Surveyor’s Travels
Even Robots can have
Dog Day Afternoons
After our international adventure,
we were even more excited to tackle
our SRV-1Q. Even with the SRV-1Q in
pre-built form, there is some minimal
assembly required. All you need to do
it attach the antenna to the bot, and
while this might sound like a trivial
task it turned into something much
more dramatic. Normally, the antenna
should just screw into place near the
stern of the robot, but our parts had a
bit of a compatibility problem (Figure
6). The connector on the antenna and
the connector on the bot were both
male, with the connector pins to
prove it. It was only a minor setback,
and after a quick trip to our favorite
electronics shack we were ready to
proceed. We acquired a male-to-male
connector (Figure 7), but we hoped
that the extended length of the
connection wouldn’t interfere with the
bot’s nifty treads.
To begin the process, we screwed
the new connector into the one on
the antenna. When we weren’t sure if
it was fitting nicely, we unscrewed the
male-to-male connector, and we were
surprised to see the pin from the
antenna come with it.
And with that, our problem had
been solved, and the antenna screwed
onto the robot just as it should have.
We were assured by the folks at
Surveyor labs that this mix-up only
occurred in a small number of kits,
but if you were to run across one of
them you can perform a much quicker
fix than the one we did. The pin in
the connector on the antenna came
out so easily because the connector
was socketed and it wasn’t soldered
to a wire. Since this is the case, some
needle-nosed pliers can be used to
simply extract the pin with no ill
effects. With the assembly of the
robot finally finished, we let the little
bot charge up its Li-poly battery pack
before we made our first attempt at
teleoperation.
Smooth Teleoperator
Don’t be fooled into thinking that
the SRV-1Q doesn’t come with any
goodies just because it doesn’t come
with a CD. The bot comes equipped
with some handy firmware that makes
wireless operation over the computer
a snap. To get everything fully configured, you’ll have to visit the Surveyor
website ( www.surveyor.com). The
Surveyor website provides clear and
concise instructions on how to get
started with your bot. There are a
plethora of software applications to
choose from, but we went with the
highly recommended Java console.
The Java console can be downloaded
for free, and after the generic
installation procedure you’ll have a
screen pop up as in Figure 8.
After opening the console, the
next task was to connect to the
robot’s wireless network (Figure 9).
An “SRV1” network conveniently
popped up, and connecting was no
problem. After we were connected,
the mysterious purple smear on the
Java console was replaced by an
image of our dorm room desk. While
this might seem random, it was
because the robot was looking at our
desk. Before we could officially get to
playtime, we had to configure the
Matchport connection for easy access.
This actually involves a somewhat
lengthy process, but roboticists are
carefully guided through the steps
with generous screenshots and clear
directions.
With all of the network nuts and
bolts taken care of, we were ready to
get going (Figure 10). Some of the
controls on the Java console are pretty
straightforward. Directional arrows
control the basic movements, while a
familiar red octagon causes the bot to
freeze in its tracks. Some controls,
however, are a bit more enigmatic.
Buttons labeled fast and slow can
control the motor speed of the robot,
and the different sized rectangles on
the right side of the console can
change the resolution of the screen.
Don’t think that you could get a huge
screen for nothing though – there’s a
corresponding trade-off in frame rate.
In addition to the screen with the mysterious button, the command prompt
window also pops up with the Java
console (Figure 11), and it provides
even more enigmatic feedback that is
sure to delight programmers.
Driving around our own SRV-1Q
was quite like our experience with the
Australian robot, but without the lag
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 10
SERVO 11.2008 23