Your Name: Alan McDonley Robot Name: POGO (Rug Warrior Pro) Email Address: alanmcdonley@yahoo.com Robot Description: POGO - An enhanced Rug Warrior Pro Owner: Alan McDonley, Florida, USA alanmcdonley@yahoo.com http://www.geocities.com/alanmcdonley Manufacturers Website: http://www.akpeters.com/rug-warrior.html Programming Environment: Interactive C v3.2 on Windows 98, Emacs editor Bot's Operating System: Interactive C (Multi-process with interrupts) Host Interface: RS232, Port Adapter and Cable provided, 9600 bps Download time: Less than 20 seconds to completely fill program memory Sample Programs included in kit: FollowMe, Wimp (move away from bump), Hide/Seek light Moth, Bugle and 10 other songs, Theremin (light sensitive music generator), YoYo (move away from bump and return to start point), Echo (count noises up to three), Sonic Commander (sound commanded motion), Behave (menu of all programs), Very Complete Hardware SelfTest, Companion Book: "Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation", Joseph L Jones, Anita Flyn, Bruce A. Seiger, A K Peters, Ltd. Programs in Book: (many small interface examples) Lewis and Clark (Subsumption architecture: wander, avoid, escape) Memory:32K Battery Backup Processor:MC68HC11 - 2Mhz clock 1Mhz instruction cycle Sensors: Shaft/Wheel Encoders - 32 segments, "16 click driver" Sensor - Visible Light Fwd L & Fwd R Sound Pressure (Microphone) - very sensitive, detects pauses in TV news anchor sentences from across the room. Bump - Full Body detection- 2 fwd & 1 rear -8 combinations detected IR Detector: 1 front IS1U60 Added Sensors: Battery Voltage - analog input from 2 resistor voltage divider ELTEC-442-3 Pyro Sensor - analog input tuned to human heat range Outputs: IR Illumination - Modulated - Left fwd & Right Fwd Sound - Variable pitch & length Text - 2 line x 16 chars LCD Battery Low LED (State not available to CPU) Obstacle Detection Range: 3-12 inches unless object is pure black (With skirt off the range is 3-5 feet, but not desirable) Drive Motors: 2 Long Life Gear Head Wheels: 2.5" Dia. Rubber Speed: 0.67 feet per second - fast enough but not fast (slow walk) Size & Shape: Circular Cylinder 7.3" Dia. 4.75" high Power: 6 NiMH "C" cells (8.3v fully charged - 4.6v at reset hold) Recharge Time: 15 minutes Battery Life: 10-12 hours no motion, 2 hours with constant motion Memory Backup in Off state: Manufacturer claimed current draw should protect program for several months over a year, but never tested. Number Sold: "Several Thousand" (3/21/00) manufacturer claim Number with websites: about 10 Time to Build: 16 hours Assembly Manual: Phenominal - build a little, test, build, test ... Cost: RWP kit - $599 ($525 from webbooks.net) 6 NiMH C cells - $30 MRC SuperBrain Recharger - $40 Expansion board and connectors - $40 ELTEC Pyro Sensor - $40 POGO Geneology Pre-1989 Rodney Brooks's AI Lab at MIT breeds ideas 1986 Brooks, "A Robust Layered Control System for a mobile Robot" 1989 Parts kit and builder's guide given to students for Robot Talent Show 1991 Interactive C - Dev by Randy Sargent and Fred Martin for MIT undergrad course 1991 Brooks, "Intelligence without reason" 1992 IC allows parallel c modues 1993 "Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation", (MR:i2i) Joseph L Jones, Anita Flyn, Bruce A. Seiger, A K Peters, Ltd. Exposes "RugWarrior" to the world 1994 Rug Warrior kit offered to public by AKPeters, Ltd 1997 RugWarrior Pro kit offered to public Improvements: Stackable Expansion Module (SEM) defined Free: analog inputs PE5, PE6, PE7, digital inputs PA1, PA2 output PA3 digital outputs PA4, PA5, PA6 are free but not routed to SEM Low Dropout Regulator for Logic Supply and memory backup Single, High Capacity Power Pack - twice the capacity, alkaline, NiCd, NiMH ok Louder Piezo Serial Com LED Improved low-voltage inhibit chip helps resist memory corruption during transients Improved IR detector - IS1U60 improves reliability and assembly Improved Shaft Encoders More internal signal access points More efficient motors - no load current factor of ten better - several hours on one charge Simplified sensors and actuator wiring with two ribbon cables New skirt attachment method allows bot to be lifted by the skirt, easier removal also 32 Character (2 lines x 16) Liquid Crystal Display Debugging LEDs eliminated 1998 MIT 6.270 "RoboSkiff and Handyboard" replace RWP in course 1999 MR:i2i 2nd ed. published 2000 March 27, 2000 RugWarrior Pro "POGO" sang his first song Additional Behaviors Implemented: track age variables (time since boot, max time since boot, time since load, total run time) track average, max, minimum sound levels, warn of impending low voltage condition output strings in morse code sing "hava nagila" periodically say a few random phrases in morse code My minimum "dream" for this bot is to add: a) an IR beacon in the environment b) scanning and recognition of an IR beacon c) docking station with power contacts d) ability to dock with the docking station Then I hope to add: wall following behavior human following behavior obstacle "evaluation" behavior - (determine the shape of an obstacle - no useful value but ...) playful behaviors - dancing to music beat, spinning, waddling, squares, circles perhaps reactions to light coming on or going off, detecting vacuum cleaner and hiding? Problems encountered: Right Shaft Encoder had spurious detections - change resistor value Spurious IR Obstacle detections - added small paper cone around detector For extensive photos and description of the whole assembly process visit http://www.geocities.com/alanmcdonley/rugwarrior.html