Overview

Purpose: An image-processsing and SLAM research robotics platform

Creator: University of MN Distributed Robotics Lab

My Role: Created a driver so the standard Player robot control software may interface with the Microvision's hardware.

Form

Drivetrain:

• Two servomotor-driven wheels
• Tail keeps robot upright, and allows control over body angle.

Controls: PC-104 stack with 1.8GHz Pentium processor and 1GB of RAM.

Sensors:

• Digital camera (640x480px)
• Wheel encoders
• Hokuyo URG-04LX laser scanner (240 degrees, 10Hz, 4.0m)

Function

Mapping: To use laser scans to compute the shape of objects and their projection onto the ground, then navigate around them.

Centralized computation: Microvision's (relatively) powerful processor allows it to perform complex calculations for low-cost nearby robots.