In 2013, youBot Store and KUKA launched the initiative
"Fun in Mobile Manipulation"
to promote education in mobile manipulation on the undergraduate and graduate level. Given the great interest and very positive response the initiative is continued until the end of 2014 and possibly beyond. Participants in the initiative will be typically research groups and labs in universities and public research facilities, which are willing to organize an one-week programming marathon ("hackathon") for under-graduate or graduate students around mobile manipulation at large. Participants will get a KUKA youBoton a loan basis free of cost for a period of four weeks. They will only have to cover the cost for shipping and insurance of the youBot and for hosting a group of students in their labs.
The concept for the event is rather simple:
For a whole week, the students should be allowed and encouraged to develop cool software on one of the most recent and versatile robot system: the KUKA youBot. Ideally there should be no limits to their creativity but, of course, the host can encourage the students to look into specific applications or technical issues. Pictures, videos, and reports on earlier events can be found in our media section or with Google (youbot + hackathon).
The investment of the research labs participating in this initiative is reasonably low:
- cost for insuring and shipping the youBot(s),
- cost for PR (supported by youBot Store team),
- lab space for a week for a handful of students,
- some time to supervise the students,
- pizza, pasta, and soft drinks for the students.
The return on investment of the participating research lab can be remarkably high:
- smart students interested in mobile manipulation,
- visibility as key player in mobile manipulation,
- local media attention (if you inform your local media).
Technical support and advice regarding the organisation of the event will be provided by the
youBot Store team free of cost.
Research labs interested in organizing a hackathon using a KUKA youBot should contact:
youBot Store GmbH
Bergiusstr. 15
86199 Augsburg, Germany