Robonova-1 with POB-EYE cam

[Joerg]

I want to introduce our new Robonova-1 with object recognition ability and graphics LCD-display.
We developed it together with the French company POB-Technology (the makers of the POB-EYE cam module) and showed it the first time at the RoboCup 2006 in Bremen to the audience.

The plastic parts were made by POB-Technology, we plan to make a product from it.




Any feedback would be appreciated.
Joerg

[POB-Forum]

Hi Every Body,


I'm Pierre from POB, Joerg and the POB's team worked togehter on the robonova modifications added to this Robonova. Our goal is to give you technical informations about our modifications. So, feel free to ask us every things.

We will be very happy to help you !

[bauermech]

Now that is slick!

[robodude666]

Pretty nice robot. I was planning on doing that with my RN once I bought it. Guess someone beat me too it! The head is erm, pretty big and seeing the size of all the stuff I would say all default motions from the RN have been killed and I am doubtful that it can do a lot of complex or cool motions such as having most of its weight on one leg.

Also, nice video but it is very unprofessional. The person who was doing all the stuff was moving his hands around tooo fast. You are not trying to cram everything into a 2 second clip to save money during the superbowl

Still, pretty nice stuff I would have to say. I love the joystick touch. Going to go check out the website now. Hope it doesn't cost a lot!

[edit]

Just checked out the website. Erm, can you make a button on the top to change language to english? You can just include a different php script Or use a language system with an array with all the different text and just use a different one for each language.

About $440 for the board, lcd and cam. Not bad actually. Maybe try making everything a bit smaller?

Just suggestions Good work, keep it up!

[edit2]

Can you please add some more shots of the RN? I wonder how the back looks.

[Chrisbie]

I hate the head!!! Can you make it smaller. The head looks like a tomato, it doesnt look like a face. Is there a way to make it smaller... Im sorry but I prefer the looks and personality. It doesnt look like presentable. Im sure you can do somethin about it.

[Octovir]

Gotta start somewhere..

Not bad! The plastic head has a scale similar to some of those anime shells for other bots

Designing shells/skins/robo-cellphone-covers might be a profitable venture also

[subpilot]

I have plans for doing some object recognition possibly using this http://www.wibotics.com/sevicaco64.html or
http://www.electronic-kits-and-projects ... c3188a.pdf
I currently have a wireless video cam and was going to use a frame grabber on my PC to capture the video but the tuning of the video link isn't great and frame grabbers aren't cheap.

[limor]

I hate the head!!! Can you make it smaller. The head looks like a tomato, it doesnt look like a face. Is there a way to make it smaller... Im sorry but I prefer the looks and personality. It doesnt look like presentable. Im sure you can do somethin about it.

It's not just a pinhole camera, judging by their video, I think it's a whole CMU-cam in there with some image processing capabilities

[subpilot]

That's why the thing is so massive and they aren't even showing how much they had to add on to the back of the RN.
I'm going for offloading the image processing tasks to a PC. There just isn't enough room for all the whistles and bells onboard a RN.

[Joerg]

Hi all,

thank you for the comments. You are right, the head is much big, but there is the POB-Eye cam (2pcbs) and a pan/tilt mechanic in it.

From the back it looks like here (the head looks down to the floor):



The ability to make acrobatics is lost, I would say. The cam, lcd and the head weigh in sum 300grams more than the original. That means that the original walking code will not work. Yannick from the POB people designed a very good replacement for it, its a little bit deeper and slower than the original but it works good.
I hope a gyro will bring additional stability, but I didn't got one in the meantime.

The connection to the LCD is via a 20pin flatcable, the cam is connected to the CR3024 over a small level shifter (in the empty room of the head servo extension above the accu). No other extensions (electronics) were made.

[POB-Forum]

I think it's a whole CMU-cam in there with some image processing capabilities

In fact, the POB-EYE est like a very small personnal computer. You can reprogramm it as well as you want (C, Java and Basic). You can use the 15 digitales I/O, the serial port and the I2C bus.

For people who want to read the english documentation : http://www.pob-technology.com/download/ ... OGY_US.pdf

[subpilot]

Well having a pan and tilt certainly takes up alot of space but makes it far more functional. Having the pan servo internal to the RN would move the CG down a bit but the POB-EYE board is wide so the head would still be wide. It's a nice looking system other than that. Like a CMU cam but with a display.

[robodude666]

Yay! English documents! Sorry before for bashing on you so hard After a look at that document, I am amazed how easy it is to program for the POB! You can store bitmaps in your ram as I understand and call up some pictures as your program goes. I wonder if you are able to use the joystick IN your programs because then you can create a GUI for your program! Man thats crazy! And it is like a mini pc. What about adding a 21" LCD And a mouse and keyboard?

Very good job POB, you clearly have a very talented team I may get one after my I buy my RoboNova and a few other things I want for it.

[Chrisbie]

Well I still dont like how it looks!! If I see the head, I remember the movie "ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES". And besides, one thing I admired for ROBONOVA are the ACROBATIC MOVEMENTS.

Well!!! Maybe unless I get a free PRODUCT DEMO!!! LOL!!!!

[robodude666]

The head is really big, but give it a break Want them to paint it red to make it look more like a tomato? Hmmmm, this movie? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080391/ sure is an old movie. And yea, without the acrobatics the robonova isnt so cool.

Also, can you please please pretty please post a picture of the back? I really wanna see how it looks! From looking at the pictures you gave us and pictures from POB's website.... I think that the main board is not actually on the robot. The board seems very long and should stick out if you mount it to the back. Since I don't see anything board sticking out of the sides, top, or bottom, I would have to guess it is not there.