Posted by Howard Gordon on February 15, 2009 at 12:00pm
The open source Google Android G1 phone seemed like an obvious platform for wireless robotic control, so we created an Android-based console. After running this first with the ground-based Surveyor SRV-1 robot, we made a few small modifications and used it to control the Surveyor YARB. The tilt sensors in the Android phone work quite nicely for rotor control - we have proportional steering so the amount of tilt controls the amount of power, and live video is displayed on the Android screen from the blimp's onboard Surveyor SRV-1 Blackfin camera, carried via the same radio channel that sends the control signals.The project is hosted on Google Code at code.google.com/p/srv1console/ as well as www.surveyor.com.Here are some first flight videos -
John, we've been doing that since February :) look up spiritplumber on youtube. So far our best range test is 9 time zones (Italy to California and back for a telepresence test).
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Yes - direct 802.11 or the 3G phone network routed to an 802.11 network.
The Android API is specific to the device, but we have a couple of other Java consoles that you could use as the basis for a laptop console. Take a look at SRV1Test.java or SRV1Console.java. SRV1Test.java is simply compiled with "javac -classpath . SRV1Test.java", and it supports TCP or UDP connections.
So this is using 802.11. The JVM is actually fast enough to convert the JPEG's into RGB & blit video using Canvas.drawBitmap. If it was a hobby you could replace the Android stack & run it in C, but obviously to support a business you need to stick with Java. Wonder if the console can run out of the box on a laptop JVM or if it took some Android hacks.
I held out for a while on getting a smart phone, but finally took the plunge with Android. I think this will prove to be a good choice because of the open source approach Google has taken and the quality of their development tools.
Comments
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/g1-controlled-b.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=1558
The Android API is specific to the device, but we have a couple of other Java consoles that you could use as the basis for a laptop console. Take a look at SRV1Test.java or SRV1Console.java. SRV1Test.java is simply compiled with "javac -classpath . SRV1Test.java", and it supports TCP or UDP connections.
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