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Making a Birdhouse is Like 'Hello World' for a Versatile Factory Robot (2 Videos)

Posted by Roblimo on from the do-robot-birdhouse-builders-keep-robot-cats-as-pets? dept.

Many millions of American students have been called on to construct a wooden birdhouse as part of a middle- or high-school shop class. To make a birdhouse from wood and nails may not requite advanced carpentry, but it does take eye-hand coordination, object recognition, the ability to lift constituent pieces, and to grasp and wield tools -- and each of those can be broken down further into smaller tasks and skills of the kind that we as humans don't generally have to think about. ("Rotate wrist slightly to account for board angle.") For robots, it's another story: like the computers that run them, robots generally only do what they're told. Industrial robots can do some complex tasks, but they're expensive and complex to program.

Benjamin Cohen is a Ph.D candidate at the University of Pennsylvania working under adviser Maxim Likhachev with a real-world, cheap way to make robots to accomplish a multi-step project with minimal human intervention, which he calls "autonomous robotic assembly." Project Birdhouse -- part of his Ph.D. work, along with teammates Mike Phillips and Ellis Ranter -- is Cohen's effort to create a sort of "Hello, World" for robots. With a combination of a research-platform robot base, off-the-shelf parts, like a nail gun (read: "One not built for robot use"), and software to squeeze greater accuracy out of the system as a whole, he and his colleagues have come up with a robot that can grab a selection of parts, align them properly, and assemble them with nails into a functional birdhouse. QR codes let the robot give the robot a sort of recipe to follow, and the system is smart enough to squawk if it doesn't have the right parts to complete the task. (Check out more video with the robot in action, and a great many photos, sketches, and diagrams illustrating the project's evolution.)

NOTE: We split today's video in half, with both halves running right here, today. This way, if you watch the first video and and want to learn more, you can move on to the second one. And the transcript not only covers both videos, but has "bonus" material that isn't in either one.

24 comments

  1. Now comes the hard part by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    Have the robot build a bird to go with it. Maybe they will soon be able to 3D print one.

  2. Spice rack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought the spice rack was the first carpentry project to make or break a would-be carpenter? Honestly, it doesn't take a robot to make a birdhouse. My guess is someone could do it with all mechanical means with little problem. You're talking about six to eight pieces of wood, only some of which need to be cut other than to length, and one hole.

    1. Re:Spice rack by thedonger · · Score: 1

      I thought the spice rack was the first carpentry project to make or break a would-be carpenter? Honestly, it doesn't take a robot to make a birdhouse. My guess is someone could do it with all mechanical means with little problem. You're talking about six to eight pieces of wood, only some of which need to be cut other than to length, and one hole.

      I figure all those cheap birdhouses in places like Christmas Tree Shops are made by machines in China. But that isn't the point here -- this robot is supposed to know how to do it, not just repeat predefined steps in a highly controlled environment. Robots already do that on a much more complex level - like assembling parts of cars.

      --
      Help fight poverty: Punch a poor person.
  3. Robots with nail guns vs. sharks with lasers by Lew+Perin · · Score: 1

    Is it too late to put this thing together as a 2015 summer blockbuster?

    --
    Sorry, I forgot there are ads on the Web; I use Lynx.
    1. Re:Robots with nail guns vs. sharks with lasers by jsepeta · · Score: 1

      They gotta' hire Adam Corolla to be the consultant who advises against arming the robots.

      --
      Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
  4. And this had to be a video, because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Umm... aa... you see..."

    Text is so much easier to skip over to the good parts.
    With video you never know what you just missed.

  5. Only two videos? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    NOTE: We split today's video in half, with both halves running right here, today. This way, if you watch the first video and and want to learn more, you can move on to the second one.

    Why not split the video into four? Or eight? In fact, why not split it up into individual frames, each one 1/30th or so of a second long and autoplay them one after the other, then I can exercise my free will and stop watching any time I want to because I'm not a gibbering idiot?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  6. They'll take yer jurb! by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

    "When the robots come, they will replace all workers. And humans will be free to pursue other interests, like art and culture."

    "How will the humans eat and pay rent?"

    "The robots will provide all their needs"

    "But how do they pay the robots for this?"

    "The robots will also provide them with money."

    "Are you sure you've thought this through?"

    "No, not really. But look, isn't this robot COOL?"

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    1. Re:They'll take yer jurb! by Duhavid · · Score: 1

      To paraphrase, how will people pay for things?

      Why does anything need to be paid for?

      --
      emt 377 emt 4
    2. Re:They'll take yer jurb! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't realize money was a fundamental force of the universe and not, say, a human convention. Thank you very much, I didn't know that!

    3. Re:They'll take yer jurb! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, we could go back to the way animals do it and fight each other over meat, letting the weak die off, killing each another for mates, etc. The strong survive, the weak are destroyed, Feel better?

      Otherwise, yeah, we need some form of exchange for civilization. Real life ain't Star Trek.

    4. Re:They'll take yer jurb! by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Why does anything need to be paid for?

      Because communism, while sounding great, doesn't work in the real world. It's great to think that without money, we would all just share and share alike. But unless you find a way to fundamentally alter human nature at the DNA level, that system just doesn't work for long in the real world.

      "Hey come fix this broken robot."

      "No, I don't feel like it. I'm going to sleep in and play videogames today."

      "But you're the only one who can fix it!"

      "Are you going to force me to or compensate me somehow for my effort?"

      "Well, no"

      "Then fuck off. Got to get to take the tower in Gears of War 47 today."

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  7. I wonder by koan · · Score: 1

    If someday instead of looking for a "Made in America" sticker I'll be looking for a "Made By A Human" sticker

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    1. Re:I wonder by blue9steel · · Score: 1

      So of course there will be a small factory where humans apply the "Made by a Human" sticker to products that were made by robots but since humans "completed" the process it counts.

    2. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh no no no, that refers to the sticker itself.

  8. Ah, /., I knew you when... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1

    Before you became youtube, but with longer crappier descriptions of crappy video.

    1. Re:Ah, /., I knew you when... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Comments don't appear to be any better, either.

  9. Evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Great research that builds on the author's previous work:
    Autonomous Poop Scooping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkcaivxHZnY

  10. Worst Birdhouse Ever by gdandy · · Score: 1

    That birdhouse is horrible. The sides aren't straight, there are gaps between the pieces of wood, and the nails are sticking out. Get ready birds for robots are going to be pumping out a ton of crappy homes for you.

  11. Arming robots with nail guns is the first step by jsepeta · · Score: 1

    I look forward to our birdhouse-building robotic overlords

    --
    Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
  12. Bird House too easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I was young, we did the write the algorithm for making a peanut butter jelly sandwich. A house--too easy, too geometric.

    And what resulted--you had to eat it too. It sure made you think like a detailed robot... lot of bad sandwiches in the class.

  13. A story about robots making birdhouses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You know what would have made this story really really cool? Hmmm, how about the two main videos actually showing a robot making a birdhouse. After watching the videos I am confused as to which guy was the robot; the one with the dark hair or the blond hair.

  14. Amazing job! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This video of the robot in action is pretty amazing. I'm really impressed. I also saw another robot video by the same guy! He's the poop guy! Check out the other video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q4cLRBaDvg