Thalmic Labs and Clearpath Robotics, both of which are Kitchener-based and from the University of Waterloo, have joined forces to create a gesture-controlled Robot. Clearpath has successfully integrated the Myo armband (via an alpha developer unit) with their Husky Unmanned Ground Vehicle to start, stop and drive the vehicle using simple arm movements.
Clearpath Robotics used the Robot Operating System (ROS) for most of the integration work. The Husky software package exposes a standard Twist interface, so the team was required to convert the Myo data into that format to create compatibility. The team did so by using their experimental cross-platform serialization server in socket mode.
For Myo integration and development, Clearpath Robotics added standard Windows Socket code into the provided Thalmic example code, and then determined the proper mapping from the Myo data to the desired robot velocity using timeouts and velocity limits. Further details on Myo integration cannot be released at this time.
Thalmic Labs is the well-known Canadian startup that created the Myo motion control and gesture control armband bracelet, which uses arm muscle activity and EMG signals to control digital devices over Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy.
Meanwhile, Clearpath Robotics is a global leader in unmanned vehicle robotics for research and development, “dedicated to automating the world’s dullest, dirtiest, and deadliest jobs.” The company serves robotics leaders in over 30 countries in academic, corporate, industrial, and military environments.