Using of AVM plugin in RoboRealm

[EDV]

Hey EDV!
I finally got my hands on a Roomba robot that I could try with the Nav programs. I went through all of the items and tutorials. When I placed the robot in the NAV mode, it moved. All others did not move unless I used the arrows to train them. The Nav by map mode showed the progress, but I could not get it to move by clicking on Left mouse. When I clicked on Left mouse it did not do anything. I would like to make that work. Can it work on it's own, or do I have to train it in one of the other modes?

I prepared simple video tutorial "Route training and navigation by map":



Don't forget that you should use servo for camera turning and use variable NV_TURRET_BALANCE in this case. It is important for initial localization of "Marker mode" and "Navigation by map" modes.

Thanks, that is a nice tutorial. I was wondering if we can have it work automatically without a map in an unfamiliar environment. Just obstacle recognition driving anywhere. Sort of like your Quake3 demo but with real life.

I am working in this direction (walking mode) but it not so easily to get it...

[EDV]

See more details about tuning of "Marker mode" and "Navigation by map" modes.

[EDV]

It's test of new algorithm for AVM Navigator v0.7.3. In this video was demonstrated
how robot just try to go back on checkpoint from different positions of the learned route.

[EDV]

First in video the robot has received command: "go to the checkpoint" and when robot arrived to the checkpoint then I brought robot back (several times) in different position of learned route. When robot noticed the changes then it indicated that robot was displaced because any commands were not given by robot to his motors however changes were seen in the input image.

Then robot started looking around and localized his current position. Further the robot just calculated path from current position to the checkpoint and went there (and so forth).

[EDV]

AVM Navigator v0.7.3 is released!

Navigator package is updated now and you can download next modification of AVM Navigator v0.7.3 from your account link.

Changes:
- The new "Back to checkpoint" algorithm was added in "Navigation by map" mode.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj-FKhdaU5A

- Also new "Watching mode" was developed.
And robot can move to direction where motion was noticed in this mode.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1aAcOS6cAg

Also common usability was improved.

By the way I received new video from user that succeed in "Navigation by map":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=214MwcHMsTQ

His robot video and photo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7QRDSfQRps
http://roboforum.ru/download/file.ph...2484&mode=view
http://roboforum.ru/download/file.ph...2280&mode=view
http://roboforum.ru/download/file.ph...2281&mode=view

I believe that you also will have success with visual navigation by AVM Navigator module ;-)

[EDV]

Yet another video from user whose robot has extremely high turn speed but AVM Navigator module could control robot navigation even in this bad condition!



His robot video:

[EDV]

Now AVM is working appreciably faster after recent algorithm update. It showed real-time action in "Object recognition" mode (less than 40 ms per frame) on resolution 960x720 pixels and 20 ms on 640x480 pixels with approximately 500 associations inside AVM search tree (it was tested on computer with CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6600).

So, I advise to download recent version of RoboRealm + AVM Navigator for your best results.

[EDV]

Playing with Twinky rover that was controlled by AVM Navigator:

[EDV]

Twinky rover presentation:

[EDV]

Why the total number of path on navigate mode is limited to 7?

Historically first was developed "Navigate mode" and "Nova gate mode" that provided walking of robot from gate to gate. The gate is an image (from robot camera) that associates with specific data inside AVM tree. The gate data contains weights for the seven routes that indicate importance of this gateway for each route. At the bottom of the screen is added indicator "horizon" which shows direction for adjust the robot's motion for further movement on the route. Field of gates is painted blue if the gates do not participate in this route (weight rate 0), and warmer colors (ending in yellow) show a gradation of "importance" of the gate in the current route.

So, why are there only 7 routes?

Size of gate data inside of association (associative base) is 24 bytes:

// Gate data structure that is kept in AVM 
#define cRouteTotal 7 
struct TGateData192U { 
    ushort Weight[cRouteTotal]; // Weights of routes 
     byte   Hit[cRouteTotal];    // Counter of hitting to routes in gate 
     byte   Reserved1;           // Not used field 
     byte   CheckpointNum;       // Number of check point 
     byte   Reserved2;           // Not used field 
};

And thus number of routes is limited by size of this structure.

I left these old modes within AVM Navigator just for compatibility with previous versions:




You should use more advanced navigation solution such as
"Navigation by map" with "Marker mode" for route recording:




But you can use "Nova gate mode" for manual robot control with helping of arrow keys.

* How to get start

1. Open RoboRealm dialog window.

2. Make sure that "Camera" button is pressed in RoboRealm dialog window
and also you should check out the camera resolution (it must be 320x240 pixels).

3. Call the dialog window of AVM Navigator (click on it at video-processing pipeline)
and then switch to "Nova gate mode". Now you can control your robot by arrow keys
and also you can turn robot camera by "Delete" and "Page Down" keys ("End" key will
set the camera in front position). If camera was turned you have to press "End"
for alignment before continuing of robot moving.

...

Find out more

Also you can try to train with "AVM Quake 3 mod" for acquaintance with "Marker mode"
and "Navigation by map" modes.

You should use arrow keys for robot control in "Marker mode"
(it is important for route recording):