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Knightrous
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Joined: 15 Jun 2004
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Location: NSW


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I honestly think using something like Arduino as the core is a good place to start.
They are cheap, they are simple, there is oooooodles of source code out there for them, they have plenty of options and accessories for them and anyone can get their hands on them. Ardupilot seems to be working wonders for the DIYDrone guys and they did some impressive times at the Sparkfun UAC event too.

An Android/iPhone is pretty much overkill in my books, it has a lot of hardware features that are pretty much useless for the application and require little step around hacks for everything to work. Plus, with the extra processing power, it just leads to people using lazy, half assed code because they have processing cycles to waste Razz
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Post Mon May 10, 2010 8:02 pm 
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marto
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Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 5459
Location: Brisbane, QLD


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Yep like I said it is a problem with trade offs between newb friendliness, keeping it interesting and keeping cost low.

It needs to be:
- low cost
- easy to get started
- have enough scope to make it hard to master
- not be able to buy a win
- hard to cheat*/hack

Aka very difficult.

By cheat* I mean do something which is within the rules but isn't in the spirit of competition. Becomes very critical when offering prizes when its for free not as big an issue but people can get pissed off. Easily handled with clause about judges discretion or check if unsure whether allowed.

By hack I mean some problems can be solved very simply and no matter how much time/effort you put into it you will not be able to make it work better. This links in with scope but is usually unforeseen and basically ends up with everybody who has a competitive robot building exactly the same thing.

There is localised competitions around with enthusiasts but I think this is somewhat why most competitions are limited to students as then you can somewhat guarantee that they are on a similar finical and knowledge level.

The RC car idea has merit but these are problems which need to be addressed before you setup rules for a competition.

I would also agree with aaron starting out if you are using a Arduino for low level control you might as well do all the processing on that for simple stuff. Its really only when you get into image processing and SLAM (Simultaneous localization and mapping) that you need more processing power.
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Post Mon May 10, 2010 9:56 pm 
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Knightrous
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Joined: 15 Jun 2004
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Location: NSW


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To keep the challenge, you can always shift the goal posts each year a bit like the FIRST guys do. One year it might be a simple smooth track with walls, the next year it might have obstacles on the course to dodge, the year after the surface might be sand or gravel.

I think there is still a lot of challenge with using the bare basic stuff like arduino. So you don't have the processing power to do image processing or to do SLAM, so you find another way of doing it or you nut out a way of doing it with what you have!

I've seen a few hackaday posts with dual arduino boards with comms between them on i2c, so you can probably do a lot of processing with a few chips running over a network. Hell, I'm sure I've seen an FPGA board rigged up to an arduino somewhere...
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Post Tue May 11, 2010 8:08 am 
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Nick
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Joined: 16 Jun 2004
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Location: Sydney, NSW


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Sounds like people are already aiming too high - how many of us would know anything about image processing? I think the Sparkfun UAV contest was the right format - set a challenge and leave the platform up to the entrants.

Post Tue May 11, 2010 9:32 am 
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seanet1310



Joined: 08 Nov 2006
Posts: 1265
Location: Adelaide


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I can only find there development board stuff via google atm any chance u can link it Nick?


And agreed not many of us here would touch image processing. I would possibly look for alternatives but if aimed at upper undergrad engineers it may be something more required.
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Post Tue May 11, 2010 12:19 pm 
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Nick
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Joined: 16 Jun 2004
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Location: Sydney, NSW


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The Sparkfun UAV competition: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9016 and http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/news.php?id=351

Post Tue May 11, 2010 1:16 pm 
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marto
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Joined: 08 Jul 2004
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Looks like QUT is kicking off a new robotics club for undergrads. I don't think you can be a full member if you aren't a student but I think you could be an associate member if you wanted to compete in events.

Hopefully we will organise a competition for later this year. Will keep you in the loop if stuff starts happening this will probably be your best bet to get involved with some autonomous stuff.
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Post Tue May 25, 2010 1:26 am 
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Garrows



Joined: 16 Apr 2010
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Location: Crestmead, Brisbane


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Thanks Steven. I will be in Europe from late June to early August. Hopefully I dont miss it though.

Post Tue May 25, 2010 8:57 am 
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Andrew W



Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Posts: 220
Location: Melbourne, Victoria


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What sort of processing power are you after in a PC board ?
It isn't really fast, but I have bought one of these Alix 1D boards (http://www.yawarra.com.au/product.php?productCode=HW-AX1-M). They aren't cheap at $315, but for something that runs off a 12V 0.5A plug pack, its pretty good. It doesn't have a fan and produces very little heat.
I've installed Windows XP Pro SP3 onto a 16GB CF card and it starts up pretty quickly.
It'll play 576i video without any issues, 720P starts to get a bit jittery.
Basic specs are:
Performance: 500 MHz AMD Geode LX800 CPU, 256 MB RAM
Storage: Compact Flash card or Microdrive and 2.5" HDD
Power: 12V DC external power supply (2.5mm internal). Uses about 5W at 12V DC (excluding miniPCI and PCI cards).
Interface: GPIO, battery-backed real-time clock (RTC), buzzer. An I2C header is also included.
Connectivity: 1 ethernet channel (10/100 Via VT6105M), 1 miniPCI slot, 1 3.3V PCI slot, 2 serial (RS232) ports (console/on-board), 1 VGA port, keyboard and mouse ports, audio out and microphone ports, 2.5" IDE connector, 4 USB (2 ports/2 headers), LPT header
Form: Mini ITX
Size: 170W x 170L (mm)
Weight: 250g

Post Fri May 28, 2010 9:01 pm 
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