Mac mini robot

posted Sep 10th 2005 12:48am by Eliot Phillips
filed under: robots hacks

minirobot
The University of Oklahoma wanted to get a good idea of what it is like to operate a robot using visual and aural sensors before they built one of their own. They started with the Pioneer 3-AT robotics platform. They added a Mac Mini and powered it using a 12V battery and an inverter (this was only a temporary setup). The Pioneer is controlled through a USB-to-serial connection. An iSight camera provides visual feedback. Turning control is jerky over the WiFi connection, but since this will eventually be an autonomous system it isn’t a concern. It is a nice quick proof-of-concept.

[thanks Jason Striegel]

Read

Comments [6]

Reader Comments

I think the controls are jerky because of the tape on the wheels

Posted at 1:11 pm on Sep 10th, 2005 by weirdguy0101

RTFA.

“Turning is somewhat jerky using the wireless connection (a wired ethernet connection did not have the same problem). Given that we really want to put the robot in control of its own actions, this should not be a problem.”

Posted at 2:48 pm on Sep 10th, 2005 by Matt

Posted Sep 10, 2005, 2:48 PM ET by Matt
RTFA.

—-

I think weirdguy0101 was attempting to be humorous, lighten up :)

Posted at 4:29 pm on Sep 10th, 2005 by Sean S

If someone were to build this without the mac-mini/isight freebie it would be better to use a cheaper alternative like a mini-itx board. And they could use a regular webcam instead of the isight. It’s kind of funny becuase you wouldnt normally think of using a apple product on something like a robotics platform. but it is a good use.

Posted at 9:31 pm on Sep 10th, 2005 by CaptSnuffy

Nice to see a hack from my home state, never knew the CompSci classes built robots.

Posted at 11:00 pm on Sep 10th, 2005 by KrashKing

I’m a regular user of hackaday and I was so pissed when I say a newegg ad on it, that I had to comment (and I found no way to comment the add other than this).
I bought 3 times in new egg, with no problem, but then, when I tried to buy a 4th time, they rejected my credit card, saying that they do not accept non-us CCs. Now, I said “you know what? I bought 3 other times with the very same CC” and they said that this shouldn’t have happened, and it was a mistake. And of course, I said, “Ok, so lets do the same mistake again”, and ofcourse they said no.

I hate them so much, newegg is bno good… the funniest (saddes?) thing, is that the person on the phone explaining all this to me had no native accent, and quite probably, he himself would have to explain himself why he could not buy… fucking stupid shortsighted inbubbled neweggers

Posted at 1:16 am on Sep 11th, 2005 by Non-us person (oh yes, it´s quite possible)