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ROBOT DESIGN DETAILS |
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Odyssey |
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Small Balancing Robots |
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Large Balancing Robot |
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Firefighting Robots |
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 The
Market
Service robotics is currently touted as the future of
the consumer robotics industry. With clearly successful
applications of autonomous floor cleaning systems, and
lawn mowers, many consumer electronic companies are
looking to tap into the
multi-billion dollar market for service robots, but
are just lacking a good starting point, nor the
technology.
The Robot
Follow-me is a demonstration of a simple
service robotics, design, that built for the
not-so-simple, everyday task of following you around and
carrying your stuff for you. There are dozens of
specific applications for which this could be used;
helping the elderly or the handicapped, carrying luggage
around the airport, hauling files around an office
environment, moving laundry around a household, or any
other task which involves carrying something around a
structured environment. The robot follows a beacon
which could be sewn into a piece of clothing, or worn on
a belt loop. Whoever has the beacon, the robot
tries to stay within a fixed distance from the wearer,
while avoiding any obstacles that might be in the path
of travel. Like all the other robots, OLogic has
worked on, this robot is totally autonomous, and tries
to make intelligent decisions on what to do next.
Follow-Me Features:
• Custom designed board stack
• 190 degree
field of view sonar array for obstacle avoidance
• Sonar-based follow-me technology for following
beacon
• 12v permanent magnet motors
• Optical encoder closed loop motion control
• Remote, electronic E-Stop for safety.
• Large carrying bin for hauling small loads 20-40
pounds in weight.
Video Clips:
• Following
in a crowd at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show
in Las Vegas
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 The
Market
Military and civil service robots, are currently the
largest market segment for most robotics manufacturers.
There are many emerging opportunities in autonomous
surveillance, and equipment setup.
The Robot
Giraffe was designed for NPC Robotics to
showcase the benefits of a robot, equipped with a
self-assembling pole attached to it. Giraffe
contains a "ribbon-lift", which spools out three metal
ribbons, that form into a rigid, triangular pole,
capable of lifting a 50 pound load up to 15 feet in the
air. Ribbon lifts are also made in larger sizes
capable of supporting a 500 pound load 25 feet in the
air as well. This example shows a pan-tilt-zoom
camera attached to the pole, however, it could just as
easily be a lighting fixture, an antenna, a public
broadcast device, a weather measurement instrument, or
countless other ideas where a mobile, autonomous pole is
needed. Giraffe is equipped to automatic linear
actuators that self-level the robot before deploying the
pole on sloped terrain. Want to light a runway at
night, on the fly? Deploy a small fleet of these
robots, GPS equipped, with a runway light on top, and
send them off on their own to automatically position
themselves along the runway. Countless
possibilities for this technology.
Giraffe Features:
• Custom designed electronics
• Canon
Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera package
• ComCam camera security server system
• 15 ft. Ribbon lift for 50 pound loads
• Self-leveling linear actuator system for
stability
• Remote controlled or autonomous operation.
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 The Robot
IGOR stands for Indoor GPS OLogic Robot.
IGOR demonstrates OLogic's multi-vendor partnering, and
systems integration capability. IGOR utilizes an
ultrasonic-indoor-GPS system developed by SJAutomation,
remote tele-operation developed by ComCam International,
and OLogic robotic control system technology.
IGOR is capable of autonomously driving between indoor
waypoints, with no user intervention. A camera
mounted in the robot, delivers a wavelet-compressed live
video feed, to the end-user anywhere on the internet,
and allows them to control the robot, by commanding it
to drive to waypoints and take action. Since the
robot is totally autonomous, the end-user does not need
real-time control, therefore internet latencies do not
affect its operation. There are many of specific
applications for which this could be used from robotic
security, to office mail delivery, to warehouse
automation, to delivering patents or medications in a
hospital environment.IGOR Features:
• Custom designed board stack
• 70 degree
field of view camera
• Sonar-based Indoor GPS technology for location
awareness
• 12v permanent magnet motors
• Optical encoder closed loop motion control
• Remote, electronic E-Stop for safety.
• Internet Tele-Operation
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 The
Challenge
Robo-Magellan
is a robotics competition emphasizing autonomous
navigation and obstacle avoidance over varied, outdoor
terrain. Robots have three opportunities to
navigate from a starting point to an ending point and
are scored on time required to complete the course with
opportunities to lower the score based upon contacting
intermediate points marked by road cones.
The Robot
The robot must not be constructed in such a way
as to damage the environment or other robots. No
robot may weigh more than 50 pounds nor may it use an
internal or external combustion engine. The robot
must fit inside a 4'x4'x4' cube for the entire duration
of its run. Robots must be autonomous.
Remote control is not allowed with the exception of the
remote control safety switch(es).
Odyssey Features:
• Custom designed board stack
• GPS system with
WAAS correction
• 6-degree of freedom inertial
navigation system
• 2-axis Magneto-Inductive Compass
• 20 fps
camera and computer vision system
• 12v permanent magnet motors
• Optical
encoder closed loop motion control
• 100 amp motor controller
• Weighs 48 pounds
Video Clips:
• Running the Course at the 2005
RoboGames in San Francisco
Awards:
• 2nd Place RoboGames 2007 (Silver Medal)
• 3rd Place SRS Robothon 2006
• 1st Place
RoboGames 2006 (Gold Medal)
• 2nd Place RoboGames 2005 (Silver Medal)
• 2nd Place SRS
Robothon 2004
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Brainwave
Controlled Robot
• Developed as a proof-of-concept
• Controlled using
Neurosky Sensors
• Wireless, wearable headset.
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Visual feedback lets you know when your brain is in the
right mindset for controlling the robot.
• Easy to use.
• Made its debut at CES
2007.
• Seen on on ABC 7 News and mentioned in
several press articles on devices demonstrating Neurosky
sensor technology.
Video Clips:
•
ABC 7 News
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Two-Wheeled
Balancing Robot
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State-of-the-art balancing software
• Balancing is
accomplished using a small piezo-electric gyro combined
with the output of a two-axis accelerometer using a
Kalman filter.
• CPU is an inexpensive PIC18F6621
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High-resolution shaft encoders
• Remote Controlled using 2.4GHZ Radio
• Custom designed board stack.
• Inexpensive
parts.
• Off-Road Tires for outdoor use
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Two-Wheeled
Balancing Robot
•
State-of-the-art balancing software
• Balancing is
accomplished using a small piezo-electric gyro combined
with the output of a two-axis accelerometer using a
Kalman filter.
• CPU is an inexpensive PIC18F252
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High-resolution shaft encoders
• 20 fps computer vision system that follows any
red object.
• Custom designed board stack.
• Can also be radio controlled
• Inexpensive
parts.
• Seen several times on G4/Tech-TV
Video Clips:
• Cone Tracking at
the 2005 SRS Robothon in Seattle
• People Tracking
in San Jose
• Pirouettes
during early testing
Awards:
• Best Engineered Robot - SRS Robothon 2005
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