NVIDIA adds AMR fleet management tools to Isaac ROS

-
NVIDIA isaac ROS

NVIDIA added features for easier fleet management for AMRs to its Isaac ROS software. | Source: NVIDIA

NVIDIA released the latest update to its Isaac Robot Operating System (ROS) software, Developer Preview (DP) 2. NVIDIA’s Isaac ROS is made up of a collection of hardware-accelerated packages, including individual packages (GEMs) and complete pipelines (NITROS), that can help ROS developers build solutions on NVIDIA hardware. 

The updates include new cloud- and edge-to-robot task management and monitoring software for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and features for developers working with ROS 2, the more hardened, secure version of Open Robotics‘ middleware suite. 

“NVIDIA continues to show strong commitment to the ROS developer community with its consistent Isaac ROS releases,” Brian Gerkey, CEO of Open Robotics, said. “With 20 Isaac ROS packages released in the past year, NVIDIA is making it easier for developers to embrace AI and improve the perception stacks in their ROS-based applications.”

Gerkey was a recent guest on The Robot Report Podcast. He discussed the development and evolution of ROS and why open-source software has played such a pivotal role in the growth of the robotics industry and in the acceleration of robotics research in university and corporate robotic labs around the world.

NVIDIA’s release includes general performance improvements and three new features: Mission Dispatch and Client, FreeSpace Segmentation and H.264 video Encode and Decode. 

Mission Dispatch and Client is an open-source CPU package that assigns and monitors tasks from a fleet management system to the robot. The microservice is cloud-native and can be integrated as part of larger fleet management systems. 

Dispatch and Client communicate with ROS 2 robots using VDA5050, an open standard for communications that is explicitly designed for fleets of robots, and transmits messages wirelessly over MQTT, a lightweight and OASIS standard messaging protocol for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. 

Some ROS 2 clients, like OTTO Motors and InOrbit with their recently announced VDA5050 Connector, have already verified Mission Dispatch to interpolate with their solutions. 

“As mobile robot deployment in the real world accelerates, interoperability is becoming increasingly critical,” said Ryan Gariepy, CTO at OTTO Motors. “Bridging VDA5050 with ROS2 as an open-source community will promote innovation in fleet management solutions while allowing robot makers to focus on differentiation.”

Mission Client is available as a package in Isaac ROS GitHub, is compatible with ROS 2 Humble and is pre-integrated with the Nav2 navigation stack. The navigation stack assigns and tracks navigation and other tasks on the robot. 

NVIDIA’s second new feature, FreeSpace Segmentation, is a hardware-accelerated package used to produce a vision AI-based occupancy grid in the proximity of the robot that can be used as an input to the navigation stack. The final new feature, H.264 Encode and Decode, are hardware-accelerated packages for compressed video data recording and playback. 

NVIDIA and Open Robotics have been working together to accelerate the performance of ROS 2 on NVIDIA’s Jetson edge AI platform and GPU-based systems for some time now. The companies’ initiatives aim to reduce development time and improve performance for developers seeking to incorporate computing vision and machine learning functionality into their ROS-based applications. 

The post NVIDIA adds AMR fleet management tools to Isaac ROS appeared first on The Robot Report.



from The Robot Report - Robotics News, Analysis & Research https://ift.tt/EhMHj1C
via artificialconference

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Noah Medical’s Galaxy System is used in the US for the first time

-
Image
Noah Medical announced that its Galaxy System, an integrated system for navigated robotic bronchoscopy, was used for the first time in the United States at the University of Chicago Medicine by Dr. Kyle Hogarth.  This procedure marks the first commercial release of the Galaxy System in the US following its recent FDA clearance and first-in-human trials at Macquarie University Hospital in Sydney, Australia. The system was designed to give physicians more confidence in locating and navigating to lung nodules during biopsies as part of a more effective and efficient bronchoscopy procedure.   “The Galaxy System is the first robot for peripheral lung navigation that includes integrated imaging, which is the solution bronchoscopists have been asking for,” Hogarth said. “We are excited to be the first hospital in the United States to implement this next-generation robotic solution for our patients which we believe will improve and expedite the early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.
Read more

Chipotle testing avocado processing robot in test kitchen

-
Image
Chipotle Mexican Grill announced Autocado, an avocado processing cobotic prototype that cuts, cores, and peels avocados before they are hand mashed to create the restaurant’s famous guacamole. The prototype, developed in collaboration with Vebu , is currently being tested at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine , California.  How Autocado works  A team member loads Autocado with a full case of ripe avocados and selects the size setting. Autocado can hold up to 25 lbs. of avocados at once. One at a time, avocados are vertically oriented, then transferred to the processing device. The avocados are sliced in half. Their cores and skin are automatically removed, and the waste is discarded.  The fruit is safely collected in a stainless-steel bowl at the bottom of the device.  A team member removes the bowl of avocado fruit and moves it to the counter where they add additional ingredients and hand mash the avocados to make Chipotle’s signature guacamole.  How the Autocado idea s
Read more

Inside Comaus testing of Intrinsic Flowstate

-
Image
Intrinsic tested its latest platform and Flowstate with Comau , an Italian-based robot manufacturer and global systems integrator. Comau has been working with Intrinsic for several years now to validate Intrinsic’s platform technology and developer product, Flowstate, through real-world use cases.  Flowstate, announced earlier this year in May , is a robotic software development platform. It’s Intrinsic’s first developer product built on the Intrinsic platform. Comau was also introduced as the company’s first industry partner in May.  The Intrinsic Flowstate software  adds a layer of abstraction to traditional robotic software tools with the goal of reducing the development skillset required while making it easier than ever before to program a robot in simulation. “Partnering with Comau over the years has brought our team a tremendous amount of expertise, knowledge, and real-world use cases to focus our efforts on. We’re excited for what’s next and what it will mean to the solutio
Read more