This is a description of a mobile robot using an Mac Mini and iSight camera for tele-operation. The purpose of this project is to see what it is like to control to robot using the built-in visual and aural sensors before designing an agent to do the same task. The robot is a Pioneer 3-AT made by ActivMedia and the Mac Mini was graciously provided by Apple computer at no charge. Dr. Amy McGovern provided the iSight camera.
The tests were preformed at the Stephenson Research and Technology Center located at University of Oklahoma. Our group, part of the Artificial Intelligence Research laboratory in Computer Science, was interested in evaluating the Mac Mini because of its small size, built-in wireless and firewire capabilities.
Power is supplied by a 12 Volt 7.2 AH Battery. The battery is connected to a regular car power inverter. The inverter is connected to the power brick which supplies power to the Mac Mini. The average runtime using this arrangement is about 30 minutes. The inverter is just a quick fix so that we don't have to modify the Mac Mini loaned to us by Apple.
Tele-operation is achieved using the Mac Mini's built-in wireless capability. The Aria demo software (running on the Mac Mini) is used to control the Pioneer 3-AT (via ssh from the control computer). A USB-to-serial adapter connects the Mac Mini to the Pioneer 3-AT. iChat transmits the audio/video data from the iSight camera back to the control computer. The blue device that looks like a coffee maker is a Sick laser range finder. The wheels are covered with clear tape for better turning performance on carpeted surfaces.
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