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Ball Man. By Vivek Manoharan TAs: William Dubel and Steven Pickles. Problem/Solution. Microcontroller. Atmega128 SparkFun AVR board 16 MHz ext. crystal. Behaviors. Locate – CMU Cam to locate tennis ball Ping/Center – Ultrasound to center ball for mechanical arm retrieval
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Ball Man By Vivek Manoharan TAs: William Dubel and Steven Pickles
Microcontroller • Atmega128 • SparkFun AVR board • 16 MHz ext. crystal
Behaviors • Locate – CMU Cam to locate tennis ball • Ping/Center – Ultrasound to center ball for mechanical arm retrieval • Retrieve – Pickup tennis ball • Return – CMU cam searches for bright orange
CMU Camera • Detect contrast level of tennis ball on tennis court • Initialization of color required • Allows for differently colored tennis balls to be located
White Balance Indoors • White Balance off
White Balance Indoors • White balance on
Ultrasound Sensors • Determine whether objects are on the tennis court • If CMU camera RGB values do not match that of tennis ball, obstacle avoidance is initiated • If there is a match, retrieval system is called upon
Mechanical Arm • Timing used to determine when to stop “push” • Use a high torque DC motor to lower and hoist mechanical arm • Places ball into container
Research/Findings • CMU resolution is very limited • Interaction of independently working behaviors is extremely frustrating
Future Work • Use a better motor driver for control of all 3 motors (two wheels and one arm) • Create a “dropping off” mechanism • Allow communication to a remote computer indicating how many balls have been retrieved