Episode Twenty-One: Sean Katagiri

Robot Talk · 14 Oct 2022 · 14m · Episode 21

What this episode covers

Sean Katagiri, a robotics engineer at The National Robotarium, discusses his work on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for offshore energy inspection and legged robots for construction site monitoring. He explains the technical challenges of subsea operations, including the transition from tethered to resident systems, the limitations of LIDAR and sonar underwater, and the similarities between underwater and space robotics. Katagiri also describes how The National Robotarium aims to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial application, specifically using Spot robots to automate progress tracking on construction sites.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Robot Report Podcast · 1h 37m

    Nic Radford on developing underwater robots; Celebrating 100 episodes

    Nic Radford, founder and CEO of Nauticus Robotics, discusses the development of the Aquanaut, a hybrid autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that combines the mobility of a torpedo with the manipulation capabilities of a box-shaped ROV. Leveraging his background at NASA with the Robonaut 2, Radford explains how Nauticus applies space-grade delay-tolerant networking and AI to overcome the extreme pressure and low-bandwidth challenges of the deep ocean. The company operates on a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, deploying the Aquanaut alongside their autonomous surface vessel, Hydronaut, to perform inspection and maintenance tasks for offshore wind and oil and gas industries without the high costs of traditional tethered spreads. Radford highlights the difficulty of recruiting hardware talent and the lack of venture capital for industrial deep tech, emphasizing that their proprietary electric actuation and software-defined autonomy create a significant competitive moat.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 15m

    282: Tin Can Through a Wet Noodle

    Laughlin Barker, a systems engineer at OpenROV, discusses the design and operation of the Trident ROV, a low-cost, injection-molded underwater vehicle. He details the engineering challenges of underwater navigation, including the use of Bosch 085 IMUs and ultra-short baseline acoustic systems, and explains how OpenROV innovated by exposing brushless motors directly to salt water. Barker also shares his experiences conducting scientific missions in Antarctica, where he operated the larger 'Skinny' ROV to study marine life under the ice, highlighting issues with high-voltage connectors and the unique environmental constraints of the region.

  • Embedded.fm · 1h 02m

    363: Squishy Nature

    Alana Sherman, an electrical engineer and project manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), discusses engineering instruments for deep-sea environments, including the DeepPIV system for studying larvaceans and the autonomous Benthic Rover. She details the challenges of designing electronics for high-pressure, cold-water conditions, such as pressure-tolerant vs. one-atmosphere housings and component failures like sticky motors. The conversation covers the Rover's long-term deployment, its use of acoustic ranging via Wave Gliders, and the specific mechanical and embedded system decisions required for reliable operation on the seafloor.

  • Hackaday Podcast · 52m

    Ep084: Awful Floppy Disk Music, Robot Climbs Walls, An Undersea Lab, Inside a Digital Pregnancy Test

    Hackaday Managing Editor Elliot Williams and Staff Writer Dan Maloney review a week of hardware hacks, including Tom Nardi's manual BGA breakout, Terrence Eden's floppy disk music player, and Nicolas Geritis's wall-climbing robot. They also discuss Eric Urban's RTL-SDR antenna testing, Fabian Cousteau's Proteus underwater lab, and teardowns of a digital pregnancy test and a GPS jammer. The episode highlights creative engineering solutions, from using urine as a power switch to maximizing utility per servo in robotics.

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 21m

    222. Tree-Climbing and Reef-Restoring Robots

    Hosts discuss three robotics projects developed by students at ETH Zurich under the Focus program: Monkey, a tree-climbing robot using screw-based adhesion; Reef Ranger, an autonomous underwater robot for coral restoration; and Argos, an automated monitoring system for laboratory mice welfare. The episode highlights how student constraints drive innovation and how these technologies address ecological and ethical challenges in biology and environmental science.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Robot Talk. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.