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Editor’s Observe: This story was initially printed on Tessa Lau’s Twitter feed. We’ve got reprinted it right here with Lau’s permission. It particulars how Dusty Robotics identified and glued a uncommon {hardware} bug on a few of its FieldPrinter robots, which might autonomously print full-scale fashions onto building surfaces in a fraction of the time it takes a handbook format crew with a chalk line.

A few yr in the past, we began getting stories from the sphere about undesirable conduct when our robots have been turned on. On uncommon events, they’d behave unpredictably. Our engineering and CS staff investigated all such stories to attempt to uncover the foundation trigger. Each time a report got here in from the sphere, we’d instantly troubleshoot. We’d convey the robotic again in home to attempt to replicate the failure.

We couldn’t reproduce it, however we did provide you with a idea for why it was occurring. It was the coupler that related the motor to the wheel. If this got here unfastened, the wheel wouldn’t flip when it ought to, and the robotic would drive unpredictably.

So we redesigned the coupler system in order that it wouldn’t slip underneath regular operation, and rolled out the repair to all robots. With many in clients’ palms, it took some time to cycle via all of them.

We additionally developed a discipline repair that concerned taking the robotic aside and tightening the coupler. The following time a buyer referred to as in with this drawback, we had them apply this repair. And it labored! Drawback solved.

Quick ahead to 2022. Final month, we began getting stories once more of robots behaving erratically within the discipline. Once more we introduced the robots again in home and once more couldn’t reproduce the conduct.

This should be a brand new drawback, we thought. In any case, we had mounted the couplers and hadn’t had any coupler-related points for the previous 9 months. Our staff began systematically debugging all different potential causes.

Dusty Robotics put a number of of its FieldPrinter robots right into a fridge to assist diagnose a {hardware} bug. | Credit score: Dusty Robotics

We assigned an intern to attempt to reproduce the issue. Because it appeared to occur very first thing within the morning, possibly it was associated to the power-up sequence. The intern turned on and off a robotic a whole bunch of occasions. It by no means confirmed the issue.

Then somebody had the good concept to place a robotic within the fridge. We pulled it out the subsequent morning, and … it exhibited the issue. For 10 minutes. Then it stopped. May it have one thing to do with temperature?

However not all robots exhibited the conduct after being refrigerated. And 10 minutes didn’t give us numerous time to debug earlier than the issue went away. So we stuffed the fridge with robots and took them out one after the other to experiment on. The kitchen grew to become an OR, with robotic cadavers unfold out on working tables.

Among the experiments concerned measuring what was occurring contained in the bot whereas it was chilly. At one level I discovered a scope exterior the fridge, measuring the vitals of the affected person inside.

Lastly, we found the issue. One of many off-the-shelf parts we use behaved out of spec at sure temperatures, producing a loud sign. We reverse-engineered the element and located that eradicating two resistors mounted it. Drawback solved, for actual this time.

Seems that final yr’s coupler issues had the identical root trigger. Whereas individuals have been opening up the robotic and tightening the coupler, the robotic would heat up. By the point they put it again collectively, the issue would have gone away. It had nothing to do with couplers in any respect.

By the point we had rolled out the coupler “repair” to all robots, the climate had warmed up sufficient throughout the nation that the difficulty didn’t reoccur. We thought we had mounted it, when really spring mounted it.

Once you understand that there are a whole bunch of parts within the easiest robotic, and every one can have unpredictable failure modes like this one, that’s why {hardware} is tough.

Concerning the Creator

Tessa Lau is an skilled entrepreneur with experience in AI, machine studying, and robotics. She is at present the CEO and founding father of Dusty Robotics, which develops robot-powered instruments for the fashionable building workforce. Previous to Dusty, Lau was CTO/co-founder at Savioke, the place she orchestrated the deployment of 75+ supply robots into accommodations and high-rises.

Beforehand, she was a analysis scientist at Willow Storage, the place she developed easy interfaces for private robots. Lau additionally spent 11 years at IBM Analysis working in enterprise course of automation and information seize. She was acknowledged as one of many Prime 5 Modern Ladies to Watch in Robotics by Inc. in 2018 and one among Quick Firm’s Most Inventive Folks in 2015. She holds a PhD in Laptop Science from the College of Washington.