Subject:
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POC Exploration Robot
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Thu, 16 Sep 2004 04:55:46 GMT
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Original-From:
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Mathieu Lalonde <e0nblue@ssl-mail+AvoidSpam+.com>
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Viewed:
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1119 times
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<>Hello everyone,
I am student in industrial computing (the Quebec counterpart of Computer
Science), and I am seriously considering using Lego Mindstorms for my
final project. What my teammate and I would like to do is a
proof-of-concept exploration robot (a la Mars Rover) built entirely out
of Legos.
I am posting to this list to ask the community about the feasibility of
such a project, before we invest a significant amount of money into
Mindstorms parts:
The robot would consist of two RCX microcontrollers coupled with a
variety of sensors relevant to our project (ie: temperature, atmospheric
pressure, humidity, light, etc) and a Vision Command Unit (or whatever
Lego calls it’s QuickCam rip-off), all mounted on a 4 wheel drive (or
maybe a synchro drive). It would support two modes of operation:
auto-pilot and manual.
<> A custom unix app would use the IR tower to send and receive data
from the robot. In manuel mode, the unix server would receive commands
(sensor activation, directions, etc) from a client and would transmit
then to the robot.
The first RCX’s IR module would be used for communication, and the
second IR module would be used for proximity detection (in combination
with a light sensor). In auto-pilot mode, the robot would stumble
randomly around the room until it would detect an object, where it would
stop and signal the discovery to the server, which would turn on the
robot’s cam, take a still picture (the cam is connected to the server
via USB) , parse it for pattern/color recognition and add it to a
database. To prevent multiple entries for the same object, the robot
would send its position on the ground upon the discovery of a new object
(I still haven’t found a proper way for the robot to calculate it’s
position), so that similar objects with similar coordinates would be
rejected.
<>Given the limitations of the language and the software that come with
the Mindstorms, we would like to use BrickOS/C on the robot and *nix/C++
on the server side.
<>…So, here come my questions: Is the whole thing feasible? What would
you do differently and why? What major problems are we bound to run
into? What are the drawbacks of the choices we made (BrickOS instead of
NQC or Lego’s devel software, using two RCXs, using a proximity
detector, using a 4 wheel drive vs a synchro drive, etc)? <>
Any feedback would be _greatly_ appreciated!
PS: If some people show interest in our project, I will gladly keep you
guys updated with pictures and info as we progress.
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: POC Exploration Robot
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| Mathieu, I guess this is not exactly you are looking for, but it can give some help. This is a prohject i made (most for functionality than design...) of a remote controled rover, with a (no lego) wireless camera. (URL) rover is based on kit 7471 (...) (20 years ago, 16-Sep-04, to lugnet.robotics)
| | | Re: POC Exploration Robot
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| (...) Mathieu, I think this project is defenitely doable. My first bit of advice: don't build a synchro. This will add a huge amount of complexity to the project. The great thing about synchros is the navigation accuracy, but the downside is the (...) (20 years ago, 16-Sep-04, to lugnet.robotics)
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