Robotics – Kim Pampusch

Inverse Kinematics Math For A 2D Robotic Arm

By Kim December 31, 2022Inverse Kinematics, Math, Programming, Python, Robotics

An N-Jointed Arm is a robotic arm that is made up of N number of joints and N number of lengths, with each joint followed by a length.

Inverse Kinematics is the process of finding the needed rotation of each joint in a robotic arm given the lengths of each arm segment and the desired position of the arm’s end effector.

This post describes the math behind finding an inverse kinematics solution for a robotic arm with any number of joints. The context of this post is in a two-dimensional space.

Updating The Embedded Code In A Balancing Robot

By Kim January 11, 2021Arduino, AVR, C, Embedded Programming, Programming, Robotics, Sensors

I took one of my past Arduino projects and updated the code to work directly with the underlying architecture on an ATmega328P. The project was originally controlled by code that utilized various Arduino libraries. I rewrote the code to use avr-libc, a C library for the AVR family of microcontrollers.

Remembering FRC: The 2015 Season

By Kim August 31, 2020FIRST Robotic Competition, Mechanum

“The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year’s game that weigh up to 125 pounds (57 kg). Robots complete tasks such as scoring balls into goals, placing inner tubes onto racks, hanging on bars, and balancing robots on balance beams. The game, along with the required set of tasks, changes annually” (“FIRST Robotics Competition.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 May. 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRST_Robotics_Competition).

Developing An Arcade Game About Robots

By Kim July 21, 2020FIRST Robotic Competition, Game Controller, Javascript

During college I was initially focusing on an emphasis in web-based game development alongside programming. For that purpose, I created several games in JavaScript.

This game simulates the 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition game. The goal of this game is to pickup yellow cubes and place or throw them on the blue side of one of several seesaws. While there are more cubes on your side of the seesaws, you get +1 points per second. There is an opponent that will attempt to place cubes on their side of the goals. You have 60 seconds to score more points than your opponent.

It can be played in any modern browser here: https://pycee.github.io/Firebears-Power_Up

Remembering FRC: The 2014 Season

By Kim June 15, 2020FIRST Robotic Competition, Programming

Building A Prototype Balancing Robot

By Kim June 4, 2020Arduino, Programming, Robotics, Sensors

A test run of the prototype balancing robot

This is a quick prototype robot designed to test certain mechanisms before spending my time building a more polished robot. It has two wheels and drives them forwards or backwards as the body tilts in order to keep the robot balanced upright.