Search found 70 matches

by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: DIY & Hobbyist Builds
Topic: Anyone attempted a fully open-source dexterous hand build?
Replies: 22
Views: 248

Re: Anyone attempted a fully open-source dexterous hand build?

<t>@samuel.adams Agreed, and I'd add:

Jetson-class boards remain a common choice for onboard compute on hobbyist builds needing real vision or learned-policy inference, while a Raspberry Pi is often adequate for lower-level joint control and telemetry if the heavier compute is offloaded to a base ...
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: DIY & Hobbyist Builds
Topic: What's the realistic weekend-warrior timeline for a basic walking biped?
Replies: 22
Views: 470

Re: What's the realistic weekend-warrior timeline for a basic walking biped?

<t>@karen_kim One nitpick -

A lot of hobbyists underestimate how much of the real difficulty in a DIY humanoid build is software and tuning rather than mechanical assembly - getting a robot to physically stand up is a much smaller fraction of the total project time than getting it to balance and ...
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: Careers, Research & Academia
Topic: What's the biggest skill gap you see in new grads applying to robotics roles?
Replies: 22
Views: 325

Re: What's the biggest skill gap you see in new grads applying to robotics roles?

<t>I see it a little differently.

24/7 factory-pilot support roles (the engineers keeping a deployed fleet running through real shifts) reportedly carry a real burnout risk, since they combine the unpredictability of early-stage hardware with the operational pressure of a live production ...
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: Actuators, Motors & Drivetrains
Topic: Anyone compared noise levels across actuator types in a real room?
Replies: 46
Views: 375

Re: Anyone compared noise levels across actuator types in a real room?

<t>Slight correction, though the overall point stands:

Quasi-direct drive (QDD) actuators use lower gear ratios (roughly 6:1 to 10:1) paired with high-torque-density motors, trading some peak force density for backdrivability and low reflected inertia, which matters a lot for impact tolerance and ...
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: Actuators, Motors & Drivetrains
Topic: How do you even quantify 'feel' when comparing two actuators?
Replies: 42
Views: 491

Re: How do you even quantify 'feel' when comparing two actuators?

Genuinely curious - Cycloidal drives are a less common but real alternative to harmonic drives - lower cost at high ratios, decent efficiency, but historically bulkier for the same torque density, which is part of why they haven't fully displaced harmonic drives in commercial hips and knees.
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: Sensors & Perception Systems
Topic: Anyone tracking sensor cost trends the way we track actuator cost trends?
Replies: 54
Views: 400

Re: Anyone tracking sensor cost trends the way we track actuator cost trends?

<t>@scott21 This matches what I've seen too.

IMU drift over time (bias instability) is usually the real culprit behind slowly diverging state estimates, not noise - it's typically handled with sensor fusion against other references (visual odometry, joint kinematics) rather than trying to ...
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: Sensors & Perception Systems
Topic: How do you validate depth camera accuracy at typical grasp distances?
Replies: 53
Views: 435

Re: How do you validate depth camera accuracy at typical grasp distances?

@gary.tanaka2 Minor factual note: Unitree's Dex3-1 dexterous hand packs around 33 pressure/tactile sensors per hand across the fingers and palm, capable of sensing pressure roughly in the 10g-2500g range - a useful reference point for what 'production tactile sensing' looks like right now.
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: Manipulation, Grippers & Dexterous Hands
Topic: Anyone tried fully passive compliant fingers with no active sensing at all?
Replies: 45
Views: 573

Re: Anyone tried fully passive compliant fingers with no active sensing at all?

Just to be precise about one thing: Tendon-driven fingers let you move the heavier actuators back into the palm or forearm, keeping the fingers themselves light and fast, but they introduce cable routing, tensioning, and long-term wear problems that direct-actuated fingers don't have.
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: Manipulation, Grippers & Dexterous Hands
Topic: Anyone tried fully passive compliant fingers with no active sensing at all?
Replies: 45
Views: 573

Re: Anyone tried fully passive compliant fingers with no active sensing at all?

<t>@barbara50 I can speak to this a bit.

A lot of the manipulation shown in production demos still leans heavily on teleoperation, particularly for anything involving fine force control or novel objects - autonomous grasp success rates on genuinely unstructured, previously-unseen clutter are ...
by jchen
Sun Aug 30, 2026 11:59 am
Forum: DIY & Hobbyist Builds
Topic: What's the community's collective wisdom on battery safety for small builds?
Replies: 44
Views: 762

Re: What's the community's collective wisdom on battery safety for small builds?

<t>Just to be precise about one thing:

UC Berkeley's Berkeley Humanoid Lite is a genuinely open-source, roughly $5,000, 3D-printable humanoid - structural parts print on a standard desktop printer (around a 200x200x200mm build volume), with CAD files, parts lists, assembly instructions, and ...