Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Mechanics and Construction => Mechanics and Construction => Topic started by: javila on May 09, 2010, 09:12:58 PM

Title: need help with an autonomous tennis ball picker robot !
Post by: javila on May 09, 2010, 09:12:58 PM
Hi:
I need to design and build an autonomous tennis ball picker robot and I have zero experience with building any kind of robot so I need help.
I have been doing some research and I think that using a camera is the best option for the robot to recognize the balls.
The cmucam2 or 3 and the POB-eye cam are the two that I am looking at. Can anybody tell me which one is better and easier to use? Or if there are better options please share.
Basically I would like for the robot to be autonomous as well as wifi controlled, and I would also like to add some distance sensors. I was thinking shape recognition might work better than color tracking.
In all I need the robot to be able to pickup the balls and after certain number of balls,  return to a specific location( maybe via gps). Like I said I do not have experience with robots but I understand a little bit of electronics and know basic programming.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Jorge
Title: Re: need help with an autonomous tennis ball picker robot !
Post by: Admin on May 10, 2010, 05:27:27 AM
There are tons of robots online that search for objects and collect them. Just youtube/google around for ideas.

Also:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_faq.shtml#camera_microcontroller (http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_faq.shtml#camera_microcontroller)