Haven't we all had some version of this dream? A Jetsons-esque society that makes travel and household chores easier. Friendly robots can help us with mundane tasks like preparing meals. But what if the task is more complicated and requires the expert touch? Like a life-saving surgical procedure when that expert is on the other side of the globe.
A team of College of Engineering students is working to deliver such expertise without being limited by location as they make their final preparations for the $10 million ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition Nov. 4-5.
For many of the students, the opportunity to work on a robot and wearable technology at this level is already a dream come true.
But when the competition happens, Jean Chagas Vaz, the lead engineer and team captain, will remind you that we can’t underestimate the power of the (human) judge who will be operating the robot through telepresence technology including a VR headset, gloves, and more.
“That person has full control of our machine for 25 minutes," says Vaz, who is also a research scientist with 51ԹϺ's Drones and Autonomous Systems Lab (DASL). "And the key to succeeding is training—something I learned during the semifinals. It’s underrated how important training the judge is. At the end of the day, we’re trying to build a technology that can be used by anyone. The whole model of the competition is ‘anywhere is possible.’ But I like to think of it as ‘any one is possible.’”
Meet some of the undergraduate and graduate Rebels that are making this happen.
Jean Chagas Vaz
Research Scientist, Team Captain, Lead Engineer
What’s different about 51ԹϺ's team from the others in the competition? Our team is extremely diverse. Because of this incredible pool of diverse students, we can have multiple ideas for one particular problem. I make sure that everyone can express their opinions and suggestions for a particular problem — no matter if it’s communication, installation, or locomotion — everyone gets a chance to say “What if we try this?”
What advice would you give to aspiring students? If you like physics and math, you’re in the right place. It’s underrated the amount of theoretical studies that has to be done before you can actually code or work in software or hardware. But you don’t have to be good at math and physics to be a good roboticist. Robotics is cyber-physical systems. It’s constructed in three main branches - sensors, language, hardware. If you are good in one of those subsystems, you can be a roboticist. There are only a few roboticist who understand all three things. If you like any of those three things, you can be a roboticist.
Akshay Dave
Head of Audio/Visual Communication
Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering
What is your role in the team? My job is to make a system that will allow the operator to seamlessly talk through the system. For example, if the operator puts on a VR headset, he gets a real-time video feed as the robot and can perceive it if he was there, without any major complication or interruption.
What would winning mean to you? Personally, I think we’ve already won. Competition is a catalyst for research. We’ve spent years creating and developing a system that will allow you to be a robot, that allows you to operate and become a robot in real-time. So for me, having that research progress at this rate is already winning.
Son Tran
Roboticist
Mechanical engineering undergraduate
What is your role on the team? Navigation and wire organization. It might not sound complex, but for a robot it is complex. For example, if the head is moving and something gets caught, it could rip out, and the whole system would go down. And on the navigation side, when the operator is moving the robot around, he or she needs to see where it is moving. So there are two things, the fisheye camera, so you can see 360 degrees around the robot. We also have a laser system that helps the operator align himself or herself to the object so it doesn’t crash into anything.
If you could be a famous robot, who would you be? Baymax from the movie Big Hero 6. We all need support from how hard we've worked on this project, so we should have our own Baymax for emotional support.
Nicolas Kosanovic
Lead of Haptics/Expert Operator
Mechanical engineering undergraduate
What is your favorite movie robot? WALL•E. It’s really subtle and simple and manages to convey so much emotion. It digs deep at the fundamental desire for what humanity is looking for in robots, not only ethics but morals. We want to see robots care for others and care for the environment that we’re in.
What’s the first robot you’ve ever worked on? Around this time last year, I helped create a smaller humanoid called Darwin. It was made out of 20 or so motors, but very primitive. I was actually able to make it wave and walk around. Being able to break it apart, see how everything worked, and then put it back together, fail, and then try to do that again was a really fun experience and got me into robotics.
I joined this lab because I had a real passion for electronics and making things move. Mechanical engineering, which I’ve been studying for a couple of years, is fun and all, but in my opinion, there’s no greater feeling in engineering than designing a whole system or machine and giving it enough intelligence to go out and do things in the world. It’s the best, nothing compares.
Truc Tran
Roboticist
Master's student Mechanical Engineering
What is your role on the team? I design the robot’s dexterous hand. This is something new to the project. Traditionally, we’d shop around for commercialized products and implement them. But when we were looking for a new dexterous hand, it was challenging, because the hand with all the specs was pricey and hard to find. So I was tasked to engineer a whole hand from scratch. I came a long way, I didn’t know I could make it, but the team was so amazing and supported me the whole way. For my senior design project, I designed new devices, so this isn’t my first time.
If you could be a famous robot, who would you be? Ironman. If you think about it, what we do right now is similar to one of the movies, where he made a suit that he can control with his glasses. His suit is kind of an avatar system.
Santiago Ricoy
Manufacturing Team Lead
Mechanical Engineering undergraduate
What is your role on the team? I’m the fabricator machines person. If someone needs something cut or made, it’s my job to figure that out. It’s not that many parts, surprisingly, but when they need it, they need it. I then have to find it in my schedule to make it happen. We can try outsourcing it, but sometimes it takes too long. It might take a month to get from a machine shop, or they can talk to me and I can make it in two days.
If you were a famous robot, who would you be? R2D2. He speaks a different language from the humans, but still manages to emote on a level that everyone recognizes. There are a lot of really iconic things about R2D2 that are often overlooked in the genius of producing that character. He’s more of a character than a machine. He’s not C3P0, but he can do far more, he just can’t talk.
