Robot Realm - Sensation
From Merlin Systems Wiki
Robot Arena Dundee
Sensation – Robot Arena
Introduction
Merlin Systems Corp. Ltd are a robotics company that has been established at the Tamar Science Park in Plymouth, England since 1998. The company started from a strong R&D back as Chief Executive Dr. Mark Norman explains, “We had no shortage of great innovations in the first few years, but the recent challenge facing the company was to take world beating ideas and turn them into world leading products. We have had phenomenal success in the last 18 months by doing just that, and by demonstrating how advanced robotics can be applied to real-world applications.”
The Robot Arena in Dundee is the Worlds most ambitious robotics exhibition to date. Most robotics installations are interactive where a human player is directly affecting the movements of a robot. Autonomous Robotics is where the robots get to make the second by second decisions and the human controller just gives broad guidance about the objective and priorities. Perhaps the best known demonstration of an autonomous robot is the Mars rover. As with many challenges in robotics today it is not always possible or desirable to directly control the movements of a robot. The Mars rover has to make many local decisions but is set priorities and goals by NASA.
The Robot Arena is a massive five meters in diameter and is set impressively in the centre of a large circular space. Surrounding the arena floor are six touch-screen terminals and protective rails. The arena floor has vivid colours and the robots themselves are personalised as members of the enigmatic Sprocket family. Around the arena walls are potted histories of each of the robotic participants.
The concept of the arena is a multi-player environment with a combined individual and a team challenge. Upto six human participants (and the mischievous Grotbot) work in pairs to help one of three bases (yellow, orange or read) to collect the most stars. There is an individual challenge to direct your robot to collect as many stars as possible within a time limit as well as a team objective which is to be ahead in overall base score. The base zone scores are depicted via light towers mounted around the arena. The player has to direct the robot to collect a star from an opponent’s base, taking into account the opposing robot situation and the Grotbot. The Grotbot can steal any stars within transit if he comes close and can be beckoned to various points in the arena via buttons mounted around the edge of the arena rails.
The result is an engaging dance of robots across the arena floor, where it is interesting to reflect on the merit of the decision individual robots are taking. For many first time players it provides markedly different experience of robotics than they are used to. The human interaction is not like playing with a PSP, PS/2, XBox or Gameboy but is stimulating and thought provoking at an entirely different level.
How it all works…..
For a robot to be intelligent or autonomous it needs to know where it is now and make decisions appropriate to get to where it needs to be next.
Knowing where you are….
To know where each robot is, the arena uses six cameras mounted above the arena looking down. Each camera is connected to a local vision recognition server to track the position of all robots within a local area. Each robot has three active LED’s arranged in a triangular pattern on the top surface which are constantly on and a center LED which comes on every second or so. The center LED provides a unique identifier in time to positively identify each player on the arena. Each of the local vision servers sends coordinates to a global server which provides an integrated global vision system of each robots position on the robot floor.
Knowing where you need to be….
Each robot has a strategy (Artificial Intelligence module) which calculates the next move for the robot given the current position and the goals set by a human player via the touch-screen. This is updated 30 times a second and transmitted to the robot via a Bluetooth communications server. Each robot has a unique bi-directional communications channel. Internally the robot works on very rapid time scales trying to move at the right speed and direction at each instant in time. This is done by sensing movement from each wheel 65,000 times a second with a resolution of 0.02mm, compensating for traction problems and control delays. The robots are base on the Merlin Systems Miabot PRO robots but have been modified for increased battery life and the additional LED board on the top.
Processing power and communications
The system is running on a network of six pc’s linked by TCP/IP communications network. Communications with robots are via a Bluetooth communication server, which provides a highly fault tolerant fast communications system. The system is automated to an extent where daily reports of performance and events are sent by email back to Merlin Systems Corp. Ltd. Software updates and interactive monitoring can all be performed remotely.
Conclusion
The Robot Arena Dundee establishes a number of technical milestones in the world of robotics and entertainment:
• Tracks the position of 7 robots simultaneously in real time over a massive five meter arena
• Works in normal ambient lighting conditions (under a glass galleria)
• Modular vision system works over an extended area of 5 meters
• Visually impressive and vibrant graphics, work with the vision system
• Provides fully autonomous operation
• Runs 10 hours a day, 364 days a year with a minimum of operational input
• Has automated and remote diagnostics
• State of the art robust Bluetooth communications system
• Works in a harsh school based customer environment!
• Demonstrates the future of robotics and teaches key elements of the national D&T curriculum.
