History

OMF Robots

This OMF sub-project hosts the information and documents describing NICTA's initiative in deploying OMF on mobile robots to support automated mobile experiments.

In the current prototype, the OMF-enabled robot is composed of a commercial Roomba robot coupled with a custom ALIX board similar to the boards used in the Low Cost Node OMF sub-project.

We used an Alix 2c2 from PC Engines, Switzerland which has a 500MHz x86 compatible processor, the Geode LX800 from AMD. The board power is taken directly from the battery, unregulated. Power is on the 25-pin D-connector: pin 14=Ground, pin 9=VBatt (+16V).

Voyage Linux 0.6.2 with V4L-enabled kernel and ARTooliKit computer vision tracking library has been installed on the board. The camera mounted on this robot is pointed straight upwards at the ceiling where we have affixed 2D bar-codes at a regular pattern. The ARToolKit identifies these patterns and by calculating the transformation matrix as well as knowing the absolute location of all the ceiling mounted markers, we can determine the robot's location.

In order to mount the board and camera on the robot, we designed and fabricated a carrying tray from perspex material. Cutouts for cables and holes for the rubber feet of the Alix board provide a tidy appearance and sturdy assembly which is nevertheless very service friendly. The Autocad file of the tray can be found in Carrying__tray_cut.dwg.

List of components:
  • Voyage Linux 0.6.2
  • V4L-enabled kernel
  • artoolkit for image recognition
  • iRobot hardware
  • ALIX board 1GHz VIA
  • controlling robot via serial cable
  • Logitech Quickcam USB 1.3MP

Carrying__tray_cut.dwg (96.3 KB) Saeed Attar, 07/10/2009 12:34 PM

robot-small.jpg (36.7 KB) Max Ott, 23/10/2009 11:31 AM

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