Need a help

[RoOo7]

hello there ,
i'm a new member in this great forum  
i'm a computer scince student and i'll have a senior project ... i decided that the project will be
a robot with a medical or security servise but till now i did not decide which one i'll choose and i hope to till me any other suggested ideas if possible.

first , i wanna u to help me and give me the right path that  i've to walk through from the beginning .
if i'am a beginner what i have to know first ... what type of Hardware do i need , what type of software .. what is the suitable programming language ... what things i should stay away during each phase of the project .

i realy need ur help and i hope u can ....  Thank You  

[dellagd]

Hello and welcome to our forum

I can answer most of your questions at the moment so here they are-

-Software:

I'm being practical here so what you want to get is all the software that the forum Admin has posted on the main sites.

Ideally, I would like to give you just one single program to download and everything will work right away. This is the idea of WinAVR (22.8mb)
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=68108
, as when you download it (yes, please download and install it), you get everything you need in one go. It will install a bunch of useful programs all in one location, including GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), GNU Binutils, avr-libc, avrdude, avrice, and a few others. Its all seamlessly built in, so I wont even bother you about them. For more information, check out the WinAVR user manual (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=68108).

Don't install Programmers Notepad, its useless if you use AVR Studio, and has been know to be buggy in previous versions.

WinAVR


The next program I will have you download is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Atmel (the producer of the microcontroller you are using) offers this software, AVR Studio, for free. This IDE has a built in editor, compiler, uploader, etc all in one package.

AVR Studio

Atmel normally requires you to enter annoying registration info like your email address and phone number, but lucky you I bypassed it to offer you the direct link (suckers!).

Please download and install in this order:
1 AVR Studio, version 4.13, build 528 (73.8mb)
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/aStudio4b528.exe
2 AVR Studio 4.13 SP1 (build 557) (37mb)
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/aStudio413SP1b557.exe
3 AVR Studio 4.13 SP2 (build 571) (45mb)
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/AVRStudio4.13SP2.exe

If that link breaks, or if you don't mind telling Atmel your home address for no reason at all, go here to download the latest AVR Studio software.
And the untested v4.14 build 589 here (89mb).

There is some good software to start off with.

This all goes with the C programming language and I recommend it for starting off

Also look at this:
http://webbot.org.uk/iPoint/30.page

This is a Library of built in robot commands for things like controlling a servo and some sensors.

I and

The best AVR Library you'll ever see. Completely and fully documented, large community of users, great support, and entirely free. It has drivers for almost all common robotics hardware/sensors on the market, and is fully compatible with the Axon microcontrollers.

The forum Admin like this liberary like this Library and It makes programming a heck of a lot easier once you get the hang of it.

Just follow the instructions in the user manual (included in the download file) VERY CAREFULLY. It is very important you set it up perfectly.

Hardware-

I personally use the Axon 2 MCU (Axon 1: http://www.societyofrobots.com/axon/ Axon 2: http://www.societyofrobots.com/axon2/) and I love it. It is the best robot controller out there in my opinion (If you dont want to get crazy with the cash ) I have also heard the Arduino and others based on it is good but I haven't used those.

You can check those out by Google


Hope I helped!

~Dellagd

[RoOo7]

Thank u Mr.Dellagd ,
i checked all what u post here and i got the basics a little bit .  now , i just wanna ask u some  Questions .. what is the better  built a new robot from the beginning OR working on a ready product and work only on software part ...?

if i decide to buy a robot and install the software :
1- what a robot kits u advice me to deal with ... i mean which market ?
2- what is the basic things that i should look for in the robot depending on the task .. e.g  when i wanna built a robot to have a task such a face recognition , I've to look for a robot having a Cam or able to adding a cam .... what else ...?
3- what is the steps of installing the Software OR the program on the robot to do the task ?
4- are there any books helpfull in this area ..?
5- Do u think 1 year is enough ?

i really wont  bother u in these Questions but i  registered  for getting help and i confident that I'll get all what need and I'll be answarred for all the questions  

I'll still here until i completely finish my project ... Thank you .

[dellagd]

Thank u Mr.Dellagd ,
i checked all what u post here and i got the basics a little bit .  now , i just wanna ask u some  Questions .. what is the better  built a new robot from the beginning OR working on a ready product and work only on software part ...?

if i decide to buy a robot and install the software :
1- what a robot kits u advice me to deal with ... i mean which market ?
2- what is the basic things that i should look for in the robot depending on the task .. e.g  when i wanna built a robot to have a task such a face recognition , I've to look for a robot having a Cam or able to adding a cam .... what else ...?
3- what is the steps of installing the Software OR the program on the robot to do the task ?
4- are there any books helpfull in this area ..?
5- Do u think 1 year is enough ?

i really wont  bother u in these Questions but i  registered  for getting help and i confident that I'll get all what need and I'll be answarred for all the questions   

I'll still here until i completely finish my project ... Thank you .

1-
hmmm, there arn't really any good robot kits out there that teach C language. Plus, in getting a kit, you really leave out the learning in which building a simple bot gives. I advise you should just make the $50 robot on this site. http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_tutorial.shtml
This tutorial teaches all the main aspect of building a robot and, most of all, it ACTUALLY gives you some experience so you are not completely new at making a bot. I sudgest this tutorial because, there really arnt any others out there that serve the same purpose as that one. Most are out there to be made money off of.

2-
well, just look at what your MCU can do, and i fit meets the requirements you need, use it ! If you dont know it it will, lets say, accept a camera, post it on the forum and most likely someone will know!

3-
Different for every MCU and/or software.
The Basics-
create program (in C code)
Compile code into .hex file (usually)
put .hex file on MCU (different for every MCU)
start MCU and program

4-
um, there are some good programming books that teach you the actual language, but that's designed for computers. (Is that included in computer science?)
unfortuneately, you really have to learn by tutorials here and there and google. Plus this forum

5-
to build a robot? Well, If you really can work on it persistently, sure. Just matters on your effort.
You have to determine that for yourself. But, dont just dive in to a huge progect. Learn the basics and work up from there.

[RoOo7]

Thanks so much 4 ur help Mr.dellagd , I wanna ask a little Qs again 
 if i buy a robot from any markit .... can i change thr processor , is that will be easy and should i change other parts according  to this change ....?

 Waiting ur response as usual
 Thank You

[dellagd]

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but if you would like to buy a robot (I guess in kit form) some of the parts may be hard to interface with other processors, so I guess if you want to change the processor on a robot frame, you may have to change some parts. All of this is not definite as you can see.