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Subject: 
Re: Possible Project here at RIT =)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Mon, 9 Aug 1999 21:31:00 GMT
Viewed: 
877 times
  
[mailed @ posted]

lego-robotics@crynwr.com (Andrew Phelps) wrote:

Just to kick around some ideas --

A friend (Jeff Battisti (sp?)) and I are kicking around the idea of getting
a student group together to make an exploratory mapper 'bot using the
Mindstorms kit and either nqc of the Java bindings...

What we want is a machine that will, essentially, figure out its
surroundings, relay this information to the IR tower, which will put in into
memory spaces, from which a Java program will read the data, and, through
the EAI, use the writeVrmlFromString function to actively update a VRML
scene with the info, creating the display to the user.  Neat huh?

Anyway, we are jsut in the planning stages, thinking about designing the
bot, thinkg about whether to use nqc, and use the JNI to get java and C
talking or if the Java bindings have enough for us to do what we need...

we'll likely start with a stationary robot and (hopefully) a proximity
sensor, such that we can have the bot rotate,scan,rotate,scan and compile
the data into a yes/no object system and create blocks a certian hight for
each scan (distancing the clocks from the camera based on proximity such
that the camera in the VRML scene is at 0,0 as is the bot...accounting for
the size of the bot should be fun =). Then it could rescan new areas, create
additional VRML, update the scene, and keep going.

Anyway, this sounded fun to me, thought I'd see if anyone has done something
similar, in searching for suitable documentation of issues, and just helpful
advice in general.  The eventual goal is to showcase one of the benefits of
3D technology, to visualize at a distance what (in theory) cannot be locally
explored (although obviously we are not sending our little lego beast
anywhere that is toxic or otherwise hazardous...yet...<g>)

Thanks for reading, ideas appreciated,

Howdy Andy (and everyone else),

FWIW, I've _just_ completed a project very similar to this.

There's all kinds of info on it at:

  http://www.cs.tamu.edu/people/jkp2866/cpsc643/explorerbot.html

including source and pictures.

Feel free to rip (cites would be nice) whatever you want and
make it better.  I know there are a lot of ways it can be
improved (as mentioned in the report).

Let us/me know how it goes.

jack
j-perdue@tamu.edu
http://www.cs.tamu.edu/people/jkp2866/



Message is in Reply To:
  RE: Possible Project here at RIT =)
 
Just to kick around some ideas -- A friend (Jeff Battisti (sp?)) and I are kicking around the idea of getting a student group together to make an exploratory mapper 'bot using the Mindstorms kit and either nqc of the Java bindings... What we want is (...) (25 years ago, 31-Jul-99, to lugnet.robotics)

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