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ThinkPad Notebook Becomes Robot Brain

Along with the Internet of things and artificial intelligence, robotics are helping transform the world we live in. It's easy to imagine the hype around events like ABU Robocon, where university and academy representatives from around the world find out whose robot can complete the task in the allotted time.



The Kyoto University mechatronics team has achieved special results in this area: he won the Japanese student championship in 2019 and reached the quarter-finals of ABU Robocon. It is worth noting that in the model created by students, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop is used as the “brain”, which analyzes the data collected using sensors. We met some members of the circle and discussed its history, participation in competitions and the experience of using ThinkPad laptops.

How did the mechatronics circle appear?


The circle was organized in 1995 to participate in the Japan Student Robocon championships. However, due to the low popularity and limited budget, students visited only three competitions: in 2001, 2003 and 2005. Then they drew attention to other robotics tournaments and achieved good results:

“Finding an equipped workshop for such a hobby is not easy, so the circle has become just a platform uniting those interested in robots, circuitry, programming and mechanical engineering,” said Ryohei Morita, a student at Kyoto University and one of the members of the circle. - We are gathering in one place and by common efforts we find funds for financing, but in fact, everyone is busy with their own project. We do not always tell each other what we are working on. In total there are about 40 participants in the circle, most of whom study at the Faculty of Engineering, but there are exceptions - for example, pharmacists. ”

“Our club is just a platform for people who are interested in robotics, and that’s why it was able to achieve this level of autonomy,” commented Professor Fumitoshi Matsuno.

Mr. Matsuno is the head of the Mechatronics Laboratory at Kyoto University, where intelligent devices are being developed at the intersection of mechanics, electrical engineering and control systems. He also acts as an adviser to the circle, helps to ensure funding for participation in competitions and deals with administrative matters.

"What if?.."


“We got together to watch the live broadcast of Robocon 2018, and I suddenly wanted to participate. I expressed this idea for fun, and all of a sudden burst into flames, although we didn’t have enough people or money, ”recalls Morita.

Given the limited budget, students decided to enlist the financial support of former club members and gradually gathered the backbone of the future team.

“Among us were those who understand both hardware and software. By the time the official rules of the tournament were announced, we were able to assemble a team of 10 people, ”said the young man.

The guys' participation in Robocon - 2019 began with the random phrase “What if? ..”. And although the students encountered certain difficulties, they were able to create a full-fledged robot and put it to the competition. The theme of the tournament was designated as “Great Uertu”, which was inspired by the Mongolian equestrian post system.

Teams used two robots instead of mail horses. They had to go through all the obstacles and bring the "herege" (pass) to the finish line as quickly as possible. In the process, they also had to throw a “walk” (dice), and the robot had no right to complete the route until the desired result was obtained.


Robots move around the territory avoiding obstacles (source: Ulan Bator, Mongolia, ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest tournament rules book, 2019).

Robot brain


“Our robot emits infrared radiation in all directions and analyzes the received signals in order to calculate the distance to the nearest obstacles and go around them on their own. There were other robots with a similar system at the tournament, but we only guessed to use the laptop as the “brain” of the device, ”said Kotaro Matsuoka, a student at Kyoto University and a member of the circle. “Other teams used small-sized PCs, for example, Raspberry Pi, but with a laptop you have a full screen and keyboard that help solve any problems on the fly.”

I can’t even believe it


Compared with other teams, the mechatronics team at Kyoto University looked weaker. And during the qualifying rounds, and at the stages of the tournament itself, it was obvious that events did not develop at all as they were presented.

“In the test races, some teams showed results that bypassed ours for 30 seconds or more, and their robots were undoubtedly better,” Matsuoka notes. - First, we put up with the fact that we were not lucky. But in the end, each team revealed its own problems, and it was we who managed to win. ”


The team of the mechatronics club of Kyoto University, the winners of the 2019 Japanese student tournament Robocon.

Time to update


After winning the 2019 tournament, the team began preparing for the ABU Robocon competitions and faced a serious problem - insufficient computing power of the system. In order to circumvent obstacles in a timely manner, they must be "seen" in real time, and this process requires an enormous amount of computation. Therefore, the guys had to say goodbye to their old ThinkPad laptop and adopt the modern ThinkPad X1 Carbon.

“As soon as we replaced the laptop, all software problems instantly disappeared,” said Yuki Takezawa, a member of the circle, with a smile. - As for the hardware, we managed to improve the result by about 35 seconds. This allowed qualifying rounds to pass, but not the finals. However, the competitions were attended by much more technological robots, so I am pleased with the results. "


The robot “sees” its surroundings using sensors that evaluate the location and distance to obstacles based on reflected infrared rays.

The guys took 8th place among 17 participating teams and received an award for the best design. “In this tournament, robots had to raise and roll the dice. The judges were impressed that our robot was the only one who performed both actions using the same mechanism, ”Matsuoka notes.


The original solution, using the same mechanism for grabbing and throwing “walking”, helped the team get an award for the best design of the robot.

“We chose the ThinkPad X1 Carbon for many reasons, but the main thing was support for the 8th generation Intel Core - a modern processor capable of processing large amounts of data with great speed,” Takesawa said. “After a series of experiments with a relatively new laptop taken from one of the participants, we evaluated the results and realized the importance of this criterion.”

Matsuoka noted that the laptop must be able to withstand vibration, shaking and shock from collisions to which it is exposed during the movement of the robot, so strength and reliability were another important factor. In addition, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is notable for its light weight, classic rectangular case design and a good margin of autonomy - all this simplifies the installation process and further use in the construction of the robot. A large number of ports helps improve system performance by connecting additional devices and sensors.


Lenovo laptop, mounted on one of the surfaces of the robot, helps to process sensor data right in the process of moving.

“In short, everything turned out exactly as I expected. We still have an impressive margin of power and had additional opportunities thanks to the software. Just in case, we took another PC with us, but we simply did not need it, because the ThinkPad X1 Carbon handled the loads and passed all the tests, ”Matsumoto sums up.

We at Lenovo believe in an “intelligent transformation” process that helps connect the present with the future and its advanced technologies. Robots created in the mechatronics group of Kyoto University are a great example, because they are created using modern, but quite traditional technological solutions.

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