DO NOT FEED THE ROBOT

The Autonomous Interactive Multimedia Droid (GuideBot) Bradley University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering EE-452 Dan Leach and John Hathway Advisor: Aleksander Malinowski May 3rd, 2005

Outline Project Overview Previous Work Project Description Flash interface Navigation Implementation Remaining Work Questions

Overview Features Friendly touch screen interface Auditory and visual greetings Pioneer 2 robot platform by ActivMedia

Applications MuseumsMalls

Pioneer 2 Features GuideBot uses Saphira and PAI software supplied by ActivMedia for control of movement and other functions Eight sonar transducers are positioned in a ring around the front of GuideBot PAI software controls all rotational and translational movement, along with taking in sonar data Onboard heading information allows for precise turning Onboard distance is read from wheel encoders

Pioneer 2 Robotic Platform PC User Input Via Touch Screen Sensor Data Mapping Data Display Output Audio Output Movement of Platform System Block Diagram

Previous Work Java-based Manual Web Control

Data Flow Diagram Flash XML Socket C-based Robot Server Saphira Code On Pioneer2 TCP/IP Serial Port

Graphical User Interface

Finding Dr. Huggins

Mapping File Index,Name,Floor,Lane,X,Y,Crosses To,Is A Stop,Is A Patrol,Type,Manual Commands 0,Origin,3,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,0; 1,SEStairwell,3,1,191,0,1,1,0,1,0; 2,MalinowskiHW,3,1,762,0,0,1,0,0,0; 3,WRestroom,3,1,1219,0,0,1,0,0,0; 4,Room327,3,1,1661,0,0,0,0,0,0; 5,Room326,3,1,2377,0,0,0,0,0,0; 6,RFHW,3,1,2682,0,1,0,0,0,0; 7,NEStairwell,3,1,3139,0,1,0,1,0,0; 8,SWindow,3,2,0,183,1,0,0,0,0; 9,Room330,3,2,747,183,0,0,0,1,0; 10,Prasad,3,2,1036,183,1,1,0,0,0; …

Finding Dr. Shastry

Waypoint Detection Doorframes, open hallways, wall drop-offs Waypoint checked every 300 ms using one sonar transducer Waypoints are only looked for when GuideBot is within a predefined range of the waypoint Offices and other sites that are considered waypoints that have no distinguishable features will be found using the nearest waypoints and the distance GuideBot has traveled Most doorframes have a 9cm drop off between the wall and door which is large enough to check with the sonar transducers 9 cm

Waypoints

Collision Avoidance Front two sonar transducers are used to detect objects and obstacles in GuideBot’s path Threshold distance of 1 meter is used for objects in path If there is an obstruction, wait 30 seconds for object to move from path Try to navigate around object if it does not move and continue on path

Waypoint Detection and Collision Avoidance

Drift Correction X Y’ -2Θ-2Θ Y Wall Θ GuideBot is designed to follow a straight path to its destination Problems with drifting have been observed and a method for correction has been devised using trigonometry driftangle = (atan2(driftdist, xdistance))

Drift Correction

Remaining Work Implement hallway crossing Implement manual waypoint paths Add additional GUI interaction / motion sensing

Guiding Down The Hallway

Questions? More detailed information can be found at: