How about this new Raspberry-pi Linux computer for $25 or $35 coupled with a sensor board ?
Has a header on board, video 256k memory hdi video or composit usc sdcard.......
see here for all specs.. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Raspberry_Pi
Earl
Comments
No extra board needed at all. I2C can be emulated with a kernel module.
It's got a CSI connector that will allow a camera module to be supported, but using it also requires writing a driver for each type of camera module. (There's also a DSI connector you could plug an LCD into, if you don't want to use composite or hdmi in a ground station role.)
Ok, answered my own question. Looks like the GPIO pins are accessible. They actually sell a breakout adapter for it on Ebay. But sadly for a project made to engender "learning" it's very hard to learn and detail technical information about it on the Raspberry PI page. There's not schematics or even pinouts easily accessible anywhere. Definitely not in the spirit of open source.
Ok, ok. Sorry for the negativity. From the technical point of view, one would have to run an RTOS on it. RTLiniux would be great. If I could ever get my hands on one, I'd just put my pololu 9dof board on it, Does it have an accessible I2C?
Matt,
Yes, I agree with you that one can find many high-level applications that can not be performed on Arduino. Vision based obstacle detection could be one of them. I assume, in order to use OpenCV on this card, the only way to input video signal is via USB interface; either using a USB video capture card (such as EasyCap -BTW do you know a better quality video capture device) or directly attaching a USB camera.
BTW. It's 26 pin gpio. I'm going to throw one of these on my quad.
People are haters, haha.
It's got 256M of RAM, not 256k. It's also got IO pins, so it could talk PPM if you wanted to go that way, but I'd probably want to plug an arduino or msp430 into the USB and talk serial that way.
Since it's running linux, you can program with any language you want, such as python.
It also should have enough power to where you can plug a webcam or two in and use opencv for obstacle avoidance/identification.
I'm not a Linux person.
But how would one develop on this?
Can it be time deterministic?
I find it perfect for low cost whole control system. I'm running my copter with a Fon Fonera 2201 router as brain and Wifi as radio link. (The lack of current stability is for my scratch custom control program :)). It is not all, because router is attached to an IP camera. All those things connected to the same LiPo. With a switched power regulator, there is no problem for too power consumption.
With that board you will never run out horsepower with a very decent battery life
For those of us who have been waiting for the Raspberry Pi for year (or more!), that's nothing at this point. Heck, I waited for almost two months for my APM 2.0 from the date of paying for it! :)
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