11
Mar, 2021

Cobot user frame calibration: a practical guide

Have you ever wondered why your cobot doesn’t accurately reach the positions it should, for example during a pallettizing operation?

In this study, conducted in collaboration with the Applied Mechanics group of the University of Brescia, we studied the repeatability performances of the vision-based RPS user frame calibration system of the Sawyer cobot and compared them with the performances obtained after calibrating the robot using traditional 3- and 5-points methods involving rigid markers.

The analysis showed that the RPS system is currently not robust enough to guarantee acceptable performances when the robot moves very distant from the landmark position due to the computation of local planes instead of a single plane considering several calibration points. 

Check out the paper to find out more about this study!

18
Dec, 2020

Ph. D. Thesis Presentation for “Dottorandi in Ateneo” UNIBS Event

The University of Brescia is an institution of Napoleonic origin established in 1802 that gathers, through a system of co-optation, a defined number of scholars and experts in artistic, literary and scientific disciplines. It carries out an intense activity of cultural and scientific promotion through conventions, conferences and publications.

These initiatives are primarily aimed at fostering mutual acquaintance among academics and the interchange between different disciplines, in the two classes in which the academy is organized: arts & literature and sciences. 

The class of sciences offers final year doctoral students in scientific disciplines the opportunity to present their research work, their experience and their expectations as scholars in training to the academics of the University, to their doctoral colleagues in other scientific fields and to the interested public.

In the following video you can see Cristina Nuzzi‘s presentation about her Ph. D. thesis work (Italian only). The event was also published in the Giornale di Brescia.

5
Nov, 2020

UNIBS-UNITN Collaboration continues!

The collaboration between the Mechanical and Thermal Measurements group (MMT and Vis4Mechs) of the University of Brescia and the MiRo laboratory of the University of Trento continues.

The measurement experiments involving the various members of the two teams are aimed at evaluating, thanks to a precise protocol established in a previous publication, the reconstruction accuracy of consumer (Kinect v2 and Kinect Azure) and industrial (Basler) time-of-flight cameras, compared to the gold standard obtained with a Konica Minolta 3D scanner.

The experimental campaign includes several tests, which will be held for now separately in the two locations in compliance with the pandemic prevention regulations. A first meeting has already been held in the MiRo Laboratory of Trento, the only one that required the simultaneous presence of the various devices.

related publications

S. Pasinetti, M.M. Hassan, J. Eberhardt, M. Lancini, F. Docchio, G. Sansoni, “Performance analysis of the PMD Camboard Picoflexx time-of-flight camera for markerless motion capture applications“, in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement 68 (11), 4456-4471

29
Jul, 2020

Project Hands-Free presented at Ubiquitous Robotics 2020

Hands-Free is a ROS-based software to teleoperate a robot with the user hand. The skeleton of the hand is extracted by using OpenPose and the position of the user’s index finger in the user workspace is mapped to the corresponding robot position in the robot workspace.

The project is available on GitHub and the paper has been published in the Ubiquitous Robotics 2020 virtual conference proceedings.

Check out the presentation video below!

29
Apr, 2020

Project “RemindLy” participating in the HRI Student Competition!

Cristina Nuzzi, Stefano Ghidini, Roberto Pagani, and Federica Ragni, a team of DRIMI Applied Mechanics Ph. D. Students, participated in the Student Competition of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction.

Their project, called “RemindLy“, has been published in the conference proceedings and it is available at the ACM library.

Check out their presentation video below!

This video has also been selected by IEEE SPECTRUM weekly video selection on Robotics and published online!

30
Sep, 2019

Vis4Mechs at the National GMME-GMMT Forum 2019

The Vis4Mechs group, as usual, participated at the annual national meeting of electrical and electronics measurments and mechanical and thermal measurments, the GMEE-GMMT Forum which was held in Perugia this year.

The group presented the following works:

Validazione di algoritmi di calibrazione estrinseca basati su skeletonization del corpo umano – Presentation by Ing. Simone Pasinetti (GMMT)

Misura delle fasi del passo tramite algoritmi di Machine Learning durante camminate in esterna assistite da esoscheletro – Poster presentation

Ing. Simone Pasinetti had also the honor to present the work carried out in collaboration with the University of Trento, in loving memory of Alberto Fornaser:

Gait phase classification using the Sigma-Z Random Forest classifier – Presentation by Ing. Simone Pasinetti (joint session GMEE-GMMT)

Our joint Laboratory of Mechanical and Thermal Measurments also presented the following works:

Measurments in support of exoskeleton assisted walking: the EUROBENCH BULLET Project – Presentation by Prof. Matteo Lancini (GMMT)

Development of a measuring system for clay target shooting discipline – Presented by Ing. Massimiliano Micheli (GMMT)

A group photo of the leading Professors involved in the EUROBENCH/BULLET Project: Mariolino De Cecco (Trento), Matteo Lancini (Brescia) and Francesco Crenna (Genova)
The Social Dinner of this year was held at the famous restaurant "Posta del Donini"
26
Jun, 2019

Vis4Mechs at the Smart Vision Forum 2019

Vis4Mechs group has been invited to the first Smart Vision Forum held in Bologna, June 25th 2019. The event was a half-conference half-industrial showcase to bring together vision and automation industries, students of both high schools and Universities and academical researchers.

Simone, Cristina and a small group of students of the 3D Vision course and of other PhD programs, as well as Massimiliano and Luca of the Mechanical and Thermal Measurments group, attended the event.

We also found Giordano and Rossano, two former students of the group who graduated in October 2018!

14
Jun, 2019

The observatory on food consumption and gastronomic professions: one year of activities

Vis4Mechs staff is participating to the Observatory with the ambitious project of Robo-Chef, an automatic recipe rewriting system based on the acquisition of data related to the preparation of recipes through vision sensors (and not only). The recipes are carried out by the cook and will be processed by a “smart” system that recognizes ingredients and actions. The collaboration with the staff of CAST Alimenti has been fundamental, in particular Dario Mariotti who has warmly supported the project, and Nicola Michieletto, whose experience and skills in the kitchen are of fundamental importance for the technological transfer of the skills the project aims at.
14
Jun, 2019

University, companies, and a school to create companies

The C-Lab of the University of Brescia has been baptized by those in charge and now begins to take its first steps. First thing: to let people know what it is, what it will do, with whom and with what means and objectives. This is the Contamination Lab, a structure emanating from the University of Brescia, which puts its first appropriation into it and keeps it under its wing.

Watch the video and the full article here!

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION
31
May, 2019

Best Paper Award at IEEE I2MTC 2019

Congratulations to our team for winning the Best Paper Award for the paper “Qualification of Additive Manufactured Trabecular Structures Using a Multi-Insutrumental Approach” presented at the 2019 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurment Technology Conference!

This research is part of a Progetto di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) carried out in collaboration with the University of Brescia, the University of Perugia, the Polytechnic University of Marche and the University of Messina.

To read more about the project, check out this page!