Marek Perkowski: ROBOTICS PROJECTS FOR ECE 271, SUMMER 2000



June 23, 2000.

If your name is not on this list, please contact me as soon as possible. STUDENTS
Aboujamous Mohama
Aldahaheri Obaid
Bihari Jeevan
Blanco Jose
Calhoun Timothy
Chau Michael
Croos Merian
Cyrill David
DeYoung Richard
Ezell Mark
Fortier Adam
Gill Cherie
Grant Marianne
Hayashi Christopher
Hebda Michael
Holt Nicholas
Huang Pei
Hubbard Nikholas
Hudson James
James Amy
Jordan Stephen
Kelley Larry
Khan Mustafa
Lane Brian
Majagira Kamana
Martinez Jesus
Nguyen Lam
Nguyen Quoc
Nigro Anthony
O'Leary Mark
Oltean Dinu
Patel Pinal
Pivtoraiko Mikhail
Schelert Jason
Schuermyer Jason
Shevchenko Dmitriy
Suwignjo Valentinus
Taylor Cory
Thekkedam Veena
Turner David
Varga Flavius
Vasile Adrian
White Toutou
Wilkening Jason
Willardson David
Wong Chi King
Wunderle Andreas
Here are the projects according to your requests. You can change the group if you wish, or add more details to the project description. I expect to obtain complete project descriptions for each project on next Monday.

Of course, these are only the proposals, according to what you wanted. Some of you did not give me any hints. You can still change the projects, but if you do not write another proposal, the one that I gave below will be valid.

GROUP 1. CENTAUR HEXAPOD BODY AND LEGS.

This robot is a combination of the hexapod and the human torso. Hexapod is the scaled up 4:1 hexapod spider without gripper. Torso will have two hands and links for head and hands but no head and no hands. Your task is to scale the hexapod spider (the yellow one from plastic) using any material that you want and find respective motors. All electric design and software remain the same as in current spider. Servio motors are recommended, look in "Tammy's Hobby". You can modify the body of the spider. Also, you have to add the human torso, but without hands and head. Think only about the link to head and the hands, how they will be connected.

  1. student 1, group leader: Grant Marianne
  2. student 2, technical writer and software support: James Amy
  3. student 3, software guru: Wong Chi King
  4. student 4, mechanical design: Thekkedam Veena
3 people

GROUP 2. HEAD FOR CENTAUR HEXAPOD.

Design a talking and seeing head to be connected to the Centaur. Collaborate with group 1 on link to Centaur. This head can be similar to Professor's Head or Talking Head but not indentical. It should use servio motors for eyes and mouth. Should be programmed from PC interface the same way as Professor's Head and Talking Head. You should however add some sensors. When the head will be mechanically built, you should concentrate on programming its movements.

  1. student 1, group leader and mechanical design: Hubbard Nikholas
  2. student 2, technical writer, software, and artistic help: Patel Pinal
  3. student 3, software guru and mechanical design: Khan Mustafa


GROUP 3. CENTAUR HEXAPOD HAND

Voice controlled "humanoid" hands (left or right) for the Centaur. Collaborate with group 1 on link to Centaur. You have to design a hand that is similar to human hand, but of course much simplified. For instance, the Centaur hand can have only four degrees of freedom. However, it should have a geometry and kinematics of a human hand and not a robotic arm such as OWI, ROBOTIX or ROBIX. Use of servio motors similar to ROBIX kit is recommended. Voice control can be developed together with other group(s). There is software available for it, and also IC chips. It should respond to simple command such as "GRASP", "LEFT", "UP", etc. This project has been done at PSU many times, but not with "humanoid hand".

  1. student 1, group leader: Schuermyer Jason
  2. student 2, technical writer: Taylor Cory
  3. student 3, software guru: Lane Brian


GROUP 4. VOICE CONTROLLED ARM

Voice controlled robotic "industrial arm". Modified from toy that student has. Learning from examples. This project is very similar to project of Group 3, but you can use an industrial arm. Therefore, your group has to concentrate on voice recognition and you can collaborate with Group 3 on voice recognition. There is free voice recognition software on WWW.

  1. student 1, group leader: Blanco Jose
  2. student 2, technical writer and software: Varga Flavius
  3. student 3, software guru and mechanical design: Sergey Grebelnik
  4. student 4, technical writer, design, software: Suwignjo Valentinus


GROUP 5. WHEELED ROBOT

Mobile robot on wheels, speech controlled, avoids walls and shadows. Simple sensors, sound, light, temperature. Autonomous, no radio. This robot should be programmed with a PLD. PLD should be programme in VHDL. I have a VHDL code for you to use, but you will have to adapt it from a robotic arm to a wheeled robot. Your specific task will be to design sensors and integrate them with the PLD. This project is relatively easy and was done several times at PSU. You can take the ready wheeled robot from the lab. There is even space on the proto-board for the PLD. You need to write a good manual about PLD programming and interfacing to sensors. Look to the book in lab and catalogs on WWW for information about sensors.

  1. student 1, group leader and mechanical guru: Turner David
  2. student 2, technical writer and artistic guru: Oltean Dinu
  3. student 3, software guru: Cyrill David


GROUP 6. RADIO-CONTROLLED



Radio-controlled mobile robot on wheels, that learns from sound and walls and shadows. You have to build or adapt the radio control. Many such circuits are described on WWW and in books. You can also adapt a toy from Radio-Shack (radio controlled car). If you choose this option, you will have to learn how the transmitter works and make an interface between the transmitter and a computer. Use parallel or serial port. Program it from C or Basic. Voice recognition chip for simple voice recognition. Light sensors for shadows and obstacles. Logic circuit should be a PLD or a microcontroller or a PC (radio).

  1. student 1, group leader: Martinez Jesus
  2. student 2, technical writer and software: Aboujamous Mohamad
  3. student 3, software guru: Jeevan Bihari


GROUP 7. A ROBOT FOR ONE.



Arbitrary robot designed totally from Scratch.

  1. student 1. David Willardson


GROUP 8. A ROBOT FROM SCRATCH



Arbitrary robot designed totally from scratch II

  1. student 1, group leader and mechanical design: Richard DeYoung
  2. student 2, group leader and mechanical design: Vasile Adrian
  3. student 3, technical writer and electronics: O'Leary Mark


GROUP 9. HALLOWEEN ROBOT



Halloween Skeleton based greeting robot. Speech and some movement. Computer controlled. Sensors to recognize presence. Hand (and leg) controlled. Two or three degrees of freedom. Arbitrary text spoken.

  1. student 1, group leader and mechanical design: Wunderle Andreas
  2. student 2, technical writer and arm design: Hayashi Christopher
  3. student 3, software guru: Chau Michael


GROUP 10. HEAVY ROBOT



Heavy classical greeting robot.

This robot is big metal box with head going up when you wake him. It will have a built-in TV monitor and will inform visitors about PSU.

Tasks to be accomplished include:
  1. remove old computer boards from the rack.
  2. remove motor from the controller box.
  3. learn how to control the motor, use end-position switches.
  4. connect the motor/gear mechanism to the rack chassee. This will allow to move the head.
  5. Design the relay-based circuit to control the motor. It should be controlled from a parallel port of a PC.
  6. Insert a PC and a monitor to the rack chassee.
  7. Program the PC to use parallel port to move the head up and down, speed selectable.
  8. Connect movement sensor (12$, 19$, 25$, Sears) to the computer.
  9. Write the program that if the movement sensors senses a person, the head goes up and the monitor presents the information about PSU. Use PowerPoint to create the information. I have many presenations that I can give you. When the presentation is completed, the monitor dimms and the head goes back to the body. Speaker should be also used for sound. You can add music, and whatever you want.
  1. student 1, group leader: Nguyen Lam
  2. student 2, technical writer: Nigro Anthony
  3. student 3, software guru: White Toutou
  4. student 4, mechanical design: Wilkening Jason


GROUP 11. MODIFIED AND SCALED HEXAPOD



Hexapod spider 2:1, modified geometry. This is a very similar project to current Lynxmotion robot, but you have to design hexapod geometry more similar to an ant or real spider. Control through servio motors and STAMP controller.

  1. student 1, group leader: Hebda Michael
  2. student 2, technical writer and mechanical design: Holt Nicholas
  3. student 3, software guru: Andrei Khopotine


GROUP 12. WALKING DOG

Dog, or like-dog, must have 4 legs and dog leg geometry. Everything that walks with not spider-like leg geometry will be OK. In this project you have to concentrate on computer control of movement. Can be connected by connector cable (tethered) to the computer.

  1. student 1, group leader: Kelley Larry
  2. student 2, software guru and mechanical design: Schelert Jason
  3. student 3, technical writer: Aldahaheri Obaid
  4. student 4, software guru: Calhoun Timothy


GROUP 13. BIG HEXAPOD

Hexapod - soccer robot 4:1, or similar. You have to use the geometry of the soccer robot. Instead 2 motors you can have 6 motors. Control from a PC through parallel or serial port, or from a PLD, or from a microcontroller.

  1. student 1, group leader and mechanical design: Ezell Mark
  2. student 2, software guru and mechanical: Majagira Kamana
  3. student 3, software guru: Nguyen Quoc
  4. student 4, software guru: Jordan Stephen


GROUP 14. UNDERWATER ROBOT.

Any kind of underwater robot, fish, submarine. Should be autonomous and have some sensors.
  1. student 1, group leader and mechanical design: Fortier Adam
  2. student 2, electronics and technical writer: Gill Cherie
  3. student 3, mechanical and software design: Croos Merian
Please give me a detailed description as soon as possible.

GROUP 15. MUVAL ROBOT.



This robot has already four hands and two legs. Another group works on the head. Your project is to interface all four hands and four legs and program them to move in some meaningful way. Use all kinds of sensors. Use air to change the shape of the body. Be as crazy as possible. Integrate sofware, hardware and electronics.

  1. student 1, group leader and software design: Pivtoraiko Mikhail
  2. student 2, electronics and technical writer: Huang Pei
  3. student 3, mechanical and electronics design: Shevchenko Dmitriy
  4. student 4, mechanical and software design: Hudson James
Please give me a detailed description as soon as possible.