marimonda – PersonInTime Update

I am making this post right now, describing a work-in-progress as a means of documenting where I am, since currently my connection with the robot is limited and I am unable to control it real-time through RoboDK (although I think I might get it to work using RDTE or OSC). Additionally, I had very limited access to the Studio as I was out of town for an extended period and there were conflicting events the weekend I came back.

My project is a performance/interaction between a person and UR5, exploring curiosity and mimicry.

Specifically, my goal is to create a robot that looks at and follows a person, by appending a camera to the UR5 and “correcting” the movements to follow a person in real time.

Using Oz Ramos’ method for real-time control of the UR5, through RoboDK, I was able to control the robot pretty well and support interactions through HandsFree.js (which additionally supported some pretty great pose/face tracking capabilities which would allow me to implement my own robot copycat).

Unfortunately, I started having problems with connecting the robot in real time. I attempted to reset my network settings, redownload RoboDK and connect through other methods. But unfortunately it’s getting to the point that trying to connect to the robot through this SDK is proving to be more time consuming that constructing the same program using RTDE or OSC.

I think I easily could have mocked a project either hard coding motions on the UR5 or by using handsfree.js to create an interactive experience. But I am not interested in these two venues, since my goal for this project is to obtain sufficient skill in controlling the UR5 in real time.

Right now I am considering different ways of implementing this project, because I am devoted to making UR5 my baby.

This is me controlling the UR5 with my simulation: