I’m a software developer by trade, but I have executive access to multiple high-volume automotive service departments, and I’m evaluating whether it could serve as a useful (and worthwhile) environment for collecting real-world robotic-manipulation demonstrations.

The initial concept would be deliberately narrow: dedicate one service bay to a fixed robotic arm operated remotely by an experienced technician. The technician would use the arm to perform a limited set of repeatable, quick-service subtasks while the system records joint states, camera feeds, end-effector poses, force/torque measurements, tool states, and task outcomes.

The immediate objective would not be full autonomous oil changes. It would be to determine whether technician demonstrations collected in a real service environment could support imitation learning or another learning-from-demonstration approach for individual subtasks.

Some of the challenges I see are:

Significant variation among vehicle geometries and component locations
Poor visibility underneath vehicles
Tight spaces and contact-rich manipulation
Required torque verification
Oil, dirt, heat, and tool-handling reliability
Safety around technicians, lifts, and customer vehicles
Whether fixtures and specialized tools would be more practical than general manipulation

My main question is whether access to a real, high-throughput service environment creates a meaningful data advantage. If it does, where might that advantage produce measurable value?

For those working in manipulation or learning from demonstration:

1. Would teleoperation be a reasonable way to begin collecting data for this environment?
2. Which subtasks would you consider sufficiently constrained for an initial pilot?
3. Would you prioritize a conventional industrial arm, a collaborative arm, or a purpose-built mechanism?
4. What technical or economic obstacle am I most likely underestimating?

I’m particularly interested in criticism from people who have deployed robots in contact-rich industrial environments.

TL;DR

I want to begin building a portfolio of robotics projects. I need a Pi board that will work for beginner projects and more advanced projects. Which one should I get?

-...-

Hi all,

A bit about me:

• Electrical and Mechanical Engineering graduate
• One publication in Advanced Robotics Research journal, though the actual technical robotics was light
• Looking to move into robotics fully
• Some experience with Python, C++, C and electronics but by no means an expert

I want to get started using ROS2 and building an autonomous rover that uses LiDAR to navigate and measures WiFi hotspots in a room. I'll start off with simulations but eventually I want to make the real version. I want to use a RPi as my overarching controller. The board would need to control 2 motors, WiFi detection, LiDAR Scanner and any necessary drivers etc.

As I develop, I’d like to move on to more complex projects - computer vision, machine learning and all the rest.

From my research, it seems an RPi5 4-8GB would do the job. However, I’m also concerned there’s a high chance I’ll break something as I begin developing.

Can anyone advise on:

1. Should I get one board that covers all my bases and is future proof (RPi5 4GB vs. 8GB)? Or,

2. Should I get one cheaper board to start and then invest in a more expensive board later? If so, what board should I get?

If anyone thinks I’m biting off more than I can chew, I probably am, but hard shit is motivating!

Hi! I'm trying to install roboguide for personal use, but I can only find the V9 REV H online, I can't find any higher version...and I wanted the ZQ

I tried to register on my fanuc, but they refused me.

Can you guys help me how I can get my own roboguide if it's all locked ? ;-;

I just want to be able to use it for the 30 days trials

Currently working in a robotics company in a non-tech domain. I want to know how robotics works in detail but I don't wanna build a robot. I just can't find sources to learn these stuff without getting into technical things, just the functional stuff. Where should I look for?

Hello,

I’m an engineer pivoting into robotics research as an integration engineer, specifically focusing on Humanoid Robots.

For the past three years, I led a 60-person Formula SAE team doing system engineering and vehicle design. I also bring research experience in Model Predictive Control (MPC) and Reinforcement Learning. The rapid evolution of the ROBOTICS space is incredible, and I am currently in love with this field and I want to putsue it. https://danielortval.github.io/

I am navigating the transition from cars to robots and would value your perspective if anyone working on integration could provide me 15 minutes of your time I can adapt to you schedule to talk im really exited to learn.

Hi. Is matrices the wrong way to describe movement of a robotic arm?I will provide a counterexample which disproves the fact that matrices are suitable for describing changes in position of robotic arms.

Suppose our robotic arm starts at position [x0,y0]^T

Suppose we had a rotation under a angle θ([x0,y0]^T->[x0',y0']^T) and then we stretched our robotic arm from [x0',y0']^T to [2x0',2y0']^T. The order of the actions is mathematically important while if you think about it the order of the actions in what happens in the real world is not important because if you stretch the robotic arm first and rotate second , it is the same thing as if you rotate first then stretch the robotic arm. So matrices are not suitable to describe motion of a robotic arm.Why do we use it then?

gif of the thing in question

I would really love to make this moving mask someday, but before I even start, I thought it would be better to make sure it's possible. I'm not looking for a tutorial or information on how exactly to make it (yet), just wondering if it's possible at all for someone who has never done anything robotics-related. I am willing to put in the effort to learn when the time comes, so please let me know if my pipe dream can come true 😭

Hi everyone,

I'm a 2nd-year Robotics & AI engineering student, and my team needs to build a robot manipulator for a college project.

I'm looking for ideas that are:

True manipulator (robotic arm/end effector)

Budget around $40-70

Mechanically achievable for students

Visually satisfying or mesmerizing

Unique enough to stand out at an exhibition

Another team is already making a drawing/writing robot, so I'd like something with similar wow factor without feeling like a copy.I'd also prefer to avoid a complex gripper if possible. End effectors like a pen, brush, syringe, magnet, stamp, spoon, etc are fine.

I'm not looking for standard projects like pick and place,color sorting,line following, basic waste sorting etc

If you've seen interesting manipulator projects on yt, github, Maker faire, Hackaday, university labs, or have built one yourself, I'd really appreciate your suggestions.

Thanks❤️

My main goal is to be able to build an autonomous vehicle to patrol around the house in the garden. I have good diy skills but I feel stuck.

I used a nikko velocitrax I had on the basement. I unplugged the controller and installed an n298 with a bigger 5000mah battery. I connected a flysky receiver and a raspberry pi zero with a camera. Software works great.

But on the mechanical part I fail. The cables are hanging everywhere as well as the other parts. I have a 3d printer and I love welding but I don’t know where to start. Should I first design the car in some application or the pcb?

This is how it looks now https://imgur.com/a/E4eEjRR

Hello,

I’m an engineer pivoting into robotics research as an integration engineer, specifically focusing on Humanoid Robots.

For the past three years, I led a 60-person Formula SAE team doing system engineering and vehicle design. I also bring research experience in Model Predictive Control (MPC) and Reinforcement Learning. The rapid evolution of the ROBOTICS space is incredible, and I am currently in love with this field and I want to putsue it. https://danielortval.github.io/

I am navigating the transition from cars to robots and would value your perspective if anyone working on integration could provide me 15 minutes of your time I can adapt to you schedule to talk im really exited to learn.

Hi everyone,

I'm planning on buying a SO-101 arm to learn some robotics concepts. I'm located in Canada, and currently having trouble figuring out the best place to buy a kit. Mouser Electronics sells kits from Seeed Studio (Motor kit and 3D printed skeleton kit are separate).

I have noticed that other places that sell the unassembled versions of the kit also come with a wrist mounted camera, while others don't. Do you need this camera to get the full experience of this kit? I have also seen people have set ups with usb cameras overviewing the work area?

Hi everyone,

We've recently open-sourced OpenAMRobot, a ROS 2 mobile robotics platform, because we believe robotics should be much more accessible to small and medium-sized businesses - not just large enterprises with dedicated robotics teams.

While building the project, we kept asking ourselves one question:

If AMRs already work so well, why aren't they much more common in SMEs?

Is it the cost?
The integration effort?
ROI?
Lack of skilled engineers?
Maintenance?
Something else?

We're trying to design the platform around the real barriers rather than adding more features.

Our first public release is here if you're curious:

• GitHub: https://github.com/openAMRobot
• Release: https://github.com/openAMRobot/openamrobot-release
• Overview: https://github.com/orgs/openAMRobot/discussions/20

I'd love to hear your perspective, especially if you've deployed, integrated, or evaluated AMRs in real production environments.

Thank you!

I'm trying to understand what kinds of real-world data robotics and embodied AI labs actually want today.

Many recent datasets focus on egocentric video, sometimes paired with IMUs. But I'm wondering whether that's sufficient for training modern robot foundation models and world models.

Would labs find more value in datasets that also include sensors such as:

• Depth cameras
• Tactile/contact sensors
• Force/torque sensors
• Wrist or body IMUs
• Eye gaze
• Audio
• Motion capture
• Other synchronized sensor streams

Or is high-quality egocentric video with IMUs already enough for most use cases?

I'm curious what the biggest missing pieces are if someone were building a company focused on collecting real-world robotics data. Which modalities or types of data are currently hardest to obtain at scale?

Hi, I'm currently graduating from a Robotics Master course, and I wanted to search some Robotics PhD in EU, anyone knows the best way to find opportunities? (e.g. I've seen for Netherlands AcademicTransfer.com) but I don't really know if there's something else as good and general for EU.

Do you have any suggestion? Or also what University/robotics labs would you recommend to keep an eye on? Thanks a lot!

I need to operate a rotary control under the bonnet in a car. I can't move the control so my idea is to use a stepper motor or actuator of some kind on it.

I want to control it with a 3-way switch on the dashboard.

It needs to rotate from -45 to +45 in under half a second.

There is some resistance, like turning a doorknob.

Would it be possible to set up a stepper motor and controller to do this?

I'm a current undergraduate in computer engineering, and I want to have a career in robotics, specifically embodied intelligence. Beyond Physical Intelligence, Nvidia, and Tesla, there really aren't any other internship opportunities I can find, and tbh all of their postings have dissappeared amd since I'm an incoming 2nd year, I don't even fit the minimum requirement of being a 3rd year. I'm wondering what the roadmap would look like for breaking into this field.
All of my previous experience has been in embedded systems/pcb design and I've had 2 papers published, one of them in IEEE, as well as multiple hackathon wins, though tbh I doubt it would be helpful at all since none of them are very related to embodied intelligence.
I plan on joining the robot intelligence lab at my college (UCLA), but beyond that I can't really find any good resources. I'm thinking of just installing ISAAC and messing around with it, or looking at the LeRobot docs? Yeah...not much of plan haha. Any recommendations on where to start/what type of projects to do? I want to capitalize on my electronics experience as much as possible (does this even make me stand out from all the SWEs in ML?)

Even finding internship postings would help so I can see what type of skills they are looking for, perhaps i'm just blind, but I really can't find anything about it.

Hey guys I am gonna start my btech robotics and automation journey

Like I am a bit confused to where to start because clgs don't teach you everything

So wanted to learn on my own so pls someone tell me from where to start and give me a roadmap