#drag racing data acquisition sensors

[strangeengineering]

Front Brake Speed Sensor Kits for Drag Racing – Strange Engineering

Drag racing is a competitive sport, and using quality adjustment tools is crucial to staying ahead of your competition. Small adjustments need to be made carefully in the car so that it can provide the maximum benefits in the competition.  Front Brake Speed Sensor Kit is one of those important small adjustments that should not be neglected. This component plays an important role in providing stability to the driver while doing drag racing.

The Value of Front Wheel Data

Drag racing isn’t just about speed—it’s about control and consistency. Most racers are familiar with rear wheel sensors, but adding a sensor to the front brakes offers unique insights. These kits track front wheel rotation during launch and braking, offering data that helps diagnose traction issues, brake timing, and suspension behavior.

This forward-looking approach allows teams to understand how their cars behave at the most critical points of a run. Without it, you're missing half the story.

Designed for the Track, Built for Abuse

Race environments are punishing. Heat, high RPMs, vibration, and abrupt force changes mean that only the toughest components survive. That’s why selecting sensor kits designed for racing, not adapted from street vehicles, is crucial.

High-grade materials and motorsport-focused designs ensure these sensors can deliver clean, uninterrupted signals every run. From sealed wiring to strong mounting hardware, durability isn’t optional—it’s expected.

Installation and Compatibility Matter

A solid sensor is only as good as its installation. Alignment, spacing, and secure mounting are key to avoiding signal errors or component wear. Quality kits offer user-friendly setup options that work seamlessly with major data acquisition systems.

Once in place, a properly installed sensor kit will begin generating actionable insights immediately. Fewer adjustments, faster calibration, and better accuracy mean more time fine-tuning performance, and less time troubleshooting.

Smarter Data Leads to Smarter Decisions

What makes these kits so powerful is the ability to reveal patterns drivers can’t feel. For instance, consistent early deceleration on one wheel may indicate imbalance or hidden chassis issues. Without this feedback, teams might continue tuning around a problem they didn’t know existed.

By integrating this information with other data sources, teams can refine setup decisions that impact every launch, shift, and braking point.

Why Front Sensors Are Gaining Popularity

Front brake speed sensors have become more common in top-tier racing, not because of a trend, but because of results. Racers who embrace this technology often find themselves one step ahead—predicting problems, dialing in performance, and maintaining mechanical health better than those relying on guesswork.

With any racing tool, there is a matter of quality. Drag-specific kits tested in actual track conditions provide unparalleled reliability and value.

A Trusted Source for Race-Grade Components

This is where Strange Engineering continues to set the standard. Known for delivering parts that hold up under extreme pressure, they offer Front Brake Speed Sensor Kits that racers trust for performance and longevity. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a seasoned pro, having dependable data from the front wheels can be the edge you’ve been missing.

Conclusion

When you're racing for every hundredth of a second, trusted feedback becomes very important for your progress. A front brake speed sensor kit is an investment, yes, but the insights it provides can be life-changing. In a sport where control is speed, it's the silent data that tends to speak the loudest.

[itsworn]

Inside BigStuff3’s New GEN4 ECU

We like analogies, so let’s hit you with something right off the mark. As good as the BigStuff3 GEN3 EFI control system is, the step up to the new GEN4 will be like stepping out of a P-51 Mustang and climbing straight into the U.S. arsenal’s current F-35 Lightning fighter. As good as the P-51 once was, it is just not on the same page as something as awesome and impressive as the F-35. Head-to-head – it’s anything but a fair fight.

The BigStuff3 GEN4 ECU is a technological leap that will never make you nostalgic for even your best aftermarket ECU. It’s that good.

John Meaney’s new GEN4 ECU will set new standards for EFI control for high-end race engines. This is Mike Moran’s dyno cell at Moran Motorsports where he has been using BigStuff3 EFI from the outset.

Let’s take a moment and look closely at state-of-the-art high performance and racing engines from the big-picture side of things. Precise control over spark, fuel, and nearly every other facet of making power (like boost and engine knock) has been the key to all the big advancements in the horsepower escalation game. Better yet, this same digital control is also responsible for planting all that power to accelerate down the track. All of this is possible because of digital control. Starting now, the game is changing for the better.

Imagine your boss has thrown a huge project at you. You have 16 assistants, but they’re slow, and all their effort must funnel through a single outlet. Work is accomplished but not at the pace you would prefer. Then, your boss does something amazing – he doubles the size of your workforce and feeds them all Red Bull, so now you’re cranking out work at twice the speed. Plus, he’s eliminated that cumbersome bottleneck. Now you can really get work done!

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, and you certainly can’t tell how much technological sophistication is stuffed into this rather small ECU. But all the material covered in this story is housed in this little aluminum box. And, it will plug right into the GEN3’s harness.

That’s a taste of what BigStuff3’s new GEN4 ECU will do.

Here’s where we have to trudge around in computer speak for a moment, but only because the numbers are so extraordinary. The current BigStuff3 ECU utilizes a single core, 16-bit processor that runs at 20 MHz (Mega-hertz), and holds both the e.t. and mph records for a turbo car in NHRA Pro Mod, so it’s no slouch! The new GEN4 utilizes a dual-core, 32-bit processor that runs both cores at 260 MHz and has integrated Ethernet – yikes. But that’s just the beginning.

There’s so much to cover it’s hard to know where to start. Right off, the Pro Extreme offers excellent access to a display like this for wide band oxygen sensor display for all eight cylinders. This can be pulled directly from data logged material or transmitted wirelessly in real time for dyno work.

Older ECU’s were forced to process everything through a single, funnel-like chokepoint. The GEN4 applies peripherals (mini-processors if you will) that do much of the menial work so the main portion of the ECU is free to do more fast-moving work. If you had six mini-me’s to do all the mundane tasks in your life, imagine how much more you could accomplish. GEN4 employs six ultra fast peripherals that process all the mundane stuff, allowing its already high-speed computer to operate even faster. Another thing to keep in mind is that one core is busy running the engine while the second core is doing all the data acquisition tasks. Both cores process their algorithms in parallel and data needed for both is shared via a high-speed bridge. By processing in parallel, twice as much work is accomplished.

This is where the Ethernet comes in. This is a network process that allows the BigStuff3’s now lightning-quick processor to take in ridiculously more data than ever before. So with this faster processor and its peripheral helpers, the GEN4 can deliver tons more data to the tuner in record time. Ethernet is not new technology in the computer world, but for automotive ECUs, it’s the sharp end of the spear.

The Pro Extreme GEN4 also offers custom gauge display as well. Here, Meaney has simply lined up all eight EGT gauges for this display, but you can arrange the gauges and displays in many different orientations.

In fact, the OE’s are just starting to use Ethernet. They have already by-passed USB (because of noise issues), and CAN (their bus of choice in the past) is now entirely too slow. Ethernet also allows for wireless interfaces along with internet access and is robust even in noisy environments. Each GEN4 ECU has its own MAC (media access control) address, which is a unique identifier to anything connected onto the World Wide Web. All of this is new to aftermarket ECU’s for the performance industry. Of course, this makes remote tuning much simpler as well. We’re talking industry firsts here!

Ethernet speed allows Big Stuff3’s GEN4 ECU to not just record all this data, but to excavate it for game-changing tuning advances. GEN4 will take in enormous quantities of data, process it with your input, and apply it in millisecond fashion back to both the engine and chassis as the car runs down the track.

BigStuff3 has owned a big portion of drag racing EFI for over a decade with 10-plus NHRA Stock, Comp, Super Stock, and Pro Mod championships. Bruno Massel has won his share of races with BigStuff3, including the NHRA Competition Eliminator championship in 2012.

Just how fast is the Ethernet? BigStuff3 founder, John Meaney reports that the current BigStuff3 ECU communicates at 9,600 bits per second. The new GEN4 can bring in data at a mind-boggling 100 million (100,000,000) bits per second. That’s 10,416 times faster. We need to dwell on this speed for a moment. A millisecond is one thousandth of a second.  At 10,000 rpm on a V8 engine, it takes 12 milliseconds to fire all eight cylinders.  The GEN4 ECU can wirelessly transmit a packet of combustion pressure data every 100 microseconds. A microsecond is one millionth of a second. The data transfer rate is 15 times faster than the next cylinder fires, so the GEN4 isn’t even working hard to record data even on a 10,000 rpm V8.  This uncovers enormous opportunities for data that was previously unattainable.

The new GEN4, when coupled to the BigStuff3 Big Band RIMs (remote interface modules), has the ability to go closed loop on air fuel ratio in each cylinder. The high speed Ethernet sends the air fuel ratio information from each cylinder to the main processor in real-time, which, in turn, adjusts the fuel flow to each cylinder maintaining a constant air fuel ratio per cylinder.

This screen displays spark retard (SR) over time for First gear. In this example, ignition timing is retarded to -10.4 degrees (01.-degree increments) at 1.55 seconds into the run and is maintained long after the car would be out of First Gear.

With Ethernet capability, this is clearly where data logging will shine. Consider the GEN4’s industry first ability to look at a cylinder pressure trace for 8 or even 12 cylinders operating with a resolution of 0.5 degree. The opportunities for learning what each cylinder wants with regard to timing and fuel are enormous. That’s like cheating on your final exam in college where the professor asks you to make more power. Granted, you still have to wade through the data, but having it virtually gives you the answers!

But speed isn’t everything. The new GEN4 will offer sophistication that has previously never been seen. The GEN4’s real potential is its ability to do more high-level processing. According to Meaney, “There’s a lot of hardware/software architecture necessary to make this all happen. The whole premise is to off-load the cores so they can do the more difficult calculations, like calculating the optimum spark angle that will give the greatest area under the pressure curve in the right spot. With this information you can then find out which cylinders are working hard and which ones aren’t.”

There’s also control of a different nature that’s important. The GEN4 kit comes with its own wireless router and power supply. This transmits all that logged data to your laptop – wirelessly. Meaney showed us an example by running an engine on the dyno, closed loop on all 8 cylinders with a large steel door and cement walls separating the laptop from the ECU in the cell. Yet the laptop streamed live data while we watched. While not moving from that same spot, he logged into another GEN4 ECU that was in a running a vehicle outside the building (again through closed steel doors and block walls), as we viewed real time combustion pressure data. So the crew chief or tuner could stand next to the car in the staging lanes and, as long as the ECU is powered up, he could make wireless changes with a couple of keystrokes.

Under the Cylinder Pressure Logger screen, this screen is spark advance vs. crank angle. This reveals the pressure trace in a mild street LS engine that happens to be in Meaney’s parts chaser pickup. Note the small hiccup in the pressure rise curve indicatinga mild timing adjustment may be necessary.

The new ECU also incorporates two, high-speed CAN bus interfaces. One of the CAN busses is for a touch screen dash, which allows bidirectional communications between the ECU and dash. This allows for swapping between multiple fuel, spark, lambda, boost, and traction control maps. The rev limiters and select offsets are also tunable from the dash, which also displays EGTs and lambdas from all 8 cylinders, along with 25 other variables. You can even add up to 2 cameras.

Another unique feature is the multiple fuel/spark/lambda control maps (FSLs). These can be enabled manually through the touch screen dash, by gear or time. Instead of using one 32×32 map, Meaney elected to use multiple 24×24 maps for each. It’s like having a 96X96 map. This way, with the map tied to a gear change, you now gain much greater resolution and better spark and fuel control. Five gear / speed and individual cylinder fuel and 8×8 spark curves are now also available as a function of speed and load.

With all this speed and sophistication – the advantages approach exponential. Now the ECU has the ability to change the spark advance angle in 0.010-of a degree with 4 maps to allow more resolution and control over big injectors. This extends to injector phase end angle – which is another critical factor in tuning. On big-inch engines, optimizing this can be worth 20 hp.

This leads now to engine tuners who can monitor operations that before were somewhat of a mystery. Consider a pair of turbochargers spinning at 150,000 rpm, each with a 10-blade turbine. That’s 3 million interrupts per second. The GEN4 can record that. For traction control at Bonneville, current technology calls for two 52-tooth ABS wheels (one each, front and back) operating at 200,000 to 250,000 pulses per wheel per minute – no problem. The input (TISS – 31 pulses per rev) and output (TOSS – 40 pulses per rev) speed counters on a 4L80E generate plenty of speed data, then add in a 60-2x crank (58x) and a 13x cam sensor. All of this data is no challenge for the GEN4.

While this may appear intimidating, it merely reveals 33 different items that can be displayed simultaneously on a strip recording chart based on time. It’s likely a tuner will pare this down to perhaps six or 8 parameters so the information display is a little easier to digest.

Pressure sensing is critical to data gathering. The old Gen3 recorded 52 channels, like fuel, oil, and transmission line pressure at 50 Hz (50 times per second). While that’s pretty good, the GEN4 records between 400 and 500 channels at 1,000 times per second. That’s 20 times faster with more than 8 times the number of channels.

Engine control needs all this speed for better optimization. The new GEN4 will offer individual cylinder fuel control even up to 12 cylinders. Plus, with such a lightning-fast data capture rate, it becomes obvious that the faster you can capture the data from the engine, the faster the ECU can respond to make a change.

If there is one over-riding point to the entire GEN4’s approach to modern performance engine management, it is control. With control and accurate data, many of the mysteries of race engine tuning can finally be quantified and manipulated to your advantage. Good engine builders and tuners are control freaks and GEN4 is the latest weapon in that on-going battle.

The tool bar across the top of the this screen reveals 14 different main tuning parameters from left to right – System, Fuel Settings, Startup/Idle, Air-Fuel Ratio (AFR), Ignition settings, Individual Cylinder Fuel and Spark (ICFS), Spark Retard 2 / Engine Torque Management (SR2/ETM -Traction Control), Boost Control, Starting Line, Transmission (spark and fuel control), Data Logger, Generic (user-configured), E85 fuel settings, and Nitrous control.

Control Freaks Rejoice

So far, this story has been big sky type stuff about the GEN4’s tremendous potential. While much of this has been carried over from the GEN3, you now have even more control with more speed. Let’s talk spark timing, fuel and Lambda tables with individual corrections for each cylinder. Individual cylinder fuel and spark tables can be based on a combination of speed and load, as opposed to just rpm. Each of these 8 tables can be as large as 24×24. That resolution offers greater finite control, which is why this system is so powerful.

The GEN4 also offers 5 pulse-width modulated (PWM) control outputs. These can be used to control nitrous solenoids or lockup on a multi-disc torque converter. For the converter, you could specify how many times the converter locks up. In other words, you can specific up to three separate converter lock-ups per pass down the track if that’s what’s necessary. For cars with big power and small tires, that will keep the tires from spinning on the gear change. This is just one feature out of dozens that are incorporated into the Gen4.

Pro Extreme can keep track of shock travel for each of the four corners on the car and display the logged data as a gauge.

Multiple Mapping

Among the most dominant GEN4 features is its capacity for multiple mapping. While there are perhaps hundreds of scenarios in which this is possible, Meaney offered this by way of explanation. Let’s say we have a turbocharged V8 with a four-speed transmission. With a single map limited to even something as large as a 32×32 grid, there are still resolution limitations when dealing with an engine that can run to 8,500 rpm and boost ranging from 10 to 40 psi.

The GEN4 offers the ability to use a set of 5 maps per gear. Each set includes the fuel, spark, lambda, individual cylinder spark (ICS), and individual cylinder fuel (ICF) corrections. For turbo cars, another complete set of maps is used just to help bring the engine on boost when the 3-step/trans brake is enabled.

Here’s how this works. In First gear, even with the potential for 40 psi of boost, the car can only really use 10 psi before inducing tire spin. The initial 24×24 map encompasses the 0 to 8,500 rpm range and the -15 to 40 psi load range.  Once the car shifts into Second gear, Map 2 is enabled. However, its rpm range now could be from 6,000 to 8,500 and the boost range from 10 to 20 psi. By decreasing the range of both the rpm & boost, we still have the 24 break points each, which will now provide much higher resolution and control. The 2,500-rpm span (6,000 to 8,500) is now divided into 24 columns and the 10 psi range (10 psi – 20 psi) into 24 rows. In Third gear, the boost now traverses between 20 and 30 psi and will use Map 3. Once in Fourth gear, maps offering control between 30 and 40 psi will use Map 4. In each gear, the tuner has the opportunity to adjust within the map with sufficient resolution so that overlapping compromises are a thing of the past.

BIGSTUFF3 GEN4 FEATURES 8GB, 400 channels, 1,000Hz on-board data logger Ethernet wireless high speed communications – 100 million bits/sec 8-channel closed loop 02 with IC set points 8 channel EGT with safety shutdown. In-Cylinder pressure sensor capability (up to 12 cylinders) 3-axis accelerometer with 3-axis gyro can process pitch (X axis), roll (Y-axis) and suspension compression (Z-axis). In the past, most accelerometers dealt with only the X and Y planes. The Z-axis adds even more data. Plugs directly into existing Big Stuff3 harness Integrated barometer Bi-directional touch screen dash – allows 4 Map control (FSL), 3 boost curves, 3 TC curves, rev limiters and select offsets. Dual CAN-busses FFT shock travel analysis – Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) converts the speed and accelerations of a shock absorber into a frequency that can be used to analyze shock absorber movement. 12 Generic tables with selectable data sources per axis (10) for fuel, spark, lambda, and boost. Programmable PWM outputs for TCC lockup, PWM NOS, etc. Fuel pressure safety

Firmware (FW) upgradable options: Real-time E85 sensor, CO2 boost controller, 4L80E/60E trans control, traction control (SR2.3), DAI & DAE2 – All of these firmware upgrades can be downloaded directly from the Internet 6-stage dry nitrous control – potential to combine run pulse-width modulated (PWM) nitrous and 6-stages of nitrous together for finite N2O control DAI – Data Logging Internal – This system captures data without the need for an external laptop. BigStuff GEN3’s limit was 52 channels at 50Hz over 5 minutes.  GEN4 is 400-500 channels at 1000 Hz for 15 minutes.  All the data is written to a SD card and is permanent. DAE – Data Logging External – fuel pressure, oil pressure, turbo back pressure, input and output trans rpm sensors (TISS and TOSS), and pan vacuum DAE2 – 4 shocks, nitrous bottle pressure, dual turbo shaft speed sensors, 52X front/rear ABS rpm sensors, additional generic I/O and A/D (analog to digital) inputs

Non-Firmware Upgradeable Options: Dual Bosch LSU4.9 WBO2 Dual NTK WBO2 for methanol Single NTK WBO2 for methanol 16 Injectors using Big Drive Injector drivers All of these non-firmware upgrades can be enabled by purchasing the associated harness and hardware.

The post Inside BigStuff3’s New GEN4 ECU appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[djgblogger-blog]

Robohub Digest 07/17: World record breaking drones, bio-inspired ‘bots and roadblocks ahead for self-driving cars in Asia

http://bit.ly/2vDvod4

A quick, hassle-free way to stay on top of robotics news, our robotics digest is released on the first Monday of every month. Sign up to get it in your inbox.

Robots in action

From wacky talking Einsteins to clumsy security ‘bots, from speedy drones to the underwater operations at Fukushima, it’s been another busy month. So let’s kick off our July review with a look at robots in action!

Up in the air

You’d be forgiven for missing this first one. Zipping by at a record speed of 179.3 mp/h (288.6 km/h), The Drone Racing League’s new RacerX drone lays claim to the “fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter.” The team behind the drone buzzed into the Guinness Book of World Records while performing a number of drag races along a 100-meter course in upstate New York. The aircraft, which weighs in at 0.8 kg, recorded an average top speed of 163.5 mp/h (263.1 km/h).

Flying a lot higher and—technically—a lot faster, this next innovation takes the form of a cute, spheroid camera drone that predictably drew comparisons to everyone’s favorite interstellar droid-ball, BB-8. Released aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Japanese-made Int-Ball will not only save crewmembers time by snapping pictures of experiments, but could also improve robotic-human cooperation in future space expeditions according to a statement from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

But if you really don’t want flying robots in your airspace (and you don’t have a trained sparrowhawk on-hand), then check out this testing of anti-drone weapons designed to blow prying eyes out of the sky. Could we be on the cusp of an anti-drone arms race?

In the lab

July saw more researchers challenging the traditional anthropomorphic vision of robot motion. Take a look at these new innovations and you’ll see that the concept of a rickety, two legged android helper is beginning to look rather dated.

For example: a new type of vine-inspired robot created by mechanical engineers at Stanford University could soon be squirming through the rubble of collapsed buildings. Like natural organisms that cover distance by growing—such as fungi and nerve cells—the researchers have made a proof of concept of their soft, growing robot and have run it through some challenging tests. From one end of the cylinder, a tendril can extend into a mass of stones or dirt, like a fast-climbing vine. And a camera at the tip of the tendril can potentially offer rescuers a view of otherwise unreachable places.

Meanwhile, a team of researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard University has created battery-free folding robots that are capable of complex, repeatable movements powered and controlled through a wireless magnetic field. There are many applications for this kind of minimalist robotic technology. For example: rather than having an uncomfortable endoscope put down their throat to assist a doctor with surgery, a patient could just swallow a micro-robot that could move around and perform simple tasks like holding tissue or filming—all powered by a coil outside the patient’s body. Furthermore, using large source coils could enable wireless, battery-free communication between multiple “smart” objects in an entire home.

And check this out: a pair of new computational methods developed by a team of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Toronto and Adobe Research has taken steps towards automating the design of the dynamic mechanisms behind jumping movements in robots. Their methods generate simulations that match the real-world behaviors of flexible devices at rates 70-times faster than previously possible and provide critical improvements in the accuracy of simulated collisions and rebounds. These methods are both fast and accurate enough to be used to automate the design process used to create dynamic mechanisms for controlled jumping.

Health and rehabilitation

One of the most inspiring and positive applications of robotics and AI is within the field of medicine and rehabilitation. Just take the following story for example. With the assistance of its human handlers, Toyota’s Human Support Robot wheeled into a paralyzed military veteran’s home on a mission: to support the quadriplegic patient and, in the process, pave the way for truly useful care robots. Check out the video below.

Leveraging similar technology to that applied in their self-driving golf buggies and autonomous electric cars, MIT and Singaporean researchers have developed and deployed a self-driving wheelchair at a hospital. Spearheaded by Daniela Rus and Erna Viterbi (professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory), this autonomous wheelchair is an extension of the self-driving scooter that launched at MIT last year.

Meanwhile, July also brought some fantastic new developments in robotic driven harness devices designed to improve mobility in disabled people. A team led by Sunil Agrawal, professor of mechanical engineering and of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine at Columbia Engineering has published a pilot study in Science Robotics that demonstrates a robotic training method that improves posture and walking in children with crouch gait—caused by cerebral palsy—by enhancing their muscle strength and coordination.

Similarly, a recent paper published in Science Translational Medicine by a team lead by Courtine-Lab addresses the issue of regaining movement in spinal chord injury (SPI) and stroke patients. The research focuses on multi-directional gravity assist harnesses to aid in rehabilitation. Check out the video below.

Mapping and exploration

An underwater drone, nicknamed “Little Sunfish”, has captured previously unseen shots of underwater damage at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The RC marine vehicle, which is about the size of a loaf of bread, has been sent into the primary containment vessel of the Unit 3 reactor in an attempt to locate melted fuel. Tepco spokesman Takahiro Kimoto told the Japan Times that video taken by the robot over three days shows clumps of what is likely to be melted fuel. “This means something of high temperature melted some structural objects and came out. So it is natural to think that melted fuel rods are mixed with them,” he said.

Exemplified by the operation at Fukushima, the need for fast, accurate 3D mapping solutions has quickly become a reality for many industries. As such, Clearpath Robotics decided this month to team up with Mandala Robotics to demonstrate how easily you might implement 3D mapping on a Clearpath robot.

Fun and games

Comedy is subjective. One person’s epic fail is another person’s fit of hilarity. This month, a lot of people were having a good laugh at a suicidal security ‘bot at an office and retail complex in Washington D.C. who drove itself into a fountain. The egg-shaped robot, known as the K5 Autonomous Data Machine, drew both sympathy and jeers after it stumbled down a set of steps and into the water. The photos were widely shared. Fish that one out.

The K5 security robot fell into a fountain in Washington, D.C.

If expensive punchlines are your thing, then you might also be interested in the $300 USD Professor Einstein robot now available on eBay. Hanson Robotics’ expressive, wacky robotic character can chat about science, tell jokes, check on the weather and, naturally, quote Einstein himself. It connects to a companion app with games, videos, and interactive lessons And yeah, it’s constantly sticking its tongue out (of course).

Finally, last month we saw a group of students in England develop a robot to pull the perfect pint. This month, it’s cocktails! The Cocktail Bot 4.0 consists of five robots with one high-level goal: mix more than 20 possible drink combination for you!

Business & politics

Last month saw two robotics-related companies get $50 million each and 17 others raised $248 million for a monthly total of $348 million. Acquisitions also continued to be substantial with SoftBank’s acquisition of Google’s robotic properties Boston Dynamics and Schaft plus two others acquisitions.

Indeed, two reputable research resources in July reported that the robotics industry is growing more rapidly than expected. BCG (Boston Consulting Group) is conservatively projecting that the market will reach $87 billion by 2025; Tractica, incorporating the robotic and AI elements of the emerging self-driving industry, is forecasting the market will reach $237 billion by 2022.

Meanwhile, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) has acquired Pittsburgh, PA-based robotics firm Aethon Inc through Vision Technologies Land Systems, Inc. (VTLS), and its wholly-owned subsidiary, VT Robotics, Inc, for $36 million. The acquisition will be carried out by way of a merger with VT Robotics, a special newly incorporated entity established for the transaction. The merger will see Aethon as the surviving entity that will operate as a subsidiary of VTLS, and will be part of the the ST Group’s Land Systems sector. Aethon’s leadership team and employees will remain in place and the company will continue to operate out of its Pittsburgh, PA location.

And if you’re looking for funding them check this out: The Robotics Hub, in collaboration with Silicon Valley Robotics, is looking to invest up to $500,000 in robotics, AI and sensor startups! Finalists also receive exposure on Robohub and space in the new Silicon Valley Robotics Cowork Space. Plus you get to pitch your startup to an audience of top VCs, investors and experts. Entries close August 31.

Remember Tertill, the weed whacking robot? The response to Tertill’s crowdfunding campaign has amazed and delighted! Pledges totalling over $250,000 have come from 1000+ backers, and Tertill is shipping to all countries, with over a fifth of Tertill’s supporters coming from outside the United States. 11th of July was the last full day of the campaign. The discounted campaign price is no longer available and delivery in time for next year’s—northern hemisphere—growing season cannot be assured.

Self-driving news

In the race to develop self-driving technology, Chinese Internet giant Baidu unveiled its 50+ partners in an open source development program, revised its timeline for introducing autonomous driving capabilities on open city roads, described the Project Apollo consortium and its goals, and declared Apollo to be the ‘Android of the autonomous driving industry’.

Staying in China, authorities there are creating roadblocks for U.S. auto makers and tech companies to bringing self-driving cars to the world’s largest auto market by limiting the amount of mapping that can be done by foreign companies.

And there could be more trouble ahead in the Asian market as India—another powerhouse in the region—could say no to self driving cars in general by banning their use entirely. ‘In a country where you have unemployment, you can’t have a technology that ends up taking people’s jobs,’ roads minister Nitin Gadkari says.

Conversely, lawmakers in the USA say self-driving cars are the future and federal law needs updating to ensure they’re developed and deployed in the United States. A panel approved a bill to boost testing of self-driving vehicles. The bill prohibits any state from imposing its own laws related to the design and construction of self-driving cars. Federal officials say 94% of auto accidents are caused by human error, so self-driving technology has the potential to save thousands of lives and improve the mobility of many elderly and disabled Americans. The Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution Act, or SELF DRIVE, bill has hit the House of Representatives.

And you can read Brad Templeton’s take on all the news and commentary from July’s AUVSI/TRB Automated Vehicle Symposium 2017. It’s an odd mix of business and research, but also the oldest self-driving car conference.

Drone News

Drone manufacturers and designers have managed to shrink drone technology in recent years, even creating flying prototypes at a near insect scale. But the toughest task has been shrinking down the brains of the operation. Now, engineers at MIT have taken a first step in designing a computer chip that uses a fraction of the power of larger drone computers and is tailored for a drone as small as a bottlecap. They presented a new methodology and design, which they call “Navion,” at the Robotics: Science and Systems conference, held at MIT.

Perhaps shrinking UAVs might also go some way to addressing the problem of sonic irritation? A preliminary NASA study has discovered that people find the noise of drones more annoying than that of ground vehicles, even when the sounds are the same volume. “We didn’t go into this test thinking there would be this significant difference,” says Andrew Christian of NASA’s Langley Research Center, Virginia. “It is almost unfortunate the research has turned up this difference in annoyance levels,” he adds, “as its purpose was merely to prove that Langley’s acoustics research facilities could contribute to NASA’s wider efforts to study drones.”

Meanwhile, an unrelated study by the UK government on the danger of drones colliding with aircraft has drawn criticism from manufacturers.  The Department for Transport (DfT) report recommended registration and competency testing, saying helicopters were especially vulnerable to drones. The Drone Manufacturers Alliance Europe (DMAE) has questioned the evidence gathered in the report and says some of the testing is flawed.

In other safety news, DJI has responded to reports of its drones randomly switching off mid-flight and dropping out of the sky. According to at least 14 users, DJI Spark drones have switched off and crashed into various areas ranging from open fields to lakes or forests. But luckily no crowded areas yet. DJI told Fortune in a statement that it is working to address the crash incidents going forward: “DJI is aware of a small number of reports involving Spark drones that have lost power mid-flight. Flight safety and product reliability are top priorities. Our engineers are thoroughly reviewing each customer case and working to address this matter urgently,” the statement read. “We are looking to implement additional safeguards with a firmware update which will be issued soon. When prompted on the DJI GO 4 App, we recommend all customers to connect to the internet and update their aircraft’s firmware to ensure a safe flight when flying their Spark,” the company added.

Learn

An interdisciplinary workshop on self-organization and swarm intelligence in cyber physical systems was held at Lakeside Labs in July. Experts presented their work and discussed open issues in this exciting field. Click here to watch some videos from the workshop.

July also welcomed The Second Edition of the award-winning Springer Handbook of Robotics, edited by Bruno Siciliano and Oussama Khatib. The contents of the first edition have been restructured to achieve four main objectives: the enlargement of foundational topics for robotics, the enlightenment of design of various types of robotic systems, the extension of the treatment on robots moving in the environment, and the enrichment of advanced robotics applications. Most previous chapters have been revised, fifteen new chapters have been introduced on emerging topics, and a new generation of authors have joined the handbook’s team.

Elsewhere, Mike Salem from Udacity’s Robotics Nanodegree is hosting a series of interviews with professional roboticists as part of their free online material. You can watch the interview with Nick Kohut, Co-Founder and CEO of Dash Robotics, below. Stay tuned to Robohub throughout August to see more featured interviews from Udacity.

And finally, check out Peter Feuilherade’s article on rescue robots, and Christoph Salge’s article on how Azimov’s laws might not be sufficient to rescue humanity from robots. I’ll leave it to you to muddle through the implicit dichotomy. Or I’ll just see you next month for all the latest Robot related news and views!

Enjoy.

Upcoming events for August – September 2017

Farm Progress Show: August 29–31, 2017, Decatur, IL

World of Drones Congress (WoDC): August 31–September 2, 2017, Brisbane, Australia

Interdrone: September 6–8, 2017, Las Vegas, NV

FSR 2017: September 12–15, 2017, Zurich, Switzerland

RobotWorld: September 13–16, 2017, Seoul, South Korea

IEEE Africon: September 18–20, 2017, Cape Town, South Africa

ROS Con: September 21–22, 2017, Vancouver, BC

IROS 2017: September 24–28, 2017, Vancouver, BC

RoboBusiness: September 27–28, 2017, Santa Clara, CA