PREP & PRACTICE DAY! song recommendation of the day: Last Resort – Papa Roach Per yesterdays results, Flexo had DESTROYED the tracks, DEMOLISHED the time,...
Over the past few days we’ve made some exciting locomotion advancements. Connor created Sights motor wrapper plugins for RoboClaw and Roboteq motor controllers, Alex authored...
‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ I’d like to slightly modify that statement to ‘Any solution to a technology problem that works for...
For years, power has always been something we have constantly been seeking to improve. Most robots and other remote/portable applications utilise LiPo batteries. While flexible...
Moving away from the challenging year that 2020 was for us all, S.A.R.T. was very fortunate to get the opportunity to partner with Dell Technologies...
Alex had returned from China with a plethora of ideas for potential improvements to the platform we were developing on, including both the hardware and...
Authors: Connor Kneebone, Alexander Cavalli, Jack Williams, Matthew Williams, Graham Stock, Charlotte Drury, Anthony Gambale, Michael Cavalli, Nathaniel Kneebone, Martin Hosking, Alexander Thorning Published: 20th...
The recently released SIGHTS (SART Integrated GUI and Host Teleoperation Service) software suite is designed to work with virtually any RMRC robot setup. However, with...
On the 16th of October 2019, the Australian Federal Police Bomb Response unit was called to the premises of SFX. Fortunately, it wasn’t because there...
RMRC participants and organisers were invited to speak at the International Convention Centre Sydney for the 23rd annual RoboCup International Symposium. Dr Raymond Sheh (Founder,...
Unfortunately the Nvidia Jetson doesn’t support the Intel 9260 cards out of the box. Nvidia’s JetPack OS ships with the Linux kernel 4.9 while support...
Authors: Connor Kneebone, Alexander Cavalli, Graham Stock, Charlotte Drury, Anthony Gambale, Michael Cavalli, Nathaniel Kneebone, Martin Hosking Published: 19th of June, 2019 License: This work...
Authors: Connor Kneebone, Matthew Williams, Jack Williams, Alexander Cavalli, Aaron Maggs, Ryan Ewyk, Riley Cockerill, Michael Cavalli, Charlotte Drury, Graham Stock, Ryan Millard-Cartwright Published: 17th...
The previous team used a product called PolyShield, which is a tough, flexible dip that protects, insulates and seals almost any surface. Color codes all...
We have just submitted our updated Team Description Materials for 2018. In addition to last year’s TDM, it covers a number of improvements and additions...
Authors: Matthew Williams, Jack Williams, Aaron Maggs, Ryan Ewyk, Riley Cockerill Published: 1st of September, 2017 Abstract The Semi-Autonomous Rescue Team is a small group of Robotics and Information Technology...
You’ve read all about Ryan’s “movement.py” script, so now it’s time to learn about “controlscript.php” – the script that collects client keystrokes and sends the...
I uploaded all the robot’s design files and some renders I made of the mocked up internals in Sketchup. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2430783 In other news, the...
Welcome to part 3 of Let’s break it down! ‘movement.py’. In the last post we went over two massive functions: ‘bckFwdRun(key, s)’ and ‘leftRightRun(key, s)’....
With the robot (or at least the internal components) now portable, we could run a number more interesting real-world tests. We know from Aaron’s two...
The S.A.R.T Interface has two new highly requested features! Snapshots The snapshots feature allows the user to take a snapshot of the camera’s view at...
Last Thursday, Aaron, Ryan and I went to Jaycar to purchase some supplies, including heat shrink, switches, DC plugs, XT60 connectors and solder – all...
After our redesign brainwave, Aaron and I immediately set about modifying our current prototype. Once we have everything in the robot, we can decide just...
So. We have a problem. Like Tom Hanks stranded on an island, level problem…. In short, stuff doesn’t work properly. Long version: The Robot’s current...
A short update. Each S.A.R.T model/prototype has a new and quite frankly, interesting addition or modification. Every time a new model is printed, something new...
The site we got our original logo from updated their commercial use license, meaning we need to update our logo. Fortunately, this gives us the chance to...
Our new toys have arrived in the mail! Dynamixel AX-18A Servos We’ve purchased 4 AX-18A servos from Dynamixel. Apparently, these are the “next step up”...
Our two USB2AX dynamixel servo interfaces arrived in the mail today. We purchased these as they’re a far smaller alternative to the USB2Dynamixel (see image...
Powering our expensive components has always been something we put off to the end, because if it’s not done properly you’re likely to blow something...
The purpose of printing a prototype chassis was to check if there were any small issues, and thankfully we’ve found some, otherwise we’d have nothing...
After windows server 2012 didn’t know what an ethernet adapter was, I downloaded windows server 2016 (5GB) that only took 3 hours due to Australia’s internet...
After the Great Permissions Blunder of 2017, the robot was shut down over the weekend. Initially I thought this could cause issues as processes would...
Aaron, Riley and I were discussing an improved drive system over Skype when I quickly created this graphic. Our 4 wheel drive system worked exceptionally...
After installing the web server and putting the S.A.R.T control interface on it, Jack found out that the system information status on the interface doesn’t...
Today Aaron talked to Jack about reimaging the NUC after having the backup software (SystemBack) fail and cause errors on startup despite being uninstalled. Aaron...
After the SFX Kaleidoscope Electives Showcase, we kind of just dumped everything on our desk for someone else to deal with… After the cleanup, we started...
As part of the Kaleidoscope Electives Showcase at St Francis Xavier College, the S.A.R.T team are showing their stuff at the Information Technology booth consisting...
Our previous Wi-Fi tests were very successful, although they only tested the signal strength at a range, not the usability or quality of the connection....
I continued working on the S.A.R.T Interface, this time adding Shellinabox. Shellinabox is web-based terminal, perfect for the S.A.R.T interface. By implementing a shell terminal, there...
We have two monitors at the S.A.R.T workstation. One monitor is usually connected to the S.A.R.T robot, and the other is usually unused. Until today....
Referring to the events of Day Sixty-One (Boot Loop), Aaron and I believe we may have solved the problem. The BreezeLite was possibly not booting due...
With yesterday’s WiFi tests a resounding success, Aaron and I decided to transfer the wireless adapter from the laptop to the BreezeLite. The drivers did not...
Today we talked torque. We’re looking at new servos for the Mark II S.A.R.T robot. Gerard is considering buying 4 of these AX-18A servos. http://support.robotis.com/en/product/dynamixel/ax_series/ax-18f.htm...
Today we were interviewed by the Canberra Times for an upcoming article. We’ll include a scan and possibly a link when it is published! http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-students-to-compete-at-robocup-junior-national-championships-20160909-grd3nk.html...
During a free period, Aaron and I discussed the possibility of using a new 3D printer filament, CPE. The filament has excellent toughness with resistance...
So… RoboCup. Came, Saw, Conquered. After some hard competition and some very tasty schnitzel, Riley walked away with tied first in the maze competition and...
Paper jam? Not quite. Although it does involve printers. 3D printers. Our new modular locking system is complete but has not been printed, and therefore...
Robocup Regionals! I took the robot home overnight to install the necessary packages such as NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, OpenCV and ffmpeg. On the day, we...
Using the camera mounted cleverly by Matthew’s camera mount apparatus, I took a collection of test photographs and determined that the image must be flipped...
Matthew finished designing the new and improved robot chassis, with some inputs from myself and Ryan. It will measure about 25cm wide when the servos...
Alex discovered a way we could continue to use the Lithium-Polymer battery to power the robot, which involved delivering the correct measurements of voltage and...
Most of the team worked on their portfolios, a presentation that provides evidence of competence in various areas of basic computing. After finishing my portfolio,...
Matthew worked on connecting the Ubuntu laptop to the school network, however he is having trouble connecting it to the Internet. Our connection seems to...
Aaron made huge breakthroughs with streaming video from the Raspberry Pi to a computer. While he had successfully used VLC to stream to Windows devices,...
We discovered a more sophisticated robot design on the internet, which gave us inspiration for a better design (to compete in the National Competition). Riley...
We have started designing the breakout board that will direct power from the lithium polymer battery to the Raspberry Pi, the Dynamixel servos, and anything...
Riley and Matthew replaced the tape on the 3D printer bed and reapplied glue, then began printing the newly designed camera mounting apparatus that Matthew...
Ryan and I connected a single Dynamixel servo to the Dynamixel2USB and the SMPS2Dynamixel, but had trouble connecting more than one. We soon discovered that...