AMC Bridge held its first online meetup for developers in Uzbekistan. Robot Simulation from Scratch was chosen as a topic for the first meetup at the AMC Bridge’s new location. The company has extensive expertise in industrial robot simulation, which is one of the most effective solutions to eliminate costly design mistakes that can often be discovered only at the late stages of the production workflow.

We asked Veronika Demedetska, Project Manager at AMC Bridge, who prepared the presentation, to give some tips for those interested in robotics. In this article, we will also talk about a robotics-related project and the experience of our teammate who works there.

Where to start with robotics?

Veronika Demedetska, Project Manager

Innovations bring automation into our lives, and robots keep leading the list of the most relevant topics for discussion. Soon robots will revolutionize all industries, from manufacturing to healthcare. And it’s never too late to start exploring this area if you are interested. Here are some tips to help you learn more in this direction:

Engage in self-education

Check online education platforms for basic courses in robotics. Many of them are free and not complex to get an initial understanding of this area.

A lot of information is freely available; you can use any platform convenient for you. Here are just a couple of examples:

• Notes on Robotics. Good for any beginner who wants to learn more about how robots work.
• Introduction to Robotics. This course provides an overview of robot mechanisms, dynamics, and intelligent controls.

Fill in the gaps

Read some fundamental papers in robotics and figure out what areas are less familiar to you. Prepare a list of such topics and try to close the gaps one by one. You also have a wide choice here: many documents are available online for free. All you need is a little free time and a desire to learn.

For more experienced developers, I would also advise studying related fields—mechanics, physics, electronics, and so on. Robotics is always a junction of technologies and an endless opportunity for developing and exploring new directions.

Put your knowledge into practice

Assemble some simple robots. They can be LEGO® MINDSTORMS®, ArduinoKit, or robots from available materials. You can google instructions for these robots and how to work with them.

Stay up to date

Subscribe to channels that post some trends and news about robotics. It is a good source of daily motivation and a way to keep an eye on the industry.

I can recommend the following channels: Boston Dynamics, CMU Robotics Institute, and GiGadgets. You can follow any resources that help have your finger on the pulse.

Also, you can communicate with like-minded people. Find a local community to be among those who share and support your interest.

What kind of robotics-related projects does AMC Bridge work on?

Talking about real robotics-related projects on which AMC Bridge works, here is one example of such a project where our team advances robotics simulation.

One of the leading vendors of complex robotic systems challenged its software development group to enhance the company’s equipment with advanced software applications, and AMC Bridge joined the group to develop a desktop application of a prototype simulator that enables robot teaching and simulates operations of robot systems for Hirata, an international production engineering company based in Japan.

Our client aimed to overcome the limitations of its existing robot controller system to suit the advanced production needs.

The brand-new system was to expand the simulation capabilities and enable multi-robot testing, modeling of peripheral systems, and process visualization, among other requirements. Targeted at Hirata Prototype Robots, it was to be fully integrated with Hirata software components and use the HOOPS® suite for 3D visualization. AMC Bridge was entrusted with developing a desktop application of a prototype simulator from scratch.

The resulting application helped reduce the production cost by empowering Hirata to uncover and eliminate errors at the design stage and offered a sales advantage by providing a virtual demonstration of the product before it is manufactured.

What challenges can be faced on robotics-related projects?

The AMC Bridge team continues working with that client. And one of the developers who had recently joined the project, Roman Tymoshchuk, gladly agreed to share his experience and highlighted the difficulties he faced while working with robotics.

Roman Tymoshchuk, Software Development Engineer

I have been working on this project for a month, but during this time, I have already tried a lot of new things. First of all, it is a principle of working with a robot as with a body. Robotics Library helped me a lot. It is great freeware for calculating robot kinematics, motion planning, and visualization.

Talking about the challenges I face during my work, the main difficulty for me is choosing the right tool to solve a problem. In such cases, open-source software is really useful. You can explore the logic of any algorithm and rework it depending on your needs. For example, I worked with the OPEN CASCADE® library. It has good documentation and many samples, which allows improving your CAD modeling skills. Also, I had to brush up on my C++ since I had worked mainly with C# before.

Robotics-related projects are interesting because the tasks are not routine. Each robot is unique, and you work with a different problem in each task. You also gain experience in CAD modeling and CAD-related math. These skills are essential for working in this direction. I would strongly recommend developing them for those who want to work with robotics. It should also be mentioned that skills in working with freeware and reading documentation are helpful and important. I’m glad I’ve got an opportunity to work on a robotics-related project.

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