# 208: What If You Had a Machine Do It

- Show: [Embedded.fm](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm)
- Published: 2017-07-27
- Length: 49m
- Episode: 208
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-07-27-208-what-if-you-had-a-machine-do-it
- Listen: https://makingembeddedsystems.libsyn.com/208-what-if-you-had-a-machine-do-it

## Summary

Elecia White discusses her project to build a typing robot named 'Ty' using an Nvidia Jetson TX2 and a MeArm kit, explaining the intersection of machine learning and robotics. She details the challenges of inverse kinematics, the Law of Cosines, and the decision to abandon Robot Operating System (ROS) due to its complexity and dependency issues. White also covers the use of OpenCV for laser tracking, the computational limits of retraining neural networks, and her plans for future reinforcement learning integration.

## Chapters

- [0:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-07-27-208-what-if-you-had-a-machine-do-it#t=6) Introduction and Project Goals
- [9:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-07-27-208-what-if-you-had-a-machine-do-it#t=584) Machine Learning with Nvidia Jetson TX2
- [23:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-07-27-208-what-if-you-had-a-machine-do-it#t=1413) Robotics Hardware and Inverse Kinematics
- [34:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-07-27-208-what-if-you-had-a-machine-do-it#t=2089) Abandoning ROS and Implementing Laser Tracking
- [40:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2017-07-27-208-what-if-you-had-a-machine-do-it#t=2448) Future Plans and Show Announcements

## Topics

- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Sensors & measurement in products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sensors)
- [EDA & CAD tools](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/eda-and-cad-tools)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- Nvidia Jetson TX2 (chip)
- MeArm (product)
- Robot Operating System (tool)
- OpenCV (tool)
- Adafruit PCA9685 (chip)
- TensorFlow (tool)
- Weka (tool)
- Andrew Ng (other)
- Patrick Pilarski (other)
- Hackaday (company)
- SupplyFrame DesignLab (company)
- LA CrashSpace (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Ted Larson from OLogic shares robot development stories](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2023-02-25-ted-larson-from-ologic-shares-robot-development-stories) (The Robot Report Podcast)
- [Robo Fry Guy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2022-10-10-robo-fry-guy) (The Amp Hour)
- [Jacob Evink | From CAD to Mechanical Curiosity: Student Engineer Spotlight](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2026-09-04-jacob-evink-from-cad-to-mechanical-curiosity-student-engineer-spotlight) (Being an Engineer)
- [Episode 109: Building robots at home - Dan Nicholson](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-02-14-episode-109-building-robots-at-home-dan-nicholson) (Robot Talk)
- [The Robotics Rundown: AI Agents, Secondary Markets & the Future of Construction](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/built-2-scale/2025-04-11-the-robotics-rundown-ai-agents-secondary-markets-the-future-of-construction) (Built 2 Scale)

## Citing this page

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