Goals and Objectives
Our main objective for this project is to produce a design specification for precise
motion coordination of multiple Roomba robots.
In Section Motivation we will describe our primary motivation for this project. We will describe some benefits of coordinated motion, namely, that these robots can act as platforms for more aesthetically pleasant objects (e.g., LED in a dark room). In addition, we will show some previous work by others, some Youtube videos by them.
Pages Circle and Spiral show the simulations of two formations that we would like to implement. In particular, Circle page shows an animated simulation of four Roomba robots taking position on equally spaced points on a circle. These robots then continue to circle. Next, Spiral page shows an spiralling motion by these four Roomba robots.
In Section Components we will describe the necessary components, both hardware and software, to achieve this coordinated motion.
We will describe some possible challenges in Section Challenges.
One of the components, a tracker, can be thought of as an indoor positioning system. We will describe other existing (mostly in research labs) indoor positioning systems in Section Indoor Positioning System. This section is entirely written by Nitin Goyal and can be read independently.
We briefly explain some of the important criteria in choosing a particular indoor positioning system. We expect a Roomba tracker by a depth camera (e.g., Kinect) to be the most flexible - not necessarily easy and accurate - solution for our project. In Section Tracking by a Depth Camera, we will explain the necessary requirements for this tracker.
The slides for our project proposal can be read here. These slides show very briefly the goals for this project and Project 5.
In Section Motivation we will describe our primary motivation for this project. We will describe some benefits of coordinated motion, namely, that these robots can act as platforms for more aesthetically pleasant objects (e.g., LED in a dark room). In addition, we will show some previous work by others, some Youtube videos by them.
Pages Circle and Spiral show the simulations of two formations that we would like to implement. In particular, Circle page shows an animated simulation of four Roomba robots taking position on equally spaced points on a circle. These robots then continue to circle. Next, Spiral page shows an spiralling motion by these four Roomba robots.
In Section Components we will describe the necessary components, both hardware and software, to achieve this coordinated motion.
We will describe some possible challenges in Section Challenges.
One of the components, a tracker, can be thought of as an indoor positioning system. We will describe other existing (mostly in research labs) indoor positioning systems in Section Indoor Positioning System. This section is entirely written by Nitin Goyal and can be read independently.
We briefly explain some of the important criteria in choosing a particular indoor positioning system. We expect a Roomba tracker by a depth camera (e.g., Kinect) to be the most flexible - not necessarily easy and accurate - solution for our project. In Section Tracking by a Depth Camera, we will explain the necessary requirements for this tracker.
The slides for our project proposal can be read here. These slides show very briefly the goals for this project and Project 5.