robotika.cz
the homepage of Czech roboteers
Our goal is to develop comprehensive site about robotics for the widest audience. It should cover both hardware (construction of physical devices) and software (control and algorithms).
There are several top level sections. In section articles you can find stories about hard gained experience and interesting topics from the world of robotics. If you are interested rather in complete robots (mostly Czech origin) then have a look at robots section. Various kinds of competitions are perfect motivation for our work. It is also the best way to start with robotics. The competitions section is currently the largest section of our site. In addition to rules, it contains notes about preparation and participation of both contestants and visitors. Recently we have started new section guide in the hopes of creating the ABC of mobile robotics (sorry, it is so far mostly in Czech).
If you have built a robot, have a product we could use, or have some interesting experiences with robots that you would want to share do not hesitate to contact us. We are always looking for new and/or interesting products for our new projects. Our mission statement is to unite as many roboteers as possible in a community based on helpfulness, knowledge sharing and mutual support.
News box you see on the left side can also show all the great links you have found. Just let us know.
Featured Content
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OSGAR — Open Source Garden Autonomous Robot
OSGAR is a long term project which will probably incorporate more than one
robotic platform in the future. The project started in 2014 when we decided to
modify school garden tractor John Deere X300R into autonomous robot. The
project is carried on in cooperation with the Czech University of Life Science
Prague. Blog update: 16/5 — Robotem rovně and garden tests
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Robotour 2017 — autonomous and service zones
The 12th year of Robotour contest for autonomous outdoor robots will take place
in Slovakia/Žilina. There will be several changes in the rules this year: the
concurrent start of all robots is no longer required and new autonomous and
service areas are introduced. When and where? Žilina, 16th September
2017.
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SICK Robot Day 2016 — the die is cast
Another „SICK Robot Day” is over. This time two robots had to place cubes in
the field loaded with RFID chips in 5x5 meter bit „chess” area. Once the
cubes were placed then they become obstacle and future collisions were
penalized. So how it went?
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Results — winner of ultra-wet Robotour is Istrobotics!
The 11th year of Robotour contest was the wettest. It rained permanently all
day. This was not only challenge for the sensors and electronics, but also for
the teams themselves. Never the less there were 12 robots on the start
accepting the challenge in heavy rain (and wind too). Istrobotics with more
than 600 points was the clear winner …
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Introduction of teams — Raptors, Quadrons, WallE, ...
There are 14 teams registered for Robotour 2016 in Deggendorf Germany. That is
nice start of the second contest decade . Also note, that Robotour is no
longer Czech domain — there are 5 teams from Germany, only 4 teams from
Czech republic, 2 from Poland, 2 from Slovakia and 1 from Switzerland. In
particular I am pleased that there are 5 new teams and even old teams upgraded
their robots, sensors, software …
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Robotour 2016 — automatic loading and unloading
The 11th year of Robotour contest of autonomous outdoor robots will take place
in Germany — the last unvisited neighbour of the origin country. New are
extra bonus points for automatic payload loading at start position and
unloading at goal position. Moreover some contestants could be excited about
lower payload requirements when automatic loading is used. Note, that this is
an optional feature and thus robots from previous years can be used without any
modification. The contest will take place on 17th September 2016 in
Deggendorf as part of „Czech-Bavarian week”.
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Tour the Stairs 2015 — up and down
The second year of the contest „Tour the Stairs” will take place on Saturday
28th November 2015. The robots could climb the stairs up and down this year
to make it more interesting for last year participants. The location is the
same: NTK Galery in Prague, Dejvice. UPDATE: 7/1 —
minivideo
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Results — winner of anniversary Robotour is Kamaro Engineering!
The 10th year of Robotour contest, which took place in Písek, had several
specials. There were several runs directly in the city, i.e. not only park
roads. And the biggest surprise was victory of new German team from Karlsruhe!
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Introduction of teams — two German and two Slovak teams (and 5 Czech)
Welcome new team KaMaRo Engineering (known from Field Robot Event), new
machines (ARBot, JECC) and all stayers . When and where you could see the
robots? 5th September 2015, Písek city center, Czech Republic. Concurent
starts of all robots at 10am, 11am, 2pm and 3pm.
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Robotour 2015 — the best at the end
This year is already 10th anniversary (!) of Robotour contest. We decided to
organize it in Písek this time. Radioklub Písek opens the outdoor robotic
season with „Robotem rovně” and this year it will also close with
„Robotour”. The contest will be in parallel with „Beer celebrations”. Exact
place in Písek will be specified later. And the date is 5th September
2015. (Update: location details)
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Husky — experiments with commercial platform
Husky is commercial platform manufactured by Clearpath Robotics. It is planned
to be an active helper on a small farm, where it will cut the grass near
electric fence and assist with material handling. Blog update: 3/6 —
dnipola.sk/Encoders
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Katarina — Parrot drone Bebop
There is another toy from Parrot — drone called Bebop. My task is to
prepare simple tracking of Parrot Hat (old AR Drone 2 could do that, so why not
the follower?). Bebop is more professional at first sight: extra battery is
part of the basic package, spare propellers, GPS, full HD camera, 8 time more
powerful computer, 14 megapixels Fisheye camera with user selectable ROI …
so I am quite curious how it will work from Python . Blog
update: 30/4 — Paparazzi?!
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AppleBot — robot for harvesting apples
Two weeks ago a UK company contacted CZU regarding Robotic arm for apple
harvesting. The motivation is that to find cheap work labor for picking
apples is getting harder and harder, so the company would like to buy or
develop a technology capable of autonomous apple picking. In this article you
can find our development blog. Blog update: 30/1 —
The Others (part1)
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Jessica — indoor minidrone from Parrot
Parrot minidrone (Rolling Spider) is my current toy. The primary motivation is
preparation of a demo for the contest of autonomous robots Tour the Stairs
(part of robotic festival at the end of November in Prague). Anybody interested
in decoding communication before SDK will be freely available? Blog update: 4/12 — Parrot released ARDroneSDK3!
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Results — The Robotour 2014 winner is from Slovakia
So how was Robotour, the ninth year of outdoor contest of autonomous robots? I
would almost introduce a new motto: „if you would like to checkout your robot,
take it to the Robotour!”, because this year it was really hard, especially the
start at 2pm … but I am now jumping ahead.
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Introduction of teams — 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 ...
Nice! Fibonacci would be happy — Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and
Czech Republic. There are 12 teams registered in total. The distribution is,
when compared to previous years, more international this time . So when and
where you can see the teams to compete? 20th September 2014, Borský park,
Plzeň/Czech Republic. Concurent starts of all robots at 10am, 11am, 2pm and
3pm.
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Robot Challenge 2014 — let's beat the human race in AirRace!
Robot Challenge is well established competition with many categories and many
participating robots. One of them is flying 8-figures in net protected area
— AirRace. There used to be also a semi-autonomous category for the first
two years, where the best competitor Flying Dutchman reached 26 rounds. It is
time to beat his score with autonomous drone now! Blog update: 11/4 —
Conclusion
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Field Robot 2013 — 11th year, this time in Prague!
The contest Field Robot Event 2013 will take place in Prague/Czech Republic for
the first time. The main organizer will be Czech University of Life Sciences
Prague (ČZU). The contest dates are 27th-29th June 2013, and the place will be
very close to university grounds, i.e. Kamycka 129, Prague 6 - Suchdol.
Registration extended until May 15th!
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Robotour 2013 — the journey there and back again
The eight year of contest of autonomous robots will travel to Poland/Lodz and
it will take place on 21st of September 2013 (!date change!). The basic rules remain the
same. The changes are only in extension of time limit to 1 hour and if the
robot reaches the goal, which is something nobody achieved yet, then after
signal it can get extra points for returning back to the start.
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Robotem rovně 2010 — An outdoor competition of autonomous robots in Písek
The second year of "robotem rovně" (freely translated as go straightforward
with robots) took part on May 22nd 2010 in Palackého sady, Písek. The event is
organized by Radioklub Písek, aiming to increase robotics awareness in general
public and to attract youth to technology. Entrants compete in two
categories: robots and cars (robots without any sensors). The goal is to get as
far as you can on a straight path, but it’s not nearly as easy to do, as it
appears to be.
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PocketBot — a matchbox-sized line following robot
PocketBot project consists of three parts. The key part of the project is the
robot itself – a tiny line following vehicle of a matchbox size. Furthermore,
the robot is supported with an USB communication device and with a PC control
application. Altogether, these three parts form a complex solution to the line
following issue. Each part of the project will be described in this article.
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Brimstone — my first steps in the world of robotics
I took park in the national finals of Science Expo AMAVET, where I reached the
fifth rank and therefore I could participate on the international exhibition in
Tunis. Moreover, I won the High school science and technology project contest
in branch of electronics. On these pages, I would like to introduce my robot…
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