Dump Frame in CMUcam1 app mod

coolmatt

hi,

i am doing my research on boebot with CMUcam1 as my vision sensor


I am trying to get raw image data from CMUcam1 App mod which is obviously connected to the Boebot's app mod. I saw the manual and it had few details about Dump Frame. Can you give me little more details (sample programs) on how to exactly get the raw data (raw image) from the Cmucam1 or atleast can you point me to few resources where i can get some help with this issue or you guys have any GUI program to use it with boebot.



Details:



Boebot (Basic stamp 2 with board of education)

CMUcam1 app mod v2.3

RS232 communication.



I tried contacting CMU, but they were so graceful enough to point me to GOOGLE.com lolz...i tried searching in this forum using the search option, i didn't find any, so i am posting. PLZ HELP

Much appreciate your help.



Thank you

Chris Savage

Matt,

I believe the reason there is so little information is that the BASIC Stamp hasn’t really the resources to store that data to do anything with it so we don’t use it. I am a little surprised at the response from Seattle Robotics though. Perhaps someone else has tackled this, but I’m sure it would’ve involved offloading the data to something else, such as a PC. Take care.

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

Larry

Are you trying to use Dump Frame to download picture data to a Stamp?

The command is not intended to do that. The whole purpose of using the camera is so that you can do some simple vision processing that is beyond the capability of the Stamp.


The CMUcam manual says

Page 15-DF/r said...
This command will Dump a Frame out the serial port to a computer.

there simply isn't enough memory to capture or store a frame on a stamp.
Think about it -- each pixel requires 3 bytes for color data, and you need space for header info. a frame would fill up a stamp long before it was finished downloading.

In addition, it works well only at 115k baud, well above the serial speed of a Stamp.

With the correct software, you can download to a PC. The information has been given on other threads, but I'll give it again---

The raw file will download to hyperterminal or any terminal program. If you want to see the picture, Software exists that will do that on a PC. Carnegie Mellon has JAVA software, if you know how to use JAVA apps. The alternative is a Windows executable
CMUcam2.exe written by Tony Brenke-


f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/oEQRRv_NOWO2Y_uyeUE-ZFghGuo8oA2X4O5WEoFRy8OTt8gx0PiFVoikxtgGpQG3A1vb97IPmm2FqEFJ0YRwRlNlcKq07REXXEmT04U/Seattle_Robotics_CmuCam2.exe

(you'll need to join the Seattle Robotics Society yahoo group to download it)

Tony's program isn't as powerful as the JAVA software, but it's MUCH easier to use. That should get you started.
one note- to see the pictures the camera sees, you'll need the serial connection to be 115 Kb


Also- if you have the parallax version of the camera, you'll need to add the RS232 chip to the board for direct communicatin to the PC. As set up without the chip, the camera is for communication to a Stamp. When you are done on the PC and want to use the camera with a Stamp, remove the chip . the CMUcam manual (not the boebot simplification- the one from Carnegie Mellon University) has information on that.

There's lots of information on the web about using the camera- more than an email response could give. You have to do some studying, however, and practice the simple stuff first. Vision processing is one of the most complicated things you can do with processors.

The SeattleRobotics folks were right- use Google

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