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Issue #224 March 2009
Vision-Guided Robotics
A Next-Generation Balancing Robot
by Hanno Sander
Are you interested in building a sophisticated, vision-guided, balancing robot that can interact with its environment? Hanno shows you how to tackle this project with a Parallax Propeller, a handy design kit, and an inexpensive camera.
Start | Parallax Propeller | ViewPort | The DanceBot | Frame Grabber | Real-Time Tracking | Line Following With A Camera | Track A Pattern | Find A Beer Bottle | Wrap Up | Sources & PDF
It’s time to build the next generation of robots. With today’s technology, our robots should be tall enough to look us in the eye and interact with us through sight. Two years ago, I started experimenting with the latest microprocessor from Parallax, a camera, and a vision. In this article, I’ll explain how to integrate vision technology in a project. As I describe the balancing robot design you see in Photo 1, I’ll cover parallel processing, visual debugging, vision algorithms, and robot control with computer vision.
a) b)  |
| Photo 1a—This is the base of the DanceBot with wheels mounted on motors with quadrature encoders, the logic board powered by the Parallax Propeller, and the miniature camera with an ADC module. b—This autonomous balancing robot uses vision to interact with users. Here it’s getting ready to balance a champagne flute for a month. |
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