DO NOT FEED THE ROBOT

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DO NOT FEED THE ROBOT
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The Autonomous Interactive Multimedia
Droid (GuideBot) Bradley University Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering EE-452 Dan
Leach and John Hathway Advisor Aleksander
Malinowski May 3rd, 2005
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Outline

• Project Overview
• Previous Work
• Project Description
• Flash interface
• Navigation
• Implementation
• Remaining Work
• Questions

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Overview

• Features
• Friendly touch screen interface
• Auditory and visual greetings
• Pioneer 2 robot platform by ActivMedia

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Applications
Museums
Malls
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Pioneer 2 Features

• GuideBot uses Saphira and PAI software supplied
  by ActivMedia for control of movement and other
  functions
• Eight sonar transducers are positioned in a ring
  around the front of GuideBot
• PAI software controls all rotational and
  translational movement, along with taking in
  sonar data
• Onboard heading information allows for precise
  turning
• Onboard distance is read from wheel encoders

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System Block Diagram
Sensor Data
User Input Via Touch Screen
Pioneer 2 Robotic Platform
PC
Movement of Platform
Mapping Data
Display Output
Audio Output
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Previous Work Java-based Manual Web Control
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Data Flow Diagram
Serial Port
Saphira Code On Pioneer2
Flash XML Socket
C-based Robot Server
TCP/IP
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Graphical User Interface
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Graphical User Interface
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Graphical User Interface
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Graphical User Interface
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Graphical User Interface
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Finding Dr. Huggins
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Mapping File
Index,Name,Floor,Lane,X,Y,Crosses To,Is A Stop,Is
A Patrol,Type,Manual Commands 0,Origin,3,1,0,0,1,
1,1,1,0 1,SEStairwell,3,1,191,0,1,1,0,1,0 2,Mali
nowskiHW,3,1,762,0,0,1,0,0,0 3,WRestroom,3,1,1219
,0,0,1,0,0,0 4,Room327,3,1,1661,0,0,0,0,0,0 5,Ro
om326,3,1,2377,0,0,0,0,0,0 6,RFHW,3,1,2682,0,1,0,
0,0,0 7,NEStairwell,3,1,3139,0,1,0,1,0,0 8,SWind
ow,3,2,0,183,1,0,0,0,0 9,Room330,3,2,747,183,0,0,
0,1,0 10,Prasad,3,2,1036,183,1,1,0,0,0
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Finding Dr. Shastry
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Waypoint Detection

• Doorframes, open hallways, wall drop-offs
• Waypoint checked every 300 ms using one sonar
  transducer
• Waypoints are only looked for when GuideBot is
  within a predefined range of the waypoint
• Offices and other sites that are considered
  waypoints that have no distinguishable features
  will be found using the nearest waypoints and the
  distance GuideBot has traveled
• Most doorframes have a 9cm drop off between the
  wall and door which is large enough to check with
  the sonar transducers

9 cm
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Waypoints
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Collision Avoidance

• Front two sonar transducers are used to detect
  objects and obstacles in GuideBots path
• Threshold distance of 1 meter is used for objects
  in path
• If there is an obstruction, wait 30 seconds for
  object to move from path
• Try to navigate around object if it does not move
  and continue on path

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Waypoint Detection and Collision Avoidance
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Drift Correction

• GuideBot is designed to follow a straight path to
  its destination
• Problems with drifting have been observed and a
  method for correction has been devised using
  trigonometry
• driftangle (atan2(driftdist, xdistance))

-2T
Y
T
X
Y
Wall
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Drift Correction
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Remaining Work

• Implement hallway crossing
• Implement manual waypoint paths
• Add additional GUI interaction / motion sensing

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Guiding Down The Hallway
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Questions?
More detailed information can be found
at http//cegt201.bradley.edu/projects/proj2005/g
uidebot/