Here I will will document my project work with weekly entries in which I’ll be describing my results, my findings, my algorithms, along with my frustrations, etc.

My first weekly journal post will be up tomorrow, Friday June 11, 2011. Stay tuned!

WEEK 1:

My first week here at Brown I was introduced to the other members of the lab and assigned a work desk and computer, along with the robots and tools I’ll be working with this summer. My mentor and I went out to dinner with his family to further discuss my role here at Brown this summer, and the projects he had in mind for me to work on and his desired goals for my research this summer. He gave me a brief summary of his educational history and gave me pointers for my own academic journey. He also familiarized me with my surrounding area and gave me a bit of history on the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island. 

Today with respect to research, I installed the Brown ROS (Robotics Operating Systems) package onto the mini notebook (Eee PC), that I was assigned and wrote a simple test program and ran it on the Create iRobot, to get myself acquainted with the new operating system as well as the robots and their functionality.

WEEK 2:

This week I successfully ran my first ROS program which made the Create iRobot spin in one spot. I was able to quickly make myself familiar with the ROS code and also have the iRobot perform a basic Traversal in a straight line at a specified linear velocity. With this new found knowledge I went on to have the iRobot carry out, what is called an Enclosure Escape maneuver where I program the iRobot to be able to find its way out of a maze of enclosure using the bumper sensors located on the front of the iRobot. When the iRobot encounters a wall or obstacle it intelligently moves away and tries another direction until finally escaping its enclosure. This was done by implementing both its linear and angular velocity.

For my Video of “Enclosure Escape”; Click HERE.