A Student / Faculty Project
St. Norbert College and the Ariens Company
Work In Progress ......
(I'll clean-up this site when I get some time --- Ya, right :()
Feb 2008
See what we mean by "Work in Progress"?
Our Latest Project
To Control the Electric Zoom!
Some pictures and videos of the Wiimote control - Nov 2009
(I told her to watch out for the dog)
May 2009 - No Arms!
Video *.wmv (5 meg)
Remotely Controlled via a Wireless JoyStick
The Electric Zoom!
The Initial Machine - some pics - Feb 2008
Note the Steering Arms
Zoom Detects
Danger!
April 18, 2007
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With help and guidance from Mr. Corey Bucher of the Ariens Company, student John Moss has integrated ultra-sound sensors into the Zoom environment to help detect dangerous situations. This is coupled with the vision, compass and gps sensors to aid in guiding the Zoom over unknown courses.
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Racing Robots?
NEWS FLASH 3!!
The Zoom was at the Ariens Research / Testing Facility
St. Norbert and Ariens personnel got the machine to
Sebring, FL.
travel roads and fields - down the middle and on the edge.
It even ran parts of the Sebring race track.
It also went from point to point on an arbitrary course
NEWS FLASH 2!!
June 27, 2006
Zoom Does Automatic Turn Arounds!
(Turnaround algorithm actually turns around!) (Sorry about the size, but we're excited!)
NEWS FLASH 1 !!
April 20, 2006
Zoom Makes 1 Mile Trip (that's 5280 feet)!
Adam's newly revised algorithm successfully controlled the ZOOM for a
mile (2 back-to-back 1/2 mile runs)
Click Here for VIDEO (.mpg .... size: 31 meg)
(Smaller Video coming ...)
Page "Organization":
Latest Activity at the Top, Oldest at the Bottom
Our latest machine (the ZOOM) was donated by the Ariens company
in Sept. 2005. It was equipped with servo motors to control the
individual wheel speed. By writing the proper software, the
machine is converted to a 'drive by wire' mower. As we received
the mower, it won't "drive" without a computer controlling the
servos.
This site shows our progress on converting the mower into an
autonomous machine, controlled by a pentium 4 pc.
Students Gather Around The "ZOOM" (celebrating)
Adam DeNoble and Professor Blahnik (celebrating)
Feb 2006
Our Progress After 3 Months With The ZOOM!
Student / Faculty Collaboration Celebration
St. Norbert Campus
VIDEO (.avi .... size: 3.1 meg)
"Jamming" it into the "too small" elevator
(Videos in the Snow!)
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Dec, 2005 (.wmv .... size: 29 meg) Zoom Steering Via Compass Goes straight Down the Road
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Dec, 2005 (.wmv .... size: 10 meg) Zoom Following A Zebra Zebra wobbles abit :(
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Feb, 2006 (.avi .... size: 25 meg) Zoom Following Road Using Vision
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Feb, 2006 (.avi .... size: 13 meg) Zoom "Roading" Too FAST!!
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Do you know what a "fried" servo and controller board smell like? (Ask Bennett!)
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ANSWER
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What does a ditch and Monitor have in Common? (This time, ask Mike!) |
ANSWER
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Some Work On Lane Detection Trying to stay on the road!
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As of Sept, 2005
Ariens built this "little" robot as a prototype, test machine A PC controls this machine in real-time via a blue-tooth wireless connection. Controlling software was written by St. Norbert students.
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Videos of the "little" 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steer robot:
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Green Bay Press Gazette Article
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WBAY TV Coverage
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A newsletter of Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU)
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| An Article Discussing Ariens / St. Norbert Cooperation |
Some Shots of the Early Machine
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Designing an Wheel RMP Gauge Using a Compass
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Some 2004 Pictures and Videos of Early Successes
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Videos of 1st Trip By Itself! Sept 23, 2004 |
Video clip1 (.avi 17 meg)
(May take a while to download ...... so be patient!)
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Embarrassing Results of Some Early System Testing 
Backed Into The Garage During System Testing
Cut Master Power Switch So Lost All Control
Machine Continued to Spin the Wheels In Reverse
(Note The Cut In The Siding And The Black Exhaust Stains)
Oh Well ......
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And what a start that was! ( just ask John Rousseau! )
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Some Misc. Pictures of Students Working on the Machines
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Want more info on this project?
e-mail ...... jim.blahnik@snc.edu
