Book#1

The Basics

This is a small sample of our curriculum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applications include:

 

Automated Factories

Space Exploration

Automated Guided Vehicles

Autonomous Mobile Robots

 

Copyright Angelus Research Corporation 1995

This manual in whole or part may copied and incorporated into other documents without express permission from Angelus Research Corporation if used in conjunction with products produced by said company.

Table of Contents

Dawn of Intelligent Machines                                                                                   3

A Note from the Inventor                                                                                         4

A Short Story                                                                                                            5

Whisker’s Artificial Intelligence Architecture                                                           8

Materials                                                                                                                  9

Whisker’s sensors                                                                                                   10

Rear panel                                                                                                               11

Important Notes                                                                                                      12

Working with Whiskers                                                                                           13

Whiskers likes to play                                                                                             14

Getting Started                                                                                                        15

Discovery Tasks

I Movement

II Teaching Whiskers new Words                                                                            26

III Acceleration and De-acceleration                                                                       36

IV Calibrating Whisker’s Compass and Pivots                                                         43

V Pivots and Turns                                                                                                  54

VI Velocity, Speed Control and Arcs                                                                       64

VII Sound Effects                                                                                                    74

VIII Music Words                                                                                                    82

IX Finish Short Story-The Roboticist                                                                      91

Appendix

The World of Intelligent Machines on the World Wide Web                                    95

Apple Macintosh Terminal Software                                                                       96

IBM PC Compatible Terminal Software                                                                   97

Installing a New PROM for software updates                                                          99

After the Crash-If pressing Q doesn’t work                                                            100

Other Sources of Information                                                                                 101

Robot Competition                                                                                                 102

 

Movement

 

 

 

 

 

 

Objective and Overview:

In this section you will perform experiments that will teach you the words which cause Whiskerstm to move around. We will begin with the most basic moves (FORWARD, BACKWARD, STOP) and then learn some special words related to movement.

Remember:

<cr> means pressing the Enter key or Return key on the keyboard after typing the command.

Type commands exactly as shown, noting upper case and lower case letters.

The Words you will explore

Whisker’s has many words designed to allow for motor direction control.

FORWARD Both wheels rotate in the forward direction causing the robot to move forward.

 

STOP Both wheels stop causing the robot to stop.

BACKUP Both wheels rotate in the backwards direction causing the robot to backup.

REVERSE-DIR Both wheels rotate in the opposite direction they where rotating causing the robot to move in the reverse direction.

number SECS A delaying word based on seconds. This word will delay the execution of the next word following this command, range is 1- 32000.

DEFAULT-INSTINCTS Sets the Instinct level sensor mailboxes for collision avoidance reactions to objects.

3) type BACKUP <cr>

 

 

Observe: Both wheels are both turning backwards.

4) type STOP <cr>

 

 

Observe: Both wheels have stopped.

5) type FORWARD <cr>

 

 

Observe: Whiskerstm wheels are now turning in the forward direction.

 

Problem Solving Exercise 1

1) type DEFAULT-INSTINCTS <cr>

2) type FORWARD <cr>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disconnect the computer cable and place Whiskerstm on the floor.

 

 

 

Observe: He keeps trying to go forward until one of his sensors see’s something, then he turns away.

 

The robot is not executing a program, only going forward because he was commanded to do so. Whisker’stm has enough common sense not to run into various objects. This is his Instinct Level working. Not bad for a robot only using 1/3 of his brain. Sometimes he still gets into trouble, but these situations are handled by the robot’s higher levels of intelligence (Goal and Behavior levels). We will learn how to work with these levels later in the course.

 

 

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