Robots and Hardware Support
Robots
| Robot Name | Target Name | High Level Specs |
|---|---|---|
Chiara |
TGT_CHIARA | Six legs (with extra rotation in front right leg), pan/tilt camera, three link planar arm manipulator. |
iRobot Create |
TGT_CREATE | 2 wheels, bump and cliff sensors, I/O ports for additional expansion. Our configuration assumes use of a netbook with fixed webcam mounted above the cargo bay. |
HandEye |
TGT_HANDEYE | Three link planar arm with pan/tilt camera on a mast; offboard computation via USB cable. |
Lynxmotion Arms |
TGT_LYNXARM6 | 6 degree of freedom manipulator (with wrist upgrade). Similarly configured arms require only a modification of kinematics measurements. Tekkotsu interface via serial cable. |
Aibo ERS-7 |
TGT_ERS7 | Four legs, Mobile camera, 2 microphones, LEDs, sensors, buttons |
Aibo ERS-2xx |
TGT_ERS210 TGT_ERS220 TGT_ERS2xx |
Four legs, Mobile camera, 2 microphones, LEDs, sensors, buttons |
| Qwerk (discontinued)  |
TGT_QWERK | Generic platform target: 16 servos, 4 motors, 8 voltage sensors |
| Qwerkbot+ (discontinued)  |
TGT_QBOTPLUS | One of many Qwerk recipies: assumes a Pan/Tilt camera and 2 wheels (plus caster) |
| Add more — Here's how! | Tekkotsu makes it easy to add new robot configurations! | |
Hardware Devices
| Hardware Device | Interface | Provides | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logged Data | File system (flat files, optional time index) | Image and sensor playback | Useful for debugging, provides consistent and repeatable input, as well as control over flow of time. |
|
Cameras Cameras |
USB/Firewire | Vision | Support through video4linux or QuickTime interfaces |
| Dynamixel servos / Bioloid kits | TTL or RS-485 | Actuators with status feedback | Features bus-based control to support daisy-chaining, and provides a variety of feedback, such as position, load, temperature, etc. (Also available in kits) |
| Lynxmotion SSC-32 | serial port | RC servo controller, with 4 input pins | Supports up to 32 RC servos (e.g. Hitec or Futaba). Each of 4 inputs can queried for analog voltage level or digital high/low |
| Lynxmotion Pan/Tilt | RC servos | Basic camera articulation | Kinematic measurements and inverse kinematics for the pan/tilt unit allow you to know where you are looking. Other RC servo interface pan/tilt units could easily be substituted with minor modification to kinematics measurements. |
| TeRK remote interface (discontinued) | ICE (TCP/IP) | Teleoperation | Provides off-board computation with the Qwerk controller board. |
| Add more — Here's how! | Tekkotsu's Hardware Abstraction Layer makes it easy to add support for new devices you have your eye on. :) | ||
Algorithms
| Module | Provides | Description |
|---|---|---|
| State Machines | Behavior control architecture | Tekkotsu's state machine separates actions (states) from decision making (transitions), encouraging reusability and rapid behavior design. |
| Kinematics | Spatial computations for articulated systems | Extending the roboop library, allows you to determine the robot's position in 3D space given its joint angles, and the reverse, finding joint angles to reach specific points and orientations. |
| Dual Coding, Visual Routines |
High level computer vision | Computer vision approach inspired by cognitive psychology, provides methods for extracting and rendering shapes, and filters for pixel-based computation. |
| CMVision | Color segmentation and blob detection | Provides simplified vision processing by detecting regions of similar colors. |
| MapBuilder | 2D mapping of local surroundings | Builds on the Dual Coding module to project objects onto a bird's eye view of the robot's surroundings. (Assumes objects rest on a planar ground, or a known height above it). |
| Particle Filtering | State estimation and tracking | Often used for localization, attempts to use a stream of measurements (e.g. local surroundings) to determine the most likely point in a state space (e.g. global coordinates). |
| Motion Modeling | Dead reckoning | Provides estimation of position over short periods without using any feedback or sensing |
| Tone/Pitch Detection | Basic Audion processing | Provides recognition and notification of tones. |
| Zignor RNG | Random number generator | Pulls values from a gaussian distribution, very fast. |
| Listing of all classes | Reference documentation for everything in the framework | |