Morgan Quigley

Research work has included the Robot Operating System (ROS) and a variety of low-cost robotic systems, including arms, hands, and localization methods.

Past projects include:
OVC: The Open Vision Computer (OVC) is an open-source (hardware, software, firmware) smart-camera project which runs ROS internally. This device is designed particularly for space- and mass-constrained applications, such as small drones or robot heads.
Sandia STEPPR and WANDRR robots: In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories and others at OSRF and elsewhere, I designed the electrical systems and firmware for the Sandia STEPPR and WANDRR high-efficiency biped robots, supported by the DARPA M3 program. The program goal was to create human-size walking machines that required dramatically less power than prior generations of bipedal robots. We demonstrated WANDRR at the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), where it walked for 4 hours on a single battery charge (plus another hour of standing around), covering 2.8 kilometers with an average power consumption in the 450-watt range (including all onboard electronics, computers, etc.). Video available here showing the design, assembly, and operation of the robots.
Sandia Hand: The Sandia Hand is a sensor-rich, high-DOF robotic hand. I designed and implemented its electronics (14 microcontrollers, an FPGA, 12 brushless motor drivers, a stereo camera pair, 100 tactile sensors, 13 inertial units, 4 strain gages, etc.), and its firmware and software, which are fully open source. Here is a video of the hand being teleoperated. A later version of the hand made its way onto several robots in the 2013 DARPA Robotics Challenge. This video of Lockheed Martin's TROOPER shows some footage of the hand on an ATLAS robot from Boston Dynamics.