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Sat, 24 Jun 2006
SRV-1 autonomous wander mode and some new buttons
We've posted a test version of SRV-1 firmware along with an update to the SRV1 base station console (SRV1Console), which are downloaded from http://www.surveyor.com/srvdownload/index.html. The firmware and console updates are designed to work together, since some button definitions have been changed. You'll also see a classy new set of buttons on the console, courtesy of Ty at ThinkGeek.com.
Most of the buttons are obvious, but a couple of changes are enable/disable buttons for the IR obstacle detection, and enable/disable buttons for the autonomous wander mode.
The wander mode is interesting - the robot is navigating solely via the video sensor, and while it can get confused by reflective surfaces and lighting changes, it does produce some fun and occasionally impressive behaviors while exploring.
Basically, you orient the robot so that it's looking at a floor surface that defines the space in which it needs to be confined. By pressing the "wander on" button, image characteristics of the floor surface are captured, and the robot will move around, trying to stay within the space defined by that floor surface while not running into things. There's lots of opportunity to improve the image processing and motion algorithms, and it's a good idea to keep an eye on the SRV-1 while its wandering until there is confidence that it won't get itself into trouble, but we look forward to hearing how this works for others.
Here's a brief Quicktime video of the robot in "wander mode". It really is operating autonomously - click on the image to view.
Posted Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:25 | HTML Link | see additional stories ...