Join us for another exciting session of Portland's longest-running robotics meetup! This month, we're thrilled to welcome Dr. Joe Cole, an honored member of our community, who will be presenting on Teaching Physical AI with the PARTS Common Platform.

Abstract

At Rose City Robotics, we use hands-on robotics to bridge the gap between abstract AI and real-world autonomy. In our Engineer Boldly: AI Robotics Sprint, students learn physical AI by building and programming mobile robots that perceive, map, and act in the physical world using modern tools such as ROS 2, LiDAR-based SLAM, and deep-learning-based perception.

This talk describes how we use the PARTS Common Platform robot as a shared, open foundation for teaching embodied intelligence. Students train and deploy object-detection models, experiment with imitation and reinforcement learning, and confront the real challenges of noisy sensors, imperfect models, and hardware constraints. By learning AI directly on physical robots, participants develop an intuition for autonomy that cannot be gained from simulation alone.

I’ll share lessons learned, example student projects, and why accessible, community-designed platforms like the Common Platform are essential for educating the next generation of roboticists.

Who Should Attend This presentation is designed for robotics enthusiasts of all levels. Whether you're a professional engineer, a hobbyist, a student, or simply curious about the intersection of AI and robotics, you'll find valuable insights in this talk.

About the Speaker Dr. Joseph (Joe) Cole is a distinguished figure in the Portland robotics community and an honored member of P.A.R.T.S. With a Ph.D. in Applied Physics, Joe brings over 20 years of experience developing computer vision and machine learning algorithms.

As the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Rose City Robotics, Joe is currently focused on building robots for many tasks. His extensive background includes work at Northrop Grumman, Applied Materials, and YorLabs, specializing in image processing and applied physics.

Joe has been a valued contributor to the Portland Area Robotics Society, regularly sharing his expertise through presentations and helping to bridge the gap between professional robotics development and our local community.

About P.A.R.T.S. The Portland Area RoboTics Society (P.A.R.T.S.) is THE longest-running robotics meetup in Portland. We are an Oregon non-profit formed to help those interested in learning about and building robots. Our monthly meetings are open to the public and welcome everyone from professionals to amateurs, students to professors, engineers to artists. P.A.R.T.S. members explore all aspects of robotics and work toward expanding communication between robot enthusiasts. We share ideas, experience, and enthusiasm for building robots in an informal and supportive environment.

What to Bring

Your curiosity and questions A robot (working or not) if you'd like to share or get help A notebook or laptop for capturing ideas After the Presentation As always, there will be time for Q&A and informal discussions after the presentation. This is your chance to connect with other robotics enthusiasts, share your projects, and get feedback from the community.

Dave Shinsel will provide an overview of available depth sensors, and a deep-dive on Intel’s RealSense depth sensors, including a new sensor that adds visual SLAM capability. He will discuss how these sensors work in conjunction with Computer Vision technologies for various robotics applications, including object avoidance, person interaction, object recognition and localization, and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). Further the talk will cover how to access these capabilities via their ROS wrappers.

Dave Shinsel is the Lead Robotics Architect in Intel’s Perceptual Computing Group. He has an extensive background in all levels of robotics, with particular focus on vision and sensing technologies. Prior to this role, Dave was the Director of the Intel® RealSense SDK, created and led the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers, and led development of the graphics drivers for the Apple MacBook* Air. In his “spare time,” Dave has been building robots for fifteen years. He has received a "Backyard Genius Award" from Popular Mechanics magazine, won a number of robot competitions, and competed on TV in the Syfy Channel’s Robot Combat League, where he and his daughter (also an engineer at Intel) won the $100,000 grand prize with their 7 foot, 9 inches tall, fighting robot, "Crash." Dave is well known in the Maker community for his sophisticated 4 foot tall humanoid robot, Loki.

The Robot Film Festival (RFF) is an annual celebration of robots on screen and in performance. The event features screenings of invited films and juried selections from open- call submissions, live performances by robot entertainers, and a red-carpet awards ceremony.

The eighth annual Robot Film Festival is themed VINTAGE ARCADE REVIVAL. What would the robots of today look like through the lens of 1980's technoptimists? Enter a technological storytelling time machine, and see the modern world through their eyes.

Event Schedule: 4pm Short Film Screenings 6pm Cocktail Party 8pm Botskers Award Cememony

Over the course of the festivities, attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful Pearl District; savor delicious locally-made food and beverages, appreciate robotic demonstrations and art exhibits, and discuss the richly varied and thematically curated screening sessions.

History: RFF was founded in New York City in 2011 with the mission of spreading positive storytelling about robotics. Since then, the Festival has expanded its influence with events in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles. The event is produced by an interdisciplinary team of roboticists, filmmakers, and storytellers. Through these traveling screenings and its online video archives, RFF nurtures a community of creatives and engineers who explore, document, and invent the imaginative world of robotics.

In this talk, Tom Sommerville will discuss various materials available across a selection of 3D Printing technologies, their properties, and some of the considerations when selecting the materials for a task. He will also discuss the various printer technologies that are readily accessible (either consumer level printers, or through services such as Quickparts, ProtoLabs, and Shapeways, to name a few), suggesting pros and cons for each technology when applied to a typical project.