cmucam
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Posts: 46,084
Just had a look at the video showing this BOEbot add on.
Cool idea!
It just goes to show who is the greatest innovative company in the robotics
arena!
Parallax and partners beat others (eg: Real Robot's Cybot) hands down. (Do
I get browny points for that???? ;-) )
Just how does that CMUcam mod work, btw?
I was thinking of interfacing my Microtek MN-350 USB camera to a stamp and
experimenting, but now it looks like I can bypass that.
Could you use the CMUCam as a webcam??
cheers,
Ben.
--
http://www.lennard.net.nz/
Ben Lennard, NCEE, Dip EE
Electronics R&D - Kiwi Made, Innovative Electronics.
Hm: +64 4 972 7567
Mb: +64 21 536 627
87 Spencer Street
Crofton Downs
Wellington
New Zealand
"To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is
half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be."
No animals were harmed in the transmission of this email, although the
Dog next door is living on borrowed time, let me tell you! Those of you
with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to learn that
there is no hidden message revealed by reading this warning backwards.
Cool idea!
It just goes to show who is the greatest innovative company in the robotics
arena!
Parallax and partners beat others (eg: Real Robot's Cybot) hands down. (Do
I get browny points for that???? ;-) )
Just how does that CMUcam mod work, btw?
I was thinking of interfacing my Microtek MN-350 USB camera to a stamp and
experimenting, but now it looks like I can bypass that.
Could you use the CMUCam as a webcam??
cheers,
Ben.
--
http://www.lennard.net.nz/
Ben Lennard, NCEE, Dip EE
Electronics R&D - Kiwi Made, Innovative Electronics.
Hm: +64 4 972 7567
Mb: +64 21 536 627
87 Spencer Street
Crofton Downs
Wellington
New Zealand
"To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is
half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be."
No animals were harmed in the transmission of this email, although the
Dog next door is living on borrowed time, let me tell you! Those of you
with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to learn that
there is no hidden message revealed by reading this warning backwards.
Comments
serial interface Rxd/Txd to communicate commands. A Ubicom
microcontroller on the board interprets the commands and does all
the nitty-gritty details of interfacing with the OV6620
(http://www.ovt.com/pdfs/ov6620DSLF.PDF) equipped camera board. The
80 x 143 resolution camera isn't real good for picture quality. It's
more for tracking objects and tracks them quite well. See the
(large, 5.9MB) movie demo on the CMU site; http://www-
2.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/Pictures/CMUcam_video_2002.avi. It's quite
impressive.
What I don't like about the board as supplied by Parallax is that
it's version is customized for the Basic Stamp, it's hard-wired for
9600Baud communications (The board is capable of 115,200bps) and
omits the MAX232A level shifter.
However, it's pretty easy to take out the hardwired jumpers and
follow the instructions on the CMU site (http://www-
2.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/) to build up the board to spec. I added a
MAX232ACPE, a 7805 voltage regulator, added the jumper blocks, and
used the proper capacitors for the MAX232ACPE part (.1uF tantalum)
and corrected a few problems that the CMU people overlooked
regarding cap polarity. Also, the tracking can control a servo that
can be attached to the board. i.e. The servo turns the camera as it
tracks. This can be added as well.
Using the Java code on the CMU site, you can quickly start actually
looking at the images and the red/green/blue breakouts as well as
experiment with the object tracking. Once you can really see what's
going on and know how and what to communicate with the board to get
the expected results, then just remove the MAX232A part and
interface to it using TTL levels from the BasicStamp instead of
RS232 voltage levels.
It's an excellent investment and lots of fun. I have my bright red
elmo on order [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Gary
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, Ben <ben@l...> wrote:
> Just had a look at the video showing this BOEbot add on.
>
> Cool idea!
>
> It just goes to show who is the greatest innovative company in the
robotics
> arena!
>
> Parallax and partners beat others (eg: Real Robot's Cybot) hands
down. (Do
> I get browny points for that???? ;-) )
>
> Just how does that CMUcam mod work, btw?
>
> I was thinking of interfacing my Microtek MN-350 USB camera to a
stamp and
> experimenting, but now it looks like I can bypass that.
>
> Could you use the CMUCam as a webcam??
>
> cheers,
>
>
> Ben.
> --
>
> http://www.lennard.net.nz/
> Ben Lennard, NCEE, Dip EE
>
> Electronics R&D - Kiwi Made, Innovative Electronics.
>
> Hm: +64 4 972 7567
> Mb: +64 21 536 627
> 87 Spencer Street
> Crofton Downs
> Wellington
> New Zealand
>
> "To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the
glass is
> half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it
needs to be."
>
> No animals were harmed in the transmission of this email, although
the
> Dog next door is living on borrowed time, let me tell you! Those
of you
> with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to
learn that
> there is no hidden message revealed by reading this warning
backwards.
The Parallax web page description of the Boe-Bot CMUcam has been updated to help
explain its
features, although Gary did a pretty good job of sorting it out.
This is the link to the page with complete product information, including the
manual and a video (on
the bottom of the page)
http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30051
<http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30051>
Erik Wood
Parallax, Inc.
599 Menlo Dr., Suite #100
Rocklin, CA 95765
(916) 624-8333
www.parallax.com
Original Message
From: gtdesrosi@c... [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=8Yaat9YiSdHWNQV-MvZbJLTp8rQrUh8CVvC_LH_SY17FIKkOvh7epWcFqC9zkdKcTQGCx_pikQ]gtdesrosi@c...[/url
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 5:05 PM
To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Re: cmucam
I just received my CMUcam recently from Parallax. It uses a 2-wire
serial interface Rxd/Txd to communicate commands. A Ubicom
microcontroller on the board interprets the commands and does all
the nitty-gritty details of interfacing with the OV6620
( http://www.ovt.com/pdfs/ov6620DSLF.PDF
<http://www.ovt.com/pdfs/ov6620DSLF.PDF> ) equipped camera
board. The
80 x 143 resolution camera isn't real good for picture quality. It's
more for tracking objects and tracks them quite well. See the
(large, 5.9MB) movie demo on the CMU site; http://www- <http://www->
2.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/Pictures/CMUcam_video_2002.avi. It's quite
impressive.
What I don't like about the board as supplied by Parallax is that
it's version is customized for the Basic Stamp, it's hard-wired for
9600Baud communications (The board is capable of 115,200bps) and
omits the MAX232A level shifter.
However, it's pretty easy to take out the hardwired jumpers and
follow the instructions on the CMU site ( http://www- <http://www->
2.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/) to build up the board to spec. I added a
MAX232ACPE, a 7805 voltage regulator, added the jumper blocks, and
used the proper capacitors for the MAX232ACPE part (.1uF tantalum)
and corrected a few problems that the CMU people overlooked
regarding cap polarity. Also, the tracking can control a servo that
can be attached to the board. i.e. The servo turns the camera as it
tracks. This can be added as well.
Using the Java code on the CMU site, you can quickly start actually
looking at the images and the red/green/blue breakouts as well as
experiment with the object tracking. Once you can really see what's
going on and know how and what to communicate with the board to get
the expected results, then just remove the MAX232A part and
interface to it using TTL levels from the BasicStamp instead of
RS232 voltage levels.
It's an excellent investment and lots of fun. I have my bright red
elmo on order [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Gary
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, Ben <ben@l...> wrote:
> Just had a look at the video showing this BOEbot add on.
>
> Cool idea!
>
> It just goes to show who is the greatest innovative company in the
robotics
> arena!
>
> Parallax and partners beat others (eg: Real Robot's Cybot) hands
down. (Do
> I get browny points for that???? ;-) )
>
> Just how does that CMUcam mod work, btw?
>
> I was thinking of interfacing my Microtek MN-350 USB camera to a
stamp and
> experimenting, but now it looks like I can bypass that.
>
> Could you use the CMUCam as a webcam??
>
> cheers,
>
>
> Ben.
> --
>
> http://www.lennard.net.nz/ <http://www.lennard.net.nz/>
> Ben Lennard, NCEE, Dip EE
>
> Electronics R&D - Kiwi Made, Innovative Electronics.
>
> Hm: +64 4 972 7567
> Mb: +64 21 536 627
> 87 Spencer Street
> Crofton Downs
> Wellington
> New Zealand
>
> "To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the
glass is
> half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it
needs to be."
>
> No animals were harmed in the transmission of this email, although
the
> Dog next door is living on borrowed time, let me tell you! Those
of you
> with an overwhelming fear of the unknown will be gratified to
learn that
> there is no hidden message revealed by reading this warning
backwards.
To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
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Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R140-CMUCAM-KIT.html
If so, how is it to work with?
Thanks,
Duane
it fully assembled, it's not worth the savings (a couple bucks) to
get it unassembled. It has an easy serial interface with the basic
stamp. Make sure you use a stamp with at least 9600 baud (min baud of
the camera). Although it doesn't have built in motion tracking I made
a program that would do motion tracking by telling the cmu-cam to
divide up its visual field (a built in command) into lots of little
squares, then to store the color centroids of each square in an
array. Then whenever it looks at the squares after this
initialization phase, it comapaires the color centroids to the one
stored in the array. If the centroid changed then motion has occured
in that square. It worked nicely, although eventually ran up against
memory limitation with the stamp when I tried to make too many
squares.
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "mtn_biker37" <mtn_biker37@y...>
wrote:
> Has anyone played with the CMUcam:
> http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R140-CMUCAM-KIT.html
>
> If so, how is it to work with?
>
> Thanks,
> Duane
I understand the concept you pesented with the motion tracking
(thanks, I was wondering how to go about that). Just not sure how to
implement it. would it be possible to get a copy of the code? or
even just a snippet to get me started? You can sent it to me direct,
if that is better.
Thanks,
Duane
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "Sam" <hard-on@t...> wrote:
> it's great! get it, but make sure the place you buy it from will
send
> it fully assembled, it's not worth the savings (a couple bucks) to
> get it unassembled. It has an easy serial interface with the basic
> stamp. Make sure you use a stamp with at least 9600 baud (min baud
of
> the camera). Although it doesn't have built in motion tracking I
made
> a program that would do motion tracking by telling the cmu-cam to
> divide up its visual field (a built in command) into lots of little
> squares, then to store the color centroids of each square in an
> array. Then whenever it looks at the squares after this
> initialization phase, it comapaires the color centroids to the one
> stored in the array. If the centroid changed then motion has
occured
> in that square. It worked nicely, although eventually ran up
against
> memory limitation with the stamp when I tried to make too many
> squares.
>
> --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "mtn_biker37"
<mtn_biker37@y...>
> wrote:
> > Has anyone played with the CMUcam:
> > http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R140-CMUCAM-KIT.html
> >
> > If so, how is it to work with?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Duane
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "mtn_biker37" <mtn_biker37@y...>
wrote:
> did you run out of memory on a BS2, or one of it's bigger brothers?
>
> I understand the concept you pesented with the motion tracking
> (thanks, I was wondering how to go about that). Just not sure how
to
> implement it. would it be possible to get a copy of the code? or
> even just a snippet to get me started? You can sent it to me
direct,
> if that is better.
>
> Thanks,
> Duane
>
>
> --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "Sam" <hard-on@t...> wrote:
> > it's great! get it, but make sure the place you buy it from will
> send
> > it fully assembled, it's not worth the savings (a couple bucks)
to
> > get it unassembled. It has an easy serial interface with the
basic
> > stamp. Make sure you use a stamp with at least 9600 baud (min
baud
> of
> > the camera). Although it doesn't have built in motion tracking I
> made
> > a program that would do motion tracking by telling the cmu-cam to
> > divide up its visual field (a built in command) into lots of
little
> > squares, then to store the color centroids of each square in an
> > array. Then whenever it looks at the squares after this
> > initialization phase, it comapaires the color centroids to the
one
> > stored in the array. If the centroid changed then motion has
> occured
> > in that square. It worked nicely, although eventually ran up
> against
> > memory limitation with the stamp when I tried to make too many
> > squares.
> >
> > --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "mtn_biker37"
> <mtn_biker37@y...>
> > wrote:
> > > Has anyone played with the CMUcam:
> > > http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R140-CMUCAM-KIT.html
> > >
> > > If so, how is it to work with?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Duane
Duane
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "ulibasic" <ulibasic@r...> wrote:
> It is easy and works fine, it has been some month since I last
worked with
> it but I remember reading out RGB values for every pixel.
>
> good luck! Uli
>
>
>
>
>
Urspr
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "mtn_biker37" <mtn_biker37@y...>
wrote:
> cool, thanks.
>
> Duane
>
> --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "ulibasic" <ulibasic@r...>
wrote:
> > It is easy and works fine, it has been some month since I last
> worked with
> > it but I remember reading out RGB values for every pixel.
> >
> > good luck! Uli
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
Urspr
to examin it in more detail this weekend. That darn thing
caled 'work' keeps getting in the way.
I'll keep you posted, and I'm sur I'll have question too!
Duane
--- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "Sam" <hard-on@t...> wrote:
> how's the motion detection code that I gave you working?
>
>
>
> --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "mtn_biker37"
<mtn_biker37@y...>
> wrote:
> > cool, thanks.
> >
> > Duane
> >
> > --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "ulibasic" <ulibasic@r...>
> wrote:
> > > It is easy and works fine, it has been some month since I last
> > worked with
> > > it but I remember reading out RGB values for every pixel.
> > >
> > > good luck! Uli
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
Urspr