So we decided we'd use an Arduino Pro Mini and a BlueSMiRF bluetooth module to control the Doodlebot. This will make the software for the doodlebot a lot less complicated to develop.
The circuit design has already been updated:
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Update control circuit
There have been some changes with our control circuit. We were planning to use the bluegiga BLE112 module to control the Doodlebot, but the breakout board we were going to use couldn't be made. The lines on the board would have been too small for our printer and if we redrew the design the board would become to large and we wouldn't be sure if it was going to work.
So we decided we'd use an Arduino Pro Mini and a BlueSMiRF bluetooth module to control the Doodlebot. This will make the software for the doodlebot a lot less complicated to develop.
The circuit design has already been updated:
So we decided we'd use an Arduino Pro Mini and a BlueSMiRF bluetooth module to control the Doodlebot. This will make the software for the doodlebot a lot less complicated to develop.
The circuit design has already been updated:
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Progress March-April
Since our last post we have been busy with our finals of the second trimester. With the start of the new trimester we started working primarily on making our robots wireless. After some testing we were able to connect with the developers board of the BLE112 using node.js. Working with Bluetooth on Windows is generally more keen to give problems so we had to move our server-software to Linux to be able to connect with the BLE.
We have also updated our tracking software since there were some problems with our previous version. We were using RGB values to track the colors on the doodlebot. The big drawback with this way of tracking is that RGB values depend way too much on the brightness of the object. Which means that whenever the doodlebot drives into a slightly darker or brighter area the colour changes and the tracking becomes less reliable.
To counter these issues we decided to track the colors with HSV. Using this colorspace we can track the objects' color using its hue, saturation and intensity. With HSV we will no longer be dependant on the objects brightness.
Another problem with the tracking software was that the grouping of the pixels didn't happen stable enough. When the colordection faltered the grouping made multiple smaller groups of pixels. This had as consequence that the position and angle of the bot became inaccurate. With our new update the grouping will happen more flexible which will lead to more stable positioning.
There has also been some progress with our DoodleBot control hardware. The PCB design has been made and the only thing that needs to be done now is for the PCB to be printed and then we can assemble it. However we can't make our DoodleBot wireless just yet when we have the PCB since we'll probably still have to wait for the Breakout board of the BLE. Once we have both the control circuit and the breakout board our bot will be truly wireless and we will be one step closer to our final goal.
We have also updated our tracking software since there were some problems with our previous version. We were using RGB values to track the colors on the doodlebot. The big drawback with this way of tracking is that RGB values depend way too much on the brightness of the object. Which means that whenever the doodlebot drives into a slightly darker or brighter area the colour changes and the tracking becomes less reliable.
To counter these issues we decided to track the colors with HSV. Using this colorspace we can track the objects' color using its hue, saturation and intensity. With HSV we will no longer be dependant on the objects brightness.
Another problem with the tracking software was that the grouping of the pixels didn't happen stable enough. When the colordection faltered the grouping made multiple smaller groups of pixels. This had as consequence that the position and angle of the bot became inaccurate. With our new update the grouping will happen more flexible which will lead to more stable positioning.
There has also been some progress with our DoodleBot control hardware. The PCB design has been made and the only thing that needs to be done now is for the PCB to be printed and then we can assemble it. However we can't make our DoodleBot wireless just yet when we have the PCB since we'll probably still have to wait for the Breakout board of the BLE. Once we have both the control circuit and the breakout board our bot will be truly wireless and we will be one step closer to our final goal.
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