on the web portal page also allowed an attacker to insert malicious Javascript code on any computer that requested data about the robots. Cynerio, the threat research firm that discovered the bugs, immediately notified hospitals using the robot.&nbsp;&nbsp;Attacks on hospital robots could have critical consequences that impact patient care, such as disrupting or blocking drug delivery or even causing damage by crashing them into people or objects. Thankfully, none of these vulnerabilities were exploited in the wild. All five bugs have now been fixed for all TUG base server versions before version 24.<h2 dir="ltr">ROS 2 Humble, Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu Core 22</h2>With the release of Ubuntu 22.04, we have a new release of ROS 2 Humble Hawksbill. This long-term support (LTS) release is the first LTS for a ROS 2 distribution. These 5 years of support show the maturity that ROS 2 has achieved. As such, it brings <a href="https://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-2-humble-hawksbill-released/25729" target="_blank">several features</a>:<ul><li dir="ltr">Type adaptation: In rclcpp, you can work with custom data structures and have them implicitly converted to be sent over the ROS network, or passed directly if you&rsquo;re using interprocess communication. This is convenient for working with complex data structures like images.</li><li dir="ltr">launch_pytest: A pytest plugin for writing tests in Python.</li><li dir="ltr">Frontend support for composable nodes: Composable nodes can now be specified in launch files.</li><li dir="ltr">Content filtered topics: Subscribers can filter which types of messages they want to see.</li></ul><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI4OTk1NTkyLXJvcy1odW1ibGUtaGF3a3NiaWxsLWZlYXR1cmVkLndlYnAiLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">And what better match for Humble Hawksbill than Jammy Jellyfish. Ubuntu 22.04 is now generally available, featuring significant leaps forward in cloud confidential computing, real-time kernel for industrial applications, and enterprise Active Directory, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, FIPS and FedRAMP compliance. This release raises the bar for open source from cloud to edge, IoT and workstations.&nbsp;For robotics development these are the most attractive features in this new distribution:<ul><li dir="ltr">Real-time kernel for Ubuntu, with the PREEMPT_RT patchset integration. This enables extreme latency-dependent use cases, providing deterministic response times to service events. Available for x86_64 and AArch64.</li><li dir="ltr">FIPS-certified Ubuntu images that make it easy for companies to fulfil different industrial compliance requirements (e.g. PCI-DSS, HIPAA and FedRAMP).</li><li dir="ltr">OVAL integration for vulnerability and patch definitions to enable auditing for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs)s.</li><li dir="ltr">Active Directory is now fully supported in the Ubuntu installer with Advanced Group Policy Object and allows more refined user permissions and script execution control from within Active Directory.&nbsp;</li></ul><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5MDQwMzc5LXVidW50dSBqZWxseWZpc2gud2VicCIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Together with 22.04, we also released Ubuntu Core 22. Canonical announced that <a href="http://ubuntu.com/core" target="_blank">Ubuntu Core 22</a>, the fully containerised Ubuntu 22.04 LTS variant optimised for IoT and edge devices, is now generally available for download from <a href="https://ubuntu.com/download/iot" target="_blank">ubuntu.com/download/iot</a>. Combined with Canonical&rsquo;s technology offer, this release brings Ubuntu&rsquo;s comprehensive and industry-leading operating system (OS) and services to a complete range of embedded and IoT devices.For those deploying robotics devices to market, Ubuntu Core 22 brings these new features:&nbsp;<ul><li dir="ltr">It provides a path to upgrade UC20 systems to UC22 and backward compatibility of the new features to UC20.</li><li dir="ltr">Validation set that specified what applications are either required to be installed together or are permitted to be installed together on a device or system.&nbsp;</li><li dir="ltr">Quota group sets to limit services inside applications like maximum memory and CPU usage.</li></ul>To learn more about the new features on Core 22 <a href="https://ubuntu.com/blog/what-youre-missing-out-if-you-dont-try-ubuntu-core-22" target="_blank">check the next blog</a>.&nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6NDWqH1SrGs?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> <h2 dir="ltr">Skybrush going Open Source&nbsp;</h2>We stand behind open source projects since they make way for innovation. Just take a look at <a href="https://skybrush.io/" target="_blank">Skybrush</a>, a drone-show management platform. In early May, Skybrush announced the release of their ultimate multi-UAV mission and drone show management platform as an open-source project.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5MDY2Mjg4LXNreWJydXNoX2xpdmVfb25fZGVza3RvcC5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Skybrush has also advanced on the drone swarm research front, with 30, 50, and up to 100 autonomous drones flying together in different cooperative scenarios. Besides putting on an impressive show, the drone orchestration platform can be used in other industries. It has practical applications for agriculture, surveillance and delivery - among other use cases.<h2 dir="ltr">Making drone nests with Wings</h2>Looking for another drone use case? Check <a href="https://wing.com/" target="_blank">Wing</a> and their drone delivery system. Wing &nbsp;is growing in Australia. The company allows small businesses to access a delivery infrastructure. Companies can ship their products through a system of different bases in the city, called wing nests. Once on the wing nest, drones can travel up to 6 miles in 6 minutes. This covers a wide range of houses. The delivery zones can expand as more wing nests get added to the network.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5NTQxMjQ3LUZJX2hlYWRlcl8yMDQ4eDExNTEgY29weS1taW4uanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2 dir="ltr">Drones and strong winds &nbsp;</h2>To autonomously perform delivery tasks, drones need to be able to adapt to wind conditions in real-time. This is a field that is not well understood yet. <a href="https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/rapid-adaptation-of-deep-learning-teaches-drones-to-survive-any-weather" target="_blank">A team of engineers from Caltec</a>h is expanding our knowledge in this area. They developed Neural-Fly, a deep-learning method that can help drones cope with new and unknown wind conditions in real-time by incorporating pre-trained representations through deep learning. Take note, drone fans.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5MTUzNTA5LUNhbHRlY2hfTmV1cmFsX0ZseV8wNi4yZTE2ZDBiYS5maWxsLTE2MDB4ODEwLWMxMDAuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Neural-Fly uses an algorithm to learn the shared representation, using only 12 minutes of flight data. With the learned representation, Neural-Fly achieves precise flight control with substantially smaller tracking errors. It&rsquo;s been used to improve drone performance at wind speeds ranging up to 43.6 kilometres/hour.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5MTcyODkyLUNhbHRlY2hfTmV1cmFsX0ZseV8wOC5tYXgtMTQwMHg4MDAuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2 dir="ltr">Eating robot</h2>This news entered a new category. A food-tasting robot? Yes, a food-tasting robot. Researchers from the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-61313767" target="_blank">University of Cambridge&nbsp;</a>trained Beko to assess the saltiness of a dish at different stages of the chewing process, imitating a process that is similar in humans. Beko, who has already been trained to make omelettes, tasted nine variations of scrambled eggs and tomatoes at three different stages of the chewing process. The researchers attached a conductance probe to the robot&rsquo;s arm, which acts as a salinity sensor.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5MjAzNzIwLXJvYm90IGVhdGluZyBvbWVsZXR0ZXMuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Their results showed a significant improvement in robots&rsquo; ability to assess saltiness over other electronic tasting methods. In case you were wondering, the food was blended to imitate the change in texture caused by chewing.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5NTYyNTcwLVJvYm90LWNoZWYtdHJhaW5lZC10by10YXN0ZS1mb29kLWluLWRpZmZlcmVudC1jaGV3aW5nLXBoYXNlcy5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2 dir="ltr">Open source robotics &ndash; white papers</h2>We recently published a <a href="https://ubuntu.com/engage/robot-operating-system-choice" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">whitepaper about the importance of choosing the right OS</a> for your robot. Picking the right OS could make a big difference in factors like security, maintenance and infrastructure for deployment. Review the implications and explore why so many developers chose Ubuntu.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5NTc3MDcwLXdoaXRlcGFwZXIucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2 dir="ltr">Open source robotics &ndash; video news</h2>Another month, another video. More news, more applications, more robots! &nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hvmwE6ft45A?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> If you want us to feature your robotics application, just send us an email at <a href="mailto:robotics.community@canonical.com" target="_blank">robotics.community@canonical.com</a>.<h2 dir="ltr">Open-source robotics &ndash; ROS 2 in Ubuntu with LXD tutorial</h2>Do you want to test ROS 2 Humble? If you want to test compatibility and keep your current Ubuntu (20.04, 18.04,&hellip;) environment stable until you know you are ready to upgrade, you can do that with LXD containers. <a href="https://ubuntu.com/blog/install-ros-2-humble-in-ubuntu-20-04-or-18-04-using-lxd-containers" target="_blank">Read our tutorial</a> to find out how.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Robot Makers - Chapter 2</h2>Did you miss the interview with Akara Robotics CEO Conor McGinn? Don&rsquo;t worry, the video is now available on-demand. If you want to learn about the funding landscape for robotics startups, the best sources of funding and good guidelines, this webinar is for you.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjU2OTI5NjIxMzUzLVtXZWJpbmFyXSBBa2FyYSBSb2JvdCBNYWtlcnMgMiAoOCkucG5nIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><h2 dir="ltr">Stay tuned for more robotics news</h2>As always, we would love to hear from you. Send a summary of your robotics innovation and project to <a href="mailto:robotics.community@canonical.com" target="_blank">robotics.community@canonical.com</a>, and we will share it in our next robotics newsletter or monthly video. Thanks for reading!

Monthly robotics news blog. Discover the latest products, research, tutorials, and security news for robotics.

The State of Robotics, May & June 2022

This is the 3rd and final article in a 3 part series featuring the applications of tinyML. The series introduces the concept of tinyML and explains some selected applications of the technology in various fields like sustainability, healthcare, and education.Education is the first step towards innovation. It is an integral part of personal development and equips the learners with the tools necessary to go ahead and solve the challenges faced by humanity. While tinyML is a great tool to develop pedagogical interventions for improving the quality of education in different streams, it is in itself a vast subject that every science and technology student must be familiar with.In our <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/applications-of-tinyml-in-healthcare-for-a-safer-future" target="_blank">previous article</a> about the applications of tinyML, we explained how it aids medical research and improves healthcare. This article continues the series by showcasing two more applications of tinyML for education.<h2 dir="ltr">Using tinyML for Neuroscience in K12 education: tinyML4STEM</h2>Anything and everything concerned with the central nervous system is a part of neuroscience. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves a scientific study of how the brain coordinates with the body and makes various body functions possible. The study is not just limited to humans but can also be extended to animals and even plants.Roughly 20% of the world’s population has suffered from a neurological disorder at some point in their lives, and none of the disorders have a cure yet. The only way to make new discoveries in the domain is by promoting research and education.It is also interesting to note that the most fundamental unit of Machine Learning (ML) is called a neuron and the whole concept and modelling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based systems came from neuroscience. This makes it essential to talk about the specialised subject with the students of computer science to make them understand the underlying principles of the technology.But the problem with neuroscience education has always been the affordability and availability of experiment kits. Unlike many other Science Technology Engineering Management (STEM) fields, the apparatus for performing neuroscience experiments can not be acquired easily by schools and colleges. Graduate students opting for a specialisation in the area are the only ones to get their hands on these experiment kits.Greg Gage and Tim Marzullo realised this problem back in 2008 when they were pursuing PhD at the University of Michigan. The duo tried explaining neuroscience concepts to school children but couldn’t do so without showcasing practicals. There was no way to bring expensive graduate college equipment to schools. To solve this issue and make neuro-science kits affordable and readily available, Greg and Tim founded Backyard Brains.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkwNDUyMjI0LWltYWdlNy5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="EMG-signals-backyard-brains">Illustrations like these can help kids grasp even complex concepts easily. Source: Backyard BrainsThe organisation today makes low-cost neuroscience trainers, DIY kits, tools, software, conducts workshops and a lot more to democratise neuroscience education.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkwNTI1MDYyLWltYWdlMS5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="neuroscience-experiment-kits-backyard-brains">Neuroscience trainer kits by Backyard Brains are great alternatives for schools to introduce the students to the field. Source: Backyard BrainsNeuroscience signals like Electromyogram (EMG), Electrooculogram (EOG), Electrocardiogram (EKG), etc., can be used to get various cues about what is going on inside the body.When neurons fire electrical impulses from the motor cortex, the signals flow through the spinal cord to the parts of the body involved in the action. By putting small electrodes on the skin near the areas where the signals can be picked up, it is possible to observe them via an EMG. The impulses being electrical in nature can be amplified as a single-dimensional signal and visualised easily. These single-dimensional signals are beautiful for ML and are also quite easy to be analysed.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkwNjI0MDcwLWltYWdlNC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="visualising-neuroscience">A snapshot from tinyML talks where Greg demonstrates how EMG signals can be visualised with a low-cost training kit. Source: tinyML YouTubeThe patterns in these signals might not be as apparent to humans as they are to the tinyML algorithms, which can classify and map them with different human behaviours. An implementation of such a technique can be used to develop a brain-machine interface that can help make neuroprosthetics.&nbsp;EOG is another example of a neuro signal that measures the corneo-retinal standing potential of the eye. In other words, it helps understand eye movements. A trained TinyML system can be used to accurately detect eye blinking and movements by feeding the signal to the input.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkwNjYzNTM5LWltYWdlOC5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="EOG-signals-detect-eye-blinking">The spikes that appear on the EOG are due to eye blinking. Source: tinyML YouTubeThen there’s EKG generated by the electrical impulses from the heart. For different people, the patterns of EKG are observed to be similar when looking at the same object. This can be used to predict if the person is telling the truth. In medical applications, signals can be used to check the functioning of the brain. A sample tone is played to the patient, and electric potential signals are observed. When the tone being played changes, the subconscious mind should ideally change the way it reacts, which should be evident in the electric potential signals.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkxNTU2NjQ2LWltYWdlMy5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="hackerhand-copies-gestures-EKG-signals">‘Hackerhand’, a robotic arm mimicking hand movements based on EKG signals. Source: tinyML YouTubeIt is also interesting to note that the signals are generated slightly before someone is about to take action, making it possible for tinyML systems to be able to predict the behaviour in advance. A similar fun project has been developed at Backyard Brains.Readers can participate in many more such projects or share ideas by visiting <a href="https://backyardbrains.com/" target="_blank">Backyard Brains</a>.<h2 dir="ltr">TinyML Open Education Initiative: tinyMLedu</h2>Over the past two decades, ML has been through a journey from a purely academic and theoretical discipline to a widely spread technology in use. It won’t be an understatement to say that technology has touched almost every industry and is now ubiquitous technology. It is expected that the interest in the field will only grow from here, at least in the near foreseeable future. Given its amazing potential in solving some of the greatest challenges faced by humanity, it is important that more people are introduced to technology in a systematic way.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkxNTk4OTQ2LWltYWdlNS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="instructors-tinyML-harvard-google-edx">Instructors of the tinyML specialisationUnlike traditional ML, it is possible to run tinyML algorithms on low-cost and low-power embedded systems, which solves a major problem related to the unavailability of powerful hardware for learners. But the shortage of ML educators is still something that needs to be addressed.A joint initiative by Harvard and Google, developed as an academic and industry collaboration, aims to address the challenges by introducing tinyML to the masses with a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on edX.&nbsp;The courses that are a part of the tinyML specialisation go beyond teaching the students about the subject by diving deeper into the practical applications and industrial product development lifecycle. The next generation of students needs to understand the end-to-end full-stack development of tinyML projects to be able to gain a complete understanding of the subject.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkxNjIwMzE4LWltYWdlOS5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="tinyML-specialisation-course-structure">A diagram providing an overview of topics explored in tinyML specialisation. Source: [3]The tinyML specialisation, jointly developed by Harvard and Google, is a set of self-paced learning modules that can be taken from anywhere. The specialisation includes four courses:<ol><li dir="ltr">Introduction to tinyML:&nbsp;The first course covers the basics of ML and embedded systems. Everything from the concept to gathering data and training the algorithms is explained.</li><li dir="ltr">Applications of tinyML: The second course builds on the foundation by explaining some parts of the code behind the most widely used tinyML applications. It also introduces the learners to the principles of keyword spotting, visual wake words, anomaly detection, and dataset engineering.</li><li dir="ltr">Deploying tinyML: The third course teaches how code is written, optimised, and deployed for embedded systems. This is where microcontrollers are introduced, and students can purchase a kit for a nominal price (US$49.99) to get hands-on experience.</li><li dir="ltr">Scaling tinyML [Optional]: Once the learners are familiar with the design, development and deployment of tinyML, the final course covers the more advanced aspects related to producing tinyML solutions for the masses.</li></ol>Each course includes several activities such as collabs, hands-on labs, quizzes, readings, assignments, tests, and discussion-forum participation.The key challenges for students taking up the tinyML specialisation can be limited hardware accessibility and the requirement of being familiar with programming. To address the challenges associated with hardware accessibility, open-source emulation platforms like <a href="https://renode.io/" target="_blank">renode.io</a> from Antmicro are being tested to allow learners to try out their code without the hardware. The other challenge can be solved by platforms like <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/edge.impulse" target="_blank">Edge Impulse</a>, which are lowering the barriers to enable people with little to no programming knowledge to implement tinyML solutions.Anyone with interest in tinyML can visit <a href="https://www.edx.org/professional-certificate/harvardx-tiny-machine-learning" target="_blank">tinyML Professional Certificate | edX</a> and enrol for the course for free. The course material is available on <a href="https://github.com/tinyMLx/courseware" target="_blank">GitHub</a>.<h2 dir="ltr" id="isPasted">Conclusion</h2>Though the project kits or MOOCs are not a complete solution to train professional neuroscience researchers or tinyML solution architects, they offer a great place for beginners to start. The kits and courses are designed in such a way that the students can engage in fun activities while they experiment and learn new stuff. This makes the experience memorable and develops an interest in the subject, which could lead more people to choose the specialised fields and make new discoveries.&nbsp;This article concludes our tinyML applications series.About tinyML FoundationWith its workshops, webinars, expert talks, research conferences, competitions, and a plethora of other events, tinyML Foundation enables students, researchers, and industry personnel to come together and share their experiences about the technology. It is the incredibly collaborative nature of the community that allows it to advance rapidly.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjQzMjkxNjYyNjY4LWltYWdlMi5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/tinyml-for-good-where-machine-learning-meets-edge-computing" target="_blank">introductory article</a> familiarised the readers with the concept of tinyML.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/tinyml" target="_blank">first article</a> explained some possibilities of tinyML applications in sustainable technologies.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/applications-of-tinyml-in-healthcare-for-a-safer-future/" target="_blank">second article</a> is about tinyML applications aiding healthcare and medical research.The <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/applications-of-tinyml-making-specialised-education-more-accessible" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">third and final article</a> shall cover the tinyML applications in pedagogy and education.<h2 dir="ltr">References</h2>[1] Marzullo TC, Gage GJ (2012) The SpikerBox: A Low Cost, Open-Source BioAmplifier for Increasing Public Participation in Neuroscience Inquiry. PLOS ONE 7(3): e30837. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030837" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030837</a>.[2] Gregory J. Gage, The Case for Neuroscience Research in the Classroom, Neuron, Volume 102, Issue 5, 2019, Pages 914-917, ISSN 0896-6273, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2019.04.007" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2019.04.007</a>.[3] Vijay J. Reddi et. al., Widening Access to Applied Machine Learning with TinyML, arXiv:2106.04008v2 [cs.LG], Jun 2021, [Online], Available from: <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.04008" target="_blank">https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.04008</a>.

In this article, we look at two tinyML projects for education. We show how Backyard Brains uses low-cost experiment kits to make neuroscience education more accessible. We also introduce our readers to a specialisation offered by Harvard & Google to help students learn tinyML like never before.

Applications of TinyML making specialised education more accessible

<html><head></head><body>In 2014, two planes had gone missing with no luck at finding the wreckage. Lives were lost and families are left wondering “what happened?”. In the world of truly autonomous vehicles, UAVs should react on their own through some sort of external stimuli. It is through these external stimuli that the UAVs react and adjust their goal accordingly. These stimuli can be taken from various sensors on the craft but also can be given commands by a human.Drones are unmanned, aerial devices used for a variety of purposes. When first developed, these devices were manually, remotely controlled. Now, however, drones often incorporate artificial intelligence, automating some or all operations. The incorporation of AI enables drone vendors to use data from sensors attached to the drone to collect and implement visual and environmental data. &nbsp;This data enables autonomous or assisted flight, making operation easier, and increasing accessibility. As a result, drones have become part of the smart mobility offerings that are now commercially available to businesses and consumers. AI-based drones rely largely on computer vision. This technology enables drones to detect objects while flying and allows the analysis and recording of information on the ground.Computer vision works through high-performance, onboard image processing performed with a neural network. A neural network is a layered architecture that is used to implement algorithms in machine learning. Neural networks enable drones to perform object detection, classification, and tracking. This information is combined in real-time to enable drones to avoid collisions and locate and track targets.To implement neural networks in drones, researchers must first train the machine learning algorithms to recognize and correctly classify objects in a wide variety of contexts. This is done by feeding specially marked images into the algorithm.These images teach the neural network which traits classes of objects have and how to differentiate one type of object from another. More advanced neural networks continue learning without supervision during operation, improving detection and analysis with use.Drones have three main applications.<h3>SURVEILLANCE</h3>Drones can be equipped with various types of surveillance equipment that can collect HD video and still images day and night. Drones can be equipped with technology allowing them to intercept cell phone calls, determine GPS locations, and gather license plate information. The high payload compatibility allows the use of different surveying systems such as lidar scanners, multi- and hyperspectral devices and much more – around the clock, with low staffing requirements and low costs.Drone surveillance is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to capture of still images and video to gather information about specific targets, which might be individuals, groups or environments. Drone surveillance enables surreptitiously gathering information about a target as captured from a distance or altitude. Drone surveillance enables the surreptitious gathering of information about a target as captured from a distance or altitude.Of course, drone use in this wide-ranging industry (or area) extends well beyond these fundamental and simplistic boundaries. The government officials, police and other security personnel use this drone technology. Automated surveillance is going to become increasingly common as companies and researchers find new ways to use machine learning to analyze live video footage.A new project from scientists in the UK and India shows one possible use for this technology: identifying violent behavior in crowds with the help of camera-equipped drones. It uses a simple Parrot AR quadcopter to transmit video footage over a mobile internet connection for real-time analysis. An algorithm trained using deep learning estimates the poses of humans in the video and matches them to postures the researchers have designated as “violent.” For the purposes of the project, just five poses are included: strangling, punching, kicking, shooting, and stabbing.However, the research needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, particularly with regard to its claims of accuracy. Some report that their system was 94 percent accurate at identifying “violent” poses, but they note that the more people that appear in frame, the lower this figure. (It fell to 79 percent accuracy when looking at 10 individuals.)More importantly, though, these figures don’t represent real-world usage. In order to train and test their AI, the researchers recorded their own video clips of volunteers pretending to attack one another. The volunteers are generously spaced apart and attack one another with exaggerated movements. They acknowledged that this isn’t a perfect reflection of how the surveillance system might perform in the wild, but he said he has plans to test the drones during two upcoming festivals in India: Technozion and Spring Spree, both of which take place at NIT Warangal.But even if this particular system has not yet proved itself in the wild, it’s a clear illustration of the direction contemporary research is going. Using AI to identify body poses is a common problem, with big tech companies like Facebook publishing significant research on the topic. And with the rise of cheap drones and fast mobile internet, it’s easier than ever to capture and transmit live video footage. Putting these pieces together to create sophisticated surveillance isn’t hard.<h3>WEATHER FORECAST</h3>The climate is changing. So is the face of natural catastrophes. Admittedly, drones fall short in matching the efficacy of satellite imagery in forecasting adverse weather events. However, when disaster does strike, they are capable of providing valuable assistance. Government authorities as well as insurers are waking up to the potential of using them to assess post-disaster damages, especially at sites not marked safe for humans to enter.Using drones to collect atmospheric samples is a huge advance on traditional methods of data collection, and has the potential to vastly improve the accuracy of weather forecasting models. Why does it matter? Having more accurate models affects both the day-to-day and the big picture. It allows meteorologists to give us better 10 day weather forecasts, but more than that, it means the ability to give more advanced warning for storms such as tornadoes, or whether and where hurricanes will land.The lowest layer of the atmosphere, called the boundary layer, is where most of our weather is happening. The weather conditions that impact each and every one of us are dependent on a dizzying number of variables and factors. Trying to make accurate predictions about what the weather will do next relies on very complicated weather forecasting models, but the output of these models is only as good as the data fed into them. And getting good data is harder than you might think. That’s where weather drones come in. Weather drones can be flown through the entire vertical layer of the boundary layer of the atmosphere, and collect crucial data on temperature, moisture, air pressure and wind speed and direction.Weather drones can collect this data in several ways.&nbsp;One way is through temperature, humidity and air pressure sensors affixed directly onto the drone. Another way they collect data is by dropping sensors called dropsondes, fitted with a parachute, from a high altitude. The dropsondes descend through the vertical profile of the boundary layer, collecting data all the way down. One final important way weather drones collect data is through visual imaging, including photographs and video.There are several important projects ongoing that are working to make use of and improve drones for weather data collection. One of these is directly connected to scientists working with the NOAA. They are working on short term field studies focused on s pecific regions of the US to study how terrain and land surface features affect weather patterns. The goal is to determine whether and how the land surface impacts weather, and how to incorporate that variable into weather and climate models.More data from all over the nation (and the world), from more levels of the boundary layer, means more accurate weather forecasting models. Measurements from storm drones can help scientists evaluate current weather models, and identify and correct forecast models. Collaboration between scientists working on these data collection projects and local weather service forecast models is resulting in more accurate weather forecasts for local weather reporting. It’s a standing joke that meteorologists get to be wrong all the time with no one holding them accountable, but that could change with more accurate models.<h3>DELIVERY</h3>There are several applications in which delivery drones are used.Health care&nbsp;: Drones can be used to transport medicinal products such as blood products, vaccines, and other supplies such as pharmaceuticals and medical samples. During the COVID-19 pandemic, drones began making medical deliveries of personal protective equipment and COVID- 19 tests in the United States and in Israel. Zipline has made more than 70,000 medical deliveries by drone as of October 2020.&nbsp;By using drones to deliver blood donations, vaccinations, medications, anti-venom solutions, organ transplants, and other medical supplies, the medical segment of drone delivery is gaining quite a bit of traction. Between drone service providers and business-internal services, there are more than 30 companies using drones to deliver medical supplies. Integrated with Matternet’s autonomous M2 Drone and Cloud Platform, the new Matternet station supports the company’s vision of distributed, &nbsp;peer-to-peer drone logistics networks for urban environments, allowing hospitals and their supply partners to integrate automated drone delivery laboratories and pharmacy operations.Food: Drones have been proposed as a solution for rapidly deliveringprepared foods, such as pizzas, tacos, and frozen beverages. Early prototypes of food delivery drones include the Tacocopter demonstration by Star Simpson, which was a taco delivery concept utilizing a smartphone app to order drone-delivered tacos in San Francisco area.Initially drones have seen early adoption in Surveillance and Security, Mapping and Inspection and Detection industries because of the remote locations they have been easier to deploy there. Now drones do not only enhance the above industrial and commercial processes, delivery drones can also add a lot of value to logistical supply chains. Of late there has been a growing interest in the benefits that delivery drones can bring to commerce in general and the daily routines of people in particular, where the promise of having food delivered to you wherever you are, via a drone, is gaining traction.&nbsp;Online Food Delivery (FD) platforms have taken off and represent a $350bn market today as these platforms are enticing consumers away from cooking or eating out to eating in the comfort of their own homes, or where ever they happen to be at a given moment. In the major markets of China, US, India, UK and Brazil, annual growth rates range from 5% to about 10% per annum. Worldwide online FD has become well accepted are clearly here to stay with many platforms having become household names.Postal: Different postal companies from Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Ukraine have undertaken various drone trials as they test the feasibility and profitability of unmanned delivery drone services. The USPS has been testing delivery systems with Horse-Fly Drones. When delivering parcels, drones often have a poorer energy balance than traditional delivery vans, as shown by a new study conducted at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.&nbsp;In densely populated areas, drones consume comparatively high amounts of energy and their range is strongly influenced by wind conditions. In rural areas, however, they may be able to compete with diesel-powered delivery vans. The study has been published in the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. Wind conditions play a crucial role in how they perform. If there is a crosswind, for example, more energy must be expended to keep the drone on course.On the other hand, headwinds or tailwinds can even have a slightly positive effect on energy consumption. "Drones consume a relatively large amount of energy when they have to hover in one place in the air, for example when they want to deliver a parcel and have to wait outside the door of the recipient's home," explains the economist.Ship Resupply: The shipping line Maersk and the Port of Rotterdam have experimented with using drones to resupply offshore ships instead of sending smaller boats. Delivery drones are delivering supplies to marines in combat, allowing emergency food and ammunition deliveries in a short amount of time. The autonomous drones can carry 60 pounds of cargo and fly up to six miles away. The delivery drones are a part of the Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System’s (TRUAS) $225,000 competition.<h3>PROGRAMMING ASPECT</h3>&nbsp;Programming to build a drone is different from programming to make a drone perform some tasks. Building a drone involves interfacing sensors and actuators with some kind of processor to make the drone fly stably. But, to make an application all needed is a readily available drone and a computer where algorithms can be implemented.If the question is about building a drone, I would say it depends on the hardware used to build it. For example, arduino if arduino based controllers are used. It is more of embedded systems. Communication between microcontoller and all other sensors is established so that the controller can process the sensor readings and sends control signals to actuators to achieve a stable flight.Drones, in the nearest future, will be used to obtain privileged data which can be applied to weather forecasting, storm tracking, and precision agriculture. They can even be used for surveillance purposes, especially in search and rescue. We are right on track to a final destination where drones will eventually be self-sufficient.REFERENCES -&nbsp;1) Towards Automated Drone Surveillance in Railways: State-of-the- Art and Future Direction Conference Paper · October 2016 from &nbsp;book Content-Based Mammogram Retrieval Using Mixed Kernel PCA and Curvelet Transform (pp.336-348).2)International Journal of Engineering Sciences and Research Technology Implementation of Voice Activated Autonomous QuadcopterPritesh A. Metha, M.E. (E&amp;TC) &amp; Prof. M. U. Inamdar Siddhant, College of Engineering, Pune3)Surveillance and Security Management System Using Drone Ganeshwar.R, Ramprabhu.J, Manochitra.P, Kaliappan.S, Department of EEE, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore &nbsp;</body></html>

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs, are becoming more and
more available as technology becomes cheaper. This is an article about Drones which work on the principle of Artificial Intelligence.  

Artificial Intelligence in Drone Technology

YOLO is a non-anthropomorphic social robot designed to stimulate creativity in children. This robot was envisioned to be used by children during free-play where they use the robot as a character for the stories they create. During play, YOLO makes use of creativity techniques that promote the creation of new storylines.&nbsp;Therefore, the robot serves as a tool that has the potential to stimulate creativity in children during the interaction. Particularly, YOLO can stimulate divergent and convergent thinking for story creations. Additionally, YOLO can have different personalities, providing it with socially intelligent and engaging behaviors.&nbsp;This work provides open-source and open access to YOLO’s hardware. The design of the robot was guided by psychological theories and models on creativity, design research including user-centered design practices with children, and informed by experts working in the field of creativity.&nbsp;Specifically, it relies on established theories of personality to inform the social behavior of the robot, and on theories of creativity to design creativity stimulating behaviors. The design decisions were then based on design fieldwork with children.&nbsp;The end product is a robot that communicates using non-verbal expressive modalities (lights and movements) equipped with sensors that detect the playful behaviors of children. YOLO has the potential to be used as a research tool for academic studies, and as a toy for the community to engage in personal fabrication.&nbsp;The overall benefit of this proposed hardware is that it is open-source, less expensive than existing ones, and one that children can build by themselves under expert supervision.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e-K3J5UZ9M4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" style="width: 789px; height: 450px;"></iframe> Design&nbsp;YOLO was designed using formative research and feasibility studies. Formative research consists of an exploratory research methodology whose goal is to guide a design process, allowing ongoing intermediate assessments. By identifying and solving concrete usability problems throughout the entire process design, current systems can be improved or new ones are developed.&nbsp;Feasibility studies consist of are pieces of research performed before the main study, used to estimate crucial parameters that are needed to design the main study. These intermediary studies will help to prepare for full-scale and large research intervention, allowing for low-cost improvements before experimentally testing the effectiveness of interventions or products. Additionally, the Double-Diamond Design Process Model was used to design YOLO, an established theory in the field of design research.&nbsp;The contextual design was used by involving children at different design stages of the robot. The importance of contextual design lies in the fact that it validates the already embodied system where the robot will exist, capturing the child’s world as the floor for design decisions. Data gathered during fieldwork was the base criterion for deciding what needs to be addressed, what the robot should do, and how it should be structured within the reality of children. Additionally, the Big Five Model of Personality informs the design of the social behaviors for the robot.&nbsp;Finally, the robot was aimed to stimulate creativity during play. Therefore, the creativity-stimulating behavior of YOLO was based on two established creativity techniques for idea generation, an important stage in story creation. These techniques are called ‘‘contrast” and ‘‘mirror”. While the Contrast technique stimulates divergent thinking, the Mirror technique is responsible for the development of convergent thinking. Both modes of thinking are required to establish the emergence of creativity.&nbsp;Therefore, YOLO’s behavior is not only loaded with social behaviors (derived from personality theories) but also with behaviors that can lead to creativity stimulation in children. <img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjE5NjQzODg5NDE1LTQuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 736px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">YOLO’s exploded view (on the left) and section analysis with component coloring (on the right)The design files are in STL format and ready to be 3D printed. Some of these files can be converted to a DXF format, adding a laser cutting option for faster and cheaper opportunities to fabricate YOLO. If opting to laser cut some of the components, note that the thickness of the laser cutting material should correspond to the CAD model dimensions. <ul><li>Shell– File with the cover of the robot. This is the largest 3D printing file and requires a 3D printer capable of operating at large dimensions – at least 120x200x200 mm of printing capability. Consider a vertical bottom-up position for printing the shell. Support material should be added to the faces of the three tabs. This design file does not present a laser cutting option as it is made of 3D organic shapes not ideal for laser cutting work.</li><li>Batteries, boards, and wheel layers– These design files are composed of three circular platforms that should be placed on the interior of the shell to hold all the electronic components in place. Consider printing the layers horizontally. Support material is needed only on the face of the counter-bore holes of the larger platform. The laser cutting options valid for this design file.</li><li>Jewel layer– This file contains the design that serves to nest the LED jewel that will be attached from the top of the shell. Consider printing the LED nest horizontally with support material. This file does not support a laser cutting option due to its 3D design requirement.</li><li>Glowing fibers layer– This design file contains the plate where the optical fibers should be glued. Consider printing the LED nest horizontally with support material. The laser cutting option is valid for this design file.</li><li>Washer– Washers should be placed between the ‘‘Jewel layer” and the ‘‘glowing fibers layer” to secure this connection. YOLO uses three washers to support this connection, so consider printing 3 parts. The laser cutting option is valid for this design file.</li><li>Motor docking (1) and (2)– Composed of two files that together provide docking for the motors. Support material is not needed for 3D printing. The laser cutting option is valid for ‘‘Motor docking (2)</li></ul><div class="fr-img-space-wrap"><img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjE5NjQzOTc2MTgyLTUuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 758px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">YOLO Parts Lineup</div>AssemblyThe assembly requires the following tools: hacksaw, utility knife, screwdriver set, calipers, scissors, soldering kit(including solder spool, soldering station, wire stripper, diagonal cutters, solder wick for solder removal, soldering vise with a magnifying glass, and a panavise), and glue. 3D print and laser cut the required materials before assembly, configure the voltage transformer with an input of 5.0 V, and stepdown the buck converter output for 1.5 V. Additionally, follow the steps described below<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjE5NjQ0MzY4MTI2LTYuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 723px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><div> </div>An exploded view of YOLO that supports the understanding of the final robot configuration is present, with close-up views. When the robot is fully assembled, attach a batch of copper tape to the shell of the robot to connect the wire that comes from the capacitive touch sensor. This will enable the robot to respond to touch<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjE5NjQ0NTI2ODg4LTcuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 788px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><div> </div>The field of HRI is characterized by multidisciplinarity, for which open access to research tools, such as robots’ hardware and software, is crucial. YOLO presents as a low-purchase and low-maintenance cost robot, that can be used as a tool for research studies with children.&nbsp;The open-source hardware of YOLO thus provides opportunities for researchers with and without engineering background to build this robot and further use it to target their own research goals, without depending upon complex robotic platforms.&nbsp;To demonstrate how this robot can be applied to academia, researchers can use it as a platform to explore the design of behaviors for a robot aimed at interacting with children. Another example is the usage of this robot by the social and cognitive sciences field as a controllable and programmable tool, to study the developmental aspects of children when interacting with robots.&nbsp;Predominantly, the scientific community relies on the usage of off-the-shelf robots as their research platforms when performing studies. Nonetheless, off-the-shelf robotics platforms are generally expensive (with purchase prices ranging from $5:000 to $20:000, or more) and associated with high maintenance costs. In addition, the majority of these robots require special transportation services to be used during field studies, due to their robust size and heavyweight, placing additional costs for academic laboratories. YOLO offers a less expensive yet interesting solution for research.<hr><h3>Resources</h3>YOLO hardware:&nbsp;Alves-Oliveira, P., Arriaga, P., Paiva, A., &amp; Hoffman, G. (2019). Guide to build YOLO, a creativity-stimulating robot for children. HardwareX, 6, e00074. Link: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067218300890&source=gmail&ust=1620392946091000&usg=AFQjCNFJ1CSA2ore98RXkgL20qiBk6G6gw" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067218300890" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067218300890</a>YOLO Software:&nbsp;Alves-Oliveira, P., Gomes, S., Chandak, A., Arriaga, P., Hoffman, G., &amp; Paiva, A. (2020). Software architecture for YOLO, a creativity-stimulating robot. SoftwareX, 11, 100461. Link: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352711019302468&source=gmail&ust=1620392946091000&usg=AFQjCNEjWO-hCwkOhQw5LtcD72GDY9iFKw" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352711019302468" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352711019302468</a>

YOLO is a robot that boosts children’s creativity. It stand for “Your Own Living Robot"

YOLO Robot

<h2>Akira Science AB, a start-up based in Stockholm, is betting on the combination of two revolutionary disciplines: tissue engineering and 3D printing.&nbsp;</h2>These two disciplines used to belong to two different stories that are now deeply interconnected. During the last fifty years scientists and surgeons have combined the concepts of life sciences, biology and biocompatible materials to construct functional tissues and open the way to innovative and less invasive techniques respect to traditional surgical transplants. They have been looking for new materials to substitute classical treatments to improve medical treatments where autograph or allograph of explanted tissues are required due to disease or trauma. In parallel to this story, 3D printing technologies also known as Additive Manufacturing (AM) were born in the 1980s and initially intended to quickly produce prototypes within industrial applications. When 3D printing technologies later met tissue engineering, a powerful combination consolidated to create structures with controlled geometry and high rate of reproducibility. Tissue engineers have been seeking for structures &ndash; scaffolds&nbsp;&ndash; that can provide structural and mechanical support to a damaged tissue while promoting its regeneration and allowing nutrients&rsquo; supply to the cells.The 3D printing market has been growing fast during the last decade releasing innovative technologies and materials, especially for the medical sector. 3D printing is transforming the way we manufacture objects from a centralized to a decentralized, customized production onsite.Akira Science is projected to have an active role in these future landscapes of smart and innovative manufacturing technologies applied to degradable materials for medical applications. The business potential arises from the ever-increasing need of patient-specific medical devices and of timely laboratory biological studies to test drugs and new clinical strategies - never so evident like in this pandemic period.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1590050859860-1590050859859.png" style="width: 655px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">A cutting-edge new material and a smart scaffold design are the complementary and revolutionary points of force of Akira&rsquo;s strategy. The newly developed polymer (AKIMed-c12) has exceptional thermal stability, ensuring control of the material properties while printing, presenting a faster degradation time in the body environment than the current utilized materials (from 3-5 years to 9-10 months). Although newly formulated, AKIMed-c12 is made starting from well-established building blocks for the synthesis of approved biomedical materials, ensuring biocompatibility and non-toxicity in the physiological environment. While the printed scaffolds are not hard as the current available ones, but soft and pliable proving comfort to the patient (AKIMed-c12: 3D printed scaffolds).<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GdgRqw2ZHjw?&wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> The new material will be the workhorse for the 3D printing of degradable medical devices, while the smart design opens the way to new applications in tissue regeneration that were not possible until today utilizing the materials available on the market. Akira team is confident that such a combination has the potential to expand the scope of degradable 3D printed scaffolds from hard, for example bone, to soft tissue regeneration, such as breast reconstruction after mastectomy.Akira Science is providing both filaments for 3D printing and scaffolds with an architecture that satisfies customers&rsquo; need. Researchers and clinicians can buy the filament (AKIMed-c12: filament) and print the desired shape in their own facilities or can decide to ask Akira for printing their customized devices. Akira also provides support and consulting to collaborators and customers with material selection, design and simulation of the mechanical behavior of the desired scaffolds.The company continues to invest in open innovation through a continuous dialogue with customers and by setting new strategies to map future needs in tissue engineering and 3D printing opportunities.<hr>&Aacute;lvaro Morales and Tiziana Fuoco (AKIRA Science AB)

“The nexus between two revolutionary disciplines is inspiring us towards a future improved society”

Tissue Engineering and 3D Printing: Two Revolutionary Disciplines Now Fused Into One

Henrik Christensen shares his views on the impact of the robot revolution and stories from his life in European and US robotics research.

The impact of the robot revolution with roboticist Henrik Christensen

<h1>Executive Summary</h1><h2>Intro</h2>Wevolver is a platform &amp; community providing engineers informative content to help them innovate. Wevolver reaches millions of engineers every month in a very specific demographic: over 41% of them are between 25 and 34 years old, and less than 10% are older than 44.&nbsp;Geographically, European countries represent 28% percent of the audience, the USA 26%, and beyond India&#39;s 10%, the audience is spread widely across the globe.This provides a unique opportunity to learn about this engineering generation&#39;s interests, concerns, and points of view. Previously other interesting reports have been published by engineering organizations: For example, Hackster.io reported in 2016 on the maker community, Fictiv holds a yearly survey among mechanical engineers (primarily in the US), and IEEE conducts their &#39;Pulse of Engineering&#39; report. We think that Wevolver&#39;s &#39;Engineering State of Mind&#39; research complements those because of the specific demographics of its audience, as well as the report&#39;s specific focus on how this cohort views the world.(The report is also available as a download. Click <a href="http://bit.ly/33dSx64" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a> to access the PDF)<h2>About the People</h2><ul type="disc"><li>+200 people respondents who were notified through Wevolver&#39;s newsletter and social media posts and responded between July 15th and August 31st, 2019.</li><li>Represent a wide range of industries.</li><li>60% were professional engineers, working at a wide range of company sizes; from sole proprietors to +100.000 people.</li><li>82% of students are at undergraduate level or higher.</li></ul><h2>Main Outcomes</h2>1. Engineers are extremely worried about climate change. 2. Engineers think A.I. is strongly under-appreciated. 3. Engineers are strongly interested in the field of robotics.<hr><h1>All Results</h1><h2>Demographics</h2>Now let&#39;s dive deeper into the results of the survey. Starting with the demographics:<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995166383-Slide4.JPG" style="width: 1114px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995206862-Slide5.JPG" style="width: 1097px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Only 1% of survey respondents label themselves as a Hobbyist Maker. At the same time, we know from conversations we&#39;ve had that many professionals do perform &#39;Maker&#39; activities in their spare time: Examples range from developing electric motorbikes to tinkering with 3D printing.Among the professionals the majority has a role in engineering; beyond the most represented roles such as Mechanical Engineer, Electrical engineer, and Software engineer, there is a whole range of disciplines; Chemical Engineer, Civil Engineer, Biomedical Engineer, etc. There is also a significant amount with a pure leadership role, many of which who have been trained as an engineer, and 9.9% works as a researcher. Other roles that were expressed include education, analyst, and helicopter pilot. Among students disciplines include Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Aerospace, and Computer Science.These roles are applied in a wide range of industries, as we&#39;ll see next:<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995345594-Slide6.JPG" style="width: 1102px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Sixteen percent of respondents are active in the Industrial Robotics &amp; Automation industry (interestingly, as you&rsquo;ll see later, a much larger group (over 66%) of all respondents actually lists robotics as the topic they are most interested in).&nbsp;Services, ranging from manufacturing to engineering and design services, are also strongly represented, and software is a third runner up. Beyond those, our respondents&rsquo; industries cover a wide range. Other industries mentioned include VR, Art &amp; Design, Chemical, Naval, and Aeronautics.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995265581-Slide7.JPG" style="width: 1114px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">It appears that engineers have a voice: The majority is involved in day to day engineering decisions, and many are involved in determining the direction of their company&#39;s R&amp;D. When we zoom in, we see that the percentage of engineers being involved in setting R&amp;D directions is significantly higher at small and medium size companies (64% versus 44% at companies over 500 employees).Engineers are involved in purchase decisions, especially when we zoom in on smaller companies. While the total percentage of being either involved in or making purchase decisions is roughly equal for all types of companies (around 47%), when looking at small companies the amount of people who actually make purchase decisions themselves (17%) is more than double that of large companies.<h2>Insights</h2>We could label this cohort as relatively young (with 91% being below 44), well educated, and representing quite a wide range of industries and company types. These people work in the most innovative companies in the world and are responsible for developing the products and technologies we&#39;ll use. Furthermore, the influence of this cohort is likely to increase as they progress in their careers and continue to grow their skills, experience, and knowledge.Therefore, we think the perspective of this community matters and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ll dive into now.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995456957-Slide8.JPG" style="width: 1114px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">We inquired which topics these engineers are most interested in to learn about. The results from the survey correlate with what we see are the most popular content topics on the Wevolver platform.Robotics &amp; Automation dwarf other topics of interest. This is interesting as only 16% of respondents are actually active in the industrial robotics and automation industry. Clean Energy is a good runner up which is not surprising given the concerns engineers have about climate change and environmental issues. In that light, Clean Energy could have scored even higher. One explanation might be that engineers think sustainability challenges need to be tackled on many facets, as we&#39;ll see later in the survey (for example, one respondent commented how advances in quantum computing could help solve complex environmental issues). The strong interest in A.I. and other computing advancements (including big data and quantum computing) is in line with the rapid developments in this field, as well as with the point of view from engineers that A.I. as a technology is strongly under-appreciated. Worth noting is that A.I. forms an essential component of the topic of robotics as well as of autonomous vehicles (autonomous vehicles sits among the top 3 topics for over 21% of the survey respondents as well). Respondents also mentioned their interest in the ethics involved in A.I. We consider the relatively low interest in AR/VR surprising compared to the size of the interest (or hype) in media and venture capital. &nbsp;Engineers have many interests, and other topics mentioned include medical technology, astrophysics, and; &quot;literally everything.&quot;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995505356-Slide10.JPG" style="width: 1114px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Given the sizable interest in Robotics we zoomed in on the people interested in this topic and explore which subdomain they are focused on. In this instance we enquired specifically which fields engineers wanted to grow expertise in. Our view is that this question reveals being active or an interest to become active in the chosen domain, beyond being purely interested an sich. This gives an indication of the importance engineers deem the domain to have in the future.Both Collaborative Robots (&#39;cobots&#39;) and Human-Robot Interaction are the big standouts here. These two topics also overlap and are related: Collaborate Robots are defined as &ldquo;robots intended to interact with humans in a shared space or to work safely in close proximity. Cobots stand in contrast to traditional industrial robots, which are designed to work autonomously with safety assured by isolation from human contact.Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) describes the studying or designing of robotic systems for use by or with humans. Developing collaborative robots requires designing how humans engage with these machines and through which interfaces. Apart from its application to collaborative robots, HRI applies to many (if not all) fields in robotics, especially with the growing cognitive capabilities of robots this field has seen significant growth.Cobots and HRI stand out, which can be expected given the growth and size of both fields. In our eyes, the most remarkable result is the significant interest in the domain of bio robotics. At the moment this field is tiny from a commercial perspective but apparently expected to grow in importance.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995563949-Slide12.JPG" style="width: 1114px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">This question reflects the impact engineers think a given technology will make in comparison to the attention the technology receives from society. Here engineers point to a clear conclusion: &quot;A.I. &nbsp;will be huge, and society doesn&#39;t see how big its impact will be.&quot; We found this result striking because, at first glance, there doesn&#39;t seem to be a lack of attention to A.I. in media and within companies. However, engineers think the impact of A.I. will be orders of magnitudes bigger than reflected by that amount of attention. Secondly, people we spoke with indicated that their perspective is most of us don&rsquo;t conceive how much of our lives and society will change because of implementations of Artificial Intelligent systems&nbsp;<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>Engineers point out that the implications and impact of A.I. are significantly bigger than what people generally expect.</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>Up to this point, the survey uncovered unexpecting insights. On top of that, the one that completely stopped us in our tracks was the absolutely unanimous answer to our question about challenges the world faces:<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1571995582131-Slide13.JPG" style="width: 1114px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Take note: The smartest minds on our planet are deeply worried about the health of our environment. This topic overshadows seemingly high impact challenges as poverty and healthcare, and even the potential negative aspects of A.I. are seen as a significantly impactful challenge. As one said, &quot;Without a healthy habitable planet, nothing else matters.&quot;Respondents had to answer this question in an open-ended way. After the survey, we classified all responses. Climate change, environment, and clean energy were so often mentioned in a single answer and used interchangeably that we decided to classify them under a single banner. Note that the survey was held over the summer, before the current global climate crisis strikes and relatively heightened attention to the topic.We had expected a wider distribution of challenges, and for example expected a higher attribution to robotization and employment. At the same time, high concerns about our environment correspond with the activity we see happening in Wevolver&#39;s community: discussion threads about the topic consistently generate a high level of engagement, and any knowledge share on the topic is likely to spark a high amount of interactions.<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>&quot;Without a healthy habitable planet, nothing else matters.&quot;</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> <h1>Conclusion</h1>We perceive this cohort of engineers being relatively strongly socially engaged. Socio-economic issues and the ability to contribute matter to them. This is reflected in the results of our inquiries into these engineers&#39; concerns, interests, and world view. You cloud also label them as relatively &#39;techno-optimistic:&#39; Many think technological advancements can solve current challenges, or at least need to play an essential role in solutions.Engineers ride an interesting balance. Generally optimistic about the role that technology plays, they also are more clearly aware of its current state and limitations. &nbsp;For us, the research&#39;s insight into engineers&#39; concern about our environment has been the most striking and we think it&rsquo;s a telltale sign. Based on this research, we have increased the informative content we share about this topic, as well have started more discussion threads and Q&amp;A sessions to grow the available knowledge and engagement.A.I. and robotics are the two big other topics that engineers pay attention to. According to engineers, our society underappreciates the impact of A.I. Besides this, we think that the research also points to a discrepancy between the interest of engineers in robotics, and the level of attention the subject gets from the general public, media, and politicians. We recommend leaders to take note of this, and increasingly opening up the conversation with the people who are developing today&#39;s and tomorrow&#39;s technologies. Ultimately, engineers are the ones who can most clearly see both capabilities and limitations of technology, as well as its future directions.&nbsp;We&#39;d like to thank all survey participants, as well as our community members who helped spread the survey.&nbsp; Please share your feedback and questions, we&#39;re looking forward to hearing from you. &nbsp;On behalf of team Wevolver; Bram Geenen,&nbsp; CEO Wevolver.(The report is also available as a download. Click <a href="http://bit.ly/33dSx64" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a> to access the PDF)<hr><h2>About Wevolver</h2>Wevolver is a platform &amp; community providing engineers informative content to help them innovate. Wevolver reaches millions of engineers with articles, project descriptions, videos, and engaging conversations about state of the art technology that enable to keep up to date and find knowledge when engineering. The information on Wevolver&#39;s platform is created by a community of engineers, Wevolver&#39;s network of academic researchers, and editorial staff. Companies can sponsor content on the platform. For this work Wevolver won the SXSW Innovation Award, the Accenture Innovation Award, and the Top Most Innovative Web Platforms by Fast Company. Wevolver is how today&#39;s engineers stay cutting edge.

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