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COLONY Introduction September 12, 2008

COLONY Introduction September 12, 2008. Outline. Motivation Brief Introduction to the Robots Recent Colony Work Current Research Administrativa. Motivation. Create a colony of robots that does cool stuff Interesting research platform Emergent behaviors Robotic cooperation

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COLONY Introduction September 12, 2008

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  1. COLONY Introduction September 12, 2008

  2. Outline • Motivation • Brief Introduction to the Robots • Recent Colony Work • Current Research • Administrativa

  3. Motivation • Create a colony of robots that does cool stuff • Interesting research platform • Emergent behaviors • Robotic cooperation • Multi-agent interaction • Distributed algorithms • Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) • …

  4. Why Colonies? • Many successful organisms organize themselves into groups

  5. Why a Colony of Robots? • Robustness • Single robot + single failure = game over • Colony of robots + single failure = one robot down • Distributed intelligence and sensing • One robot cannot be everywhere at once • Colonies can collect and communicate data across distant points within an environment • Collective behavior • Cooperation between robots to accomplish complex tasks • Robots are awesome • More robots are more awesome

  6. Goals Many low-cost robots Open, usable platform Capable hardware Robust open-source code base Research Multi-robot applications Distributed algorithms Agent-based programming Fun stuff Autonomous, multi-robot behaviors User-controlled operation 6

  7. Purpose of this talk • Introduce you to the Colony Project • Attempt to bring you up to speed on more than 5 years of research • Probably won’t work (it’s OK) • Reference for later

  8. Brief Colony History • Project started in 2003 by Steve Shamlian • Robots • Firefly I, II • Dragonfly • BOM, BOM 1.5 • Many research grants • URO - Over 10 Small Undergraduate Research Grants • Ford Motor Company • Robotics Institute • 2 Papers / Conferences • NCUR – National Conferences on Undergraduate Research • AAAI – Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence

  9. Project Leaders Austin Buchan Christopher Mar Former Leaders James Kong Kevin Woo Current Members Jimmy Bourne Ilya Brin Brian Coltin Rich Hong Casey Male Eugene Marinelli Victor Marmol Evan Mullinix Bradford Neuman Ben Poole Justin Scheiner John Sexton David Schultz Andrew Yeager Bradley Yoo Active Members

  10. Robots

  11. Dragonfly 11

  12. Dragonfly Basic Features Atmel ATMega128L Differential drive Orb Tri-Color LEDs LCD expansion USB interface Rechargeable battery Charging contacts Sharp IR rangefinders 12

  13. Dragonfly – Front View Front IR Rangefinders 13

  14. Dragonfly – Back View Side IR Rangefinders 14

  15. Dragonfly LCD Screen USB Interface Functional Diagram XBee Wireless Module 8-bit AVR µcontroller Orb LEDs Motors/Wheels 5X IR Rangefinders BOM 15

  16. Communication Bearing and Orientation Module (BOM) Localization sensor IR emitter/detector array Relative angle measurements to other robots 16

  17. Communication XBee wireless module 30m indoor range / 100m outdoor range IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) 2.4 GHz Low-cost, low-power Open industry standard 17

  18. Behaviors

  19. Behaviors • Use sensor data to control actions • Simple local interactions can yield complex global actions • Emergent behavior • Individual and multiple robot behaviors

  20. Demo – Obstacle Avoidance • What happens: • Robots wander around aimlessly • Rangefinder data used to avoid obstacles • Including other robots

  21. Demo – Navigate Corridor • What happens: • Robot moves forward • Uses rangefinders to maintain distance between walls

  22. Cooperative Maze Solving Given a maze and a target, robots cooperate to seek the target Start

  23. Cooperative Maze Solving Given a maze and a source of light, robots cooperate to find the source of light Cooperation

  24. Cooperative Maze Solving Given a maze and a source of light, robots cooperate to find the source of light Goal

  25. Demo – Cooperative Maze Solving • What happens: • Robots form a wireless token ring (ad-hoc) • One robots acts as a target • Seeker robots wait until they can see the target • Cooperatively move towards target once it is found

  26. Demo – Marching Band • What happens: • Robots form a wireless network • Play notes using the buzzer • Move around at certain time intervals • Periodically synchronize timing with each other

  27. Autonomous Recharging • Battery charge is limited • Recharging batteries is a pain • Let the robots charge themselves!

  28. Demo - Autonomous Recharging • What happens: • Robot notices low battery • Requests to dock at a charging bay via wireless • Locates, moves towards, and docks into the bay • Waits for battery to recharge • Leaves the charging bay • Resumes previous behavior • For demonstration purposes: • “Low battery” is user triggered • Recharge duration drastically shortened • Default behavior: obstacle avoidance

  29. Autonomous Recharging IR Emitters ARCHS Charging Board Homing Sensor Homing Beacon 29

  30. Remote Interface - ColoNet Connects Colony robots to users through the Internet Web interface R0 ColoNet User Server TCP/IP Server Wireless R1 Web client Rn

  31. Remote Interface - ColoNet Monitoring Tool Behavior data Visually monitor robots Debugging Tool Direct robot control Inspect robot states Visualize connectivity

  32. Current + Future Work • Cooperative Mapping • Lots of robots creating a map of an environment • Autonomous Recharging • Lots of robots + lots of charging bays • Smart prioritizing and bay allocation • Long-term tasks • ColoNet • Remote Task Queuing • RTS-style remote control • <Your Idea Here>

  33. FAQ

  34. FAQ • Why should I join Colony? • Experience with robots • Learn about all phases of research • Proposals • Robotics (design, programming) • Presentation • Awesome long-term project • Experience with motivated, talented team • Exposure to embedded systems, sensors, wireless communication, mobile robotics

  35. FAQ • Do I need to know (skill) ? • No! • There is a good chance someone in Colony can teach you • How much time will this take? • Expect at least 3-10 solid hours per week • The more you put in, the more you get out of it

  36. FAQ • How do I get started? • Make sure we can contact you • Get added to the email list: rc-colony-new@lists.andrew.cmu.edu • Email cmar@andrew.cmu.edu and/or abuchan@andrew.cmu.edu to get added • Attend work meetings • First few weeks of meetings will be geared towards getting you up to speed

  37. AdministrativeThings

  38. Meetings • Project Meetings • Fridays, 4:30pm. NSH 1109 • Cookies! • Everyone. Every time. • Status updates, administrative matters • Work Meetings • Tuesday – Thursday, 6:30pm. Club Room • Come to at least one. • Real work

  39. Work Meetings • First few weeks are special! • Hands-on lessons to get you started • Sign up for a work meeting • Groups of 2 (in rare cases, 3) • Only sign up for one • Bring your laptops! • Available computers are limited

  40. Colony Introduction Plan • Weekly Schedule (9/15 – 10/20) • Dragonfly programming basics, Simple behaviors • FSMs, Encoders, Analog, BOM • XBee Wireless, Token Ring, Multi-robot behaviors • Hardware, Drivers, EEPROM • Open Challenge

  41. Things you should look at • C Programming Tutorial • http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/cclass/notes/top.html • Chapters 1 – 3 • Don’t worry about compiling; we’ll show you that • WinAVR • Compiler, linker, loader package for programming our robots • Programmer’s Notepad • Code (text) editor bundled with WinAVR for convenient programming • SVN – Subversion • Source control • Trac • Wiki • Task management system

  42. Advisor • George Kantor • RI Project Scientist • Teaches many RI classes • 15-384: Robotic Manipulation • 16-299: Feedback Control • Controls, sensor networks, … • Knows a thing or two about robots • Busy guy

  43. Important Emails/Web • Colony list • rc-colony@lists.andrew.cmu.edu – old people • rc-colony-new@lists.andrew.cmu.edu – new people • Email project leaders to get on the mailing list • Project Leaders: • abuchan@andrew.cmu.edu • cmar@andrew.cmu.edu • Web: • www.robotcolony.org

  44. Givens • You have (or will) forget most everything from these slides • It’s OK. This is a learning experience. Just like going to lecture. • You will be utterly confused and lost for some time • Sink or Swim • You will get the hang of it • Be proactive and ask questions

  45. Joke • A robot walks into a bar, orders a drink, and lays down some cash. • Bartender says, "Hey, we don't serve robots." • And the robot says, "Oh, but someday you will."

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