01 Oct

#### Foray - First distributed prototype blimp

I've completed the first distributed prototype blimp at home. I adapted 2-1 motor configuration and it has 3 DOF: The control video demonstration: Some observations: The steering is really difficult to control because I only use one slider to control the speed of all motors. And it needs t...

01 Oct

#### My new paper has been submitted to Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems

My new journal paper "BTO-RRT: A rapid, optimal, smooth and point cloud based path planning algorithm" has been successfully submitted to Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems(JINT). This work is supported by the Laboratory for Embedded Machines and Ubiquitous Robotics(LEMUR) @UCLA, the Dron...

01 Oct

#### Corrugation mechanism, model validation (partial results)

What are we working on? Computational design of origami structure, based on mechanical specifications. Why are we doing this work? Advantages of origami structures: (1) tunable mechanical properties; (2) ease of design; (3) inexpensive and rapid manufacturing; (4) light weight with hi...

30 Sep

#### visual imu landmark data simulation

gitlablink Frame Introduction Body frame: IMU Coordinate Cam frame: Camera Coordinate World frame: The firt frame of IMU frames Navigation frame: ENU $$(0,0,-9.81)$$ Core Idea 1. Essential Members in IMU and Camera: imu_acc/imu_acc_bias/acc_noise_sigma/acc_bias_...

29 Sep

#### Foray - New motor configuration test

I did a test of different motor configuration than before. In this motor configuration, each of the three motors will control 1 DoF.

29 Sep

#### Foray - Improved design of gondola

I improved the design of gondola that the current version has a lighter weight than before. And the motor drivers are fixed onto the gondola to be more stable. Also, 1'' jumper wires are used to reduce the total weight. Before: After:

29 Sep

#### ESP Wifi Module and Blynk Software

Recently, I have been working on connecting the ESP Wifi Module and the Blynk software. I have been looking into both emulation and ESP Now. Additionally, the Blynk software for controlling the motors does have capabilities with Bluetooth, so I will also be testing the Blynk software with my HC-05 m...

28 Sep

#### FORAY Integration Test - Motor Driver + WIFI

Microcontroller - ESP32 Motor Driver - TB6612FNG Dual Motor Driver Propeller Size - 45mm (diameter) Communication - WIFI Module using Blynk I also found out that ESP32 does not have a native implementation of the AnalogWrite function. This has led to problems for PWM. I will look for a...

24 Sep

#### Initial Testing of Blimp Altitude Filtering Algorithms

In order to improve the inertial measurement capabilities of the blimps on the Foray project, I have been working with Zhaoliang to implement various filtering algorithms for the altimeter data we collect. So far, I have used Matlab to create both an exponential filter and a moving average filter....

23 Sep

#### Combining SLAM frontend and backend

The SLAM frontend, in my definition, finds the features in the image and assigns the same landmark id to matched images. The overall SLAM performance relies on the quality of observation file provided by the frontend, as well as the optimization problem established by the backend. Frontend The...