This is my progress! I will be updating this as the project develops.
5-8-2017:
Final entry:
Truthfully, my blog regularity has been lackluster, however, the project marched on nonetheless. The project has been completed and the presentation has been presented; here I would like to briefly detail the final state of the robot.
- Navigates 1-inch black electrical tape affixed to a (preferably) white surface--"road." This is accomplished via four "QTI" infrared emitter/receivers.
- Stops when detecting an object via "PING" ultrasonic sensor, effectively avoiding collisions.
- Swivels its PING sensor to detect objects in a potential direction before committing to movement thereof.
- Executes special behaviors for "four-way-stop" and "highway acceleration" when encountering red or blue color patches, respectively. These color patches are roughly 2-2 inch squares affixed adjacent to the right-hand side of the road, detected by the "ColorPal" color sensor.
- WiFi is affixed, but remains unsupported.
- Intelligent macro-navigation--through consideration of road layout, discovered obstacles, and a given destination--remains unimplemented.
Reflecting, intelligent navigation would have been an exiting goal to have conquered, but, I have learned a great deal and am very proud of the result.
3-20-2017:
Quite a lot has happened since my last update:
- New parts have been bought and put to use: PING sensor with servo--such that the robot can look at a direction other than forward before it moves there. WiFi module for bot-to-bot communication as well as bot-to-terminal communication. A simple color detecting camera for handling of "special instructions," colored sections of the "road."
- Most importantly, a set of four infrared sensors, "QTI," have been implemented. Detecting the presence of a white or black surface, these sensors constitute the means through which the bot will travel "roads."
- Roads have been defined as black electrical tape against a white surface (I have used prefinished particle board).
- Through running the QTI and PING sensors concurrently via separate cores, I feel the basics of the program are quite well implemented. The bot successfully navigates roads, including turns, intersections, and dead-ends. Additionally, the bot immediately halts when an obstacle is detected by PING. If the obstacle does not move after a short duraction, the bot will become frustrated and proceed in the opposite direction.
Goals:
- The servo for PING, which will allow it to "look before it turns," is not yet implemented. I am not worried about this though, as the infrastructure for such functionality is already present.
- The color detecting camera is not yet appended. This is a little more vague, as the goals of the "special instructions" via color are not yet clear. The idea was to convey various behaviors--like stop, slow, speed, offroad, etc.
Concerns:
- WiFi is confusing. The module can be accessed remotely (like a router), but to achieve our end goal of bot-to-bot communication is a little daunting a the moment.
- Obstacles placed outside of the conical spread of the PING sensor are invisble to the bot. I have a few potential solutions: append additional PING modules (probably one extra, lower on the chassis), or put the "whiskers" to use (I don't love these, especially with respect to potential prodding of another bot).
Here's a cool video of the bot in action thus far.
2-20-2017:
Lots of time was spent completing Parallax's (the robot's manufacturer) tutorials for programming the robot. They provide an IDE (C programming environment), called "SimpleIDE," for use with programming the robot--many useful includes are available for use, the most obvious candidates being those that provide functions for interfacing with various parts.
Using the SimpleIDE and its various functions, I've interfaced with all of the robot's parts in some way across various test programs.
8 cores are available to use and I have not yet decided how these should be divided.
I have a few ideas on how to define what a "road" will be, but the least upkeep-intensive of these is likely to use some sort of colored string or yarn that the robot will be able to recognize.
WiFi integration is something in the back of my mind, but I am not quite there yet.
1-28-2017:
I made this website!
I've bought an anti-static mat on the warning that the robot's hardware may be sensitive to shocks.
1-9-2017:
Looking through the parts and thinking about how it'll all be programmed is daunting, but I'm excited.
I can't access compsci02! I am reminded that I haven't accessed anything on SNC in quite a while; I need to get my credentials all figured out.
1-1-2017:
The robot is assembled... I'm pretty sure it is, anyway. I haven't run it yet.
Final entry:
Truthfully, my blog regularity has been lackluster, however, the project marched on nonetheless. The project has been completed and the presentation has been presented; here I would like to briefly detail the final state of the robot.
- Navigates 1-inch black electrical tape affixed to a (preferably) white surface--"road." This is accomplished via four "QTI" infrared emitter/receivers.
- Stops when detecting an object via "PING" ultrasonic sensor, effectively avoiding collisions.
- Swivels its PING sensor to detect objects in a potential direction before committing to movement thereof.
- Executes special behaviors for "four-way-stop" and "highway acceleration" when encountering red or blue color patches, respectively. These color patches are roughly 2-2 inch squares affixed adjacent to the right-hand side of the road, detected by the "ColorPal" color sensor.
- WiFi is affixed, but remains unsupported.
- Intelligent macro-navigation--through consideration of road layout, discovered obstacles, and a given destination--remains unimplemented.
Reflecting, intelligent navigation would have been an exiting goal to have conquered, but, I have learned a great deal and am very proud of the result.
3-20-2017:
Quite a lot has happened since my last update:
- New parts have been bought and put to use: PING sensor with servo--such that the robot can look at a direction other than forward before it moves there. WiFi module for bot-to-bot communication as well as bot-to-terminal communication. A simple color detecting camera for handling of "special instructions," colored sections of the "road."
- Most importantly, a set of four infrared sensors, "QTI," have been implemented. Detecting the presence of a white or black surface, these sensors constitute the means through which the bot will travel "roads."
- Roads have been defined as black electrical tape against a white surface (I have used prefinished particle board).
- Through running the QTI and PING sensors concurrently via separate cores, I feel the basics of the program are quite well implemented. The bot successfully navigates roads, including turns, intersections, and dead-ends. Additionally, the bot immediately halts when an obstacle is detected by PING. If the obstacle does not move after a short duraction, the bot will become frustrated and proceed in the opposite direction.
Goals:
- The servo for PING, which will allow it to "look before it turns," is not yet implemented. I am not worried about this though, as the infrastructure for such functionality is already present.
- The color detecting camera is not yet appended. This is a little more vague, as the goals of the "special instructions" via color are not yet clear. The idea was to convey various behaviors--like stop, slow, speed, offroad, etc.
Concerns:
- WiFi is confusing. The module can be accessed remotely (like a router), but to achieve our end goal of bot-to-bot communication is a little daunting a the moment.
- Obstacles placed outside of the conical spread of the PING sensor are invisble to the bot. I have a few potential solutions: append additional PING modules (probably one extra, lower on the chassis), or put the "whiskers" to use (I don't love these, especially with respect to potential prodding of another bot).
Here's a cool video of the bot in action thus far.
2-20-2017:
Lots of time was spent completing Parallax's (the robot's manufacturer) tutorials for programming the robot. They provide an IDE (C programming environment), called "SimpleIDE," for use with programming the robot--many useful includes are available for use, the most obvious candidates being those that provide functions for interfacing with various parts.
Using the SimpleIDE and its various functions, I've interfaced with all of the robot's parts in some way across various test programs.
8 cores are available to use and I have not yet decided how these should be divided.
I have a few ideas on how to define what a "road" will be, but the least upkeep-intensive of these is likely to use some sort of colored string or yarn that the robot will be able to recognize.
WiFi integration is something in the back of my mind, but I am not quite there yet.
1-28-2017:
I made this website!
I've bought an anti-static mat on the warning that the robot's hardware may be sensitive to shocks.
1-9-2017:
Looking through the parts and thinking about how it'll all be programmed is daunting, but I'm excited.
I can't access compsci02! I am reminded that I haven't accessed anything on SNC in quite a while; I need to get my credentials all figured out.
1-1-2017:
The robot is assembled... I'm pretty sure it is, anyway. I haven't run it yet.