Hi guys! Need your advice for our project :) Mobile Robot

[ordertaker]

We proposed a mobile robot which is equipped with the BF-537 and we aimed to control it via Wi-Fi. The video from the blackfin would be then sent to a "video goggles" wirelessly so that the user can see what the robot is seeing. The camera is controlled by the motion of the user's head so that when the user looks to his left, consequently the camera will also look to its left side. We mentioned in our proposal that we were to use an accelerometer to do the motion sensing, and I was hoping to use the axon for the bot. All the communication would be done using Wi-Fi, from sending data to the control itself.

I would like to hear your thoughts so that we can improve our project  any suggestions is greatly appreciated 
Thanks!

[sonictj]

For rotation (yaw) you must use a gyro.  For pitch an accelerometer should suffice.  I would look into IMU's.

[ordertaker]

thanks for the fast reply!

by the way, is there by any chance a gyro/accelerometer package which would be the best fit for this application?
and about the wi-fi transmission, do you think it would all be possible even without a help of a pc? because we were just considering using a router wrt54g in handling all the connections...

[wil.hamilton]

you would only need a gyro if the rotation is in the same plane as the sensor (if the axis of rotation goes through the center), if you mounted the accelerometer on the "front" of the goggles, turning your head should allow you to pick up enough motion to get the camera to turn, you could also control up/down in this way if you used a 3-axis accelerometer

[ordertaker]

you would only need a gyro if the rotation is in the same plane as the sensor (if the axis of rotation goes through the center), if you mounted the accelerometer on the "front" of the goggles, turning your head should allow you to pick up enough motion to get the camera to turn, you could also control up/down in this way if you used a 3-axis accelerometer

so what you're saying is we can implement the detection of motion using only a 3-axis accelerometer? if that's the case then sweet! but my friend said that if you would place an accelerometer parallel to the floor, it would not be able to detect the left and right motion since we want to imitate the head's motion as accurately as possible so that the camera  too will respond accordingly.
and any idea to get everything communicating wirelessly via wifi?

[sonictj]

an accelerometer will pick up the motion but I think it may be difficult to control.  If you have the budget you may want to consider something like this http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9184 , and IMU like I mentioned before.  I would only go that route if you have a decent budget because an IMU may be way overkill.

[Joker94]

Like sonictj said it all depends on your budget. If you don't have alot of money a 3 axis acelerometer should work fine but if you have the extra cash and you want or need the extra accuracy go for the IMU, as thIMU will do a much better job when it comes to Yaw detection.

[wil.hamilton]

using the IMU you would also be able to get better features like ,being able to "tilt" the camera if the person tilts their head

[ordertaker]

thanks for your suggestions! We really appreciate it!
I have another question, would it be possible to send the data output of the sensor via wifi? can you cite some devices that can do that?

Thanks again for your replies! 

[sonictj]

Here are a couple http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/categories.php?c=112

[ordertaker]

oh cool! thanls again for the reply, i was searching then i found this http://www.ladyada.net/make/eshield/, arduino, what do you think?
what i like about it is its very flexible....

[sonictj]

Adafruit is a great store.  They have very good products.  I've never used the Ethernet shield though.  There should be additional documentation on the main Arduino site too, I believe.