CogRobot the

Team CogRobot: Filip Birčanin, Konstantin Leidermann, Jeanna Nikolov-Ramirez, Lennart Paar

29. 6. 2015, University Vienna

Lenni Intro2Science

OUTLINE •  The Plan

•  The Architecture

•  The Process

•  Hardware •  Technical Specifications •  Image Capture •  Code

•  PID Controller

•  Trials and Debugging

•  Lessons Learned

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THE PLAN •  Build a robot that detects and

item in a room and picks it up •  Detecting an item

•  Discriminating task (blue or red) •  Exploration (Random walk) •  Navigation •  Lifting up device

(embodied, maybe even just a paper device on a physical level)

THE ARCHITECTURE

NXT Brick GoPro

Laptop

Nxt-python[1] Gopro-

Python[2]

Get sensor/motor data (Bluetooth)

Send Motor Commands (Bluetooth)

Get video feed (http, wireless)

Integrate and calculate motor

MARR’S LEVELS

THE PROCESS

•  Camera Integration

•  Algorithm for Object Detection

•  Random Walk and Navigation

•  Find out wheel speeds according to approaching of the goal

•  Feedback Control (power values for different motors)

•  Mechanical Lifting up Mechanism

BEGINNINGS Requirements:

•  Camera should be centered in front of the wheels

•  Ball lifting mechanism purely mechanical

•  Ball should disappear behind camera

PEAS description

•  P: Successfully picking up a ball

•  E: deterministic, partially observable, size not fixed, one or two red/blue objects

•  A: Wheels, Grabber

•  S: Camera, (Bumpers?)

MEETINGS 5 Meetings

HARDWARE

SOFTWARE SPECIFICATIONS •  Mac OS 10.8

•  Python 2.7

•  OpenCV

•  Mindstorms NXT

IMAGE CAPTURE

CODE

CONNECT

PID CONTROLLER

A PID Controller is a common technique used to control a wide variety of machinery including vehicles, robots and even rockets.

CONTROL ALGORITHM

TRIALS & DEBUGGING

SH&%#*^#%T HAPPENS

LENNI LIKES BLUE

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LESSONS LEARNED •  Building robots is fun. •  It’s way more difficult than expected. •  Installing the framework is more complicated than

running it. These tasks are insanely platform dependent!

•  It needs a lot of installing of libraries and packages to actually be able to start the work.

•  Difficulty testing with 1 brick and 4 people. •  NXT doesn’t like Yosemite. •  Red fingernails are the same to a robot as a red ball.

Everything yellowish seems to be red, too. •  Each task needs a motor. •  Weight and volume matter big time in objects. •  Pairing with Bluetooth sucks. •  Batteries run out quickly. •  If it isn’t tested, it doesn’t work. •  Lots of trial and error.

http://tts.imtranslator.net/WW49

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THANK YOU!

Questions?