The Software Architecture is based on the three levels of intelligence found in the human brain

Cerebral Cortex-Physically the outer layer of the brain, which is characterized by the folds just under the skull. Functions include: Decision making, analysis, and dreaming. This is called the Goal Level in the Triune Operating System.

 

Limbic System-The gray matter found in the center of the brain, controls human behavior such as breathing, hunger, etc. This is called Behavior Level. Real-time decisions are made when simple or complex actions are triggered.

 

Brain Stem-The base of the brain is connected to the spinal cord and nervous system. This controls our critical responses and instinctive behaviors. It is analogous to the Instinct Level which gives the machine common sense. Motor/sensor fusion allows the machine to instantly react to its environment. The Behavior and Goal levels can alter the Instinct’s reaction at any time.

Consider what happens when a person touches something hot. The nerve endings in the skin detects the heat and causes an immediate muscular response (Instinct Level). Additionally, a message (pain) is sent to the brains’ Limbic System that activates a higher level behavior or set of actions based on programmed behaviors or learned experiences. This behavior or actions pre-empt the Cerebral Cortex (Goal Level) while the behavior is executing. When the action is finished, the Cerebral Cortex (Goal Level) regains control and continue where it left off or it may decide to change strategies or goals.

Moving-Two independent DC motors provide locomotion using an advanced pulse width modulation motor speed control. Speeds can be controlled from one to one hundred percent in one percent increments.

 

Touching-Two whiskers on the base section are used for tactile sensors.

 

Seeing-Four independent optical sensors are mounted on the base using Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and phototransistors pairs. A proprietary narrow beam sonar system is mounted in the panning head section for navigation and long range sensor scans. The sonar can detect object distances to one eight of an inch. A single Visible Red LED sensor located in this section has the capability to see about three to four feet. Three optical sensor arrays are located in the non-moving collar section for additional object detection.

 

Feeling-A force feedback system is used to monitor wheel load. Force is measured continuously to monitor the surface type or load. It is sensitive enough to determine whether the robot is operating on carpet of hard flooring.

 

Thinking-The processor in the base section performs real-time collision avoidance while the head processor navigates and scans the environment, simultaneously. The two computers are networked together. This allows them to cooperate in solving the navigation problem.

 

Learning-The language used for programming the onboard computers is English. No prior programming experience is necessary to create new commands (words) for this robot. However, the very tools used to create this easy to use and powerful language is always available to the user. The user words actually become part of language. The potential for this robot is limited only by the users imagination.

 

Specifications

 

Onboard Computers

Two Motorola 68HC11 High Integration microcomputers

with resident operating system and language onboard

32 Kilobytes PROM

32 Kilobytes of battery backed RAM

RS-232 Communication port

One megabit per second network port

Two whiskers for tactile sensing in the base

Four Optical Sensors in the base

Two independent motor drag sensors in the base

One acoustic sensor in the base

One speaker for sound effects and music

Three Optical Sensor arrays in the collar

One IR Optical Sensor in the head

One narrow beam sonar subsystem in the head

Size: 7.5 x 3.5 inches

Weight 24 pounds

Range: 20 feet

Distance accuracy: ± .0625 inch

Effective beam width is 3 to 40 degrees

Beam width is software selectable

Software controlled acoustic power

Sampling rates of 2 per second for 20 foot range

Sampling rates of 4 per second for 10 foot range

20 foot communication cable

Charger

Technical manual

Curriculum

Software disk