Author: Yu Hang He, Email: hey6@unlv.nevada.edu
Date Last Modified: 07/09/2018

This week, members of the Hubo Lab invited me to a Korean BBQ restaurant. The occasion was planned for the celebration of three PHD candidates for successfully submitting their thesis papers. The entire Hubo Lab gathered together to celebrate the occasion. The lab members told me that the restaurant is very expensive and I noticed that each plate of beef cost around 10,000 to 15,000 won. Anyway, the meal was very delicious and I enjoyed the conversations with Lab members. I am very grateful for their hospitality once again.

In addition to the BBQ, I was invited to an Italian restaurant with Hubo Lab members. The restaurant is called Melting Table and it is owned by the family of Hyoubin, a Hubo lab member. The meal was delicious and a nice change of pace from all the Korean food I ate so far. I would recommend others to visit this restaurant if they have the chance to visit Daejeon.

This week, I learned more about the hierarchy in the Korean social system and the resulting difference between Korean and US customs surprised me. Anyone visiting Korea should understand the importance of social hierarchy. Age is one of the most important factor in determining this hierarchy. Basically, younger individuals should always show respect towards their seniors. That is extremely important in workplace. If someone does not greet their seniors properly, it would earn him an unfavorable reputation in the workplace. Following this hierarchy, table manners and customs are also very important. Thankfully, foreigners are excluded from this hierarchy, nevertheless, it is still important to consider this hierarchy so as not to accidentally offend others.

I missed the rain. The constant overcast sky, spontaneous downpour, and occasional thunderstorm this week reminded me how much I missed the rain. The region in China where I was born and lived for 12 years of my live have similar weather conditions as South Korea. It rarely rained in Las Vegas, therefore, I did not have the opportunity to reflect on this point before. However, now I am in South Korea, where the summer experience a raining season similar to my birthplace. I finally realized how much I missed rain.

Last week, I learned how to use Vicon motion capture system from Hubo Lab member. At the start of this week, I sat up and calibrated 4 cameras for the mocap system and used them to capture myself performing some simple motions. I created 6 distinctive markers to track the position of my right shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and foot. I recorded myself performing some simple motions like lifting arm, lifting leg, and extending arm. I learned how to use Vicon mocap system SDK to export the data points.

The next step would be to use inverse kinematic and kinematic mapping to transfer these motions into robot joint angles. With the help of Hubo Lab members and Hyun Lee, I was able to find some examples of inverse kinematic functions with Hubo 2. I am currently studying these functions and learning how to use them to accomplish my goal.

Additionally, one Hubo Lab member asked me to collaborate with him on writing a tutorial on their wiki page for the process from installing Ubuntu OS and Xenomai to installing Choreonoid Simulator and writing a new PODO ALProgram. I will also upload the information to our wiki page once I am done with the process.