Hi, I am trying to use OpenCV for Android:

http://github.com/billmccord/OpenCV-Android/

http://www.stanford.edu/~zxwang/android_opencv.html

Good evening, I would like to share my notes about the suject which I am studying about robotics in URJC, Madrid.

notasTeoria

Today I discovered a DIY Laser Rangefinder.

http://sites.google.com/site/todddanko/home/webcam_laser_ranger

Today I updated my wiki (In Spanish) about my project which I am developing with Arduino and Android.

This year I passed a subject about home automation. The subject used custom boards to learn how to use Bluetooth technology. At the end of the course, I made a proposal to replace the board and use in the future Arduino Technology. Finally the proposal was aprroved so I am developing the examples for the next year.

I think that it is a great opportunity to improve my knowledge about how to use Arduino technology in some projects and how to use it with NXT platform and Android.

Interesting idea:

http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/jfogarty/research/prefab/

http://www.chi2010.org/

Hi,

Today, I was developing a log system to store data about the battery when a NXT robot with a rechargable battery has all system enabled. So recharged the battery and now I made a bluetooth connection and now the log system is measuring the battery effect when the robot has:

• 2 motors enabled and running
• 1 compass sensor enabled and measuring
• 2 ultrasonic sensor enabled and measuring
• 1 bluetooth connection enabled and communicating with android mobile phone.
• Platon Software running in the CPU’s NXT and storing data in the File System

With this experiment, I will know how long has the robot until the disconnection. Last year, I did a similar experiment but the robot only stablished a communication with a GPS receiver and the result was 9 hours but now my preliminar hyphothesis is less due to NXT brick has more sensors/actuators and the bluetooth connection was replaced to a Android Mobile Phone.

Note: When I finish the experiment, I will update this post.

Hi friends,

I have improved the body. The main difference between previous version and current version is the location of the mobile phone.

Other pics about the model:

This is my personal project to develop a robot based in 2 components: A Lego Mindstorms NXT robots which use Java LeJOS and an Android mobile phone to control the whole system.

In this stage of the project, I have updated the set of classes to exchange data between Android-NXT with LeJOS project and I have reused a old thread that I had to manage the bluetooth connection in NXT side. I have divided the project in 2 parts:

• Soul Part [Android]
• Body Part [Lego Mindstorms NXT + LeJOS project]

Note: To make the connection from Android to NXT I used in my first tests an example from Shawn Brown that he tested with Andrid 1.5 and 1.6 when Android OS doesn’t have Bluetooth support and I tested with a Nexus One model (Many thanks Google by the lab developed in Madrid in previous months. They gave me a unit FREE!!!)

In the past, I have tried to manage all systems in the NXT side, but the CPU included in the NXT brick is small in compare to a Nexus One’s model (1Ghz) so the NXT brick manages sensors and actuators and the android phone manages the behaviors.

I did a preliminar video with low quality about the project. The video show a bluetooth connection and how to use a User Interface in Android to manage the physical movements in the NXT robot.

NXT Side [Body]
I suppose that some readers know my work with LeJOS project and NXT Sensors/Actuators. Due to my experience with NXT Systems, I use NXT platform to develop the “Body”. The Body is a classical platfrom with 2 NXT Servos with 2 US Sensors and 1 Compass. With these equipment, it is possible to use a classical navigation system using Odometry calculus and allow the whole project the capabilities to make movements and detect obstables in a basic way.

This year I am teaching a course about robotics in Alcalá de Henares, Spain and currently we are testing Navigation Systems with NXT and Java LeJOS project.

http://www.roboticaenlaescuela.es/blog/2010/03/25/comportamientos-basicos-evita-obstaculos/

With this ideas, I have developed a system which listen a bluetooth connection for an external device (Other NXT brick, A mobile phone, A PC/Laptop or a Android device) which send commands to execute.

A NXT brick is perfect to manage one active bluetooth connection with other subsystems running in “Real time” so If I want to incorporate more subsystems to the project, I have decided to use another CPU in the project, in this case using an Android Mobile Phone.

Previous projects:

RC Car 1 [2008]
http://www.juanantonio.info/jab_cms.php?id=228
RC Car 2 [2009]
http://www.juanantonio.info/jab_cms.php?id=239

Android Side [Soul]
I like so much Android because add new features to NXT brick for example:

1. Quality Camera with the possibility to make image processing with OpenCV using Java
2. Web Services to exchange data with external services in Internet
3. Google Maps
4. Massive Storage to save information about the processes
5. Accelerometer

For the moment, I know how to exchange data from the Bluetooth Thread to the user interface in Android. I hope to improve the solution little by little and I wait your help in the process

Cheers.

Some links about the technique for Android:

http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/google-android/articles/43414.aspx

http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/8683

http://www.anddev.org/take_picture_from_camera_emulator-t168.html

Hi,

I am trying to find some solutions to upload files with an Android Mobile Phone:

http://moazzam-khan.com/blog/?p=490

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-04-2003/jw-0404-ftp.html?page=1