Robotics Services

Identification of the best path planning approach

• Motion planning consulting for leveraging the ideal algorithm for a given application and problem type
• Benchmarking competing planning approaches for analytical analysis
• Implementation of novel path planning algorithms and approaches
• Reviewing current robotics literature and academic surveys for cutting edge solutions
• Technology readiness level analysis and reporting for motion planning

Probabilistic/sampling based methods

• MoveIt consulting and development for the popular ROS framework
• Consulting and development of the Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL)
• Multi-query planners including PRM, LazyPRM, PRM*
• Single-query planners including RRT, RRTConnect, RRT*, T-RRT, and LazyRRT
• Asymptotically near-optimal planners including SPARS, SPARS2
• Projection-based methods including EST, KPIECE, AtlasRRT

Other motion planning methods

• Trajectory Optimization (TrajOpt)
• Search Based Planning Library (SBPL)
• Stochastic Trajectory Optimization for Motion Planning (STOMP)
• Covariant Hamiltonian Optimization for Motion Planning (CHOMP)
• Dynamic Motion Primitives

Experience-based motion planning

• Recall and repair of past plans for faster future planning
• More deterministic results
• Experts in Thunder and Lightning algorithms as well as the Bolt framework

Planning around static and dynamic obstacles

• Modeling of static and dynamic environments as “Planning Scenes”
• Collision aware planning using virtual maps of the environment
• Continuous collision checking approaches
• Avoidance of local minimum around obstacles while planning
• Experts with relevant libraries including the Flexible Collision Library (FCL), Bullet, Octomaps, and the Point Cloud Library (PCL)

Analytic solutions

• Experts in both computationally and manually generated solutions
• Closed-form analytic solutions return complete solutions in microseconds
• 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) and less solvers
• Consultation on mechanical design of robots

Iterative methods

• 7 degrees of freedom or more solvers
• Advice in choosing the best inverse kinematics solvers for your application
• Experts with off-the-shelf open source KDL, LMA, and TracIK solvers
• Customize inverse Jacobian methods, gradient projection method, heuristic method, etc.
• Integrate complex constraints and behaviors in the null space

Multiple arms

• Implementing IK solvers for arbitrary robot configurations with multiple arms and legs
• Support for overlapping (shared) joints such as torsos
• Inverse kinematic solvers that satisfy multiple constraint functions such as stack of tasks and particle swarm optimization
• Motion planning with underconstrained waypoints that iteratively run IK

Control frameworks

• Integration and customization of the ROS Control Framework
• Creation of custom controllers including position, velocity, and force controllers
• Integration of the OROCOS control framework

Reactive planning

• Fast planners that are able to react and adjust to a changing environment
• Dual mode Cartesian and free-space planning algorithms for a wide range of applications
• System wide performance benchmarking

Grasping

• Libraries for generating target grasp poses including MoveIt Grasps and GDP Grasping
• Neural networks for converting camera data to grasp poses
• Pre-Grasp, Grasp, and Post-Grasp evaluation with heuristic pruning
• Overall manipulation pipeline development

3D Perception

• PCL Consulting and integration for the Point Cloud Library
• Experience with all kinds of camera hardware (monocular, stereo, depth camera, LIDAR)
• Object detection and image segmentation using deep neural networks
• Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)
• Point cloud segmentation, point cloud alignment
• Probabilistic models for visual perception
• Visual-inertial odometry
• Experience with Intel Realsense, Microsoft Kinect 2, and Orbbec AstraPro
• Intrinsic and extrinsic camera calibration

2D Computer Vision

• OpenCV Consulting and integration for the Open Computer Vision Library
• Visual servoing tracking of objects for manipulation

Software Architecting With ROS

• ROS Consulting and best practices for standard ROS paradigms
• ROS Training for internal development teams new to ROS
• Historical insights into ROS design decisions and ongoing ROS shortcomings

High-quality ROS packages / ROS stacks

• Fully ROS-compliant code repository setup with best practices
• Documented, tested, and code-reviewed deliverables
• Continuous integration scripts and integration testing
• Nvidia GPU-enabled Docker containers for multi-platform support
• ROS C++ style guidelines, roslint, and catkin lint enforcement

We speak fluent ROS 2

• Expertise in ROS 2 enabling technologies and release status
• MoveIt 2 experts and original authors of MoveIt for ROS 2
• Build your application on the next generation of ROS and future-proof your work
• Utilize industrial-grade features for enterprise systems
• Improved distributed robotic system support
• Quality of service guarantees for tough communication environments

We can convert your code with ease

• Convert your ROS 1 applications and their dependencies to ROS 2
• Migration to DDS, Colcon, Ament, and Managed Nodes
• Develop hybrid ROS 1 and ROS 2 projects with the ros1_bridge
• Close collaboration with the core ROS 2 development team

Mobile base navigation stack

• ROS Navigation stack integration, customization, and deployment
• ROS Navigation consulting for tuning parameters and building custom navigation plugins
• ROS Navigation2 consulting for mobile manipulation and robotics navigation
• Mobile base path and trajectory planning
• OpenSlam's Gmapping, Google Cartographer algorithms for SLAM-based tracking
• ROS-Control framework for switching between simulated and real-world environments
• Simulated Gazebo system of robot base navigation

Immersive robot visualizations

• Iterate faster on hardware by testing new designs virtually before physical prototyping
• Deploy high situational awareness teleop environments
• Use ROS, Gazebo, and Rviz with off-the-shelf 3D headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift
• Evaluate and plan your collaborative robot integration strategy in virtual reality
• Run Unity3D on Windows or Linux

Assembly modelling

• Setup​ ​Solidworks​ ​assembly​ ​files​ ​to​ ​have​ ​proper​ ​mechanical​ ​mates​ ​and​ ​joint​ ​limits
• Setup​ ​coordinate​ ​systems​ ​for​ ​DH​ ​parameterization
• Create​ ​Interface​ ​Control​ ​documents​ ​for​ ​consistent​ ​representation​ ​of​ ​the​ ​robot's​ ​kinematics

URDF generation

• Convert​ ​CAD​ ​files​ ​to​ ​compliant​ ​URDF​ ​specifications
• Verification​ ​of​ ​joint​ ​limits​ ​and​ ​appearance​ ​in​ ​Rviz
• Integrate​ ​inertial​ ​properties​ ​for​ ​simulation​ ​in​ ​Gazebo
• Integrate​ ​actuator​ ​and​ ​controller​ ​properties​ ​for​ ​ROS​ ​Control

Mesh collision optimization

• Defeature and reduce mesh complexity
• Reduce triangle count on meshes
• Create bounding convex decompositions of meshes
• Convert to coarse grain geometric primitives for highest speed optimizations

CAD packages

We​ ​are​ ​currently​ ​compatible​ ​with​ ​the​ ​following​ ​CAD​ ​packages:

• Solidworks
• OnShape

Reachability and usability studies

• Analysis of robot base placement with respect to workspace
• Determine starting poses for various tasks
• Reachability Maps
• Optimal arm placement

Multilingual robots

• C/C++ for high performance cross-platform code
• Python: Wrap existing C/C++ functionality in the most common ROS scripting language
• Matlab: Prototype new algorithms or use codegen to run your code in C as a standalone app

Amazon Robomaker and Microsoft Azure cloud integration

• Easily develop and deploy robotic fleets at scale
• Remote monitoring, logging, and control
• Improved cloud-based visual and speech recognition
• Simulation service to accelerate application testing

Modern platform-agnostic front-ends

• Develop React and Python apps to your robotic system
• Leverage the latest web standards and technologies
• Remote monitoring via video feeds and full situational awareness
• Connecting to ROS via rosbridge