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Subject: 
Inverting the robot position problem...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Wed, 28 Apr 1999 19:40:11 GMT
Viewed: 
3193 times
  
John wrote:

> I have been thinking about a different approach.  I have not actually built
> anything to use it yet, but I believe it should work reasonably well.
> 
> The basic idea is similar to the old optical mouse pads -- draw
> horizontal and vertical lines on the playing field.  Use different colors
> for the horizontal and vertical lines (easily distinguishable by the
> light sensor's greyscale values).  You can then compute relative position
> changes and from that direction of travel.  Obviously, the resolution you can
> achieve is limited to the spacing of the lines and the accuracy of
> measuring your bot's motion in between them, but it should be sufficient.
> The difficulties come from distinguishing the lighter-colored line from the
> fringe of the darker line, and the varying line widths depending on the
> angle of travel relative to the line.  For instance, travelling parallel
> to one of the axes will result in no line crossings for that axis (or
> continuously being on an axis).

This brings out a VERY interesting application. Most bots have trouble
navigating a real maze because of obvious slippage problems and generally poor
resolution of sensors. What about inverting the problem and printing (using
your favorite printer) a map using grids and lines on paper and using the
light sensor in a plotter bed.

Now you can program your "plotter" to traverse and learn the maze and
even print (using a pencil) an optimal path through the maze!

Comments? Snickers of derisive laughter? Anyone?

Cheers,

Ralph Hempel - P.Eng

--------------------------------------------------------
Check out pbFORTH for LEGO Mindstorms at:
<http://www.bmts.com/~rhempel/lego/pbFORTH/default.html>
--------------------------------------------------------
Reply to:      rhempel at bmts dot com
--------------------------------------------------------



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Inverting the robot position problem...
 
(...) You are right about the limitations of image based maze followers, but with you don't even need to get that complicated- any bot that can follow a wall using touch sensors can do a maze reasonably well. Picture a blind man walking along a (...) (27 years ago, 28-Apr-99, to lugnet.robotics)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: A robot who knows his position (fwd)
 
(...) I have been thinking about a different approach. I have not actually built anything to use it yet, but I believe it should work reasonably well. The basic idea is similar to the old optical mouse pads -- draw horizontal and vertical lines on (...) (27 years ago, 28-Apr-99, to lugnet.robotics)

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