RoboRealm Forum

AVM Navigator input sources [3]

Sat, 12 May 2012 19:05:31 EDT

John,

It should work just fine. Most likely its the HTTP module that is having the problem. I assume this is through the ImageSalsa program again?

STeven.

"Trial" has expired even though I paid!! [3]

Sat, 12 May 2012 19:05:50 EDT

In case others have this issue: as mentioned in my email the wrong download link was being used as the download link is attached to the PAYPAL email and not the email you initial provide us (for security reasons). If you have a different email address you use for paypal be sure that the link you use to download includes that email address.

STeven.

Listen Module [5]

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:05:15 EDT

Dotan,

I'm not sure what application you are running as I cannot find anything in MS Speech SDK that looks like that. What is the application called that you are running? If you have other speech APIs installed it is possible that it is interfering with the MS API.

STeven.

Suggestions for eye tracking algorithms [15]

Fri, 11 May 2012 02:05:35 EDT

Zach,

I'm not very familiar with NXC but it seems that the receive is just not waiting for a non-zero number and returning immediately. See if there is a function similar to ReceiveRemoteNumber will wait for a number or just use the code that you have ... assuming you never need to send a 0 it should work.

STeven.

Lynxmotion SSC-32 [5]

Fri, 11 May 2012 02:05:01 EDT

Jape,

1. Yes, that's the way it is supposed to work. Once the module is removed or disabled in the pipeline it will no longer function. That's the intended use. I think maybe I'm still not fully understanding your issue.

Is the camera button pressed and are you seeing video from the camera?

STeven.

gestures [3]

Wed, 9 May 2012 14:05:03 EDT

Esam,

Can you include an example image of you showing the camera the letter E? The robofile looks fine but is hard to tell if anything is going wrong unless we have an image to test on.

How many letters are you planning on creating this for? You may want to use either the shape, object or AVM recognition modules to help reduce the workload in creating custom filters for each letter.

STeven.

AVM NAvigator Delayed in pipe line [3]

Wed, 9 May 2012 14:05:32 EDT

BMW,

It doesn't seem to be an AVM issue .. that appears to be functioning correctly.

The problem that you are referring to is the initial delay in the Arduino connection? That delay is probably caused by the initial testing the system does to find the right COM port (it takes a second or so to timeout) but this problem should not occur again once the connection is made. Are you seeing this delay come back when testing?

Are you connecting directly from the netbook to the Arduino using a USB cable? Or is there some wireless com happening?

STeven.

Jerky Servo Movement: [3]

Wed, 9 May 2012 14:05:32 EDT

Have you tried graphing the port1 variable using the Chart_Variable to see if that input also has noise on it?

http://www.roborealm.com/help/Chart_Variables.php

This is most likely the cause since AD conversion has a lot of sensitivity and can have a good deal of noise. If that is the case you may try using

http://www.roborealm.com/help/Filter_Variables.php

to smooth port1 and see if that helps.

This appears to be a common issue ... see

http://forum.bildr.org/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=74

for starters.

STeven.

Spark_Fun Mega Pan/Tilt camera: Pan going in wrong direction! [5]

Wed, 9 May 2012 00:05:56 EDT

Try removing the camera from the pan/tilt but keep it plugged into the PC. Often lower power USB can cause the behavior you are seeing. Removing the webcam would give the Arduino more power to work with and may be the reason the problem goes away.

If not you can slow down the changes by using the Filter_variable module. This will smooth the changes but will also make it much less reactive.

STeven.

Read Http crash [3]

Tue, 8 May 2012 21:05:50 EDT

John,

What device are you connecting to? An IP camera? Which model?

Most likely it is returning a jpg format or meta data that is not understood by RR or one of its image decompression dlls. If we know what device it is we can try to replicate this issue and provide a correction.

If you can also forward the

c:\\RoboRealm.log

that should have been generated as part of the crash that will help isolate the issue too.

Thanks,
STeven.

SPAM [3]

Tue, 8 May 2012 10:05:06 EDT

We didn't. Most likely it is someone else pretending to be us for whatever reason. If you'd like you can contact us using our site contact form and we will help track down the person and communicate this desire.

Thanks,
STeven.

skin [3]

Mon, 7 May 2012 16:05:12 EDT

Esam,

See

http://www.roborealm.com/tutorial/Hand_Gestures/index.php

STeven.

API ported to VexPro controller [3]

Sat, 5 May 2012 13:05:48 EDT

Paul,

This is great! We had a couple people ask about the ability to do this. Thanks for putting that together. We will update the main Vex page to mention this.

Did you build it for any competition in mind? Or just as a proof of concept?

STeven.

Spark_Fun Mega Pan/Tilt camera: Pan going in wrong direction! [3]

Sat, 5 May 2012 13:05:28 EDT

You can replace

SetVariable "servo_position_x", x

with

SetVariable "servo_position_x", 2000 - x

which is effectively using a negative sign but the "center" is 1000 and not 0.

Or you can also use

http://www.roborealm.com/help/Scale_Variable.php

which was created after that script was designed. Either technique will work fine.

STeven.

same [4]

Fri, 4 May 2012 02:05:09 EDT

Sean,

I think we lost some context on this post ...

Can you post your robofile that you are using with an example image? That will help us understand what you are trying to do and determine why the tally is stuck at 0.

STeven.

Lynxmotion SSC-32 [3]

Fri, 4 May 2012 02:05:40 EDT

Jape,

1. What you say "have to have it active" what do you mean by active? Meaning when you disable that module or press the stop button things no longer work?

If you do not have an active camera you can try to change the Options Dialog->Other tab->Min Processing FPS to force the system to continiously iterate through the pipeline.

What version of RR are you using?

2. If you read the comments on

http://www.hobbypartz.com/12exiseb1.html

it seems that others are having problem with continuous rotation. There is a suggestion on removing a part to make it continuous ... may want to try that.

STeven.

Object Recongition [3]

Fri, 4 May 2012 01:05:04 EDT

Care to share a couple example images and what parts you are trying to recognize?

STeven.

Blob counting [3]

Fri, 4 May 2012 00:05:40 EDT

Sean,

There should be a BLOB_TRACKING_COUNT variable set with the current number of blobs being tracked. Note that the ids will always increase as they are meant to be unique ids. The BLOB_TRACKING_COUNT will increase and decrease based on the active count.

You can then access this variable in the VBScript module, through the API, in Write Variables module, etc. to get that info out.

STeven.

Webcam car [3]

Fri, 4 May 2012 00:05:53 EDT

You may want to try the Red Object Tracking that is embedded in RoboRealm as one of the examples. Or you can check the tutorials at

http://www.roborealm.com/tutorial/color_object_tracking_2/slide010.php

STeven.

Hallucination [8]

Wed, 2 May 2012 00:05:27 EDT

Carl,

It doesn't but that's why the system rates it as 75% with the ghost image being 70% and both lighter images being above 95%. So if you adjust the min threshold to 80 or 90 that will eliminate those matches. It is set to the default 70 right now which is lower than it needs to be just to ensure that something matches initially.

When adjusting that turn off tracking since that has an even lower threshold of 50 otherwise the bad matches will remain.

Give that a try and see if that helps.

STeven.

Hallucination [5]

Tue, 1 May 2012 03:05:16 EDT

Carl,

Thanks, that was helpful. I think we found the problem and have uploaded a fix for you to test. v 2.44.27 has this update. Can you download again (use the Download button in the Options Dialog) and see if that helps to remove the error.

Thanks!
STeven.

Hallucination [3]

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:04:30 EDT

Carl,

Any chance you can post the original template and the image above without any annotations (i.e. the source image)? Also, what recognition method are you using? Feature points? Shape?

We can then check why you are getting that ghost image.

Thanks,
STeven.

Listen Module [3]

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:04:37 EDT

Dotan,

Can you confirm that any other applications can access the speech routines? I.e. can you enable dictation in Word? This is just to check that the speech files are correctly installed on your computer as RR will use similar hooks into that system.

STeven.

Help playing Avi [5]

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:04:12 EDT

Sure, that would definitely work.

STeven.

Cluster points testing [3]

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:04:10 EDT

Indeed! There was a bit of a wrap around with an extra pixel in an internal representation of the clusters. This has been fixed in the most recent version 2.44.26.

thanks!
STeven.

Automatic turning on the light [3]

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:04:12 EDT

Rob,

Not sure if the attach works but it should be something to play with. Note that the values for on versus off are guesses so you will have to tune those.

The trick is not to set them too close otherwise the action of switching on the light will then switch it off!

STeven.

Suggestions for eye tracking algorithms [12]

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 02:04:55 EDT

Zach,

I don't think it is based on the send rate, that should not be a problem. The issue is in the format being used. Most likely that 0 is being read as the end of a string and incorrectly being displayed. Have you played with the types setting in the NXT RR GUI window?

Also, can you include a sample NXC app where you are seeing this behavior? Most likely the module is not quite compatible with that since it was only tested with the Lego Gblocks.

STeven.

Help playing Avi [3]

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:04:21 EDT

Sean,

Any chance you can post one of those videos in this forum? Perhaps a short one? We can then take a closer look and try to resolve the problem.

I assume you have tried both AVI Reader and Media Reader?

Thanks,
STeven.

Roborealm Vbscript Problem [6]

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:04:29 EDT

First off you are missing quotes around the comparisons to square and circle. Try

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

shapeLabel = GetStrVariable("SHAPE_LABEL")

if shapeLabel = "square" then
  SetVariable "left_motor", 0
  SetVariable "right_motor", 255
  SetVariable "coordinate_i", 0
  SetVarivale "coordinate_j", 0

else
  if shapeLabel = "circle" then
    SetVariable "left_motor", 255
    SetVariable "right_motor", 0
    SetVariable "coordinate_i", 0
    SetVariable "coordinate_j" 100
  else
    SetVariable "left_motor", 255
    SetVariable "right_motor", 255
  end if
end if

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and watch the case too ... ie is it "square", "Square" or "SQUARE"

STeven.

MSRS [3]

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:04:07 EDT

Yes, see

http://www.roborealm.com/forum/index.php?thread_id=4358#

STeven.

AVI [3]

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:04:40 EDT

John,

Yes, most likely a restriction on writing file to the root.

Just change the folder in the write path of the AVI Write module to something that you can write to .... perhaps a temp folder or your desktop? That should take care of most of your issues.

STeven.

Stereo Depth Mapping [10]

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:04:16 EDT

Chris,

Sounds great ... I would skip a couple steps right now and test your image directly in OpenCV. We already did that and didn't like the results due to the large disparity (sorry, back to the 4" spacing again). So be sure you get good results in OpenCV before doing this integration.

If you can't get the spacing to be smaller can you point the cameras towards each other slightly as in pivoting your eyes to focus on a closer object? This will help to align the images better.

What you will probably notice in OpenCV is that a lot of noise is being generated by the near ground areas so unless you plan to just ignore that entire area you will need images with closer alignment. Does not make much sense if you can detect a 10ft away object when you are about to hit a 1ft away object that you cannot see!

Anyhow, we are working to improve our current Stereo module so that the results will be better defined with less blurring and errors ... but that will take additional research/testing.

STeven.

Path Planner [8]

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:04:03 EDT

Anon,

What types of objects are you planning to target that will define the route? Why do you prefer not to use the AVM module? Is that not working for you?

The shape matching module requires a black and white image which can be hard to generate unless you are looking at black and white objects (like fiducials ... which you would then use the fiducial module.

Keep in mind that using a target as apposed to the AVM module requires that you calculate how the bot should move towards the target. Regardless of if the target is a green ball, a fiducial, etc. you would use a similar method. See

http://www.roborealm.com/tutorial/color_object_tracking_2/slide010.php

which shows how that is done for a green ball ...

STeven.

Suggestions for eye tracking algorithms [7]

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:04:33 EDT

Zachary,

If you do have access to an IR camera that definately helps to isolate just the pupil.

You also have a look at the script we used for our homepage slideshow at

http://www.roborealm.com/images/action_shot_eye_dectection.jpg
http://www.roborealm.com/download_robo.php?robofile=/tutorial/homepage/action_eye_detection

STeven.

Stereo Depth Mapping [5]

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:04:06 EDT

You can see what I mean by the attached.

STeven.

Stereo Depth Mapping [4]

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:04:45 EDT

Chris,

While valuable for later use the above does not help much with the actual determination of depth from an image. I've tried a couple things with mixed success and need more information as to intended purpose in order to make the best recommendation. You mention that you need a full depth map. Is this to be used for obstacle avoidance? Indoors or outdoors?

The reason for my question is that most likely your 4" separation is too large for close purposes (note the tape is completely off in the second image which is causing matching issues). Are you able to change the rig such that the cameras are as close as is physically possible and take an image then? For close objects even 1 cm is sufficient and left/right matching is much improved by that.

If not and your intent is for distant objects, perhaps you can try taking images in that situation ... the close proximity of the floor is causing a lot of errors.

Note that you probably did get the stereo to work (just keep increasing the offset and check the left/right switch to see which one is better) but the best result I can get looks like crap anyhow! If you don't know what to expect its hard to fine tune the module to the best result. If you need to use the rig as is I can forward the best image I could come up with ... but again, in my opinion, it looks really bad and is not very usable. Closer images would improve it ...

Thanks,
STeven.

Minimum count for cluster [4]

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:04:44 EDT

Dawson,

We've reviewed this request a couple times and still don't really understand the end effect that you are going for. When a cluster is created there is no explicit count that is used since it depends on the location and number of clusters being created.

Perhaps you can define at a higher level what you are looking for with an example image or two. That may help us either better understand what you are requesting or provide a suitable alternative.

Thanks,
STeven.

Track balls on a Pool table [3]

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:04:59 EDT

Mayur,

It will be *much* easier if you can get an overhead view of the table like the attached. The hidden ball issue will require a more abstract representation of the balls (i.e. even if they disappear they should still be tracked) which will require a different form of tracking than "what you see is what you track". The overhead view solves this.

You can see this type of tracking on one ball in

http://www.roborealm.com/tutorial/Marble_Maze/slide010.php

STeven.

MSRDS 4 beta2 is not working with Roborealm [11]

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:04:46 EDT

Pranav,

That's why we include all the source code for the MSRDS interfaces. You *can* compile them yourself if a version upgrade happens (which it does quite a lot and frequently breaks previous code).

So when you download the updated version at

http://www.roborealm.com/downloads/msrs_v4.zip

note that the full source to those binary files are included as part of that download. :-)

Cheers,
STeven.

Propeller servo controller [8]

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:04:32 EDT

Sounds like you are asking about a lot of basics before you are ready for vision. Perhaps you can browse

http://www.societyofrobots.com/
http://letsmakerobots.com/start

and get the basics done. Once you are ready then working with the AVM module for navigation will be appropriate.

This is more of a vision site rather than a basic mechatronics site.

STeven.

Propeller servo controller [5]

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:04:55 EDT

Can you clarify what you mean by "drive on its own"?

STeven.

comparing the color of two blobs [6]

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:04:22 EDT

"the attached is a simple one" - yes, color theory is huge ... you can spend many years on that one!

Ok, but 0.20 and 0.05 seem like good numbers? Or were you expecting different?

Can you include your robofile where you are seeing the really different colors come up as the same? We can take a quick look if we have something to test against.

STeven.

Display data from Pic [6]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:04:43 EDT

John,

Yes, you can include an If_Statement module that will enable/disable sections of modules. So you can end up using two of these around different types of modules to perform more than one task in a pipeline. The If_Statements would test for =1 and !=1 (opposites) in order to execute one section of modules or the other. See attached for an example of this to crop the image depending on a single variable value.

STeven.

Kinect [3]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:04:36 EDT

Ben,

No, the module would not be able to accept a remote image. But RR itself can. Thus if you can create an image from the Kinect data and send that to RR that would work ... but I'm not sure if that defeats the purpose of your request.

See the API and set_image with regards to this technique.

STeven.

USB Camera live video crash [3]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:04:45 EDT

Hi,

You should have a c:\\RoboRealm.log crated when this happens which will help us better understand what is going wrong. Can you post that file here?

What camera are you using?

STeven.

VB Script Question [3]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:04:04 EDT

Ben,

That's a common issue in many recognition situaions. The issue is when a "new" object is seen. This is easy if the objects change but not as trivial when two similar objects are shown in sequence. What you are looking for is a timeout period. It goes like this:

if current_object <> nothing then
  if last_object <> current_object then
     add value to sum
     set last_object = current_object
  end if
else
  last_object = nothing
end if

which will basically stop the current object from being recognized until it is not seen for an instant. Once not seen showing the same object again will trigger the summation. Note that this can be an issue if the object disappears for even a one frame. Thus be sure to set the "absent after X frames" to something like 20 to ensure that when the object does disappear ... it is really gone and not just flickered. At 20 thats a bit less than 1 second given a 30fps camera.

Hope this helps...

STeven.

use one of two cropped windows [4]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:04:52 EDT

John,

Assuming that the serial module is setting a variable you can use two if_statement modules to achieve this. See attached.

STeven.

comparing the color of two blobs [3]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:04:04 EDT

Dawson,

Can you not use two color sample modules?

Once you get both samples you can compare the actual color values using some form of comparison. For example a VBScript can generate that ratio with 0 being very similar and 1 being very different.

Note there are many ways to compare colors ... the attached is a simple one.

See the attached robofile as an example.

STeven.

Motion tracking and coloring what is tracked [10]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:04:24 EDT

You should have also seen a c:\\RoboRealm.log file which is more useful in determining crash reasons. Be sure to also have the latest version.

Thanks,
STeven.

Propeller servo controller [3]

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:04:35 EDT

Have a look at the tutorials at

http://www.roborealm.com/tutorial/color_object_tracking_2/slide010.php

STeven.