Humanoid robot gets Pocket PC brain

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Sep. 20, 2004

A group at the Institute for Computer Science of the University of Freiburg (Germany) has used a Pocket PC as the "brain" of a small autonomous robot. "NimbRo RS" placed third in the balancing challenge of the Humanoid League competition at RoboCup 2004 in Lisbon, by successfully walking up and down a ramp without falling.

(Click here for larger image)

The group started with RoboSapien, a commercially available robot with infrared control. "Team NimbRo" replaced the robot's head with a Toshiba e755 Pocket PC and a FlyCam-CF CompactFlash camera. Ultramote, a shareware package, allows the e755 to emulate RoboSapien's remote control. The arms and corresponding motors were removed, to compensate for the extra weight of the Pocket PC and camera.

Before and after Pocket PC brain transplant
(Click each image to enlarge)

Normally, the RoboSapien is controlled by means of a handheld remote infrared controller. To substitute autonomous control, the infrared sender of the Pocket PC is directed at the infrared receiver of the robot. A "RoboSapien API" (application programming interface) that runs on the Pocket PC, developed by Team NimbRo, provides programmatic control of the infrared link.

The API is written in embedded Visual C++ 3.0 and is available as part of a download. The download includes a brief step-by-step "how-to" describing how the robot was constructed, API documentation, and various source files. It also includes an example program for the robot, whereby the robot proceeds in the direction of an orange pole if it "sees" one. Microsoft's Visual C++ 3.0 IDE can be downloaded for free from Microsoft's website.

Team NimbRo would like to hear from anyone who uses the RoboSapien API in robot experiements.

About RoboCup

According to its official website, RoboCup is an international joint project intended to stimulate AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined. The game of soccer was chosen as the focus of RoboCup research with the long term goal: "By 2050, develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human world champion team in soccer." To that end, RoboCup sponsors an annual compeition where teams of autonomous robots compete in soccer games. Next year's RoboCup will be held in Osaka, Japan July 13 to 19.

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