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Robot Racers

Senior Project

Doran Wilde and James Archibald10 January 2012

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Assignment

• Before Tuesday, team leader sends email to Drs. Wilde and Archibald with:– team name– for each individual:

• name• email address• Route Y id• specializations

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Task Chart

Load codeon Helios

*Hello World*

Control velocity,steering,

read encoder,curvature

*test on block*

Capture videoon Helios

*display over USB*

Basic WirelessCommunication

*loop test*

Design GUI*document*

GUI Program*demo*

Drive BlindDrive fixed distanceDrive fixed radius

ESTOP

Display Frame

on GUI

Tower

Recognition

Play Game

Shoot StationaryTarget

Drive fromKeyboard

Color conversion

Color segmentation

Feedback controlfor steeringand velocity.

Drive by visionDrive to base

Game StategyController

Shoot MovingTarget

Recognizestate

truck vs. basefriend vs. foe

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Team Specialists

• Leader and magician• Control guru and resident genius• Navigator and mystical guide• Vision expert and oracle• Communication lord and poet laureate• Hardware and embedded system wizard• GUI artist and master programmer• Game AI strategist and algorithmist• Golf pro (optional)

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Leader

• “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” Mark 10:4

• Provide vision and direction to the team• Conduct team meetings• Motivation, Morale, make sure everyone is

producing at all times.• Coordination, Integration, Reporting• Making the hard decisions, even when not

popular

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Control

• Control of the speed and steering of the vehicle.

• Velocity input (m/sec, or ft/sec, or cm/sec)• Steering input (curvature: rad/sec or

deg/sec, or steering angle: degrees)• Also inputs from encoders and gyro• Control the PWM outputs to the motors• Control loop, PID or PI to match actual

speed and steering with desired values.

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Navigation

• How to get from where you are to where you need to be.

• Path Planning, Ostacle avoidance• Following other trucks• Aligning a shot• Inputs from Game AI, or Vision• Outputs velocity and steering instructions

to the controller

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Vision

• The camera is the primary input to your system

• Input from the camera• Determine relative position of

– bases– other trucks– obstacles– navigation landmarks

• Outputs to Game AI and Navigation

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Communication

• Establish wireless communication between truck and– host control station (gui)– receive commands ESTOP, GO, Parameter

settings, send back debug info– teammates (in multiplayer games)

• Establish wired communication with– game system for shooting, reading encoders

and gyro, game state, debugging

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Hardware & Embedded Systems

• Write the VHDL code for the Virtex 4 FPGA to– interface with peripherals– Implement parts of the vision algorithm– Interface with the game system

• Manage the EDK– Configuration of the embedded system– Microprocessors, busses, peripherals

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GUI

• The host station interface with the truck.• Control center for configuring parameters,

starting and stopping the truck.• Debug window into the truck. Display

debug info coming back from truck.• Display vision info. Camera + overlays.• Take advantage of previous GUIs that

have been written.

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Game AI

• Determine strategy to win various games.• Input info from vision giving relative positions

of objects on the field.• Input state from game system (enabled,

disabled, enabled with flag)• Decide on best course of action.• Output navigation for movement• Output to game system to make shots

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Milestones (tentative)• Week 1 (Theme: Get team, learn tools, become productive)

– Choose team members, team name, team leader; create team logo; get doorcode and space in FB 150; get team computer setup; download and setup svn client on team and personal computers; check out basic installation files; have first team meeting; setup Trac page; intro to basic installation, EDK, cores, etc.; intro to Trac (online only)

• Week 2 (Theme: Everyone has a job and a goal to work towards)– Choose team specialists; leadership program; check out hardware; try out hardware, get

installation working; control lecture, vision lecture

• Week 3 (Theme: Our trucks can accurately follow maneuver commands)– Compulsory maneuvers competition (no vision)

• Week 4 (Theme: Our trucks can see and maneuver based on sight)– Vision competition (drive to base, stop at specified distance from base); working debug

environment to test and debug vision (GUI works)

• Week 5 (Theme: Trucks can track and shoot stationary targets)– Race to base competition (first to shoot the base wins), possibly with obstacles

• Week 6 (Theme: We have a winning strategy)– Simulated game competition (try out game strategies)

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Milestones (tentative)• Week 7 (Theme: Our truck can track and shoot moving targets)

– Follow that truck competition (track a moving target)

• Week 8 (Theme: Our trucks can shoot and avoid being shot)– Death match competition (shoot-em-up, last truck standing wins)

• Week 9 (Theme: We can put it all together and play the game)– Tag competition (trying to pass the flag to someone—anyone, same skills as death match)

• Week 10 (Theme: Identify our weaknesses)– Practice laser tag competition

• Week 11 (Theme: Map building, cooperative map building)– Treasure hunt competition (practice mapping and navigating to absolute coordinates)

• Week 12 (Theme: Rehearse the show)– Practice laser tag competition (press coverage?)

• Week 13 (Theme: Knock their socks off. DATE=????)– Final laser tag competition

• Week 14 (Theme: Wind down, prepare for next year)– Check in hardware; commit files to repository; exit interview; final reports

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Questions?