Robotic Vaccum Cleaner -- need help

hi, im doing my final year enginnering in computer science and have chosen to build a vaccum cleaner robot as a project.it carries marks so i need help from u guys all thru to get it done.plz do help this amateur in finishing this. i always love challenges and hence chose this topic.i stay in india,and here all such robotics stuff is considered to be hi-fi and we dont have any professors well versed in that field. it has to be completed within 3 months.i have a small budget(around $100).i have no idea abt the availability of the various electronic parts you ppl discuss in different topics. i have a sound knowedge abt electronics and mechanical but a good c/c++ programmer.i have decided it to be a stepper motor driven robot with proximity sensors all around. it communicates with comp using fm and gets it command ,whether to move forward or back. i need help on topics like

  1. c/c++ libraries supporting parallel port programming.
  2. how do i turn the robot left/right(using axel attached to front wheels or other techniques)
  3. wht type of ic's or controller to use for the stepper motor that i use to drive the robot, or is there any simple methods.
  4. any tutorial( online ) for building simple robots (easy way) thank a lot. Ashwin.
Reply to
ashwinurao
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The budget sounds insufficient. But, since you are a computer science major, perhaps you don't need to build the physical robot itself. Actually, the robot hardware is the easy part, and many people are doing that. The software that makes it smart is where all the real challenges lay.

I am not really confident of any of the following suggestions, but thought I should offer them;

Perhaps you can find another person who has already built the robot (or wants to) and you make the software for him. Another option might be to contact a robot kit seller and ask them to loan you a robot, and make the software you write available to them. They might even be willing to give you the hardware.

Another possible source for a donation could be a Indian Robotics company or even appliance manufacturer. Both may have interest in continuing the work so that they can offer the product for sale if it works well.

Joe Dunfee

Reply to
cadcoke3

thanx for the reply. but its like we are supposed to do the project from scratch and it carries a hell of marks (200 out of 400 for this semester) so i think i will be doing the hardware too. im familiar with basic stuff and lets see wht will happen. i will keep searchin online for information.(especially this group) . thanx for your ideas man.(i thgt i would be able to kick start right away after seein posts in this grp ... but..)......

anyway, thnx ashwin

Reply to
ashwinurao

thanx for the reply. but its like we are supposed to do the project from scratch and it carries a hell of marks (200 out of 400 for this semester) so i think i will be doing the hardware too. im familiar with basic stuff and lets see wht will happen. i will keep searchin online for information.(especially this group) . thanx for your ideas man.(i thgt i would be able to kick start right away after seein the quality of posts in this grp ... but..)......

anyway, thnx ashwin

Reply to
ashwinurao

Here are a few robotics links for you, which will have a lot of information for you to get started with;

Here is a very interesting site, with the purpose of sharing code among computers.

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Here are a few excerpts from their web page; ============ Why The Rossum Project Exists Building a robot isn't easy. ...Better hardware has made the job less difficult, but the software hasn't followed suit. There is a serious lack of reliable, ready-to-use software components for the robot developer. ...With your participation, it will grow into a resource where developers can download reliable, highly capable modules to incorporate into their robots. ...The first major software release for The Project, a 2-D robot simultor known as Rossum's Playhouse (RP1), is now available. =============

Also another great link is the Seattle Robotics club and their publication, the Encoder;

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Joe Dunfee

Reply to
cadcoke3

thnx for the help man.i will check it out.if u bu,p into somethin similar plz do mail me.

thnx ashwin.

Reply to
ashwinurao

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