Sounds good!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 7:15 PM, Xandor <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:xandoru@gmail.com" target="_blank">xandoru@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="auto"><div>Hey All,</div><div><br></div><div>Let's do Monday, as tomorrow is a little too short notice. 12/3 at 8:30pm; email me off-list for my address (in Castro, SF).</div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div>
<br></div></font></span><div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">-mark</font></span><div><div class="h5"><br><br>On Nov 27, 2012, at 8:35 PM, Corey McGuire <<a href="mailto:coreyfro@coreyfro.com" target="_blank">coreyfro@coreyfro.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br></div></div></div><div><div class="h5"><blockquote type="cite"><div>I will have my kiddo on Monday, but Thursday might be a little short notice. Thursday works better for me.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 7:23 PM, Niladri Bora <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:niladri.bora@gmail.com" target="_blank">niladri.bora@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>I will have to be a little late (9:15 ish) on Thursday but Monday 8:30 works fine. <div><div>
<br><br>On Nov 27, 2012, at 5:44 PM, Mark Alexander <<a href="mailto:xandoru@gmail.com" target="_blank">xandoru@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div></div></div><div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>Yup - 11/29 and 12/3 at 8:30pm are good. For those interested in attending -- do these times work for you? <div>
<br></div><div>-mark<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 4:22 PM, Mark Alexander <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:xandoru@gmail.com" target="_blank">xandoru@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Marnia,<div><br></div><div>I'll need to confirm with Martin, but likely times are either this Thursday 11/29 or Monday 12/3 at 8:30pm. </div>
<span><font color="#888888"><div><br></div></font></span><div><span><font color="#888888">-mark</font></span><div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 4:11 PM, Marnia Johnston <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:marnia@gmail.com" target="_blank">marnia@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Mark, when would be a good time/day?<div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Mark Alexander <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:xandoru@gmail.com" target="_blank">xandoru@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Corey,<div><br></div><div>I too am interested in an in-person download of all this. I can host 8-10 people (will be quieter / less distracting than Chieftan or Noisebridge), but if it's going to be more than that we'll need a bigger venue.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Looking forward to XBee finger dertying,</div><div>mark</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div>On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 12:34 AM, Corey McGuire <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:coreyfro@coreyfro.com" target="_blank">coreyfro@coreyfro.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div>Hey Nil!<br><br>I am available most of the time. Marnia and I work over near you at TechShop Thursdays and Fridays. We're putting in at least 8 hours a week on the CNC Mill. Usually starting at 2PM.<br>
<br>While Techshop is picky about how long people stay, we can always meet and the Chieftain for fish, chips, and BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER.<div>
<br></div><div>I can meet around that, of course, but giving you a quick tour of Techshop after lunch seems like fun.</div><div><br></div><div>Swarm!<br><div><div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 2:57 PM, Niladri Bora <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:niladri.bora@gmail.com" target="_blank">niladri.bora@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hey Corey,<div> Sorry for the late reply. I am available over the holidays to work on "stuff" (between christmas and new year). Are you available during that time? I would also like to take a peek at what you have put together so far. Maybe a demo at NB soon? <br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote"><div>On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 10:39 AM, Corey McGuire <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:coreyfro@coreyfro.com" target="_blank">coreyfro@coreyfro.com</a>></span> wrote:<br></div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div>
Who's ready for the next autonomous robotic performance art project?<br><br>I am working on a platform that allows people to create their own vision of a robot and include it in an ad hoc swarm of robots created by other people. However, there is no reason this system couldn't be used for swarms of similar robots with a singular vision, aesthetic, or purpose.<div>
<br></div><div>Another design goal is to make this as off the shelf as possible so we leverage mature, community supported platforms. Of course, there are critical components that will not be off the shelf, namely, the swarming software components. I want to keep OUR work focused to that.<br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
<div><div>I have had success with the control solution portion of the complete Rover swarming system. At this moment, I can script anything to follow designated way points with purely off the shelf equipment.</div>
<br>Let's talk about the current state of my work. The components required for an "Off the shelf" rover are as follows:<br><div><ul><li>Rover (two channel drive platform with control over throttle and steering, so a differential drive system like a tank will require a two motor speed control that handles channel mixing, such as the Sabertooth used in the Weevils: <a href="http://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/sabertooth2x60" target="_blank">http://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/sabertooth2x60</a>)</li>
<li>Ardupilot Mega 2.5 (same as the 2.0 but a more streamlined design) or Mav Link compatible autopilot.</li><li>XBee's, preferably 900Mhz (to avoid interfearence with other 2.4Ghz signals which may be utilized for remote control and administration)</li>
<li>Three Channel (or more) Hobby Radio transmitter and receiver. Three channels are for throttle, steering, and a 3 position "mode" (Manual Drive, Program Waypoints, Follow waypoints)</li>
<li>Laptop</li><li>Mission Planner</li><li>Optional Sensors (dead-reckoning or "flow sensors" and sonar)</li>
</ul><div>The Ardupilot is configured and provides telemetry over the XBee connection to the laptop. The Laptop runs the mission planner which has a comfortable interface for observing the state of the rover, handling "flight planning", updating software, and tuning the behavior of the rover.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Talking to the Ardupiolt (or, indeed, select other auto pilots) is standardized using a common protocol called MAV-Link (<a href="http://qgroundcontrol.org/mavlink/start" target="_blank">http://qgroundcontrol.org/mavlink/start</a>). It is stateless and fairly robust, but it primarily deals with waypoints and not much else.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>Going forward:</b><br><br></div><div>None of this is true autonomy. This is, purely, a control bundle awaiting commands from a brain such as to brains in our heads...or a brains we create. What obviously comes next is a brain which takes in choreography as inputs for behaviors and give coordinates as outputs.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Choreography could simply be an extension to the mission planner, or the Swarm Timeline concept. What is more important is how we handle coordination and behavior. There are two modes:</div><div><ul>
<li>Mother node</li><li>Locally</li></ul><div>We could create a mothernode that handles the execution of choreography and runs the behaviors centrally, then issues commands remotely, or we can upload choreography to the constituent rovers which coordinate in realtime and execute behavior locally.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>There are arguments for either, but I feel we don't have to choose. If we opt to make this system modular, there isn't any reason that we can't seamlessly move execution from remotely to locally.<br>
<br>Attached is the diagram for the proposed "Weevils". Right now, we have completed the "Drone Phase". From the drone phase, we could begin developing the Mothernode to begin remote execution of the Rovers.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Here is what I propose for the platform going forward:</div><div><ul><li>Consider an embedded hardware platform we can develop on for Localized Behaviors (Currently, I am favoring the BeagleBone <a href="http://beagleboard.org/bone" target="_blank">http://beagleboard.org/bone</a>)</li>
<li>Select a tool chain which allows common code to run on the mothernode or on the embedded system (Currently, I am favoring JAVA since bytecode should be executable on both platforms without cross compiling and it should perform much better than python.)</li>
<li>Getting our hands very dirty with XBee. How do we make this a robust protocol for bidirectional communication from a number of nodes? This is the next piece of the puzzle for me and I have begun to work on this problem this week.</li>
<li>Begin evaluating the state of the Swarm timeline software, the extensibility of the Ardupilot Mission Planner, or rolling a new solution (which might not be too hard, since mission planning can be handled with embedded hardware <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy2BE3Dzl3s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy2BE3Dzl3s</a>)</li>
<li>Begin developing the mothernode solution</li></ul><div><br></div><div>One important question that might beg some consideration, however, is "Who's got ideas for a project that might utilize these tools?" It would be great if we had a cohesive project that would allow us to make proposals for burningman, robodock, awesome foundation, kickstarter, etc. The vision of a multicultural robot swarm is great, but it would be easier to promote a cohesive project, first.
</div></div></div></div></div>
</div>
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<br></div></blockquote></div><span><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Soul For Sale - Single owner, low mileage, best offer<br>
</font></span></div>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div></div></div><span><font color="#888888">-- <br>Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein" title="Albert Einstein" target="_blank">Albert Einstein</a><br>
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Da_Vinci" title="Leonardo Da Vinci" target="_blank">Leonardo Da Vinci</a><br>
Perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry" title="Antoine de Saint Exupéry" target="_blank">Antoine de Saint Exupéry</a><br>
Keep It Simple Stupid - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Johnson" title="Clarence Johnson" target="_blank">Kelly Johnson</a><br>
</font></span></div></div>
<br></div></div>---- SWARM, A Large Scale Kinetic Art Project<br>
---- <a href="http://orbswarm.com" target="_blank">http://orbswarm.com</a> <a href="http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org" target="_blank">http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org</a><br></blockquote></div>
<br></div>
<br>---- SWARM, A Large Scale Kinetic Art Project<br>
---- <a href="http://orbswarm.com" target="_blank">http://orbswarm.com</a> <a href="http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org" target="_blank">http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org</a><br></blockquote></div>
<br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>
</div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>
</div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>---- SWARM, A Large Scale Kinetic Art Project</span><br><span>---- <a href="http://orbswarm.com" target="_blank">http://orbswarm.com</a> <a href="http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org" target="_blank">http://lists.lee.org/listinfo.cgi/swarm-lee.org</a></span></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein" title="Albert Einstein" target="_blank">Albert Einstein</a><br>
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Da_Vinci" title="Leonardo Da Vinci" target="_blank">Leonardo Da Vinci</a><br>
Perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry" title="Antoine de Saint Exupéry" target="_blank">Antoine de Saint Exupéry</a><br>
Keep It Simple Stupid - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Johnson" title="Clarence Johnson" target="_blank">Kelly Johnson</a><br>
</div></blockquote></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein" title="Albert Einstein" target="_blank">Albert Einstein</a><br>
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Da_Vinci" title="Leonardo Da Vinci" target="_blank">Leonardo Da Vinci</a><br>
Perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry" title="Antoine de Saint Exupéry" target="_blank">Antoine de Saint Exupéry</a><br>
Keep It Simple Stupid - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Johnson" title="Clarence Johnson" target="_blank">Kelly Johnson</a><br>