Surveyor Robotics Journal

Surveyor Robotics Journal

	email: support@surveyor.com web: Surveyor Corporation rss: Subscribe Archives August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 Februray 2006 January 2006	Sun, 15 Apr 2007 SRV-1 WiFi Module and SRV-1 firmware update (srv-041507) The SRV-1 WiFi Module can now be ordered, though we are still waiting for voltage regulators to arrive, so shipments might be delayed a week. The link for ordering is found here. Note that there is a special limited time offer for users who already have an SRV-1 and a WiPort module and just wish to order the WiFi module circuit board - contact us via email (support@surveyor.com) for order instructions. Setup instructions for the SRV-1 WiFi module have been posted here - Lantronix WiPort Setup for Surveyor SRV-1 A firmware update has also been posted. Besides support for the WiPort at 921kbps, we've also fixed the issue with camera timeout after the "zw" command or C/BASIC programs that don't use imgcap(), as well as the improved IR sensor support that was previously discussed. Here are the details (also found on the software download page). srv1.hex.041507c w/C interpreter - last updated April 15, 2007 (rename to srv1.hex) srv1.hex.041507b w/BASIC interpreter - last updated April 15, 2007 (rename to srv1.hex) srv1.hex.041507w for WiPort w/C interpreter - last updated April 15, 2007 (rename to srv1.hex) The following additions and changes are included in this release: support for 640x480 capture resolution - 'A' command ('d' was already taken) support for WiPort at 921kbps with CTS/RTS flow control fix for camera timeout after using "zw" or running C/BASIC programs (restarts camera within 5 seconds) improved IR sensor support - much better sensitivity and directionality as a result of software changes addition of 2 image processing functions 'vf' - finds first occurrence of specified color in each pixel column (corollary to 'vs' scan function which finds first mismatch of specified color in each pixel column) 'vn' - counts the number of occurrences of a specified color in each pixel column elimination of the 'm' function - the vision functions are no longer modal, and 160x128 frames will always be decompressed into YUV elimination of 'l' and 'L' locate beacon commands elimination of 'x' and 'X' xmit beacon commands Changes to the firmware are reflected in the latest SRV Protocol Definition ** Source code for this version of firmware is found here - http://www.surveyor.com/srvdownload/srv-041507.zip. Posted Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:25 \| HTML Link \| see additional stories ... Mon, 09 Apr 2007 Subsumption on the SRV-1 The robotics group from University of Kent have posted an update, including code samples, on their work at the AAAI Symposium with the SRV-1 and subsumption architectures using the "Transterpreter" and Occam-Pi programming language. The photo we posted early of the blackboard flow diagram has been replaced with much nicer graphics of the 3-layer subsumption architecture ... and there is a very good explanation of subsumption and how it was applied to this particular challenge. For more information, take a look at their posting here - http://www.transterpreter.org/blog/?p=57. There is also a nice background article here - Mobile Robot Control: The Subsumption Architecture and occam-pi (PDF). Code samples in occam-pi are found here - subsumption source code, and you can browse the archive for other code samples. Since AAAI, they've added support for some SRV-1 vision functions, so it will be interesting to see what additional behaviors they add. This work is quite exciting, and at some point, we'll hope to other SRV-1 users will dive and experiment with the Transterpreter architecture - it seems to be quite accessible. Posted Mon, 09 Apr 2007 14:25 \| HTML Link \| see additional stories ... Tue, 03 Apr 2007 SRV-1 firmware update - interim release (srv1.hex.032307c) We have posted an interim release of firmware here - srv1.hex.032707c - firmware image w/C interpreter (rename to srv1.hex) srv-032307.zip - source code archive The following additions and changes are included in this release: support for 640x480 capture resolution - 'A' command (should have been 'd', but that was already taken) support for WiPort at 460kbps improved IR sensor support - much better sensitivity and directionality as a result of software changes addition of 2 image processing functions 'vf' - finds first occurrence of specified color in each pixel column (corollary to 'vs' scan function which finds first mismatch of specified color in each pixel column) 'vn' - counts the number of occurrences of a specified color in each pixel column elimination of the 'm' function - the vision functions are no longer modal, and 160x128 frames will always be decompressed into YUV elimination of 'l' and 'L' locate beacon commands elimination of 'x' and 'X' xmit beacon commands Planned additions to the final firmware release will include support for the WiPort at 921kbps with flow control, additional user flash memory storage for static data such as YUV color definition and weight tables for neural networks, and of course the long-awaited feed forward / back propagation engine for neural network control. The release version of firmware will coincide with first shipment of the new WiPort expansion boards. The SRV_protocol definition will be updated at the same time. Posted Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:25 \| HTML Link \| see additional stories ...