May 11, 2007 (10:00am-12:00pm) Friday

Used the LED distance tester to see what I would need to set the maximum distance for the left and right sensor. I found out that some of the halls are different sizes on the second floor of O'conell. I then decided that I need more data to process to get the Hummer to move freely. So, I decided to attach a compass appmod to the Hummer so I have the direction the Hummer is moving. From that information I am thinking I can get the Hummer to move through the halls freely. I also think I will have two types of information about what the Hummer is doing so I can start developing some type of AI for the Hummer to move freely around the second floor of O'conell.

I downloaded some code for the communication between a BX24 and the compass appmod. It is stored in my folder in the Extra code folder.

May 9, 2007 (10:00am-12:00pm) Wednesday

Finished the code for the sensor distance LED tester for the Hummer and also tested it. It works.

I then worked on updating my logs.

I worked on finding a slower speed for the Hummer that would still work. I moved the speed from 90 to 80 and after the backup routine the Hummer would not move forward. I need to find where it is getting hung up so I can correct the code. Will continue on that next time.

May 8, 2007 (11:00am-1:00pm) Tuesday

Continued working on the sensor distance LED tester device code.

May 3, 2007 (11:00am-3:00pm) Thursday

Decided I needed a way to test the sensors distance readings in the halls, since there is really no way to connect the BX24 to a computer in the hall when it is running. Designed and built a sensor distance LED tester. Worked on connecting the LEDs to a BX24 chip. Also started writing code for the tester. Will continue work next time.

May 2, 2007 (10:00am-12:00pm) Wednesday

Worked on re-writing the code for the hummer. Wrote sub-routines for different parts of the code so it looks cleaner. After doing this I realized that the size of the code that is loaded to the chip is almost three times larger than the original way it was written. I will keep it this way until I reach the 400 byte limit that the BX24 has for memory. Then I will need to go back and re-write the code the way we originally had it. I hope we don't reach the memory limit with what we develop on the BX24 processor. Soon we will need to move to the Gumstix platform and develope the code for that platform.

May 1, 2007 (12:00am-3:00pm) Tuesday

Continued researching the compass module that I might use on the Hummer. Looked for example code and Hints on using the compass with the BX24. I found out that the compass that we have has been discontinued and is no longer on the parallax web site. We might want to get a different compass module to use instead(?). I then looked up GPS and compass modules for the eATV. I beleive the GPS unit that is used on the autonomous tractor is the best, I still need to look at other units. The GPS brand that is on the autonomous tractor has a unit that is accurate to 1 in. and would be nice to have that type of precission on the eATV. Here is a link to what I found Trimble's Autopilot System

April 30, 2007 (10:00am-11:00am) Monday

I started looking at the compass module that the lab has and how to interface it with the BX24. Looked for code and documentation on the internet, will continue doing this to see if there is something out there to speed up this process. I was thinking that it would be nice to know what direction the hummer is facing or moving in. From that the code could know how to move along with the ultrasonic sensor information. I am not sure but I'm going to run with this idea for now. It might pay off when we implement a compass or GPS on the eATV.

April 27, 2007 (10:00am-12:00pm) Friday

Fixed a minor error in the turning. I was not handelling a situation from turn left to turn right. I needed to make sure I reset the left turn pin back to zero before I set the right turn pin to one. Dr. J tock a brief video of the Hummer running the left wall hugger code.

I started working on implementing the right sensor. I was working on code that would center the Hummer in a hallway. Will continue from there next time.

April 26, 2007 (11:00am-2:30pm) Thursday

Today I continued the work on the Hummer code. I was able to finish the code for the center and left sensor. With those two sensors I also was able to code a left wall hugger and test it. Clinton helped with the code for the wall hugger. It was exciting to finally see the Hummer move smoothly and do what we programmed it to do. I still need to save this code to my area on the server. For now the code is saved in a seperate folder so we can continue adding code for the right sensor and code to work with all three sensors. Will continue with this the next time. I also need to update the diagram for the two BX24 chips.

There will be videos up soon! =)

April 25, 2007 (10:00am-12:00pm) Wednesday

Continued my work on the Hummer project. I went through the code and made a copy of all the code used on the Hummer and put it in a seperate folder on the lab computer to back it up. I then went through the current code and cleaned it up. I then installed the left sensor on the Hummer. Began work on the code for the left sensor. Will continue working on this later.

April 24, 2007 (12:00pm-2:00pm) Tuesday

Continued my work on the Hummer project. I fixed the code for the Hummer so that the Sensor chip and the Motor chip communicate with one another. Actually the Sensor chip tells the Motor chip to stop moving forward and reverse for a little bit to stop the Hummer before it hits the wall or object.

Need to start redisigning the software for the Hummer so AI can be implemented in the code.

April 12, 2007 (12:00pm-3:00pm) Thursday

I worked on the Hummer project. I finished connecting the wires for the motor cpu and the sensor cpu, I only have one sensor on the Hummer right now. I was working on the code for the two processors but ran into a problem with the motor code. It would not move forward. I will work on this later.

April 10, 2007 (2:00pm-3:00pm) Tuesday

I worked on the Hummer project. I started looking at the code and the diagrams of how the chips were connected. I will continue to work on the Hummer project and get the code working with the two BX24 chips.

March 29, 2007 (11:00am-3:30pm, 5:30pm-7:00pm) Thursday

I worked on moving the sensors on the Hummer project, to the front of the Hummer. I still need to connect the sensors to the BX24 chip. Will do that later.

Had a meeting with Dr. J and Dr. Renner and the ISL Team. Discussed the progress of the projects in the Lab. For our team, the only big change was I asked Shane to be the Project Lead for the e-ATV. I did this so I could go back to working of the Hummer and getting that project moving again. Since we started working on the e-ATV the Hummer project has gone untouched for months now. I feel it is time to start work on it again so we have some software being developed for the projects.

March 28, 2007 (2:00pm-5:00pm) Wednesday

Worked on the e-ATV with Shane and Nalaka. Looked at the different clamps that Shane found on the internet, and we decided on one that would fit in the space where it will be used. Continued working on ordering and designing what needs to go into the e-ATV.

March 5, 2007 (8:30am-9:00am, 10:00am-12:00pm) Monday

Started looking at the Hummer project again. I found an article on a similar project
( CREATING A LOW-COST AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE ) I read through the article and was working through the equations for our sensors. Wanting to re-position the sensors on the Hummer and I am calculating to see if I can position them like in the article. Will continue working on this later.

http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R241-SRF10.html

http://www.robot-electronics.co.uk/htm/sonar_faq.htm

Febuary 28, 2007 (1:30pm-5:30pm) Wednesday

Worked on finishing up my reading of the articles on SLAM. I did not finish yet and will continue later.

I then did some research on using a linear actuator for the steering. After searching for parts and looking and the eATV. I think we might just go with the idea that Shane had with steering the eATV (Check Shane's logs for more information).

Febuary 26, 2007 (10:30pm-1:30pm) Monday

I worked on updating my logs from last week and read the articles that Dr. J found last week. Here is a link to Dr. J's Log where those articles were posted.
I then started reading the article "A Solution to the Simultaneous Localization and Map Building (SLAM) Problem". While I was reading the article I found that I needed to look up some terms and information to better understand what was being explained. I created a web links page so I could document articles and information I found. I will continue reading the article and researching what it has to say about SLAM later.

Febuary 22, 2007 (1:30pm-3:30pm), (6:00pm-7:00pm) Thursday

Dr. J looked up some related projects that other schools are working on. I spent some time to briefly review what he had found. I will come back to the documents to do a better review latter.

Shane, Nalaka, and I spent some time talking about the eATV project and we tried to break the design up into Phases.

• Phase 1
• Steering and R/C(?)
• Phase 2
• What will control the eATV (Gumstix, ToughBook, ...)
• What sensors and inputs are needed
• Phase 3
• Make sure design will be able to handle desired goal for project
• Phase 4
• Review all design possibilities and finalize design
• Phase 5
• Order needed parts
• Continue work on Hummer Project as the parts are ordered and shipped

I'm hoping that all our decisions during this design process will be well documented. So that anyone that reads about this project will be able to duplicate this project as well as know why we (ISL) decided to do something on the eATV project.

Febuary 21, 2007 (2:00pm-5:30pm) Wednesday

Met with team to discuss progress on the Hummer project and the eATV project. We then began work on increasing the turn radius of the eATV. After looking at the steering mechanisum and design. We ended up cutting off the posts that were used to limit the steering of the eATV. I hope this does not come back to hurt us in the future.

Febuary 1, 2007 (1:00pm-3:30pm) Thursday

Shane and I continued the work on connecting the two BX24 chips on the breadboards so it can be used in the Hummer. Shane will be diagraming the layout of the breadboard and connections.

January 31, 2007 (1:00pm-5:00pm) Wednesday

Shane and I worked on the Hummer. We first went over where the Hummer was after last semester, and talked about where it needs to go this semester. We then decided to remove the basic stamp control board and place two BX24 chips on a breadboard and use that to control the movement of the Hummer as well as taking sensor readings and stearing. We were able to remove the control board and start conecting the two BX24 chips on the breadboard.

Dr. J talked with both of us on some ideas he wants implemented on the eATV.

• Need to be able to communicate with the eATV wirelessly (inside/inside & inside/outside)
• Start looking on how to communicate wirelessly with the eATV when it is outside and we are inside
• Need to start looking at the eATV so we can begin the design process
• Need to order needed parts for the eATV as soon as design in ready


• We need to design an interface to work with the Hummer/eATV so we can control them and also monitor what is going on with the Hummer/eATV

January 30, 2007 (5:00pm-6:30pm) Tuesday

First ISL Meeting of this semester. We introduced ourselves to the new members and we got to know them as well. We went over our new team assignments and some members were given specific assignments to work on as well as their assigned project. Each ISL member was given their new contract for this semester.

January 23, 2007 (7:00am-8:30am), (1:00pm-2:00pm) Tuesday

Worked on finishing this semesters log page. Created the new header picture and worked on changing the color scheme of this semesters log page.

Finished getting this semesters log page done.

January 22, 2007 (7:00am-9:00am),(10:30am-12:00pm),(1:00pm-2:30pm) Monday

Checked the new equipment that was ordered from Jameco to make sure everything arrived and is here to be marked and entered in the inventory. Began work on my daily logs page for this semester.

Unpacked the new equipment and moved items to make room for the new equipment on a shelf. I also plugged the equipment in to make sure it turned on. We will begin using this eqipment soon to make sure it functions correctly.

Worked on updating my logs webpage and get that ready for this semester. I have decided to change the look of this semesters log page. I am still working on that.