Competing in Robotics

RoboCup Junior is an international competition for the construction and programming of robots. It’s a part of the major RoboCup initiative – one of the biggest robot competitions in the world, with thousands of participants from over 40 countries.

Linköping students are organising the Swedish qualifying rounds for RoboCup Junior (in Swedish Junior-VM i robotik) where children and young people up to the age of 19 can take part. The winners get to represent Sweden in the 2015 international finals, which will be held in Hefei, China.

Mr Löfgren, who is in the fourth year of his studies for a master’s in Engineering Physics and Electronics, is a previous participant in the competition and current project leader for the RoboCup Junior finals in Linköping. He is the youngest ever member of the technical committee, which is mainly composed of eminent researchers and teachers.

“RoboCup Junior has been held in Sweden since 2009. I took part the very first year, won

the competition, and got to represent Sweden at the world championship in Austria.”

Since then, Mr Löfgren has won many competitions, in which he got to do things such as represent Sweden in Singapore and compete in the World Championships in Istanbul.

“After that I was too old; in 2012 I became team leader for one team and a judge for the national competition. I was also appointed to the international organizing committee of RoboCup Junior Rescue, and the technical committee.”

He has also been involved on the international stage, for example in Brazil where he wrote the rules for the next year’s competition. He was also team leader at the World Championships in Eindhoven. In 2013, Mr Löfgren started a student society whose aim was to organise RoboCup Junior in Sweden. The FIA student association (the Intelligent Autonomous Systems Society) grew, and now RoboCup Junior is just one of many events the society organises each year.

How do you select the participants?

“I was chosen as project leader for the competition by the board of the FIA, and then I appointed a project team of five people to help me plan and organise the competition in Linköping.”

The FIA is also organising a competition for university students and the public in conjunction with RoboCup Junior, so that more people can get the chance to compete with robots.

“I love to compete and I’ve competed in knowledge for a very long time,” Mr Löfgren says.

Robots around the dinner tableWhat has your involvement given you in practical terms?
“Being involved with robots has given me a great advantage in my studies here at the university. I have learned a great deal not only about electronics, programming and construction, but also about leadership and other cultures on my many travels, as well as how to collaborate on international projects.”

Mr Löfgren thinks it’s great to see how older researchers and professors listen to what he has to say, and he is looking forward to the next cooking competition that will be held in Madrid in November. It will consist of seeing how well the robots manage to cook tomato soup, write a shopping list and find and switch off a stove hob that has been left on.

He has already been offered jobs, but turned them down as he wants to finish his studies first before he starts his “real” working life.

Developing robots for space, robots that explore other planets and robots that work in caring for the elderly by doing all the heavy work so that staff can devote time to their personal contact with elderly people, are examples of dream jobs.

“I want to develop the technology of tomorrow and I’m open to everything that has to do with the development of technology. As I have worked with robots for 15 years, they are very dear to my heart.”

Text: Zen Dinah, student reporter
Photo: Julius Jeuthe, student photographer

Source: Linköping University

A new step towards using graphene in electronic applications

(A) This image is a diagram of molecular precursors, the resulting graphene nanoribbons and the heterostructured ones. (B) Tunnel microscopy images of the heterostructures synthesized on gold surfaces. Credit: UPV/EHU

Few materials have received as much attention from the scientific world or have raised so many hopes with a view to their potential deployment in new applications as graphene has. This is largely due to its superlative properties: it is the thinnest material in existence, almost transparent, the strongest, the stiffest and at the same time the most strechable, the best thermal conductor, the one with the highest intrinsic charge carrier mobility, plus many more fascinating features. Specifically, its electronic properties can vary enormously through its confinement inside nanostructured systems, for example. That is why ribbons or rows of graphene with nanometric widths are emerging as tremendously interesting electronic components. On the other hand, due to the great variability of electronic properties upon minimal changes in the structure of these nanoribbons, exact control on an atomic level is an indispensable requirement to make the most of all their potential.

The lithographic techniques used in conventional nanotechnology do not yet have such resolution and precision. In the year 2010, however, a way was found to synthesise nanoribbons with atomic precision by means of the so-called molecular self-assembly. 

Molecules designed for this purpose are deposited onto a surface in such a way that they react with each other and give rise to perfectly specified graphene nanoribbons by means of a highly reproducible process and without any other external mediation than heating to the required temperature. In 2013 a team of scientists from the University of Berkeley and the Centre for Materials Physics (CFM), a mixed CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) and UPV/EHU (University of the Basque Country) centre, extended this very concept to new molecules that were forming wider graphene nanoribbons and therefore with new electronic properties. This same group has now managed to go a step further by creating, through this self-assembly, heterostructures that blend segments of graphene nanoribbons of two different widths.

The forming of heterostructures with different materials has been a concept widely used in electronic engineering and has enabled huge advances to be made in conventional electronics. "We have now managed for the first time to form heterostructures of graphene nanoribbons modulating their width on a molecular level with atomic precision. What is more, their subsequent characterisation by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, complemented with first principles theoretical calculations, has shown that it gives rise to a system with very interesting electronic properties which include, for example, the creation of what are known as quantum wells," pointed out the scientist Dimas de Oteyza, who has participated in this project. This work, the results of which are being published this very week in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, therefore constitutes a significant success towards the desired deployment of graphene in commercial electronic applications.

Dr Dimas G. de Oteyza, who was previously at Berkeley and at the CFM, is currently working at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) as a Fellow Gipuzkoa.

Source: University of the Basque Country

Compact batteries enhanced by spontaneous silver matrix formations

Optical images of the non-discharged cathode, showing key differences in the lithium-facing and steel-facing sides. Credit: Image courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory

In a promising lithium-based battery, the formation of a highly conductive silver matrix transforms a material otherwise plagued by low conductivity. To optimize these multi-metallic batteries -- and enhance the flow of electricity -- scientists needed a way to see where, when, and how these silver, nanoscale "bridges" emerge.

Now, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have used x-rays to map this changing atomic architecture and revealed its link to the battery's rate of discharge. The study -- published online Jan. 8, 2015, in the journal Science -- shows that a slow discharge rate early in the battery's life creates a more uniform and expansive conductive network, suggesting new design approaches and optimization techniques.

"Armed with this insight into battery cathode discharge processes, we can target new materials designed to address critical battery issues associated with power and efficiency," said study coauthor Esther Takeuchi, a SUNY Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University and Chief Scientist in Brookhaven Lab's Basic Energy Sciences Directorate.

The scientists used bright x-ray beams at Brookhaven Lab's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) -- a DOE Office of Science User Facility -- to probe lithium batteries with silver vanadium diphosphate (Ag2VP2O8) electrodes. This promising cathode material, which may be useful in implantable medical devices, exhibits the high stability, high voltage, and spontaneous matrix formation central to the research.

"The experimental work -- in particular the in-situ x-ray diffraction in batteries totally encased in stainless steel -- should prove useful for industry as it can penetrate prototype and production-level batteries to track their structural evolution during operation," Takeuchi said.

Into the matrix

As these single-use batteries -- synthesized and assembled by Stony Brook graduate student David Bock -- discharge, the lithium ions stored in the anode travel to the cathode, displacing silver ions along the way. The displaced silver then combines with free electrons and unused cathode material to form the conductive silver metal matrix, acting as a conduit for the otherwise impeded electron flow.

"To visualize the cathode processes within the battery and watch the silver network take shape, we needed a very precise system with huseigh-intensity x-rays capable of penetrating a steel battery casing," said study coauthor and Stony Brook University Research Associate Professor Amy Marschilok. "So we turned to NSLS."

Energy dispersive x-ray diffraction (EDXRD) at NSLS provided this real-time -- in situ -- visualization data. In EDXRD, intense beams of x-rays passed through the sample, losing energy as the battery structure bent the beams. Each set of detected beam angles, like time-lapse images, revealed the shifting chemistry as a function of battery discharge.

"The silver forms in particles spanning less than 10 nanometers, and the diffraction patterns can be both dense and faint," said Brookhaven Lab scientist Zhong Zhong, who performed the critical alignment for the x-ray experiments at NSLS.

Once the data was collected, Brookhaven Lab postdoctoral researcher and study coauthor Kevin Kirshenbaum led the data analysis effort.

"This kind of analysis and interpretation requires considerable time and expertise, but the results can be stunning," Kirshenbaum said.

Surprises written in silver

In most batteries, the speed of lithium-ion diffusion determines the rate of discharge, a key factor in overall performance and efficiency. The material closest to the lithium anode would ordinarily discharge first, as the ions have a shorter distance to travel. In a surprising discovery, the researchers found that the material farthest from the anode and nearest the coin cell surface discharged first in the battery.

"This is because the non-discharged cathode material is a very poor electric conductor, so the resistance for lithium ion diffusion is less than for electron flow," said coauthor and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Kenneth Takeuchi. "This highlights a uniquely efficient aspect of in situ silver matrix formation: The silver matrix forms primarily where needed, which is more efficient than using conductive additives."

The in situ diffraction data was combined with two techniques applied after operation: x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and angle-resolved x-ray diffraction (XRD).

Spectroscopy can reveal exact chemistry because each element absorbs and emits light uniquely, but the x-rays used for XAS cannot penetrate the battery casing. So after each step in the discharge, the researchers removed the cathode and ground it into a powder to measure the average elemental composition. Chia-Ying Lee of the University at Buffalo prepared the reduced cathode materials for the initial ex situ measurements.

"These techniques provide complementary data: the in situ diffraction shows where the silver is formed within the cathode, while the spectroscopy shows more precisely how much silver was formed," Esther Takeuchi said.

Brighter lights and better batteries

NSLS ended its 32-year experimental run in September 2014, but its powerful successor is 

already taking data at Brookhaven Lab. The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) provides beams 10,000 times brighter than NSLS, and in situ energy research is a major part of its mission. NSLS-II, also a DOE Office of Science User Facility, will soon welcome users from industry, academia, and other national labs.

"We are currently working on other materials that form conductive networks and hope to study them as functioning cells," Takeuchi said. "The brighter beams and greater spatial resolution of NSLS-II will be a great tool in studying other cathodes and pushing this technology forward."

This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory

Mysteries of 'molecular machines' revealed: Phenix software uses X-ray diffraction spots to produce 3-D image

This is a membrane protein called cysZ, imaged in 3 dimensions with Phenix software using data that could not previously be analyzed. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Scientists are making it easier for pharmaceutical companies and researchers to see the detailed inner workings of molecular machines.

'Inside each cell in our bodies and inside every bacterium and virus are tiny but complex protein molecules that synthesize chemicals, replicate genetic material, turn each other on and off, and transport chemicals across cell membranes,' said Tom Terwilliger, a Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist.

'Understanding how all these machines work is the key to developing new therapeutics, for treating genetic disorders, and for developing new ways to make useful materials.'

To understand how a machine works you have to be able to see how it is put together and how all its parts fit together. This is where the Los Alamos scientists come in. These molecular machines are very small: a million of them placed side by side would take up less than an inch of space. Researchers can see them however, using x-rays, crystals and computers. Researchers produce billions of copies of a protein machine, dissolve them in water, and grow crystals of the protein, like growing sugar crystals except that the machines are larger than a sugar molecule.

Then they shine a beam of X-rays at a crystal and measure the brightness of each of the thousands of diffracted X-ray spots that are produced. Then researchers use the powerful Phenix software, developed by scientists at Los Alamos, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Duke and Cambridge universities, to analyze the diffraction spots and produce a three-dimensional picture of a single protein machine. This picture tells the researchers exactly how the protein machine is put together.

The 3-D Advance

Recently Los Alamos scientists worked with their colleagues at LBNL and Cambridge University to make it even easier to visualize a molecular machine. In a report in the journal Nature Methods this month, Los Alamos scientists and their team show that they can obtain three-dimensional pictures of molecular machines using X-ray diffraction spots that could not previously be analyzed.

Some molecular machines contain a few metal atoms or other atoms that diffract X-rays differently than the carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms that make up most of the atoms in a protein. The Phenix software finds those metal atoms first, and then uses their locations to find all the other atoms. For most molecular machines, however, metal atoms have to be incorporated into the machine artificially to make this all work.

The major new development to which Los Alamos scientists have contributed was showing that powerful statistical methods could be applied to find metal atoms even if they do not scatter X-rays very differently than all the other atoms. Even metal atoms such as sulfur that are naturally part of almost all proteins can be found and used to generate a three-dimensional picture of a protein. Now that it will often be possible to see a three-dimensional picture of a protein without artificially incorporating metal atoms into them, many more molecular machines can be studied.

Cracking the Cascade

Molecular machines that have recently been seen in three-dimensional detail include a 'huge' molecular machine called Cascade that was reported in the journal Science this summer. The Cascade machine is present in bacteria and can recognize DNA that comes from viruses that infect the bacteria. The Cascade machine is made up of 11 proteins and an RNA molecule and looks like a seahorse, with the RNA molecule winding through the whole 'body' of the seahorse. If a foreign piece of DNA in the bacterial cell is complementary to part of the RNA molecule then another specialized machine can come by and chop up the foreign DNA, saving the bacterium from infection.

Los Alamos and Cambridge University scientists who were developing the Phenix software were part of the team that visualized this protein machine for the first time. The Phenix software has been used to determine the three-dimensional shapes of over 15,000 different protein machines and has been cited by over 5000 scientific publications.

Source: DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory

Getting Bot Besponders into Shape - Scientists are tackling one of the biggest barriers to the use of robots in emergency response: energy efficiency

Steve Buerger is leading a Sandia National Laboratories project to demonstrate how energy efficient biped walking robots could become. Increased efficiency could enable bots to operate for much longer periods of time without recharging batteries, an important factor in emergency situations. Credit: Photo by Randy Montoya

Sandia National Laboratories is tackling one of the biggest barriers to the use of robots in emergency response: energy efficiency.

Through a project supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Sandia is developing technology that will dramatically improve the endurance of legged robots, helping them operate for long periods while performing the types of locomotion most relevant to disaster response scenarios.

One of Sandia's new robots that showcases this technology will be demonstrated at an exposition to be held in conjunction with the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals next June.

As the finals draw closer, some of the most advanced robotics research and development organizations in the world are racing to develop emergency response robots that can complete a battery of tasks specified by DARPA. Competing robots will face degraded physical environments that simulate conditions likely to occur in a natural or human-made disaster. Many robots will walk on legs to allow them to negotiate challenging terrain.

Sandia's robots won't compete in the finals next June, but they could ultimately help the winning robots extend their battery life until their life-saving work is done.

"We'll demonstrate how energy efficient biped walking robots could become. Increased efficiency could allow robots similar to those used for the competition to operate for much longer periods of time without recharging batteries," said project lead Steve Buerger of Sandia's Intelligent Systems Control Dept.

Batteries need to last for emergency response robots

Battery life is an important concern in the usefulness of robots for emergency response.
"You can have the biggest, baddest, toughest robot on the planet, but if its battery life is 10 or 20 minutes, as many are right now, that robot cannot possibly function in an emergency situation, when lives are at stake," said Buerger.

The first robot Sandia is developing in support of the DARPA Challenge, is known as STEPPR for Sandia Transmission Efficient Prototype Promoting Research. It is a fully functional research platform that allows developers to try different joint-level mechanisms that function like elbows and knees to quantify how much energy is used.

Sandia's second robot, WANDERER for Walking Anthropomorphic Novelly Driven Efficient Robot for Emergency Response, will be a more optimized and better-packaged prototype.

Energy-efficient actuators key to testing

The key to the testing is Sandia's novel, energy-efficient actuators, which move the robots' joints. The actuation system uses efficient, brushless DC motors with very high torque-to-weight ratios, very efficient low-ratio transmissions and specially designed passive mechanisms customized for each joint to ensure energy efficiency.

"We take advantage of dynamic characteristics that are common to a wide variety of legged behaviors and add a set of 'support elements,' including springs and variable transmissions, that keep the motors operating at more efficient speed-torque conditions, reducing losses," Buerger said.

Electric motors are particularly inefficient when providing large torques at low speeds, for example, to a crouching robot, Buerger said. A simple support element, such as a spring, would provide torque, reducing the load on the motor.

"The support elements also allow robots to self-adjust when they change behaviors. When they change from level walking to uphill walking, for example, they can make subtle adjustments to their joint dynamics to optimize efficiency under the new condition," Buerger said.

Robots must adapt to the diverse kinds of conditions expected in emergency response scenarios.
"Certain legged robot designs are extremely efficient when walking on level ground, but function extremely inefficiently under other conditions or cannot walk over different types of terrains. Robots need an actuation system to enable efficient locomotion in many different conditions," Buerger said. "That is what the adjustable support elements can do."

Early testing has shown STEPPR to operate efficiently and quietly.

"Noise is lost energy, so being quiet goes hand-in-hand with being efficient. Most robots make a lot of noise, and that can be a major drawback for some applications," Buerger said.

Robots' electronics, certain software to be publicly released

STEPPR's and WANDERER's electronics and low-level software are being developed by the Open Source Robotics Foundation. The designs will be publicly released, allowing engineers and designers all over the world to take advantage of advances.

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is developing energy-efficient walking control algorithms for both robots. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Globe Motors also are contributing to the project.

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Source: Sandia National Laboratories