This would be a complex job. Perhaps only with Zhao Yi’s participation could the new robotic arm work normally within a month.
In the end, they agreed not to replace the arm.
When Zhao Yi got to the lab, Qian Zhijin took him into a workshop. The workshop had a technological feel to it, with more than a dozen computers arranged in a circle, and a robot located at the center. Around it were nurous cables and devices.
This setup was far more sophisticated than what he had at ho.
"Professional indeed!"
Zhao Yi silently comnted in his heart, maintaining a calm exterior as he listened to Qian Zhijin’s progress report.
There were still minor issues to be corrected with the robot, and a major problem that hadn’t been solved, which was the robot’s reaction to ’human obstacles’.
This primarily concerned the robot’s responsiveness to potential collisions with humans.
Human movents are unpredictable.
When a normal person goes shopping in a supermarket, and there are other people shopping nearby, there’s usually no issue. If there’s a risk of collision, a reaction is enough to avoid it, and even if you can’t avoid it, it’s just a bump.
The robot is made of pure tal and contains many delicate parts. A collision with a human could lead to serious consequences.
It could injure people or be damaged itself.
That’s why its responsive actions are critical.
The design sche proposed by Qian Zhijin and Xu Chao is that the robot stops operating when a person approaches within a certain range. However, considering the number of people in the supermarket, this asure is ineffective; the robot might remain inactive for extended periods.
Moreover, frequent stoppage of operations can easily harm the hardware and software. Therefore, it’s not easy to design.
So they can only continue to explore alternatives.
"Actually, the best solution is to set a certain operating speed, just like a human being. When soone approaches too close, the speed of the robot’s arm can be reduced. Conversely, it reverts to a normal speed when the person moves away. However, setting the speed is complex, and the judgnt chanism calculations are equally fiendish..."
"There are so other issues involved, and we may need to modify the underlying software package..." Qian Zhijin told Zhao Yi.
Xu Chao and several unfamiliar students standing nearby agreed, "It’s indeed difficult. To develop such a support program, we need at least a month to work on it."
"We don’t have enough ti now!"
"I still suggest trying the stoppage of operations in the test, since there won’t be real people approaching the robot during the test."
"But what if sothing unexpected happens? If it suddenly stops working, the whole robot function will be jamd."
"Or we can remove the human collision response function. Since our testing site is a supermarket on the first floor of a mall, we can negotiate to clear out a space..."
"..."
Everyone continued to discuss.
Zhao Yi patiently listened. He comnted, "Ok, let see!" he asked Xu Chao, "Which computer has the full software package? And all the codes?"
Xu Chao pointed to a computer on the left.
That computer tower was not enclosed; the motherboard and all the connections were exposed. The components looked larger than usual, as Qian Zhijin explained, "These were taken directly from the server room and installed here."
"Ok."
Zhao Yi nodded, then opened the coding software and database, located the software package, codes, and data, and found the half-completed stop operation program.
The stop operation program on the computer was formulated as a command to directly stop the robot arm and immobilize the robot’s wheels.
The additional codes provided to shut off certain functions were fail-safes for the robot’s hardware and software.
Zhao Yi took out a pen and paper, calculated a relatively simple slow-down curve, and then started typing furiously.
Lines of code were input.
At first, only Qian Zhijin and Xu Chao were observing Zhao Yi. But, soon, everyone in the workshop gathered around, looking at the computer screen.
Zhao Yi used one Research Coin and one Study Coin to enhance his inspiration and focus without distractions, continuously typing codes.
A doctoral student behind him couldn’t help but gasp; he found his thinking couldn’t keep up with the code typing speed.
It was the sa for everyone else.
Qian Zhijin couldn’t keep up either. He couldn’t understand the code, but he pretended he could follow along, even turning his head to remind the others, "Shh!"
"Don’t make noise!"
"Professor Qian, can you understand this?" A doctoral student asked softly.
Qian Zhijin raised his head, "Of course. He’s applying the speed curve on the paper directly to the programming to control the robotic arm!"
A few people nodded in agreent, feeling sowhat contemptuous inside.
So of them were students under Qian Zhijin’s supervision. They believed him to be a good ntor, but knew that his abilities were not on par with the other professors in the lab.
Pretending to know things he didn’t was a common occurrence for Qian Zhijin.
For instance, at this mont.
Who didn’t know Zhao Yi was applying the slow-down curve designed on paper into the coding to control the robotic arm?
Is this even worth ntioning!
The real question is how he’s structuring the entire code. None of them were able to follow his thought process.
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