hey im a student studying in Australia and need to construct a robot which views 1 of 4 symbols and performs a predetermined action. Eg. a cross (turn right), a donut (turn left), triangle (stop), and a line (go straight).
We have been given an Altera Cyclone II FPGA, which we intend to store a soft core based processor using the NIOS II program(because it uses C++), but we can use verliog or Matlab simulink. Im not sure if anyone has heard of these or used these programming environments but this is what are predominantly taught at uni. The issue is we need a way of reading the images, we have come up with the two most obvious ways
1. use an array of photo detectors or infrared detectors
2. use a real time camera and use pixel counting or matching methods
The information we have been given eludes to the fact that the symbol may not be aligned properly and because of the discrepancies of the detectors i am leaning towards the camera.
One camera i have found is
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SMALLEST-SECURITY-COLOUR-SPY-CAMERA-TINY-PINHOLE-SIZE_W0QQitemZ330151368193QQihZ014QQcategoryZ20589QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemIs there any camera or methods anyone can suggest? We have a budget of $115 AU excluding the FPGA, and need a few ideas on how to start this. We have never built a robot and don't have much experience, and need a frame or base to to actually hold it together, and Autocad and custom work is not much of an option. Oh yeah we have 6 AA batteries to power everthing
Thanks in advance