Author Topic: Looking for parts for a stereo color camera with dual tilt-and-pan  (Read 1658 times)

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Offline AceNZTopic starter

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I'm looking for parts to build a remote control type robot with two color cameras and two tilt-and-pan platforms to hold them.  I would like to be able to control the cameras from software running on my desktop.  I need at least 10 fps (pulse-per-frame, not free-running).  I'd like 1024x1024 non-interpeaved pixels or more, but I'll settle for 640x480 if I have to (prefer raw/lossless compression, but JPG is acceptable).  To help simplify the software, I would also like to be able to tell the cameras exactly when to capture a frame, both to keep them synchronized to within a few milliseconds or less and to avoid capturing images when the tilt-pan platform is moving.

I'm planning to add motors, wheels and a quite a few more sensors later, but I only need the cameras and the tilt-pan setup at first.

WiFi is probably best, although Bluetooth might be OK if it can support the range (50 to 60 ft) and data rate.

I've been a realtime/embedded software engineer for decades, but this is my first robotics project.  Any suggestions on parts, suppliers, software, etc, would be most appreciated.  Cost is always a factor, but quality and ease of use are important, too.

Offline thx123

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Re: Looking for parts for a stereo color camera with dual tilt-and-pan
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2010, 04:36:10 PM »
For what your looking for, i'd start here:

http://www.surveyor.com/


Offline AceNZTopic starter

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Re: Looking for parts for a stereo color camera with dual tilt-and-pan
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2010, 04:51:08 PM »
I looked at the Surveyor product line.

Is it possible to control two of the Blackfin cameras from a single CPU, so that their image capture times can be synchronized?

I noticed their stereo setup, but it has a fixed mount, rather than two separately mountable cameras.  If I did use their products, I'm not quite sure exactly which components I would need to drive WiFi and two pan-and-tilt heads.

I've also heard that the Surveyor CPU line can only do one thing at a time (single-threaded), so it can be slow in responding to certain commands.

Is it possible to drive two Blackfin cameras from an Axon board, along with two pan-and-tilt heads and a WiFi card?

 


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