Aquarian Steady State theorem

12.31: relig/aquarian/ElectroMagnetic Relationism
summary:
. for the dawning of the Aquarian Age,
I'm publishing a new version of 1992's
Physics/eternity/How a Star is Created:
. the vanilla "Steady State" theorem was disproved;
but, it's a perfect surname for a cosmology that
 supports the Final Anthropic Principle;
so, in honor of the 2012 festivities,
my cosmology will be referred to as
the Aquarian Steady State theorem .

the Screw U. principle:
. a new twist on developing this subject
is the theory that all real research on it
is stifled because it inexorably leads to
an understanding of Directed Energy Weaponry .

DARPA's $34M 1st-responder co-robots #messiah Stimulus

12.8: news.adds/robotics/
DARPA's $2M 1st-responder co-robots Challenge:
. faq and forums @ theroboticschallenge.org ...

2011.6: President Obama launches NRI:
. NRI (National Robotics Initiative) ... .

National Robotics Initiative

12.8: news.adds/robotics/NRI(National Robotics Initiative):

2011.6: President Obama launches NRI:
. the National Robotics Initiative
is funding the development of co-robots .
goals:

. the development and use of co-robots,
defined as robots that are co.workers;
ie, serving as member of in a team with employees,
or helping the physically or mentally impaired
-- in a symbiotic relationship with humans .
. supporters of co-robot development include:
National Science Foundation (NSF),
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),
National Institutes of Health (NIH),
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
. this program develops co-robots,
the next generation of robotics,
to advance the capability and usability
of such systems and artifacts,
and to encourage existing and new communities
to focus on innovative application areas.
It will address the entire life cycle
from fundamental research and development
to manufacturing and deployment.
. important parts of this initiative include
the establishment and infusion of robotics
in educational curricula and research
to gain a better understanding of the long term
social, behavioral and economic implications
of using co-robots across all areas of human activity .

Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc

12.8: news.adds/robotics/Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc
2012.4.10, 30: DRC (Robotics Challenge) Broad Agency Announcement:

GFE Simulator is expected to be provided by the
Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc.,
and will initially be based on the ROS Gazebo simulator.
Expectations for the GFE Simulator include the following:
• Models the three-dimensional environment;
• Allows import of robot's
kinematic, dynamic, and sensor models;
• Allows robot's co.workers to
send commands over a network
(identical to those sent to a physical robot)
and receive data from the simulated robot
(similar to that received from a physical robot);
• Uses physics-based models of
inertia, actuation, contact, and environment dynamics
to simulate the robot’s motion;
• Runs in real-time on the “cloud,”
likely on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs);
• usable from the cloud
by at least 100 concurrent teams
The GFE Simulator supplier
will manage an open-source effort
where the simulator, robot models,
and environment models
are developed and improved by the supplier
as well as by contributors throughout the world.

2012.4.12: OSRF @ fbo.gov:
Sole Source Intent Notice
Open-Source Robot SImulation Software
for DARPA Robotics Challenge
Solicitation Number: DARPA-SN-12-34

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
Tactical Technology Office (TTO),
intends to award a sole source contract to the
Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc.,
of Menlo Park, California.
For the contract, it will develop an open-source
robot simulation software system
for use by the DARPA Robotics Challenge program.
The effort will develop validated models of
robots and field environments  .
The effort will make the simulation software
available on an open-source basis,
and will host the simulation so that
participants in the DARPA Robotics Challenge program
can access it freely.
To search for innovative approaches to provide this service,
DARPA performed an informal market survey.
Of the few existing candidate open-source robot simulators,
the Open Source Robotics Foundation was deemed to be
the sole viable supplier for providing the
necessary open-source simulation software
within the specified timeframe.
The Open Source Robotics Foundation simulator, called Gazebo,
simulates many robots and sensors,
supports the ROS and Player robot control middleware,
and maintains tutorials, documentation
and an active user base.
The technology underlying Gazebo
supports many use cases
including remote operation
through a client-server architecture,
customization via a flexible plugin interface,
accurate physics simulation,
and rapid setup through intuitive
graphical and programmatic interfaces.
The proposed contract action is for
supplies or services for which the Government
intends to solicit and negotiate with
only one source under authority of FAR 6.302-1
"Only one responsible source
and no other supplies or services
will satisfy agency requirements."
As the open-source robot simulation leader,
the Open Source Robotics Foundation possesses
unique knowledge and capabilities required to
carry out the required research effort.
No other source would be capable of
satisfying the requirements
for an affordable end-to-end solution
necessary to meet the Government's needs.

2012.4.16: OSRF @ willowgarage:

The history of open source is replete with
significant moments in time,
and today Willow Garage would like to humbly submit
our own milestone -- the announcement of
the Open Source Robotics Foundation.
As Willow Garage has worked to grow and shepherd ROS
within the robotics world
our hope was that ROS would one day stand on its own.
With the announcement today of the OSR Foundation,
that day is finally here.
The mission of the OSR Foundation is "to support
the development, distribution, and adoption
of open source software for use in robotics
research, education, and product development."
The first initiative of the OSRF will be participation in
the DARPA Robotics Challenge, announced recently.
DARPA today sponsored a Proposer's Day Workshop
where more information about the Robotics Challenge
is available via Webcast.
During the Webcast, Nate Koenig from Willow Garage
gave a brief talk on the current and future state
of the open source Gazebo robot simulator,
which will be extended by the OSR Foundation
to support the DARPA Robot Challenge.

2012.4.17: Gazebo @ spectrum.ieee.org:

You're likely already familiar with the
Robot Operating System, or ROS,
in relation to Willow Garage's PR2 robots.
A few years ago, Willow Garage
integrated ROS and the PR2 into Gazebo,
a multi-robot simulator project
started at the University of Southern California
by Andrew Howard and Nate Koenig.
Willow Garage now provides financial support
for the development of Gazebo.
. ROS is now mature enough to go off and fend for itself,
and the Open Source Robotics Foundation
is the shiny new embodiment of that confidence.
DARPA isn't awarding the simulator contract to
Willow Garage or Gazebo's org,
but to a new foundation dedicated to the
full lifecycle of Robotics programming .
. here's what DARPA is expecting:
    The Open Source Robotics Foundation
    will develop an open-source
robot simulation software system
    for use by the DARPA Robotics Challenge program.
    The effort will develop validated models of robots
    (kinematics, dynamics, and sensors)
    and field environments (three-dimensional
    surfaces, solids, and material properties).
    The effort will develop physics-based models of
    inertia, actuation, contact, and environment dynamics
    to simulate the robot's motion.
    . available on an open-source basis,
    and hosted so that participants in the
    DARPA Robotics Challenge program
    can access it freely.

Open Source Robotics Foundation`sponsored projects:

. Gazebo is a 3D multi-robot simulator with dynamics.
. ROS (Robot Operating System) provides
hardware abstraction, device drivers, libraries, visualizers,
message-passing, package management, and more.
. Paradise Studios SkyX(open version) provides a
photorealistic, simple and fast sky rendering plugin
for the Ogre3D graphics engine,
compatible with Gazebo .
. Other open-source activities
that are related to the mission of OSRF
include the Arduino platform and the Make database.
. sponsors include:
# Bosch's Research and Technology Center (RTC)
has the distinction of being the only
non-university recipient of a Willow Garage PR2
as part of the PR2 Beta Program
[for hardware-testing with the ROS .]
# DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
is funding the Gazebo robot simulator,
which will be used extensively in the
DARPA Robotics Challenge.
# Rethink Robotics's Baxter robot uses ROS .
# Sandia National Laboratories is
collaborating with OSRF to develop
low-cost, highly dexterous robot hands.
# Willow Garage is a Founding Contributor to OSRF.
Without Willow Garage's financial,
organizational, and moral support,
OSRF could never have become
the company that we are today.
# Yujin Robot is collaborating with OSRF,
to develop tools for authoring, and management of
multi-robot systems in production environments .

2012.7: OSRF will concentrate on Gazebo:

. we're planning to put a lot of work into
the Gazebo simulator and ROS,
significantly improving the capability
and availability of robot simulation .
. we can have greater impact by
taking a "deep dive" in one area
rather than taking shallow responsibility for everything.
Over time, we'll contribute to a broader variety of projects,
mostly drawn from the ROS ecosystem.
. a ROS certification program may be
most valuable in a domain-specific manner.
eg, imagine a way of certifying a
ROS-controlled industrial robot arm
as being compatible with an accepted
ROS interface standard
(perhaps crafted by the forthcoming
ROS Industrial Consortium .
Similarly, imagine a TurtleBot being certified
as implementing REP 119 .
. compatibility should be the focus;
certifying functionality is an entirely different topic .
. the ROS Platform development
continues to be managed by Willow Garage,
but responsibility for release management
will transition to OSRF eventually .

DRC/Roadmap > Tutorials > Main Page > Overview:

Gazebo is a multi-robot simulator for outdoor environments.
Like Stage (part of the Player project),
it is capable of simulating a population of
robots, sensors and objects,
but does so in a three-dimensional world.
It generates both realistic sensor feedback
and physically plausible interactions between objects
(it includes an accurate simulation of rigid-body physics).
Why use Gazebo?
Gazebo was originally designed to develope
algorithms for robotic platforms.
By realistically simulating robots and environments
code designed to operate a physical robot
can be executed on an artificial version.
This helps to avoid common problems
associated with hardware
such as short battery life, hardware failures,
and unexpected and dangerous behaviors.
It is also much faster to
spin up a simulation engine
than continually run code on robot,
especially when the simulation engine
can run faster than real-time.
Over the years Gazebo has also
been used for regression testing.
Scenarios designed to test algorithm functionality
have been established and passed through test rigs.
These tests can be run continually
to maintain code quality and functionality.
Numerous researchers have also used Gazebo
to develop and run experiments
solely in a simulated environment.
Controlled experimental setups
can easily be created in which subjects can
interact with robots in a realistic manner.
Additionally,
Gazebo has been used to compare algorithms
for such things as navigation
and grasping in a controlled environment.
Future:
Gazebo is under active development at Willow Garage.
We are continually fixing bugs,
and adding new features.
If you have feature requests, need help,
or have bugs to report
please refer to the support page .

gazebosim.org`features:

Gazebo is a feature rich application that is
under constant development from a large user community.
The follow lists a few of the primary features offered by Gazebo.
Dynamics Simulation
    Access multiple physics engines including ODE and Bullet.
    Direct control over physic engine parameters
    including accuracy, performance, and dynamic properties
    for each simulated model.
Advanced 3D Graphics
    Utlizing OGRE, Gazebo provides realistic
rendering of environments.
    State-of-the-art GPU shaders
generate correct lighting and shadows
    for improved realism.
Sensors
    Generate sensor information from
    laser range finders, 2D cameras, Kinect style sensors,
    contact sensors, and RFID sensors.
Robot Models
    Many robots are provided including
    PR2, Pioneer2 DX, iRobot Create, TurtleBot,
    generic robot arms and grippers.
Environments
    Access to many objects from simple shapes to terrain.
Programmatic Interfaces
    Support for ROS and Player.
    API for custom interfaces.
Plugins
    Develop custom plugins for robot model control,
    interacting with world components
    Provides direct control to all aspects of
the simulation engine including
    the phyics engine, graphics libraries,
and sensor generation
TCP/IP Communication
    Run Gazebo on remote servers
    Interface to Gazebo through
socket-based message passing
    using Google Protobufs.
Powerful Graphical Interface
    A lightweight QT based graphical interface
    provides users with direct control over
    many simulation parameters.
    View and navigate through a running simulation.
Collada Import
    Import meshes from many sources
    using Gazebo's built in Collada reader.
Active User Community
    Research institutes around the world
utilize and contribute to Gazebo.
    Community supported help
through a mailing list, and wiki.
Person simulation
    Replay human motion capture data
in a running simulation.

install on Ubuntu Linux 12.04 (precise):

Setup your computer to accept software from
packages.osrfoundation.org.
$ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu
precise main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
$ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo/ubuntu
precise main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gazebo-latest.list'
Retrieve and install the keys:
$ wget http://packages.ros.org/ros.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
$ wget http://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
Update apt-get and install Gazebo:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gazebo

source: drc/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gazebo .

seems to speak c++/boost:
Create a model plugin that subscribes to a ROS topic:
#include
#include
...
namespace gazebo {     
  class ROSModelPlugin : public ModelPlugin   { ... .

-- LOOK C++ !!!
. this may be why DARPA said
Gazebo is only a tentative choice;
they might have plans to translate all this work
over to some better programming language
supporting the new systems in the pipeline
that feature improved massive concurrency
based on very energy-efficient chips ... .

darpa's new project is UHPC 2010:

(Ubiquitous High Performance Computing)
The UHPC program seeks to develop
the architectures and technologies
that will provide the underpinnings,
framework and approaches
for improving power consumption, cyber resiliency,
and programmer productivity,
while delivering a thousand-fold increase
in processing capabilities.
2012.6.25: UHPC details:
. DARPA, in 2010, selected four "performers"
to develop prototype systems for its UHPC program:
Intel, NVIDIA, MIT, and Sandia National Laboratory.
. NVIDIA is teaming with Cray [designer of Chapel.lang],
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and others
to design its ExtremeScale prototype.
NVIDIA was not previously seen as
the cutting-edge of supercomputing,
[but GPU's are apparently the future
of massive concurrency ].
. Intel's 2010 revival of Larrabee,
as the Many Integrated Core (MIC) processor,
may be of use in its UHPC designs .
. Intel's prior concurrency tools include Ct language,
Threading Building Blocks, and Parallel Studio .
The first UHPC prototype systems
are slated to be completed in 2018.
. single-cabinet UHPC systems will need to deliver
a petaflop of High Performance Linpack (HPL)
and achieve an energy efficiency of at least
50 gigaflops/watt (100 times more efficient
than today's supercomputers.)
. the programmer should be able to implicitly
implement parallelism (without using MPI
or any other communication-based mechanism).
In addition, the operating system for these machines
has to be "self-aware,"
such that it can dynamically manage performance,
dependability and system resources.

open robotics university

12.8: news.adds/robotics/openroboticsuniversity:
co.g'+#Open Robotics University:

11:10 AM
*Can anyone in this community [g'+ ubuntu] write C++ or Java code that will be
robust and stable enough for an
advanced robotics platform?*
Please visit our website
Open Robotics University
(world's first tuition-free
engineering degree-granting university)
to view the specification for
DARPA Robotics Challenge
and National Robotics Initiative Robots
that we are working on.
Since we are open-source university,
any individual can join our build team.
The winning prize for the competition is
$2,000,000.00.
*Please review the specification for ORU-DRD
to start generating discussion on our
“Open-Source Robotics” community page .
*  Here is a link to DARPA page.
Also see a link to Kawada Industries based in Japan.

We have been in talk with Kawada to provide us the
HRP-3 Promet MK-II platform for our research
to build our own version to meet DARPA goals.
I think we can win the $2, 000000.00 prize.
*Proposed Specification of ORU-DRR Robot:* 
* The robot’s joints axes, electric devices, gear unit and power unit
should be liquid and dust proof.
*The robot should be about 6ft tall and weighs about 160 pounds.
* The inner frame should be aluminum
and the outer body wrap in fire resistance composite. 
* Multi-finger hands for effective handling of tools.
*   Integrate smooth gait generation and slip detection technology
to enable robot to walk on low-friction surface.
 *Sophisticated whole body movement to be realized by
 AIST-developed “generalized ZMP” technology.
 * 42 Degrees of freedom – Head: 2 axes (pitch and yam);
 Arm: 7 axes (shoulder: 3, elbow: 1, wrist: 3) X 2;
 Hand: 6 axes x2; Waist 2 axes (pitch and yaw); Leg 6 axes x2.
 * Vision sensor: 4-lens stereo camera system for autonomous control;
 4-lens stereo camera for remote control; scanning range finder.
 * Control system: Distributed control system;
 Network: Can (Controller Area Network – Mbps).

Open Robotics University

. the first tuition-free engineering
degree-granting institution.
All of our university operations
from student admission
to teaching and learning processes
are powered by Google+
Our university is based in the USA;
and currently seeking accreditation
from accreditation agencies in the US.
Our Goal:
get technically oriented individuals,
who due to their socio-economic status
don't have funds to study robotics engineering;
learn to design and build robust, intelligent robots
for a university robotics engineering degree.
Students: Our students are located in
forty five cities in twenty six countries
-- pre-university through doctorate degrees.
President, Dr. Osato Osemwengie,
Dr. Osemwengie Lives in
Dublin, Ohio, United States.
with Mark Leon of
NASA Robotics Alliance Project
He served as FIRST robotics coach
and mentor to three teams.
He was a presenter at the 2008 Atlanta, Georgia
FIRST Robotics World Championship.
He has completed
four masters and a doctorate degree.
His experience, while attempting to
complete fifth and six masters degree
in software engineering and
electrical engineering respectively,
influenced him to open
The Open Robotics  University.
He strongly believe that future engineers
should not be subjected to outdated text books
and high cost tuition in this digital age.
Any dedicated individual
can receive high quality education
via social media infrastructure such Google+.
Open Robotics University
applied to participate in
National Robotics Initiative.

Our DARPA Challenge Robotics Platform!!
Open Robotics University applied to participate in
tracks C and D of the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
DARPA’s goal is to accelerate the development of robots
that are robust enough to be used for
disaster response operations in hazardous environment.
The robot should also be
intelligent enough to navigate around
doors, chairs, manipulate vehicles,
power tools and recognize levers and valves.
To meet this goal we have adopted
Kawada industries’ HRP-3 MK-II Robotics platform
for research to build our robot ORU-DRR Robot.
Since we are an open-source university,
talented individuals that are not members of our faculty
or not enrolled as a student in our university
worldwide can join our Open Robotics University team
to design software and robot for the competition
(Check out the proposed specification of ORU-DRR below) .

National Robotics Initiative:
The goal is to “accelerate the development
and use of robots in the United States
that work beside, or cooperatively with people”.
To meet this goal we have adopted
Kawada industries’ HRP-4 Robotics platform
for research to build our robot ORU-NRI Robot
(Open Robotics University
National Robotics Initiative Robot).

OpenRov robotics plaform:
. openrov.com is to conduct research
and build world-class oceanic robots
to explore the world's oceans
similar to work done by liquidr.com robotics.

mis.adds/openroboticsuniversity/Responsibility Project:

openroboticsuniversity`
Make a Difference Robotics Projects
These type of projects as Deitel claims, in his book
"C++ How To Program" 2012,
are "meant to increase awareness and discussion
of important issues the world is facing.
We hope you'll approach them with your own
values, politics, and beliefs".
see more Science & Technology projects
from the The Responsibility Project
. Welcome to The Responsibility Project,
a place to think about—and discuss—
what it means to do the right thing.

--. that isn't a list of interesting projects;
it's a blog for lecturing to teens .
. and, speaking of Doing The Right Thing,
why are we still using c++ ?

dream theory's tech perfection plan

12.8: adds/relig/dream theory's tech perfection plan:
. welcome to my wealth4all religion .
. you don't even have to believe in it to be saved by it,
but if everyone did believe,
it would save a lot of grief .
. the universe's god has no way of
not choosing bad experiences
(all that's left for the god to do
is making sure the bad comes first
and that some good experiences
are in power to keep civilization alive
during this boot camp of evolution);
but we've already seen
every sort of pain and inequality,
so, any time now,
we certainly could move on to
experiencing pure wealth4all .
. the emotional pains the god gives us
are put there just to provoke the wars
that promote evolution of the technology
that ensures eternal survival beyond sun death;
but, if everyone were to realize
god needs tech not war,
then we could simply volunteer
to put more money into tech .
. of course that would mean less money for
the popular entertaining games such as:
my family is bigger than your family ...
so, it's not a belief without costs;
but non-believers are welcomed to be
dragged through war:
wealth4all is optional
until tech is perfected .
. it's not like god is punishing us for
being uncooperative with the needed
Tech Perfection Plan
but if you did believe that,
the obvious data certainly could
support that view;
however, at this point in the
universe's experience distribution
war is no longer needed for
pinning the pains to the beginning;
but, war is still a backup plan
in case we don't feel it necessary to
divert population expansion funds
towards the Tech Perfection Plan .
. wealth4all: I'm a believer .