Mechanics and Construction > Mechanics and Construction
Wheel width for differential drive robot
Admin:
The majority of robots at CMU use laptops . . . but I think thats because 90% of the people in the Robotics Institute are computer science majors and would rather stick to what they know . . . much of it is understandable, as CMU does heavy research on vision, SLAM, and laser rangefinders . . . and they dont plan to market their research so it doesnt need to be cost effective . . .
Somchaya:
Well, I'm a CS major and I intend to use a laptop for a robot for many reasons. One of the main reasons, as said above, is that laptops are generally easier to code in compared to learning to use a microcontroller.
Also, a big factor is that I've been searching around for an easy way to interface a camera/webcam to a robot, and besides putting them on PDAs and such, a laptop is the next easiest. I considered using a PDA, but the cost of the camera, the interface and all that doesn't help. A laptop can easily interface with a camera, and through things like servo controllers, it can interface with servos and other sensors as well!
So, while bulk and weight is definitely a factor, using a laptop saves development time (getting used to programming a microcontroller), some money getting the parts I need (since I don't own a microcontroller), and provides lots of memory/CPU. The only trouble is that it's dangerous to let my laptop run around on a potentially self-destructive robot, but hehe, I'll keep close watch and stay really close to it in case it crashes, and hope that it'll do.
trigger:
--- Quote from: Somchaya on February 07, 2007, 04:50:08 PM ---Well, I'm a CS major and I intend to use a laptop for a robot for many reasons. One of the main reasons, as said above, is that laptops are generally easier to code in compared to learning to use a microcontroller.
--- End quote ---
What about C on an AVR? Using gcc? It's not a big jump ...
--- Quote ---Also, a big factor is that I've been searching around for an easy way to interface a camera/webcam to a robot, and besides putting them on PDAs and such, a laptop is the next easiest. I considered using a PDA, but the cost of the camera, the interface and all that doesn't help. A laptop can easily interface with a camera, and through things like servo controllers, it can interface with servos and other sensors as well!
--- End quote ---
I've never interfaced an mcu with a camera, so I'm not sure about this one. But it can't be that hard. There are well-documented cameras out there for mcus.
--- Quote ---So, while bulk and weight is definitely a factor,
--- End quote ---
More expensive servos/motors, batteries, materials, etc... a major factor!
--- Quote ---using a laptop saves development time (getting used to programming a microcontroller), some money getting the parts I need (since I don't own a microcontroller), and provides lots of memory/CPU. The only trouble is that it's dangerous to let my laptop run around on a potentially self-destructive robot, but hehe, I'll keep close watch and stay really close to it in case it crashes, and hope that it'll do.
--- End quote ---
to each his own, I suppose.
hgordon:
--- Quote ---I've never interfaced an mcu with a camera, so I'm not sure about this one. But it can't be that hard. There are well-documented cameras out there for mcus.
--- End quote ---
Somchaya is right - it is a LOT easier to interface a camera to a PC / laptop than a microcontroller, as microcontrollers rarely have sufficient memory for full frame storage, building a bus interface is complicated, USB Master mode is generally not an option (so you can't use USB cams), serial interfaces are slow, etc. CMU-Cam / AVR are specialized devices with low resolution, and do not provide images which are particularly useful for serious image processing.
I understand the appeal of using a laptop, and hope you don't suffer any damage in the process. I personally prefer to develop with microcontrollers, but I'm using a 32-bit processor with adequate memory and GNUARM development tools.
Admin:
found this today . . .
kinda reminds me of the night before the MOBOT competition . . .
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20070129
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