Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Robot Tamer Madeline Gannon: New Platform Will Bring Machines to Heel at Scale

18/09/2018

Training, testing and coding robots is a grueling process. Our recently launched Isaac platform promises to change all that.

Few know that better than roboticist Madeline Gannon. For the past month, she's been hard at work developing a robotic art installation in her research studio in the Polish Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Her development sprint is focused on the debut of Manus, which connects 10 industrial arms with a single robot brain to illustrate new frontiers in human-robot interaction.

She's been racing the clock to develop the software and interaction design to bring these robotic arms to life in time for today's World Economic Forum exhibit, in Tianjin, China. Putting in 80-hour weeks in her warehouse, she's faced the difficult task of taking two bots on loan from robotics company ABB and using them to simulate the interactions of all 10 robots that will be at the show.

Gannon relied heavily on her simulations to create the interactions for spectators. And she wouldn't know for certain whether it actually works until she got the 10 machines onsite in China up and running.

The challenge of simulating robots in operation has traditionally driven roboticists to take on custom programming - not to mention big gambles and anxiety - because software until recently hasn't reliably worked.

Yet it remains a key issue for the industry, as logistics operations and warehouses shift gears to embrace robots featuring increasing levels of autonomy to work alongside humans.

As we transition from robotic automation to robotic autonomy, art installations like Manus provide people an opportunity to experience firsthand how humans and autonomous machines might coexist in the future, she says.

To be sure, Gannon's gruelling effort in getting this demonstration off the ground underscores the industry's nascent state of affairs for developing robotics at scale.

Robotics Help Arrives Much of that is now changing. Earlier this year, we launched the Isaac Simulator for developing, testing and training autonomous machines in the virtual world. Last week, at GTC Japan, we announced the availability of the Jetson AGX Xavier devkit for developers to put to work on autonomous machine such as robots and drones.

Combined, this software and hardware will boost the robotics revolution by turbo-charging development cycles.

Isaac is going to allow people to develop smart applications a heck of a lot faster, Gannon said. We're really at a golden age for robotics right now.

This isn't Gannon's first robotics rodeo. Last year, while a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, she developed an interactive industrial robot arm that was put on display at the Design Museum in London.

That robot, Mimus, was a 2,600-pound giant designed to be curious about its surroundings. Enclosed in a viewing area, the robot used sensors embedded in the museum ceiling to see and come closer to or even follow spectators it found interesting.

Exhibiting Manus in Tianjin for the World Economic Forum marks her second, and significantly more complex, robotics installation, which required custom software to create interactions from scratch.

Bringing Manus to Life Manus wasn't easy to pull off. Once she arrived in China, Gannon had only 10 days with all 10 robots onsite before the opening of the interactive exhibit. Manus's robots stand in a row atop a 9-meter base and are encased in plexiglass. Twelve depth sensors placed at the bottom of its base enable the interconnected robots to track and respond to the movements of visitors.

There is a lot of vision processing in the project - that's why its brain is using an NVIDIA GPU, Gannon said.

This vision system enables Manus to move autonomously in response to the people around it: once Manus finds an interesting person, all 10 robot arms reorient as its robotic gaze follows them around.

To create the interaction design for Manus, Gannon needed to develop custom communication protocols and kinematic solvers for her robots as well as custom people-sensing, remote monitoring and human-robot interaction design software.

She says that up until now there haven't been reliable technical resources for doing atypical things with intelligent robots. As a result, she's had to reinvent the wheel each time she creates a new robotics piece.

The technical development for Mamus's software stack took about two-thirds of the project timeline, leaving only one-third of the time to devote to heart of the project - the human-robot interaction design.

Future Robot Training Using Jetson for vision and Isaac Sim for training robots could help developers turn those ratios around for future such projects. And they're well-suited for development and simulation of industrial robots used by massive enterprises for warehouses and logistics operations.

Gannon's mastery of training robots against such obstacles has garnered attention for her pioneering work, and she's been called a robot whisperer or robot tamer for years.

She shrugs that off. Now, with Isaac, I'm hopeful we won't need robot whisperers anymore.

Learn about availability of our Jetson AGX Xavier developer kit.
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2018/09/17/robots-madeline-gannon-jetson...
See more stories from nvidia

North America Stories

28/03/2024

Sinclair Selects Embrace as Its Media Orchestration Engine

PARIS Embrace, a developer of advanced automation and orchestration software solutions, has announced that Sinclair Broadcast Group has selected Embrace's P...

28/03/2024

Nielsen and Circle City Broadcasting Renew Local TV Measurement Deal

NEW YORK Nielsen has a multi-year renewal with Circle City Broadcasting, Indianas only locally owned and operated broadcast and digital news media network, for ...

28/03/2024

JVC to Demo Its First Ever 40x Zoom PTZ Camera Series at 2024 NAB Show

LAS VEGAS JVC Professional Video has announced that it will debut its new KY-PZ540 Series PTZ Cameras with 40x zoom at 2024 NAB Show (Booth C4720)....

28/03/2024

Brightcove Launches Cloud Playout 2.0

BOSTON Brightcove has announced the launch of Cloud Playout 2.0, a platform that the company said will offer customers new ways to create linear channels, monet...

28/03/2024

NBC Sports Chicago to Air First-Ever Animated Real-Time Local Sports Telecast

The Chicago Blackhawks and NBC Sports Chicago have announced a collaboration with the NHL to bring fans the first-ever local animated real-time sports telecast....

28/03/2024

The Best News Coverage is Real, Live, Balanced, Professional

The Best News Coverage is Real, Live, Balanced, Professional Andy Marken March 28, 2024 0 Comments Hero image source News of the World, Perfect Wo...

27/03/2024

Inside the Archives: It's Lights, Curtains, Action When Sundance Films Become Stage Productions

By Jen Scott It's time to unwrap those noisy candies and put your phone on ...

27/03/2024

Sencore and Showfer Announce Collaboration at NAB 2024, With a Brand-New Content Management and Distribution Solution

Las Vegas, NV, April 14-17, Booth W2401 Sencore, a leading provider of profess...

27/03/2024

I Am L3Harris - Sam Bonelli

I'm proud to be a woman in aerospace making an impact on our world and among my peers, team and future generations of women in STEM....

27/03/2024

Bitmovin to Show Live Encoder Running on Akamai Cloud at NAB Show

DENVER Bitmovin has launched its Live Encoder running on the Akamai Cloud Computing, optimizing live streaming and reducing total streaming costs by up to 90%, ...

27/03/2024

Hulu Launches on Disney+

BURBANK, Calif. The Walt Disney Company has officially launched Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S. in a move that brings together the extensive Disney+ and Hulu librar...

27/03/2024

WJLA Studio A Revamp Features Brightline Lighting

WASHINGTON D.C. WJLA, Sinclair Broadcast Group's flagship TV station in the nation's capital, has revamped its Studio A news studio with lighting soluti...

27/03/2024

NCAA: March Madness Sees Strong Audience Growth

The NCAA has released figures showing that the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship and the Division 1 Women's Basketball Championship both saw...

27/03/2024

Mediahaus GmbH Brings SRT Live Streaming to the Mountain Attack with 5G and URSA Broadcast G2

Mediahaus GmbH Brings SRT Live Streaming to the Mountain Attack with 5G and URSA...

27/03/2024

Instant Latte: NVIDIA Gen AI Research Brews 3D Shapes in Under a Second

Instant Latte: NVIDIA Gen AI Research Brews 3D Shapes in Under a Second Isha Salian March 27, 2024 0 Comments The LATTE3D model rapidly transforms tex...

27/03/2024

NAB Show Exhibitor Insight Matrox Video

TV TECH: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2024 NAB Show? TVT: What will be your most important product news? TVT: Ho...

27/03/2024

CueScript Poised to Transform the Prompting Experience wi...

CueScript, the leading developer of professional teleprompting solutions, is poised to transform the prompting experience with a line-up comprised of world firs...

27/03/2024

BeckTV to Focus on Systems Integration for Sports Venues...

Visit Beck TV at 2024 NAB Show at Booth C4035 BeckTV, a premier systems integrator for the broadcast media industry, will showcase its facility design, enginee...

27/03/2024

Arkona to Introduce BLADE master Control and Orchestratio...

arkona technologies GmbH, provider of IP core infrastructure solutions for top-tier broadcast productions, is cutting through the complexity of live production ...

27/03/2024

KRK Launches ROKIT Generation Five Studio Monitors

As the unwavering cornerstone of professional audio monitoring for over three decades, KRK earned its reputation through a rich history of innovation and precis...

27/03/2024

Join Maxon for NAB 2024

Maxon, developers of professional software solutions for editors, filmmakers, motion designers, visual effects artists, and creators of all types, is excited to...

27/03/2024

OpenDrives Reinvents Media Industry Infrastructure Invest...

OpenDrives, Inc., the global provider of software-defined media workflow solutions and data management capabilities, will unveil its new Atlas platform and busi...

27/03/2024

Pixotope NAB 2024 Virtual Production Showcase Shapes the...

Pixotope, the leading software platform for end-to-end real-time virtual production solutions, is ushering in a new era of immersive storytelling at NAB 2024. A...

27/03/2024

Dolby Atmos-enabled CMP Studio Tackles Immersive Mixing W...

Like many in the industry, Multi-platinum, Award-winning Producer, Engineer, Mixer, Songwriter and Musician Clint Murphy's latest work has been consumed by ...

27/03/2024

Ateliere Creative Technologies Unveils the Future of Medi...

Ateliere Locations: AWS Partner Village W1343 F, W1343 S and Fontainebleau Hotel Contact: Arianna Ruvalcaba, Arianna.Ruvalcaba@ateliere.com Century City, Cal...

27/03/2024

Imagine Enables Unified Control of Hybrid On-prem and Clo...

At the 2024 NAB Show (April 14-17, Las Vegas Convention Center, booth W2467), Imagine Communications is making it easier for media companies to efficiently oper...

27/03/2024

LG Studio Series DVLED Displays Make Virtual Production A...

LG Business Solutions USA, a leading innovator of cutting-edge display technologies, has introduced LG Studio Series DVLED, a new family of advanced giant-scree...

27/03/2024

ZTransform Appoints Bob Hawkanson as SVP of Sales for Nor...

Systems and solutions provider continues team expansion and accelerates nation-wide growth strategy ZTransform, a leading technology systems and solutions pro...

27/03/2024

Appear Showcases Groundbreaking Live Production Technolog...

Appear, the global leader in live production technology, will demonstrate its innovative solutions for contribution, remote production and distribution at NAB S...

27/03/2024

Grass Valley expands PHABRIX T and M inventory with QxP p...

Test & measurement innovator, PHABRIX, has announced that Grass Valley has expanded its already-extensive inventory of PHABRIX test & measurement (T&M) equipmen...

27/03/2024

Arrow Media Targets High-Efficiency Story-Telling with Li...

Arrow Media, an award-winning producer of documentary, factual and non-scripted content, creates high quality programming covering a wide range of subjects. Est...

27/03/2024

Planetcast Expands OTT Solutions with Acquisition of Switch Media

SYDNEY & DELHI Planetcast Media Services, a leading media technology services provider in India and Southeast Asia, has acquired one of its key partners, Switch...

27/03/2024

Sony Pictures Expands its FAST Business

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has announced plans to launch its portfolio of free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels on LG Channels, Samsung...

27/03/2024

NFL Announces Two Exclusive Streaming Games for 2024 Season

More NFL games will be moving exclusively to streaming in the upcoming 2024 season, with the NFL announcing that both Peacock and Prime Video will have exclusiv...

27/03/2024

Adobe Announces Generative AI Solutions for Content Supply Chain

LAS VEGAS As part of the Adobe Summit, Adobe has announced a number of major product developments that will help companies optimize their entire content supply ...

27/03/2024

Peakto Search, the plugin for Lightroom, which instantly retrieves any photo or video across multiple catalogues

Peakto Search, the plugin for Lightroom, which instantly retrieves any photo or ...

27/03/2024

Nevion announces 100G add-on to its Virtuoso media node

Nevion announces 100G add-on to its Virtuoso media node Brie Clayton March 26, 2024 0 Comments The high-density Virtuoso UplinX can aggregate IP strea...

27/03/2024

Limecraft Highlights Media Intelligence and Real-Time Collaboration for NAB Show 2024

Limecraft Highlights Media Intelligence and Real-Time Collaboration for NAB Show...

27/03/2024

AbelCine Presents Online DaVinci Resolve Courses with Warren Eagles of the International Colorist Academy

AbelCine Presents Online DaVinci Resolve Courses with Warren Eagles of the Inter...

27/03/2024

15 Latin Artists Who Became Musical Idols

15 Latin Artists Who Became Musical Idols Listen to iconic Latin musicians across genres in this playlist and read about how they've influenced Berklee st...

27/03/2024

Software Developers Launch OpenUSD and Generative AI-Powered Product Configurators Built on NVIDIA Omniverse

From designing dream cars to customizing clothing, 3D product configurators are ...

27/03/2024

TRIBECA X ANNOUNCES 2024 HEADLINE SPEAKERS: JON BON JOVI & JESSE BONGIOVI, JENNA LYONS, AND CHRISTY TURLINGTON BURNS

TRIBECA X ANNOUNCES 2024 HEADLINE SPEAKERS: JON BON JOVI & JESSE BONGIOVI, JENNA...

27/03/2024

Netflix Celebrates Indonesia's National Film Day with a Pledge of Support for Local Cinema

Back to All News Netflix Celebrates Indonesia's National Film Day with a Pl...

27/03/2024

NVIDIA Hopper Leaps Ahead in Generative AI at MLPerf

It's official: NVIDIA delivered the world's fastest platform in industry-standard tests for inference on generative AI. In the latest MLPerf benchmarks...

27/03/2024

Viome's Guru Banavar Discusses AI for Personalized Health

In the latest episode of NVIDIA's AI Podcast, Viome Chief Technology Officer Guru Banavar spoke with host Noah Kravitz about how AI and RNA sequencing are r...

27/03/2024

Unlocking Peak Generations: TensorRT Accelerates AI on RTX PCs and Workstations

Editor's note: This post is part of the AI Decoded series, which demystifies AI by making the technology more accessible, and which showcases new hardware, ...

26/03/2024

Apantac and Utah Scientific Will Highlight Multiviewer and Router Integration at 2024 NAB Show

Apantac and Utah Scientific Will Highlight Multiviewer and Router Integration at...

26/03/2024

CHOOSE CHICAGO, CITY OF CHICAGO ANNOUNCE SUNDANCE INSTITUTE X CHICAGO 2024 COMING THIS SUMMER

New event championing creative independence will feature three days of screening...

26/03/2024

Superior Stability: WESCAM MX-Series EO/IR Systems Designed for Land Missions

The WESCAM MX -GCS EO/IR Independent Stabilized Sighting Systems - ideal for gunner sight, commander sight and situational awareness missions....

26/03/2024

Mediacom Launches Xumo Stream Box

MEDIACOM PARK, N.Y. Mediacom Communications is now making the Xumo Stream Box available to its Xtream Internet customers at no additional monthly cost....