Re: $75 vision system

JGCASEY wrote:
> Thus you use what is mass produced, a PC, which most
> people have. The cost then is in the radio interface.
> The adventure is developing the software. It may be
> beyond a hobbyist to develop new hardware but software
> development only requires a creative brain :)

Produce a PC the size of a pack of cigarettes, and for under $100
*complete*, THEN you have a form factor and price more people will be
interested in. The Mini_ITX is still too large. Bigger robots cost more
to build. While I have four PCs in my home, each weigh in excess of 15
pounds and need to be plugged into a wall outlet. None can be used for
robotics projects without gutting them. Certain people here would be
upset if I gutted their PC for my robot project.

My laptop is portable but cost $1,700. I use it for some robotics
things, but I'm not going to pay $1,700 for a dedicated robot
controller. Even a cheap laptop is $600+.

If you're looking to save money, you might as well pay $300 for a
self-contained vision system built on a small $100 robot. That's less
than a bare-bones IXT-based robot, without any sensors. If money isn't
an issue, then by all means the PC-based robot is a good direction. It
is not the answer to everything, however.

> The problem is hobbyists may have minimal programming
> skills and PC products tend to be Microsoft orientated
> requiring the purchasing of VC++.

Oh? There are freebie libraries that have been available for years for
VB5 and VB6 for grabbing bitmap samples out of a Web cam. For .NET users
there's a great Sourceforge library that wraps DirectShow functions, No
C++ needed, ever. Microsoft still provides the .NET compiler for free,
and the 2005 Express versions of C# and VB are still either free, or
very cheap.

The Sourceforge project includes examples for grabbing bitmaps; from
there you can do lots of image processing without needing anything but
..NET. If you want to get fancy, there is sample FREE code on CodeProject
and elsewhere on how to write simple filters for edge detection,
pixillation, motion detection, and more. SERVO magazine recently ran a
series of articles on vision; the woman who wrote the articles provides
her code, compiled DLL and source, at no charge. You need only
rudimentary programming skills to call a couple of DLLs in VB.

I don't do Linux so I don't know what's available for it. But there are
PLENTY of accessible and FREE resources if you're developing for a
Microsoft OS, and C++ is not required. Some approaches are harder to
program than others, but wonderful things await those who make the
effort to better their knowledge.

-- Gordon
.

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