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Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

ok-robot.github.io

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Re: Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

#51

Post by rsync »

I very much want a stabilized platform vehicle that I can send point-to-point with a payload on it.

So, a gyro-stabilized platform like a segway that I can send back and forth from point A to point B on a not-terrible-but-rough (walking path) route.

I have tried to stay abreast of the options in the past and have never seen anything that matches this ... does anyone know if there is anything new that matches this use-case ?

(the use-case is a tray of drinks and hors d'oeuvres that needs to go from one part of a property to another without spilling ... needs to be minimally all-terrain)

Re: Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

#52

Post by jetrink »

marci wrote: post #38
fnordpiglet wrote: post #29

This is remarkable and could be life changing for the disabled, elderly, gamers, or profoundly lazy and their caretakers.

I forgot where I saw that, but generally, improving things for people with disabilities improves things for everyone, like making sidewalks wheelchair friendly helps parents with a stroller, or people carrying heavy stuff, walking with a cane, young children on bicycles, people who can't see well...

I've heard this called the curb cut effect. (It's a subject right in 99% Invisible's wheelhouse and there is a good episode about it that mostly focuses on the history of literal curb cuts.)

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_cut_effect

2. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/curb-cuts/

Re: Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

#53

Post by polygamous_bat »

k4rli wrote: post #49

It's cool but what's the point for a normal person? Useful for warehouses and manufacturing but I don't see myself ever needing such things

Are elderly or disabled people "normal" in your book? Do you see yourself or your loved ones growing old someday?

Re: Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

#56

Post by developerDan »

sandworm101 wrote: post #45
marci wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forgot where I saw that, but generally, improving things for people with disabilities improves things for everyone, like making sidewalks wheelchair friendly helps parents with a stroller, or people carrying heavy stuff, walking with a cane, young children on bicycles, people who can't see well...

>> improving things for people with disabilities improves things for everyone Everything has its limits. Many years ago I was involved in building a series of staircases in a rock climbing area inside a park. There were about a hundred steps in a handful of orientations to get from the parking lot over a rocky hill to the small valleys behind. The project was primarily to prevent trail erosion and falls. These steps…

It’s so frustrating that city leaders can’t even try to use common sense. Where I live a parking requirement blocked a restaurant from being built and our city council publicly acknowledged that there isn’t enough space for parking and a building, but “that’s the law” so they blocked it. Lazy idiots.

Re: Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

#57

Post by thebruce87m »

rsync wrote: post #51

I very much want a stabilized platform vehicle that I can send point-to-point with a payload on it. So, a gyro-stabilized platform like a segway that I can send back and forth from point A to point B on a not-terrible-but-rough (walking path) route. I have tried to stay abreast of the options in the past and have never seen anything that matches this ... does anyone know if there is anything new that matches this use…

You’ve maybe seen these already in restaurants? https://www.pudurobotics.com/product/detail/bellabot

Not sure I’ve seen them take drinks though, but definitely food.

Re: Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

#58

Post by fnordpiglet »

sandworm101 wrote: post #45
marci wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forgot where I saw that, but generally, improving things for people with disabilities improves things for everyone, like making sidewalks wheelchair friendly helps parents with a stroller, or people carrying heavy stuff, walking with a cane, young children on bicycles, people who can't see well...

>> improving things for people with disabilities improves things for everyone Everything has its limits. Many years ago I was involved in building a series of staircases in a rock climbing area inside a park. There were about a hundred steps in a handful of orientations to get from the parking lot over a rocky hill to the small valleys behind. The project was primarily to prevent trail erosion and falls. These steps…

In the US? I assume ADA was the kicker. A lot of folks even in government don’t realize the ADA isn’t unthinking. If the activity or environment doesn’t lend itself to accessibility it’s not required. Cutting a wheel chair ramp into a mountain face is a good example where the ADA wouldn’t apply because it’s impractical given the environment to do so. Even national parks only offer a subset set of activities ADA complaint.

Re: Show HN: OK-Robot: open, modular home robot framework for pick-and-drop anywhere

#60

Post by leptons »

throwup238 wrote: post #41
taco_emoji wrote: post #39

I know nothing about robotics, but can someone ELI5 why the robot makes so many extraneous movements? E.g. the video that shows it moving Takis from the desk to the nightstand, it approaches the desk, and then the arm mechanism moves all the way down (an unnecessary maneuver), then rises again before reaching the level needed to pick up the Takis.

A lot of those movements are there to zero out the axes so that each movement starts from a known good position and orients itself against the camera. Usually there's a switch that, for example, senses when the body goes all the way to the bottom, which is the origin for the whole positioning system. Several other movements are for safety since it doesn't have a bunch of cameras and really complex logic for collision…

>A lot of those movements are there to zero out the axes so that each movement starts from a known good position and orients itself against the camera. Usually there's a switch that, for example, senses when the body goes all the way to the bottom, which is the origin for the whole positioning system.

Ideally the "zeroing" should be done once when the robot "wakes up" or only once in a while, and there should be digital encoders on all motors, the position should always be known within a tiny margin of error, and not enough to cause a problem for positioning. At least that's how I'd do it, I'm not sure how they built this thing.

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