S15: Bug Rider

Abstract

The "Bug Rider" is robotic toy car which is ridden by the fish in the aquarium tank on top of the vehicle!!!! Confused ???

Ok ,So the fish which is placed inside the fish tank placed on top of the car will be moving in random directions and its movement is captured by the camera attached to the supporting frame of the vehicle.The movements are image-processed and the data is given to the "SJ-ONE BOARD" which in turn sends the wireless signals to the "SJ-ONE BOARD" present on the car which finally drives the car in that particular direction as the Hex-Bug's direction.

Below is the sample pictorial representation of the project.

Objectives & Introduction

      Our Objective is to design a  prototype version of Fish on Wheels using a Mobile Camera,RC Vehicle for holding the Fish Tank setup and Sjoneboard for controlling the vehicle. Using the color of the fish with the bottom of the fish tank, the position is determined and used to send commands to the Sjoneboard for moving the car into that direction.

      We use Image Processing in Python for determining the Position of the Fish. Nordiac Wirless is used for wireless communication between RC Vehicle and Laptop. Uart Serial Communication is used for sending commands from Python to Sjoneboard. PWM driver is used for controlling the RC Vehicle.

Team Members & Responsibilities

• [Vishnuram Venkataswamy Sampathkumar]
  
  • <Image Processing Module>
• [Krishna Sai Sevilimedu Veeravalli]
  
  • <Nordiac Wireless & Serial Communication>
• [Saketh Ram Bhamidimarri]
  
  • <Platform Design>
• [Prakash Kurup]
  
  • <PWM Driver>

Schedule

Team Schedule

Sl. No	Start Date	End Date	Task	Status
1	03/31/2015	04/07/2015	Order required components	*Completed*
2	04/08/2015	04/14/2015	Image processing for object tracking	*Completed*
3	04/15/2015	04/21/2015	PWM driver and motor calibration	*Completed*
4	04/22/2015	04/28/2015	Serial communication & Nordic wireless communication	*Completed*
5	05/29/2015	05/05/2015	Platform design for the hexbug and building the framework to hold the camera on top	*Completed*
6	05/06/2015	05/12/2015	Ultrasonic sensor for obstacle avoidance	*Completed*
7	05/13/2015	05/19/2015	Integration of complete system and testing	*Completed*
8	05/20/2015	05/26/2015	Final Testing and demo	Scheduled

Parts List & Cost

Item#	Qty	Description	Manufacturer	Part Number	Total Cost
1	1	RC Car	New Bright	Jeep 9.6V	$60.00
2	1	Bluetooth Camera	Adesso	CyberTrack V10	$40.00
3	2	SJ-One Board	NXP LPC1758	SJSU development board, LPC1758	$160.00
4	1	HexBug	Innovation First	HexBug Larva - Green color	$8.96
5	1	Dual H-Bridge Motor Drive	Drok	L298N	$8.48
6	1	Acrylic sheet	Tap-Plastics	Pure opaque-milky white	$24.29
7	3	Camera holding rods	Tap-Plastics	Plastic material	$ 17.40
8	2	Antennas	University	10-feet range antennas	$ 6.00
9	1	Double-sided tape	Tap-Plastics	Double sided tape for plastic material	$ 5.06
10	3	Welding work and Integration of the framework	Tap-Plastics	Glass Fibre rods for the support frame	$ 20.00
		Total Cost			$350.19

Design & Implementation

The design section can go over your hardware and software design. Organize this section using sub-sections that go over your design and implementation.

Hardware Design

The main components required for this project are :

(1) A Toy Car of dimensions approximately 25*12 inches which we bought from WALMART.

(2) An Acrylic sheet of dimensions 30*15 milky white color with highest opaqueness for light bought at TAP-PLASTICS.

(3) A framework consisting of vertical rods attached to the front and back of the car and a horizontal rod which can be movable on the vertical rods.The camera will be attached right at the middle of the horizontal rod. The intention of the horizontal rod sliding on the vertical rods is to adjust the height of the camera position relative to the platform.

(4) Ultra-sonic sensors attached at the front portion of the car to provide the obstacle avoidance feature to the car.

(5) The "SJ-ONE" board will be placed underneath the platform,in the slot provided for the batteries of the car.

Hardware Interface

• The "SJ-ONE BOARD" is used for the control of DC motor and SERVO motor control using Pulse Width Modulation(PWM).

• The DC motor and the SERVO motors are connected to the "SJ-ONE BOARD" using jumper cables.

• An Antenna is attached to the "SJ-ONE BOARD" which is used for the communication with the other "SJ-ONE BOARD" connected to the laptop through Nordic Wireless Communication.

• The wireless Camera attached to the horizontal section of the framework will be capturing the movement of the Hex-Bug toy and transmitting the data to the laptop via bluetooth.

• The ultra-Sonic Sensors which are placed at the front portion of the vehicle for the obstacle-avoidance feature is connected to the "SJ-ONE BOARD" through jumper cables.

Software Design

The Software Design is divided into two parts. The first part of the software is running in the PC end and the second part of the software is running at the SJ One Board. The first part of the software running at the PC requires the Image Processing. Image Processing:

Image processing is done by using OpenCV libraries in Python.We also use NumPy (Numerical Python) Package which is used by OpenCV for image processing.

We capture the Video frames in Python by using VideoCapture() function and convert RGB image to HSV, for extracting a colored object. In HSV, it is more easier to represent a color than RGB color-space. After converting the image to HSV color-space,Image will be thresholded for a range of desired object color. Position of the image is returned by using moments() function of OpenCV library. It gives centroid of the object in terms of (x,y) co-ordinates. By using the (x,y) co-ordinates, the position of the object is determined in the tracking window and send the SJone Board through Serial Communication.

pySerial package provides required libraries for serial communication in python. Desired port number is set and data is send using write() function.

Flow Chart - Image Processing

The second part of software will be running in Sjoneboard:

We use one Sjoneboard for transferring data from PC to another Sjoneboard which is used in RC car for controlling the car.

The Software which is running in the Sjoneboard which is used for transferring data through UART serial communication from PC contains a task,once the task begins executing, it waits for the serial data from the PC. On receiving the data from PC,it transfer the data to Nordic wireless function which sends the data to other Sjoneboard.

Flow Chart - SjOneBoard:

Implementation

This section includes implementation, but again, not the details, just the high level. For example, you can list the steps it takes to communicate over a sensor, or the steps needed to write a page of memory onto SPI Flash. You can include sub-sections for each of your component implementation.

Testing & Technical Challenges

Describe the challenges of your project. What advise would you give yourself or someone else if your project can be started from scratch again? Make a smooth transition to testing section and described what it took to test your project.

Include sub-sections that list out a problem and solution, such as:

My Issue #1

We faced some issues which we would like to mention and how we overcame those.

(1) Hardware items: After the idea was finalized and the how-to-do stuff was imagined and designed,the initial problem was to where to find the materials,the hardware tools which would exactly meet the requirements of the project. After searching various hardware stores,we would a really nice place called the "TAP-PLASTICS" where the technician named Kevin was really helpful in his suggestions and the improvisations which can be used.

Conclusion

Conclude your project here. You can recap your testing and problems. You should address the "so what" part here to indicate what you ultimately learnt from this project. How has this project increased your knowledge?

Project Video

Upload a video of your project and post the link here.

Project Source Code

• Sourceforge Source Code Link

References

Acknowledgement

We,the team of Bug-Rider would like to wholeheartedly thank our friend,our guide and our Professor "Preet Pal Kang" for guiding us,encouraging us to do these projects and imparting knowledge and wisdom to us in our academics as well as for our career.Thank You "Preet".

References Used

(1) http://www.socialledge.com/sjsu/index.php?title=Main_Page

(2) https://learn.adafruit.com/series/learn-arduino

Appendix

You can list the references you used.