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Design contests
are excellent to open the mind for special ideas. Without any
pressure from customers, bosses or other hindrances of the daily
grind, you can work on a variety of splendid projects. The result
of such an idea is SOPHOCLES, which stands for SOlar Powered Hidden
Observing VehiCLE(S). SOPHOCLES is a robot, a very small system
designed for watching. Its detector looks for poisonous gases
or sticky air, the motors bring the robot to hidden places, the
built-in camera shows pictures of these dangerous areas and his
radio gives us information about the detected materials. Furthermore,
you can control the robot and how the solar cells spend power
for missions that require low-power intermittent operation over
the course of many weeks.
The robot
has two main operation modes, first mode is the autonomous mode.
This mode is powered by the implemented artificial intelligence
of each robot. The robot works independently, checks air quality,
and gives a signal if any difference has occurred.
The other
mode is the command mode. In this mode, the robot is controlled
by an operator. The operator sends directional commands to the
robot like left, right, go ahead, go back, and such. Of course,
the operator can take pictures with the built in camera. Short
picture sequences can be saved as an animated slide show for documentation
purposes.
Block
Diagram
Jens Altenburg
Soemmerda, Germany
jens.altenburg@t-online.de
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