XBot: An Autonomous Mobile Robot [Part 1] by Dimitris Xanthopoulos
Sunday, 18 April 2010 04:15
Dimitris Xanthopoulos
XBot is the first robot I ever made. It started off as a computer controlled (via the parallel port) 'robot'. With the aid of a small program that I wrote in C++, I could control the robot using the arrow keys from my keyboard. After that I learned how to program the PIC1684 microcontroller. It was a matter of few days until I replaced the parallel port control with an onboard controller (PIC16F84) and added some sensors (IR and Ultrasonic). The robot could navigate in an area avoiding any obstacles in its path and it could also perform line-following. A pair of optical encoders was also used to accurately measure the wheel rotation and provide feedback to the microcontroller.
Last Updated on Sunday, 18 April 2010 04:57
Robosim Demo
Sunday, 18 April 2010 12:53
Dimitris Xanthopoulos
This is a video of an old (2005) project of mine, Robosim. You can download the demo (for windows) here.
Last Updated on Monday, 19 April 2010 16:27
Robosim: A Mobile Robot's Simulator by Dimitris Xanthopoulos
Sunday, 18 April 2010 04:10
Dimitris Xanthopoulos
This article is about a simulator program which was written in C++ programming language in order to experiment with navigational methods, involving algorithms and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), for mobile robots. The first part reviews some basic concepts about mobile robots and the theory behind Artificial Neural Networks. Additionally, in the first part, a C++ library which was written for implementing ANNs is explained. In the second part of the article the techniques used for programming the simulator and the methods employed for controlling the robot are discussed. The article concludes with an overview of the simulator?s performance and suggestions for future work.
Last Updated on Sunday, 18 April 2010 04:44
Welcome
Welcome to Robotix.gr. This is my personal web site which is dedicated to my various (past and ongoing) projects on robotics, programming and electronics. My intention is to constantly update the site according to the work that I'm completing. Anyone who wishes to contribute (write articles, tutorials, guides or submit his/her project) is more than welcome!
Dimitris Xanthopoulos
XBot: An Autonomous Mobile Robot [Part 2] by Dimitris Xanthopoulos
Sunday, 18 April 2010 04:16
Dimitris Xanthopoulos
After several days of experimentation (writing code and testing it) with the original XBot, new ideas came up! The new objective that I had in mind was to enhance the robot with a ?self-localisation? ability using its optical encoders. In other words, I wanted the robot to be able to ?know?, at any given time, its exact Cartesian coordinates (x, y and theta). Once this was achieved, the robot could perform far more impressing navigational routines. In order to do that, the PIC16F84 controller was replaced with the more powerful ATMEGA8535 controller and several new peripherals were added.
