机器狗为机器人学提供了新的学习体验

Emilie Jenson, Public Information Office
3/13/2024

爱荷华中央机器人计划是该州第一个将最新技术之一引入其课程的机构，该技术可用于协助各种领域。

“Zeus,” a new robotic dog, arrived on campus in November and Robotics students, along with their instructor, Thad Cooper, Robotics Program coordinator, have been working on programming the dog and testing out its capabilities.

“Right now, we are the only community college in Iowa with a robotic dog,” Cooper said.

库珀最近在国会山日把宙斯带到州议会大厦的社区学院，这只狗引起了相当多的关注和兴趣。

“It was great to see other community colleges in the state stopping at our booth to talk to us about robotics,” said Cooper.

库珀说，将机器狗引入课程的想法酝酿了一年多。 2023年春天，供应商Moss Enterprises的一名销售代表访问了机器人教室，分享了机器狗如何在工业中使用，首次向机器人教练介绍了这一想法。 All it took from there was a flyer on the Stokes Robotics robotic dog to convince Cooper that it would be a great learning tool for the program and he went to work to include it in the program’s tech plan request.

“We added it to the tech plan request with the hope that our fleet will grow in the future,” he said. “One unit and all of its curriculum and training is around $30,000.”

2023年秋天，在当地雇主雀巢普瑞纳（Nestle Purina）访问自动化实验室期间，詹妮弗·雷廷（Jennifer Leiting）表示，雀巢计划在其道奇堡工厂安装一只机器狗。 他们的狗会在晚上在工厂巡逻，检测空气泄漏，并记录每个泄漏的位置，以便稍后由维修人员维修。 “We hadn’t really considered that concept until Nestle Purina mentioned it,” said Cooper.

Zeus is a Stokes Robotics “Unitree” dog and comes equipped with cameras that allow the operator to see forward and rear facing views from the dog’s point of view and is equipped with a belly camera to give the controller the ability to see things from the underside of the robot. 他有人工智能骨骼识别能力，可以让狗识别人类。

“It has the ability to recognize skeletal features and provide a 3D layout of an area through Lidar,” said Cooper. “They can differentiate between a human and a mannequin because it would have no skeleton.”

这只机器狗还能对跟踪信标做出反应，从而可以在人类身边行走。 当它在人旁边行走时，它可以避开障碍物，并等待人避开同样的障碍物，然后恢复到人旁边的位置。 它也有翻滚的能力，自我调整，并从跌倒中恢复。

宙斯有一个3D激光雷达模块，可以安装在它的背部，为它提供了绘制特定区域的能力，这样狗就能准确地知道该去哪里，该避开什么。

“Lidar modules provide us with the ability to layout a facility in 3-D, in a matter of minutes, so that the dog will walk that path through the facility,” Cooper said. “It maps the area so the dog knows where to go. In automatic mode it can run that set path and the Lidar will help it identify and avoid obstacles.”

Zeus provides students experience in another programming language, on top of the robotic arms, PLC’s, and HMI’s. 狗可以被编程，以响应多个命令超出其基本的RC模式。

“We just recently finished a second series of training with Stokes Robotics,” said Cooper. “The students will be able to sit down and program the dog and gain good experience with C++ and Python program languages. 他们已经通过我们现有的设备获得了结构化文本、功能块和阶梯逻辑编程的经验。 This simply adds another aspect to our program, providing students with even more capabilities to take with them to the skilled trades workforce.”

来自道奇堡的机器人专业二年级学生伊利亚·耶茨说，bet365中文狗编程是一次很好的学习经历。

“It’s been a pretty awesome experience,” Yates said. “I set it up to do different things and it is neat to see how it can track people and adapt to its environment.”

Yates also said the unique opportunity to work with Zeus will be beneficial as he transitions to the University of Northern Iowa to achieve his bachelor’s degree in their Automation Engineering program.

“It has taught me a lot of skills I know I will get to use in the future,” said Yates. “Being able to come to college and use this advanced form of robotics has really opened my eyes to the career field.”

“It has been really cool learning the ins and outs of robotics,” said second-year student Josh Kenkel. “This is our first semester with Zeus, but it has been fun seeing all that it is capable of and we are only just getting tapped into it.”

科林·福克斯已经遛过这只狗几次了，他说，随着他们未来继续对它进行编程，它呈现出多种可能性。

“It is pretty awesome that no other school has anything like it,” said Fox. “We can get creative with what we do, and the dog’s possibilities are endless. It’s been fun to take around campus and everyone just stops and looks at him in awe.”

库珀希望在未来爱荷华中心可能能够认证来自不同行业的人使用斯托克斯机器人公司的四足动物。

“Our manufacturer, Stokes Robotics, is getting into education and hopes to get one (robot) into every community college in the state so that we might be able to bring people in from different companies and get them certified.”