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QwerkBot

Robot
 
Wntrmute's picture
By Wntrmute @ Sat, 2008-11-01 22:08
Web-controllable roaming camera; autonomous object tracking / obstacle avoidance with IR
Cost to build: 
$800
URL to more information: 
http://robots.straylight.co.uk/

 

Description: 

My first robot. I've added a couple of features to the "Qwerkbot+" recipe- a sharp IR distance sensor for input, and a couple of ultrabright LEDs for at-a-glance status indication. The base has two wheels for differential drive, plus a castor to balance. The webcam and IR sensor are then mounted on a pan/tilt unit (two servos).

Hardware configuration seems sufficient for now, which is why I've flagged this as complete- I don't think it'll ever really be! But my focus for a while is programming- perhaps the LetsMakeRobot challenges will be a good source of problems. So far, I've done edge-detection for static object tracking; collision avoidance for autonomous roaming; and cliff avoidance for driving around on tables. 

I already maintain a 'blog at the address linked above, with details of my construction and coding progress.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (4 votes)
By OddBot @ Sun, 2008-11-02 00:07
OddBot's picture

Very nice, especially the

5
Very nice, especially the ability to track objects.  I know you've considered it physically finnished but have you considered giving it an arm so that it can use that ability to "see".  There are some reasonably priced arm kits out there and it would give you new kinds of challenges such as picking up a stick and using objects for drums like Fritz's "Yellow Drum Machine" or even chess/checkers.
By Wntrmute @ Sun, 2008-11-02 00:45
Wntrmute's picture

Certainly, some sort of

Certainly, some sort of arm/grabber would be great. The problem is finding space for extra components- everything's simply attached to the processor board case at the moment. Long term, I'd like to mount it all on something larger, and switch from wheels to tracks- apparently the lynxmotion tri-track base isn't quite large enough, though.
By GroG @ Sun, 2008-11-02 01:19
GroG's picture

Great Bot Wntrmute !Is all

Great Bot Wntrmute !

Is all your tracking software homebrew or are you using some open-source packages like CMU cam stuff?

GroG

By Wntrmute @ Sun, 2008-11-02 12:00
Wntrmute's picture

All my own work for now-

All my own work for now- although I'm only using the rangefinder, not the camera, to do edge detection (which is why it constantly overshoots then backtracks). Once I figure out how to grab individual frames from the video feed then I imagine it'd be worth looking into existing packages.
By fritsl @ Wed, 2008-11-19 07:27
fritsl's picture

Nice light-effect!!

Nice light-effect!!
By Wntrmute @ Wed, 2008-11-19 09:44
Wntrmute's picture

DELights

The DELight LEDs really are staggeringly bright, as you can perhaps tell from all the lens flare in the video whenever the bot is at certain angles!

 

 

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