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I have spent the last few months working on a project more focused with traditional windows application development. I am utilizing C# to create custom classes to create a modern looking GUI while improving code in the background to make the initial loadup and runtime faster. I have also really hunkered down on using GIT and other tools for version control.

Update: I have recently started a new LED controller based project. The idea is the create a Star Wars themed light show that synchronizes lights to audio. I am working with a Pi 4, Pi4 and 2022b Neopixel LED strips.

Update: I am loving my career move than ever. I feel very lucky to have the amount of freedom on my project that I have. Of course, the trade off is the responsibility of the project and this is not something that I take lightly. I have put everything that I have in this project over the past months and it is so gratifying to see it at the level that it is. I am currently working on the combination of a haptic feedback controller with VR. My VR application has expanded for the better since the last update. I have figured out how to add the RGB realsense camera in as a texture in Unity, so you can now see what the robot sees on a relocatable screen within the environment. I have come to find out that little things like this make a huge difference in the usability a project. I have a demonstration coming up soon, so I am now just cleaning everything up!

Update: I have had the opportunity to visit this years IEEE ICRA Convention held in Philadelphia, PA. I drove to the convention center the morning of May 24th, and return the next day. I was exposed to a lot of interesting tech and took some inspiration into my own work. This was my first convention that I have ever been to, so walking around my first day there was very overwhelming. I was sent there to discuss business with a few companies, but I took the liberty to take in as much of the convention as possible. I felt a sense of familiarity as I walked around, because there were a few companies that were demoing with the same robotic arm that I work with on a daily basis. 

I found that the 6 axis haptic feedback controller from the company Haption was very intuitive to use. It allows the user to "feel" if the arm presses against a surface or if it is holding an item. This is the first time I was experienced haptic feedback in person and it was truly amazing. Soon after I spoke with representatives from a company called Foxglove. They aim to attract previous RViz users to swap over to their software application due to the increase of features while still maintaining the same functionality. There were a lot of robotics companies that were medical based (obviously), which was very interesting to see since that is outside of my scope. The rehabilitation exoskeleton and surgery robot were very cool demos to see. The booth from the company Built Robotics was also very interesting. They had the best "convention goodies" by far, which says a lot about their company. It was very interesting to see the use of robotics at such a large scale. Overall I thought the convention was outstanding and I hope to go back next year. This was also the first time I have ever been to Philadelphia, and I hope to go back as well.

Update: We have now entered a new phase of the project. I have added a LiDAR and a VR application into the mix. I have been messing with a RPLiDAR A2 for a little while now and honestly it is really cool. Since it is a 2D LiDAR, I am using a laser assembler running on a ROS node to publish the data into a 3D point cloud. The LiDAR is mounted on the robot so its position is tracked in a 3D plane (so we wouldn't need an IMU).

I have done some basic game development in the past, but this is the first time that I have been exposed to VR development. I have been learning through tutorials online (mainly Justin P. Barnett on YouTube... I highly recommend) and just messing around within Unity. I have it setup where I am able to subscribe or publish data through a ROS Bridge connection to my Linux laptop. I am able to subscribe to the robot's joint state data, as well as my point cloud data. When you wear the VR headset you are able to see the real robot's movements on a 3D model due to the join state subscriber. It is really cool to see the point cloud data update in real time as the robot moves around. Previously I only viewed the point cloud data in RViz, so that was neat for me. I used ROS Sharp to help complete some of these features. Learning to right scripts in C# is not so bad for this Python guy :)

I have also been "messhing" around with turning the point cloud data into a mesh. I have been using the PyVista library that offers a lot of useful tools when trying to get 2D or 3D meshes from point data. They also have some functions that will smooth/ filter the data, but I am questioning how much error this will cause when trying to follow the surface of a mesh... especially a curved surface.

Update: I have been focusing a lot on the robot's movements and the user interface. I want the user to be able to select the area that they want scanned, I plan on doing this by the "node selection". The robot can now scan a flat surface in any direction, angle, or slope. It was a really gratifying process to see the advancement of the scanning abilities. I have also been getting into the NDI scanning process. I have been working hands on with a phased array probe. This technology is very interesting to me, and I can see a lot of upsides of mixing that technology with robotics.

Update: I have made a lot of great process when it comes to programming the robot's movement. I have begun working with an Intel real-sense camera. I am currently using the depth sensor to correctly position the end effector to be normal to the surface it is facing. The robot will then move right up against the surface and begin moving along the surface. I think it would be really cool to get more into computer vision with the real-sense camera

Update: It has been a few weeks since I transitioned as an intern to a full-time engineer. I moved into my own cubicle where I will have ample room to prototype and work with my robot. I have spent the last two weeks becoming familiar with the software and communication frameworks used by the robot. I have setup a linux laptop that communicates directly with the robot. I can interface with the robot through the Python or C++ API, but during my first week I used mod bus to carry out basic movements. I have set up a mock area where the robot will move around. The robot moves along the surface of the material. I have also gotten heavily into using ROS. I communicate with the robot through ROS, and I plan to use RViz for sensor data visualization.

Update: This is the most excited I have ever been. I just received a Full-Time offer from Compass Systems. It gets even better, I will be working with the 6 DoF robotic manipulator that I have been staring at for the past 3 months. I will be starting in this position in about two weeks. I have worked so hard over the past few months, and I cannot wait to begin working with my own robot. I am sure that there will be obstacles along the way, but it is going to be such a rewarding opportunity. I will be starting as a Junior Systems Engineer with a hard focus in robotics. This is a dream come true!

Update: I have spent the last 3 weeks exploring the state of California. This included spending two days at Disneyland. The engineering and thought that is visually seen in the park is amazing, and the amount of time and dedication that is put in behind the scenes is outstanding. This inspires me to reach this level of impact in my life. It was incredible to see the amount of excitement and to hear the "oos" and "ahs" of everyone as they traveled around the park. I want to impact people just like this! Disney engineering team... outstanding job. The robotic spiderman show was insane! It was so realistic and it performed perfectly.

Update: I just received an email stating that I will begin an engineering internship at Compass Systems, which is an engineering company located about 5 minutes from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. It will be nice to return to my old college stomping ground :). It seems like I will be doing a lot of hands on work with building drones while also learning a lot of the internal processes within them. I can not wait to learn about drones and more about the engineering process.

Update: I just wrapped up my senior project demonstration. All in all I think that my presentation and demonstration went very well. It is a surreal feeling knowing that my time as a college student is rapidly closing in. I am nervous to move on, but I am still super excited to move on to bigger and better things! I wish everyone in my graduating class the best of luck, and I hope to keep in touch with everyone!

PS: I am now realizing that when viewed from the back the Smart Bike looks like Frankenstein's monster

Greetings! This is my first post on here. I am creating this website in a hope to catalog and provide updates on the projects that I am working on or events that I am able to attend. I hope you enjoy learning a little bit about myself and the projects that I am creating :) If you have any questions please feel free to connect/ message with me on linkedin or email me at cbn8@pitt.edu. Thank you so much!

Update: I have been working on my senior project for a little while now, and I would like to introduce it to you. It is called the "Smart Bike". It is going to be a small box that fits seamlessly underneath a bike seat. The box will contain components such as an automatic stopping signal, turning signals, a rear facing distance sensor, battery, and a raspberry pi. The entire unity will be wirelessly controlled over Bluetooth by a phone that is mounted on the front handle bar. The user will carry out a command through voice recognition. For example, if the user says "turn left" the left hand turning signal will turn on. It will also have safety features that will alert the rider of any incoming traffic from the rear, and will have a bike alarm that will go off whenever movement is detected after the bike is parked.