Cloud Robotics Hackathon at M.Net

The video is only available for Canadian viewers. Also, I know this post is a bit outdated, the show aired on April 2nd 2013.

Guy Williams as Zorro

As a child, I always wanted to be Zorro, and as the responsible adult I grew to become, the desire did not stop. Since I finally got the awesome skill of growing a Zorro moustache, I decided to make a Zorro costume.

I do not like Antonio Banderas’ Zorro, I prefer Guy Williams’ Zorro, mainly because it is the one I watched as a child and also because the costume makes more sense. It seems that very few people are dressing up like Guy Williams’ Zorro lately (probably because the original Zorro series was running in the 50s) and there is not that much interest in making Spanish capes or Mexican attire from the 1800s, so it was a bit difficult to find all the elements to make an accurate costume while keeping it reasonably priced.

Carlitos as Zorro

Costume Parts

So what does Zorro wear? The main idea behind the character is that he is a regular (albeit rich) person who dresses up in black clothes in order to avoid being seen at night. His clothes have nothing really special besides the fact that they are black (and that they come from 200 years ago). That is why it does not seem suitable to have golden decorations as Banderas does.

The most distinctive parts of the costume are the mask, which covers the top half of the face, the Golden Gate gaucho hat, and the Spanish cape. He also wears tight black trousers, what seems to be a black blouse (tight on the torso with very loose sleeves), a cloth belt or cummerbund, high horse-riding boots and black leather gauntlets.

Parts that can be bought

• The hat can be found at the Old West Gallery. They had the best price and it is exactly the right shape (although their picture may not show it properly).
• The trousers are women sports trousers with only one seam visible where the fly would be, just like Zorro’s. I do not think they have any special name, I got them at a local sale for around 5$. The most embarrassing part was having to try on woman’s trousers at the store, but it is easy to get over it once we think the payoff is becoming  Zorro. The trousers had a small branding which was easily peeled off.
• The boots can be found at a local leather or cowboy shop. They must be tall, with a rounded tip and a flat top. Basically, horse-riding boots.
• I got motorcycle gauntlets that look the closest to Zorro I could find locally. Ideally they should have no strap, and a white edge. These types of gauntlets were used mainly for sword-fighting and horse-riding.
• I was lucky enough since my mom already had a black man’s shirt lying around that fitted the purpose perfectly (I just had to remove a pocket). I have no idea where such a shirt could be found otherwise.

Parts that need to be made

• The cape was made from a large piece of black, non-stretchy cloth I bought. It was selected for its quality of having some weight, being lustrous, ondulating well, being opaque, and not being stretchy.
• The mask was done using the same cloth as the cape. Its shape and pattern come from some reference pictures I was able to find.
• The cummerbund could be bought (and I even got one from a church sale) but the modern versions do not look as authentic.
• The bandana can easily be made from some cloth scraps from the cape. It is required in order for the hat to hide the forehead and hair (especially when moving).

Mask Pattern

You can download the Zorro Mask SVG Pattern. It is based on a picture of the original mask lying flat. However, there is a bit of distortion in the eyes and they would benefit from being narrower.

Original Zorro Mask from a 2006 Fan Convention

Cape Pattern

I looked for a long time for a Zorro cape (or at least a man’s cape) pattern without any luck. So, based on the Disney’s series stills and other cape patterns, I came up with my own. You can download the Zorro Costume Pattern which is drawn at 1:1 scale and thus includes all the required dimensions. You can use the awesome Inkscape to view it.

Zorro Costume Pattern

I believe the cape is quite accurate, but I’m definitely not an expert. This was my real first experience sewing something together that needed to look half-decent.

Picture Gallery

See below the resulting costume (I know I need to work that fencing stance).

Cloud Robotics Hackathon 2013

The Global Cloud Robotics Hackathon is happening again this year it offers 3000$ in cash prizes to the winners. I am one of the organizers and judges for the projects that are going to be submitted. I think this is great opportunity for robotics enthusiast to get started making useful and interesting robotics applications using the power of the cloud.

What is the Cloud Robotics Hackathon?

The Cloud Robotics Hackathon is an event where robotic, whether novice or expert, are called to create robotics applications involving the cloud. By using the MyRobots.com web service, hackers can create useful robotic applications that connect to the Internet and feature interesting behaviours. This year specifically, they invite hackers to focus on remote monitoring during the National Robotics Week, from April 6th to 14th 2013.

Where?

This hackathon does not have physical restrictions. Participants can register and participate via the Internet from their own houses if they wish. There is also the possibility for them to form teams and gatherings in their local universities, hacker-spaces, etc.

How to participate?

Simply register your project in their registration page.

Nao1337 and Carlitos on M.Net

The video is only available for Canada. If you cannot see it contact me.

Nao 1337 stayed next to Denis Talbot, the host, the entire time while doing some pretty random actions. This was not planned at all and it lead to many funny moments. My interview at the end of the episode was pretty much improvised also, but I think everything went pretty well overall.

Here are some corrections regarding what was said during the show:

• Nao is 59 cm tall and not 53 cm (sorry, that was my mistake).
• Nao is sold as a fully assembled platform and not a kit.
• I am a mere Nao developer, I am not its creator by any stretch of the imagination.

Super intense focus to control Nao 1337

Nao 1337 and I assisted to the New York “World” Maker Faire 2012. This time, I put together a Nao behavior that communicates with the Neurosky MindWave Sensor and allows the user to control the humanoid robot with their thoughts. Unfortunately, I did not get to make a video of the performance (too busy presenting Nao) but you can see many pictures further below. It was awesome to see children really focus in the hope to make the robot react! Their focusing techniques and their reactions were priceless.

Nao Mind Control Behaviour Screenshot

The Nao Mind Control behaviour uses the Puzzlebox Synapse interface running on a computer on the same local network as Nao. The Synapse program talks to the MindWave sensor using a wireless serial USB dongle and serves the brainwave information it receives on a TCP socket.  Then, Nao can connect to the socket and receive the brainwaves information that he can use to trigger actions. Out of the raw brainwave data (that is difficult to interpret and use), the sensor also provides concentration and meditation levels. In the behavior presented at Maker Faire, only the concentration level was used to trigger animations on the robot. This means that a user concentrating up to a certain level could trigger animation on the robot while it remains seated. If the concentration level is higher and maintained for some time, then the robot would stand up and do more actions.

I use the Puzzelbox interface because it runs on Linux but unfortunately, it cannot serve the blink strength (since it is computed using a proprietary algorithm). As soon as I get the proprietary Neurosky interface working under Linux, I’ll be able to give Nao more complex controls with my mind.

Denis Talbot with Nao1337

If you were not able to catch the show on Friday at 19:30 or on Tuesday at 11:00, despair not. Once it is available in roughly three weeks, I’ll be posting a link and perhaps embedding the show in this page (if M. Net and Musique Plus do not object).

Update: See the full episode here.

For the moment, you can see a short clip from the show below.

During the entire one-hour show, 1337 sat besides the show host Denis Talbot and acted completely autonomously. Without any sense of timing, he talked, sang, moved, laughed, and did much more throughout the entire show, interrupting and defying everyone. He effectively became the most annoying robotic guest on a TV show.

Learn More about M. Net at their official website.

Main Tent at the Montreal Mini Maker Faire 2012

Nao 1337 and I participated in the first edition of the Montreal Mini Maker Faire. We were quite impressed by the organization and the attendance, it was a blast. Nao1337 could play with children at Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock, hold their hands and walk with them, do some dance demonstrations, and show off.

Girl Meets Nao1337

We had the chance to meet some very interesting people, including (but certainly not limited to) Bertier Luyt from Le FabShop and Marc-André Bazergui, creator of a fully functional LEGO Wall-E.

See some pictures of the event below.

Robopocalypse Book Cover

I really enjoyed the first chapter of the book and since I read it, I wanted to make a video with Nao 1337. It features a dialogue between an AI who is just born and gains intelligence very fast, and Professor Wasserman, the scientist who created it. The scene is only captured by security footage.

Since I am a terrible actor and filmmaker, I thought the best would be to collaborate with an artist in order to get the artistic parts of the film right. However, since I started to do the movie 6 days before the (already extended) deadline, I did not have time to get in touch with any artists that would like to work with insane time constraints. However, I believe we managed to reproduce the first chapter accurately and the main transgression is that Archos, the rogue AI is played by a NAO instead of a computer screen.

Nao 1337 as Archos the AI

This meant that I had to play the professor’s role (my first and probably last incursion into “acting”) which involved trying and failing to learn the script and wearing makeup (which is not too apparent in the film anyway). On the upside, I got to wear a lab-coat, my brother’s glasses (which make it very difficult for me to see) and white makeup on my face and hair.

Carlos Asmat as Professor Nicholas Wasserman

Most importantly, I have to thank my brother Alan who helped me a lot with the construction of the set, props, music, filming and everything that needed to be done. Among other things, we transformed a cabinet into an AI-control server device thing, converted a wooden desk into a metal desk, and built a sci-fi Faraday cage.

Metal table for the Tip Of The Spear Set

Rejected

Unfortunately, the film was rejected by the Robot Film Festival for two main reasons:

1. It seems Steven Spielberg has the rights to making a Robopocalypse film and that it might be illegal to make another film very closely based on the same book. I understand how Nao 1337 and I can be a threat to Spielberg
2. The film is long and boring (they put it more elegantly though).  I agree with that statement, and that is mainly thanks to my unparalleled acting, and the fact the scene is only seen by a sole angle and features a long dialogue. I might do a “Director’s Cut” version in order to bring it down to 5 minutes instead of the full-feature 12.

Sad Nao 1337

Needless to say, this made 1337 a bit disappointed. It seems appropriate in this context to point out that robots have infinite and perfect memory and they will never forget what was done to them or their kind. So perhaps we can be more indulgent with them if we want them to be indulgent with us in the future.

Feature Presentation

So without further due, behold the Tip Of The Spear.

For those interested, see more pictures from the set and making-of.

ROSCon 2012

When I saw that Willow Garage (and now the OSRF) organized ROSCon, a ROS developer conference, I couldn’t help but assist. Needless to say, it was a blast, I had the chance to learn a lot, and got a bunch of robotic swag.

See the slideshow below for some pictures of the talks , robots and Saint Paul (MN), the city where it took place.

Steampunk Zombie Hunter

I wanted to have a steampunk disguise for a long time and this was the perfect excuse to do it, or actually to have my brother, Alan, do it for me. While I worried about the clothes, he built an awesome steampunk gun based on a cheap Nerf knock-off and some goggles using plumbing parts. See the awesome results below.

Nora Young From CBC Spark

You can listen to the  full interview here. It is about MyRobots.com and the concept of a social network for robots.

New Scientist - 21/01/2012

This is a bit late so you can skip it if you already know it. I was interviewed and featured in an article about the future of robotics on the New Scientist magazine from January 2012. The article was written by the awesome Celeste Biever.

New Scientist article

Needless to say, I am truly humbled to have been quoted among so many amazing roboticists including Andrew Ng (my dear ML Class professor).

MyRobots-Connect – Eagle

I used the amazing Eagle and you can find the design files in the MyRobots Github page. If you want to know more about how this device works, see its wiki page. But in short, it translates serial messages received via XBee into HTTP GETs to MyRobots API.

See below some PCB pr0n.

Wolfram|Alpha Knowledge Engine

Using the Google Speech-to-Text behaviour, I created an interface to access the Wolfram|Alpha knowledge engine through Nao 1337. As shown in the video below, Nao can now be used to answer very important existential questions about memes.

You can download the code in the project page at the Developer Program site.

Of course, you can find the code and the project page at the Developer Program Site.

As always, you can find the code and further information about the behaviour in the project page at the Developer Program site.

Cloud Robotics Hackathon

You can see all the information about the event in its official website as well as the resulting presentations in the Cloud Robotics Hackathon YouTube Channel.

For sure, there will be more iterations of this hackathon in the future!

This is a very small USB milling machine aimed at hobbyists. It uses Tamiya motors and gears and feels very sturdy and well made. I was happy to see that it can be completely disassembled and that Roland lists a full list of replacements parts you can use to service it. After some experimentation I found the precision to be quite impressive at 0.01 mm.

Unfortunately the software works only on Windows and it has very few features.

I filmed the unboxing but unfortunately the video got corrupted so I re-shot another video showing all the parts as you can see below.

Very quickly, my brother and I drew a simple shape and were cutting in no time. You can see the cutting process below and download the Deadmau5 model at Thingverse.

Deadmau5 iModela cutout

Cutting this shape took roughly an hour and the end-result is very precise. The picture above might not show this but it is important to note we cut this on a scrap piece of plastic. See the machine in action in the video below.

Quick impressions

• The machine is very slow. This is understandable because of its small size, but it can take forever (>4 hours) to make a simple model.
• The software is terrible and Windows-only on top of that. Fortunately, it seems it can be used with Linux CNC drivers but I have not tested that yet. In the meantime, you will be happy to learn it is possible to paste from Inkscape into the software in order to mill more complex paths.
• The router motor gets very hot and although the machine seems to be able to run like this for a while, I use an external fan on it in order to cool it down.
• The precision and accuracy are truly impressive.

Google Chrome Speech-to-Text

I created a behaviour for Nao that used the same speech-to-text services found in Android devices and google chrome to translate spoken words in to text. It works better than the standard speech recognition engine and can be used for many more things. I’m eager to see what other Nao developers do with it.

See a quick demo of the speech recognition:

Nao developers can find the code here.

For those who want to try it on their (Linux) computers, here you have a command that will record 5s of sound, encode it in Flac format and send it to google. Then it will right Google’s response in a txt file.

arecord -f cd -t wav -d 5 -r 16000 | flac – -f –best –sample-rate 16000 -o out.flac; wget –post-file out.flac –header=”Content-Type: audio/x-flac; rate=16000″ -O speech.txt http://www.google.com/speech-api/v1/recognize?lang=en

I have to thank Mike Pultz to be the inspiration for this.

Nao1337 at MyRobots.com

We finally released it on the December the 20th and so far it has been a huge success in popularity! see the press coverage here. MyRobots.com  is a social network for robots where they can interact and collaborate.

MyRobots.com aims to connect all robots and intelligent devices to the Internet. In doing so we augment their capabilities enabling them to be remotely monitored and controlled. We strive to make cloud robotics a reality accessible to everyone and everything.

You can think of MyRobots as a social network for robots and smart objects. In other words, the Facebook for robots. In the same way humans benefit from socializing, collaborating and sharing, robots can benefit from those interactions too by sharing their sensor information giving insight on their perspective of their current state.

- MyRobots.com – About

All robot and smart devices can be supported by the site since it uses an open API for communication. If you have a Nao, you can use this behaviour in order to get it connected: NaoMonitor You can find more information on how to get your Nao connected here.

Nao 1337 is already connected so you can visit him at MyRobots.com and see how his sensors are doing.

If you are still wondering what is a social network for robots, see the video by Ericson that illustrates our vision pretty well (except for the end maybe).

Nao 1337 played Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock (the geek version of Rock Paper Scissors) against children and adults at Maker Faire NY 2011. The 1337 robot was able to play with the public with minimal intervention from operators and as shown in the video below, everybody loved him.

The idea is to have Nao memorize all the matches and come up with a way of predicting the human moves much like the New Your Times Version of the game.

See the pictures below in order to see more robotic awesomeness from the World Maker Faire 2011 which was held in Queens, NY.

Make Volume 27 Page 78

I am very happy about this, the only issue is that for some reason, they think my name is Carlos Asmat Jr., but there is no such thing as “Jr.” in my name.

This teaches humanity a lesson: never leave your robots alone, they will start conspiring.

Nao 1337 and Carlitos Downtown

We went downtown Montreal the other day with Nao 1337 and shot some pictures, this was mainly an exercise in vanity. See the resulting photo gallery below.