Life in the robotic lab

The REEM Lab

My team is made of 12 people including myself. I am the "boss", but also one of the researchers that works on the robot. The project started more than 3 years ago and lead to the construction of two humanoid robots, REEM-A and REEM-B.
We work for Pal Technology, a company of the United Arab Emirates located in Abu Dhabi.
Anyway, we are located in Barcelona, Spain. It was necessary, since most of are Spanish (actually, I am Italian). Pal Technology wasn't very happy to keep us thousands of kilometers away, but it was a mandatory condition.
Our office is actually an apartment in the very center of Barcelona. Once, we have been visited by a photographer that is doing a documentary-book about humanoid robots and he told me:"I have been in all the robotic labs of the world: Japan, Korea, France, USA... but I have never seen a laboratory like this!".

Actually, if you watch our video in YouTube or the website, you will notice that we are the only humanoid that shot its videos in front to a fireplace. Sorry, it is the bigger room...

"Be fruitful, and multiply..."

I guess my colleagues were very bored the last year.

I can imagine what happened... the guy come back at home and tells the wife:"honey, I had a very terrible day. The left arm of the robot exploded, the server was hacked and boss makes my life a nightmare. I need some ... coddles".
Ok, I am just jocking! The fact is that many of them had babies in the last year or are going to have a new child in the next months.

Summarizing:
- 3 of us are fathers already.
- 3 people will have soon a baby (the second for 1 of them).

I think I am realizing a possible "killer application" for humanoid robots...

"REEM, change the diaper of the baby"

The enemies of REEM

You must know that our hero, REEM, has to fight against some of the most powerfull villains you can find in a research lab. Memorable battles take place and, even if the good guys are fighting bravely, the enemies are not defeated.
The two nemesis of REEM are:

• The "night reprogrammer": have you ever done something that works at the end of the day and that fails the following day mysteriously?  "But... yesterday it was okay! Why does it crash now?". There is only one explanation: the "night reprogrammer". This mysterious figure enters in the lab at night, protected by darkness, and he overwrites our source code with a similar one, that usually fail without reasonable explanation.
• The "super bug": it is the major software bug, that can have catastrophic consequences. It can stay hidden for weeks, but the very same day in which the REEM team has to face an important event, the "super bug" strikes with all his power. There is no unit-test that can stop him, as it usually happens with normal bugs.

   

Famous quotes

There are some phrases and quotes that are stored for ever in our memory, in the Robotic Lab.
The list is quite long and I promise that very soon I will post more, but the best ones come from one of my team members: the mighty Sergio.
Next, you will read about some unforgettable quotes:

1) (Speaking with his lawyer) "I am more pissed off than a turkey before the Thanksgiving day".

2) (Speaking by telephone with the technical support of our Internet provider).
Technical support: "In few hours we will address your problem, sir".
Sergio: "Few hours ?!? It is more probable that a meteorite hits the Earth and destroys all human kind".

3) And last, his masterpiece. You should know that we had several problems with some electronic boards (called further "Icarus") that collapse the communication bus of the robot. The only solution we found was to remove more and more boards from the robot. Sergio is one the people that is supposed to take some action (no one knows which action should be taken) to solve the issue.

Esteban: "Sergio, we have still problems with the Icarus boards"
Sergio: " How many of them are still on the robot?"
Esteban: "two"
Sergio: " No, not in the gripper of the robot, I mean... on the whole robot!"
Esteban: "two..."
Sergio: " NO. I am not asking you how many of the boards are failing, I mean: how many boards are still on the robot?"
Estaben: "Sergi... two !!!"
Sergio turns in my direction and tells me: "Davide, buy for me the Frodo's cloack, I must go to Mordon and throw the Icarus board in that Volcano that destroy it all..."

REEM-B presented in Abu Dhabi (1 of 3)

If you are reading this blog, you should know already that the last robot we built is called REEM-B and that the project was sponsored by the firm Pal Technology, from the United Arab Emirates (to know how it happened, you should wait the post on "How everything started").
In June 2008, the phase "REEM-B" was supposed to end: in other words, the second generation of humanoid robot was supposed to be up and running.
To demonstrate our work to our "BIG BOSS" (His Highness Sheik Tahnoun), the last December we planned to do a "demo". But what happened is that this demo (that at the beginning was planned in February) has been postponed and become bigger and bigger.

An when I say "bigger", I mean in the UAE way: BIG!!!

What I expected to be an informal demo in front of BOSS, become a press conference on a stage and with a lot of people and press involved in the event.
The date was postponed so much that, after a couple of months, the guys of the team decided to bet on it (our mechanical engineer Enric won, by the way).

11th of June: the day of the Armageddon. 

That day, I would have the opportunity to demonstrate what the team achieved in front of the world (I am not exaggerating, if you think about it).
In a short demonstration of just 20 minutes, we had to prove if the project was a success or a disaster.
Was it worth to spend the last 3 years working so hard, sacrificing so much?
It was the only opportunity to get a true answer. I did not expect someone to give me that answer: the 11th of June I would know it.
At the beginning of June, all the "REEM team" left Barcelona to go in Abu Dhabi and prepare the setup for the robot...

By the way, do you know that in Abu Dhabi there is a huge artifical island that is under construction called "REEM"?
1) No, it is not a conincidence.
2) No, the name of the island does NOT come from the robot...

The calm before the storm (2 of 3)

Abu Dhabi in June is very hot: we had up to 49 ºC and a lot of humidity and a lot of humidity.
On the other hand, when you are inside a building or a car, Emirates people likes to keep air conditioning at a temperature that would freeze a polar bear.
I have been in UAE several times, but it was the first time for some of my team members. Usually people from western countries are a bit suspicious before they visit Abu Dhabi, but the second impression is always good (we always enjoy asian food a lot and people are very open and friendly).
In the 5 days before the press conference we have been trying the robot and everything was going smooth.
On the other hand, we were observing the stage were the demo was going to be given becoming bigger and bigger and we realized that the demo was going to be spectacular.
It was exiting and scaring at the same time and I could not predict if everything would work well or not.
The 8th od June I had the opportunity to meet for the first time His Highness ("Big Boss" for friends) and I was very surprised and pleased to find that, even if he is a VVVVVIP, he his a very nice person, that does not need to overstress his hierarchical position to be respected.
We had some nice moments, as for example the day when we had to show the robot to the President of Panama.
The 10th was the day to do the rehearsal with the presenters, the light, the audio and so on. There was even Big Boss (that was not expected to assist the rehearsal).
Introduction of the speaker, light, dramatic music and a signal from the director: "robot, steady... go".
REEM does not move.
Silence...

"I have got a problem".
"what is going on with the wireless connection?"
"Ok, ok, it moves... Fuck, i cannot stop it ! Catch it!"
"This is not going to work, reboot it".

Second rehearsal: one of the motors on the foot ot the robot stop working and the robot almost falls.

"Ok guys, open the foot and see what is going on with that motors".

In few minutes, all my hopes regarding the success of the demo crashed down.
And I felt crashed, too.
I searched a corner to stay alone and nerves got to me: could it be this the end of it?
After half an hour Joan come to talk me and he told me: "come on Davide, come back with the other people of the team".
I don't think people understand what I felt, I don't expect them to do it and I don't need them to agree with me. What I felt was just mine.
But it was time to come back to my position and be a man. And so I did.

A new beginning (3 of 3)

Well, if you was curious and you "googled" the words "robot abu dhabi", you already know the end of this story.
I will be brief: everything was so fast! The last tests in the morning, the preparation of the stage and the conference press at the beginning of the evening.
There was not time to think or worry: at 20:00 o'clock the official presentation started.
When I remember the 20 minutes of the demo, I can just say that I was so concentrated monitoring that everything was running correctly, that I did not have the time to stop thinking about how important that moment was.
This time I will not give you any boring detail... just enjoy the video.

Well, in few words, everything was fine! Applauds, hugs, hand shaking, interview with the press, answers to the public... and then, a shisha (smoking water pipe) in front of the sea to celebrate.

A chapter of the project (and a chapter of my life) closed that day. I have been looking at that event for many months, thinking that it would represent the end of something very important for me, a milestone, an exam...

But immediately I realized that it is just a new starting point. thanks to the success of the demo, the REEM team has now a new and (even) more ambitious project. My dear reader, the best is yet to come!

A busy summer (July-September 2008)

Dear readers, please accept my apologizes.
Most of the last posts were about the past and I did not inform you about what happened after the presentation in Abu Dhabi.
Well, good news!!!
The team is growing: we move from 12 people to 22 team members (if I find the kind of people that I need, you know what I mean).
We have been looking for a new office and eventually we have find one: in December we should leave the current lab (the "fire place" one) that is 200 square meters, and go to the new one that is going to be 4 times bigger (800).
During the summer we had the opportunity to present REEM-B at 3 events: I can tell you, we have been very busy!.

First, we had in July an invitation to Campus Party in Valencia, the biggest LAN-party in Spain. The experience was nice: honestly I would have expected more interest from the Spanish press, since we did the robot in Barcelona, but anyway it was cool when we moved the robot to the Science Museum and all the kids come to see our robot.

Then, in August, there was the Intel development Forum in San Francisco. We have been presented as a robot powered by Intel and we got mutual publicity (even if it might have been confusing, since there were people that thought that the robot was built by Intel). Ok, I am exaggerating saying "mutual": we have got publicity thanks to Intel.

Last, a couple of days ago there was an international press conference of Solidworks in Barcelona. Solidworks is one of the most important 3D CADs solution in mechanical engineering and since we use their software, we have been selected as 1 of the 3 "success stories" worldwide.

Anyway, I am afraid that our Autumn will be even worse (or better, it depends from your point of view).