Developer Community Spotlight: Rajdeep Adak from Arizona State University
Currently pursuing a PhD in robotic manufacturing, Rajdeep Adak is exploring how digital twins and automation can transform material extrusion processes. His journey with Wandelbots NOVA highlights how researchers and developers are accelerating innovation through simulation and intuitive software tools.
๐๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
I am a PhD student at Arizona State University. I study the dynamics of material extrusion processes to develop methods of precise control for robotic manufacturing. It sounds fancy, but in reality, it mostly involves pleading with the robot not to break while executing my poorly written robot control programs. Hence, digital twins are incredibly important to me. In a digital world, I can crash-test my robot programs without the fear of an angry advisor or a spectacular incident bill. I am only getting started with my PhD, but my ambition is to solve challenging manufacturing problems with robotics. Iโm on the hunt for any software that can help me achieve my ambition. (P.S.: I may also develop my own robot software someday if I succeed in improving my programming skills and AI doesnโt take over the world.)
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐?
I heard about it from Prof. Sangram Redkar
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฟ?
With NOVA automation workflows are really easy to develop. It minimizes the barrier to learning robot programming. I have been using it for my research, and it has sped up the pace of my work. I can spend less time behind setting up the robot and more time behind doing actual research.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ผ ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐?
Primarily, its ease-of-use that allows for a fast transfer of program from simulation to reality. The colors of NOVAโs UI theme are also very pleasing to my eyes but more importantly I like that we can program multiple robots within the same environment. (P.S.: I also secretly hate those teach pendants that make robot programming a nightmare!! In the picture, behind that fantastic smile, I am holding the teach pendant with a lot of disdain. No wonder NOVA is better.)
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐?
I think that NOVAโs development trajectory is on the right track. From an industry user perspective, it is already doing great. From a researcherโs perspective I would like to see:
- Tight integration with Isaac Sim: Reading messages from the physics scene of Isaac Sim can allow writing smart robot code.
- Making NOVA API calls from Isaac Simโs Python environment.
- Broad documentation. So slow learners like me can write good code.
Thanks to Rajdeep for being part of the Developer Community!
Robots 
People