Bradley Web-Controlled Robots

Fine Mapping, Self-Localization and Navigation
(Spring 2006)

In progress: The goal of the 2006 Mobile Robotics project was to implement a fine navigation un an initially unknown environment. Student implemented a mapping algorithm and enhanced it so that it worked well with distnace sensonrs and adjusted for possible wheel slippage. See the corrsponding senior project Web site for more details.

Map-based Robot Navigation
(Spring 2005)

The goal of the 2005 Telerobotics project was to start the autonomous navigation theme in the telerobotics series. Students designed a guide-bot that would guide its user to a location selected from the pre-encoded terrain map. Only acoustic sensors and wheel encoders were used for navigation and that made the project somewhat challenging to implement. It is much easier to navigate with laser distance sensors. See the corrsponding senior project Web site for more details.

Very Low Power Platform
(Spring 2004)

The goal of the 2004 Robotics and the 2003 Telerobotics project was to develop a self-powering micro robot that would utilize solar cells as a power source. Unfortunately in the end students found out that there is not enough electric lamp power for continuous indoor operation, outdoors - yes - even on a cloudy day. See the corresponding senior project Web site for more details.

Low Power Platform
(Spring 2002, Spring 2003)

The goal of the 2002 Robotics and the 2003 Telerobotics project was to develop and improve an inexpensive alternative yet elaborated platform for the future telerobotics projects. The new platform is similar to Pioneer robots, and works well. The goal is to have the system running for at least 7 days in the sleep mode without recharging. See the corresponding senior project Web site for more details.

Robot Navigation
(Spring 2002)

The goal of the 2002 Telerobotics project was to allow the robot to find its way back to the starting point, where a charging station is waiting for it. We are not on Mar yet, though. If the robot gets stack or lost it send an email to its supervisor.

The goal is to navigate in an unknown terrain without its map. The way back is found by reversing the robot movements. However, we did not use a dumb stack algorithm. Each time the robot is moved the trajectory so far is inspected, and the memorized way back is simplified if possible by eliminating possible loops. Some wheel slipage makes it necessary to rely on additional ways to measure the distance traveld and direction change during turns. See the corresponding senior project Web site for more details.

Durable Long Lasting Autonomous Power Vehicle
(Spring 2001)

The goal of the 2001 Telerobotics senior project was to create a new durable robotic platform that could work both in the autonomous mode and be controlled over the Internet. The platform is loaded with both microcontroller and a network server computer that is connected to the Internet via a wireless ethernet card. The battery allows for up to eight hour operation without recharging.

The robot has several acustic distance sensors (pingers) that allow for fine navigation. It is capable of making maps of the surrounding terrain. That mapping functionality has not been utilized so far. It is very fast. After Dr. Malinowski chipped wall in the corridor while driving the maximum speed limit was significantly reduced in the control software. See the corresponding senior project Web site for more details.

Old Power Lab Autonomous Robot Activated
(Spring, 2000)

The goal of a 2000 Telerobotics senior project was to create a new robotic platform that could work both in the autonomous mode and be controlled over the Internet. The new robot is controlled by an on-board HC11 microprocessor that scans the local sensors, controls the servomotors and talks over the serial port to the WebBot - a PC based gateway to the Internet. The major goal of this project was to develop the microcontroller system for the robot.

The new robot can move more precisely than the previous prototypes and perform some actions autonomously. Currently only collision avoidance and infrared sensor probing agents are implemented. See the corresponding senior project Web site for more details.

New Video Transmission System
(October 11, 1999)

New video transmission system was set up on October 11, 1999. Now it is much easier to navigate the remote robot while observing the environment from the point of view of its virtual driver instead from the outside observer. This completes the project of developing the prototype remote control via Internet system.

There is no velocity control yet. If you want to speed up click on the direction button a few times. Remember that image refreshes every few seconds so do not click continuously. Increasing speed by multiple clicking helps in pushing obstacles.

High Speed Robot Exploring Dr. Malinowski's Office Floor
(June 14, 1999)

When you take control over this robot sometimes you will see students around. If you visit during the night you will see only vehicle's position lights. It has two yellow front and two red back lights.

The robot is remote controlled and battery operated. However for practical reasons it is frequently hooked up to the power supply instead of running of its rechargeable batteries. Two tiny wires also limit the area of its operation so that it rarely runs out of  the camera view.

The Lego Robot in the Pilot Senior Project
(April 29, 1999)

Brian Davis and Ted Konetski built several prototype robots using Lego kits. One of them is hooked up to Internet. This robot is controlled through a cable by an external digital controller placed next to the computer and connected to it via a parallel port.

The Creative Labs WebCamII camera broadcasts the overall view of the robot playground that is the lab floor. The server PC is an old slow Pentium 120MHz and because of that the video frame rate is not great but still more than high enough if you visit us using modem connection. There is no illumination during night. See the pilot project Web site for more details.

One of the robots by night, only position lights can be seen.

We are located at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. We are in GMT-6 time zone - that is the same time as in Chicago. At this time neither the lab nor Dr. Malinowski's office are lit after hours. Usually nothing can be seen during the night.

Late Night Work in the Lab
(reflection in the window)

This photo was taken during one of the long night stays in the lab when we were about to complete the first prototype. The camera captured Dr. Malinowski testing the robot server. Actually this is his reflection in the window. The white balls are not reflections. They are produced by lamps in the university campus park.

The Very First Robot Interface
(April 1999)

The interfaces for the very first robotic manipulators developed in 1998 and early 1999 were very simple. The computer ran the robot network server and the Web server to allow download of the client applet to your Web browser. The robot network server performed interfacing between the remote user interface and the robot as well as executing the control algorithm. Later on the latter task was moved to an embedded microcontroler. The circuit shown in the figure to the left is the hardware interface between the network-connected computer and the robot actuators.

LED bar is for diagnostic use only. The dip switch bar allows to disable certain functions of the robot. The first four switches allow to restrict robot movement commands. As you can(not) see the second four of the switches are in the off position. This is why pressing buttons one through four on the interface applet does not produce any results. The last switch is just the power on indicator.