Ask A Roboticist: Meet Josh | Boston Dynamics

00:06:12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdV59Su_vYs

Ringkasan

TLDRJosh, a mechanical engineer at Boston Dynamics, reflects on his journey into robotics, inspired by building a drone in high school. He explains the collaborative nature of creating robots like Atlas, focusing on physical designs including joints and motors. Atlas functions as a research and development platform, constantly evolving in speed and capabilities. Josh details the prototype history of Atlas and encourages diverse educational backgrounds for entering robotics, stressing hands-on experiences and collaborative learning in the field.

Takeaways

  • 👤 Josh is a mechanical engineer at Boston Dynamics.
  • 🚀 Inspired by building a drone in high school.
  • 🤖 Focused on designing physical components of robots.
  • 🔍 Atlas is an R&D robot pushing technology limits.
  • ⏱ Atlas can run at 2.5 m/s (5.5 mph).
  • 🛠 Manufacturing includes lightweight, strong 3D printed parts.
  • 📚 Robotics is approachable for all majors.
  • 🤝 Emphasizes collaboration among engineers.
  • 🧩 Encourage hands-on experimentation for learning.
  • 🌱 The robotics field is evolving with diverse opportunities.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:06:12

    Josh, a mechanical engineer at Boston Dynamics for four years, became interested in robotics in high school while building a quadcopter. His journey included learning about robot design and analysis during college, leading to his role where he focuses on designing physical components of robots, ensuring strength and functionality. He emphasizes the collaborative nature of robot building, highlighting the importance of teamwork across disciplines. Atlas, Boston Dynamics' R&D robot, serves as a technology demonstrator, showcasing advancements in hardware and software. Josh discusses the evolution of Atlas from its prototype, Petman, to its current form, while also mentioning his contributions to hardware upgrades and the differences in manufacturing practices across various robots. He stresses that pursuing a career in robotics is increasingly accessible, with opportunities in software, mechanics, and independent projects. He encourages aspiring roboticists to explore their interests, suggesting hands-on experiences and participation in robotics programs.

Peta Pikiran

Video Tanya Jawab

  • What does Josh do at Boston Dynamics?

    Josh is a mechanical engineer on the Atlas team, focusing on designing physical parts of robots.

  • What is Atlas?

    Atlas is Boston Dynamics' research and development robot, aimed at pushing the limits of technology.

  • How fast can Atlas run?

    Atlas has been recorded running at about 2.5 m/s (5.5 mph).

  • What materials are used in Atlas's manufacturing?

    Atlas uses metal 3D printed parts that are lightweight, strong, and stiff.

  • What is a good way to start learning about robotics?

    Joining school robotics programs and hands-on experimentation with broken devices at home.

  • Is a mechanical engineering degree necessary for robotics?

    No, robotics is approachable from all majors and does not require an engineering degree.

  • What was the first prototype of Atlas?

    The first prototype was called Petman, which evolved from the BigDog robot.

  • What upgrades has Josh worked on for Atlas?

    He has upgraded the battery installation and roll cage for Atlas.

  • Can software engineers work in robotics?

    Yes, robotics is a multidisciplinary field and software engineers play a crucial role.

  • How does Boston Dynamics support collaboration?

    Collaboration among engineers is encouraged to address concerns and improve robot design.

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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:01
    My name is Josh.
  • 00:00:02
    I've been at Boston Dynamics about four years now.
  • 00:00:05
    I'm a mechanical engineer on the Atlas team.
  • 00:00:07
    I think what first got me interested in high school,
  • 00:00:10
    I'd build a drone, a little quadcopter,
  • 00:00:12
    and it was it was absolutely terrible.
  • 00:00:14
    I could barely fly, but we did everything.
  • 00:00:17
    We did all the software, the electronics, and,
  • 00:00:20
    just going through the process of seeing how we're tuning
  • 00:00:23
    variables and it's responding to to inputs and trying to
  • 00:00:25
    stabilize was truly empowering.
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    And I think from there, I just felt, you know,
  • 00:00:30
    a desire to do more.
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    And in college, I kept on learning and building more
  • 00:00:33
    robots, did all the projects I could,
  • 00:00:35
    and eventually that led to working here.
  • 00:00:44
    As a mechanical engineer,
  • 00:00:45
    we design all the physical parts on the robot,
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    the arms and the legs, structures,
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    the motors and actuation, batteries,
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    anything on the robot that's physical and you can see there,
  • 00:00:54
    that's where we specialize.
  • 00:00:55
    We also do a lot of analysis and math to make sure that the
  • 00:00:58
    robot will work, that the joints are strong enough,
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    that if it face plants while doing a back flip,
  • 00:01:02
    things aren't gonna break and fall apart.
  • 00:01:04
    You know, know, it kinda goes through phases.
  • 00:01:05
    Some weeks, we're doing a lot of testing,
  • 00:01:07
    and we're breaking robots intentionally or or unintentionally.
  • 00:01:11
    Testing mechanisms, if they perform the way we expect to.
  • 00:01:13
    Other weeks are really design heavy.
  • 00:01:15
    And like everyone here,
  • 00:01:16
    we coordinate a lot with other teams and disciplines,
  • 00:01:18
    electrical engineers, software engineers,
  • 00:01:21
    to make sure that the robot will will work well.
  • 00:01:24
    So how do you build a robot?
  • 00:01:27
    So, yeah, for, the robots here in Boston Dynamics,
  • 00:01:30
    we really have to approach it from a systems level.
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    You can't sort of design each part individually in a bubble.
  • 00:01:36
    It'll never work that way.
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    You can think of it sort of as a a picture coming into focus
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    where there's a lot of blurred lines and and things aren't
  • 00:01:45
    really don't have much definition,
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    but we're trying to think about everything holistically.
  • 00:01:48
    And then throughout stages,
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    we're detailing out parts kind of in parallel at the same time.
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    So we take all these people, you know,
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    and as we're building the robot,
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    everyone's voicing concerns, contributing,
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    and then kinda through that large team effort,
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    you end up with a robot.
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    You're never the smartest person in the room and that's
  • 00:02:05
    the best place to be.
  • 00:02:07
    There's always so much to learn.
  • 00:02:09
    What does Atlas do? That question gets asked a lot.
  • 00:02:13
    So Atlas is our R&D robot, our research and development robot.
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    And you can think of it sort of as a technology demonstrator.
  • 00:02:21
    So we're really trying to push the limits of hardware and
  • 00:02:24
    software and controls with Atlas,
  • 00:02:26
    thinking about years and years into the into the future I mean,
  • 00:02:29
    how we can learn from that technology and spread it to all of our robots.
  • 00:02:33
    How fast can Atlas go?
  • 00:02:36
    So the fastest we've gotten it to go in lab is about two and a
  • 00:02:39
    half meters per second.
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    It's about five and a half miles per hour.
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    But there's sort of this running joke around here how we
  • 00:02:46
    keep on thinking we've capped out the robot,
  • 00:02:48
    and then the software team develops some new behavior that
  • 00:02:52
    is more athletic and coordinated than anything we've done before.
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    So we think there's quite a long ways to go before we've
  • 00:02:58
    capped out the hardware.
  • 00:03:00
    What was the first prototype of Atlas?
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    So the first was way before my time.
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    It was called Petman Proto.
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    It was actually our robot, BigDog,
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    which you may have seen.
  • 00:03:07
    It's one of the classic ones where we kick it and it stabilizes.
  • 00:03:09
    It was that robot.
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    We just took
  • 00:03:13
    took two legs from it and stood it on its hind legs,
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    and then we attached two arms to it.
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    And that was the predecessor to our first full humanoid robot called Petman,
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    and then that led to over a decade of development and
  • 00:03:26
    iteration to the robot you see nowadays,
  • 00:03:28
    which we refer to as HD internally,
  • 00:03:31
    which is humanoid version d,
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    and that's what you see on our YouTube videos doing the parkour.
  • 00:03:36
    What hardware do you specifically focus on?
  • 00:03:39
    So on Atlas, that robot was more or less finished when by the time I got here.
  • 00:03:44
    So I just did a few upgrades. We upgraded the battery.
  • 00:03:47
    So working on how that battery gets installed and,
  • 00:03:50
    the roll cage that protects that.
  • 00:03:52
    On stretch, I focused on the distal arm,
  • 00:03:55
    which is the end of the robot by the wrist and the gripper as well.
  • 00:03:59
    How does manufacturing differ between robots?
  • 00:04:03
    It's a good question.
  • 00:04:04
    So we have a really broad range of of manufacturing here at the company.
  • 00:04:08
    So on Atlas, we design a lot of metal three d printed parts that are super
  • 00:04:12
    lightweight and very, very strong and stiff.
  • 00:04:15
    Whereas on stretch and spot,
  • 00:04:17
    we're we're designing for very specific processes that scale
  • 00:04:21
    well, towards production.
  • 00:04:24
    Apart from software and electronics,
  • 00:04:26
    how much of mechanics is needed to study to approach robotics?
  • 00:04:30
    Nowadays, robotics is super approachable from all majors.
  • 00:04:34
    You don't kind of have to know everything in every field to do robotics,
  • 00:04:38
    which is really exciting because it it didn't used to be that way.
  • 00:04:41
    If you're really interested in software,
  • 00:04:43
    you can buy pre built kits that let you spend ninety five
  • 00:04:46
    percent of your time coding,
  • 00:04:47
    and you don't have to worry about the mechanisms.
  • 00:04:50
    And likewise,
  • 00:04:51
    if you're really into machining and designing parts,
  • 00:04:53
    there's a lot of microcontrollers that make
  • 00:04:56
    programming really simple, And,
  • 00:04:58
    then you can focus on building cool machines.
  • 00:05:00
    There's a lot you can still do to interact with robots,
  • 00:05:03
    without an engineering degree.
  • 00:05:04
    So, the applications of robotics are only getting larger every single year,
  • 00:05:09
    and there's a lot of roles where you can introduce
  • 00:05:12
    robotics into new fields.
  • 00:05:14
    How can I get started with robots?
  • 00:05:17
    There's a ton of ways to get started with robotics nowadays.
  • 00:05:21
    In in most schools, there's now robotics programs.
  • 00:05:24
    A lot of the principles there really truly apply to the types
  • 00:05:27
    of things we do here.
  • 00:05:28
    If you don't have access to that or really even in general,
  • 00:05:31
    I would encourage you just to take apart everything that your
  • 00:05:34
    parents won't be sad if it gets destroyed.
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    If you get excited about it and if you're learning,
  • 00:05:38
    you're doing the right thing.
  • 00:05:39
    So just keep on going down that path.
  • 00:05:41
    But a lot of people here,
  • 00:05:43
    that's kind of the path that we took.
  • 00:05:45
    We've we fell in love with robotics. We do it more.
  • 00:05:48
    We're learning as we're going,
  • 00:05:49
    and eventually that leads to doing exciting work here.
Tags
  • robotics
  • Boston Dynamics
  • mechanical engineering
  • Atlas
  • collaboration
  • technology
  • prototype
  • innovation
  • education
  • hands-on learning