Build Your Own Combat Robot

272 Build Your Own Combat Robot
FIGURE 12-9
A tele-operated
robot named
Rover provides
video feedback to
the operator as to
its actual position.
(courtesy of
Acroname)
The Rover, Teleoperated with Feedback
The Robo-Goose uses one-way communications to control the robot. If you drive
the robot out of view around a clump of trees, you will have little luck in driving
the robot back into view because you have no feedback from the robot. The Rover
was designed to give more feedback to the controller both visually and through
force feedback. The Rover uses a variety of controls to not only convert the inputs
from the controller into the actual motion commands, but also to provide important
feedback information to the operator. This allows the Rover to drive completely
out of view from the operator at great distances. The feedback the operator
gets allows the Rover to be quite robust in operation, even in confusing and difficult-to-navigate
environments. Figure 12-9 shows a photograph of this robot.
Rover is manipulated via a traditional computer game controller (joystick).
The commands given by the operator as she manipulates the joystick are translated
in software into the commands for the motors that operate the
four-wheel-drive arrangement of the rover’s wheels. These translated commands
are passed over a wireless computer network to a small hand-held personal data
assistant (PDA) situated on the robot, where more processing takes place. The
commands are then sent via serial communication to two networked BrainStem
controller modules that control the motors.