Blog Post 3 - radion/robotics-capstone GitHub Wiki
Project Requirements
Version 0 - Bare Minimum
Version 0 consists of a LumiBot that responds to audible claps. On the first clap, it will turn on the lamp. On the second clap, it will move to the person who clapped. On the third clap, it will turn off the lamp and move back to a home position. The technical achievements of this stage will be:
- Sound recognition & synthesis (respond to claps)
- Human detection/localization (find person who clapped)
- Relative motion & odometry (move to person)
- Navigation to map locations (move back to home position)
Version 1 - Target
In this stage, we enhance LumiBot with more functionality and a better design style. After the second clap, it will not only move to the person but also continue to follow him or her around. From a design standpoint, we will add more functionality to the lamp itself. LumiBot will be upgraded with different color lights that will change depending on the situation In addition to the Version 0 achievements, in this stage we will have:
- Person recognition (follows user)
- Lamp LED actuation (changes lamp colors)
Version 2 - Stretch
This stage is focused on adding new interaction methods with LumiBot and polishing the design. LumiBot will get a slick web interface that will allow the user to customize LumiBot to his or her liking. On the design front, LumiBot will be programmed to produce sounds and its lamp will become actuated (the light angle will be adjustable!). The goal of this is to give LumiBot a "personality" and to create a better user experience when interacting with our product. If we make it to this stretch goal, we will have accomplished:
- Browser input (LumiBot web interface)
- Motor actuation (lamp changes angle)
- Sound synthesis (produces sounds)
Also, an interesting idea we found that we may use as further inspiration.
TurtleBot Modifications
In order to create LumiBot, we will need some minor modifications to the TurtleBot platform. We will design the lamp structure to be modular and removable from the actual TurtleBot. The TurtleBot itself will not be modified, but we may need to adjust it to fit in with our lamp design.
Demonstrating LumiBot
To demo our product, we will need a setup that allows us to show off all of LumiBot's features. The good news is that LumiBot can be demonstrated in almost any setting; we need to show it controlling the lamp, moving around with the user, and returning back to its home. For the more advanced versions of LumiBot, we will also want to demonstrate the web interface. Overall, we just need a wide, open area for our demonstrations.
Shopping List
Our shopping list is not completely finalized yet. We are considering a few cheaper alternatives, and may rethink a few of the items. But, overall our items are:
- Color-changing Bulb - $13
- Pixar-style Lamp - $23
- Arduino Kit - $50
- Servos - $14
- Servo Shield - $14
Lab 5: Turtlebot Homing
Below is a link to a demonstration of the Turtlebot automatically moving back towards its original location.