RoadNarrows RoboSight

The RoadNarrows RoboSight module provides an interface to the RoboSight vision recognition board. Powered by the CogniMem CM-1K neural network chip by General-Vision, visual objects are readily detected and categorized from patterns previously trained. The recognized visual categories are then fed into RoboRealm to guide goal decisions, object localization, platform movement and navigation, and environment manipulation.

The RoboSight RoboRealm module can be used to configure the RoboSight camera properties as well as upload, download and train patterns on the board. Recognized object categories are fed back into RoboRealm as variables that can be used by other modules or transported to external application/devices.

Note that the RoboRealm RoboSight board assumes that the composite video connection on the RoboSight board is used to capture an image into the PC. You will need a NTSC digitizer such as a TV tuner that supports a 352x288 image size. Generic digitizers will work but may not support the 352x288 image size which will cause the viewed image on the PC to be somewhat distorted. This, however, does NOT affect RoboSight's ability to recognize objects as the PC view is just used for camera positioning and preview.

Interface

Instructions

1. COM Port - Select the appropriate COM port that is connected to the RoboSight board. If the appropriate COM port does not appear ensure that all connections are made and that the RoboSight board is turned on. Close the module and reopen to see if the COM port appears in the dropdown list.

2. Camera Parameters - Use the following controls to change the camera properties within RoboSight. Note that this assumes the NTSC out on the RoboSight board is being previewed via a digitizer on the PC. Changing camera properties will affect both the NTSC image and the image fed to the CogniMem vision chip.

Brightness - Adjusts the overall brightness of the image. If this value does not improve the overall brightness enough see the "Dark Boost" checkbox below.

Exposure - Adjusts the shutter speed of the RoboSight camera.

Contrast - Adjusts the contrast (amount of black and white) in the image.

Dark Boost - Improves the image light level when used in low light environments.

Auto Gain Control - Allows RoboSight to automatically adjust the image gain and compensate for irregular environmental lighting.

Auto White Balance - Allows RoboSight to automatically adjust the white balance of the image.

3. Patterns - Several buttons allow for the setup of the RoboSight board.

Train Current Image - Pressing this button will cause RoboSight to train on the currently viewed image. This image is stored in RoboSight and will immediately start detecting the presence of that object.

Forget All Patterns - Causes RoboSight to forget all trained images and set its pattern counter to zero. This should be used before training on valid images to clear out any experimental patterns that you may have trained on. This should also be used prior to uploading patterns to RoboSight to clear out existing patterns. If you do NOT use this function prior to uploading patterns new patterns will be added to the current list within RoboSight possibly duplicating existing patterns.

Upload Patterns To RoboSight - uploads images from the PC to the RoboSight board. Note that these images MUST have the same dimensions as what is currently configured in the RoboSight board based on the ROI settings. See ROBOSIGHT_WIDTH and ROBOSIGHT_HEIGHT variables for what this size needs to be. Note that images can any recognized image format but it is recommended to use a non-lossy image compression technique such as gif or png in order to store images. This ensures that the trained pattern is exactly the same as the stored image. Note that you may wish to "Forget All Patterns" before uploading to ensure that only those images uploaded are contained with RoboSight.

Download Patterns From RoboSight - downloads all trained patterns from RoboSight and stores then into a user specified folder. Note that the downloaded patterns will be stored as small (typically 16x16) gif images. These images can be modified using any paint application and saved for uploading back to RoboSight.

4. ROI - Changing the ROI or Region of Interest of RoboSight will cause the recognition to change what part of the image is focused on. Often it is not possible to align the camera on the expected object position such that the object completely fills the field of view. When this happens adjusting the ROI to ignore non-object areas of the image can help improve object recognition.

Note that the RoboSight image size WILL change when changing the width and height of the ROI area. Changing these parameters may invalidate image patterns that you have downloaded by not allowing you to upload the images back into RoboSight. Thus you should first set the ROI BEFORE training any valid patterns and downloading them to the PC.

X Start - the x (horizontal) start coordinate

Y Start - the y (vertical) start coordinate

X End - the x (horizontal) end coordinate

Y End - the y (vertical) end coordinate

Arrows - use the provided arrows to move the ROI as a whole around the image. Note that moving the entire ROI will NOT affect the RoboSight image size and therefore will not affect the ability to upload existing images.

Zoom - use the provided zoom and un-zoom buttons to change the field of view of the ROI. As the zoom will preserve the image aspect ratio your image pattern size will again not change.

5. (Other) Reset RoboSight - You can reset the RoboSight board by pressing the "Reset RoboSight" button. This will cause RoboSight to forget all patterns in memory and reload all its settings.

6.(Other) Save To EEPROM/Load From EEPROM - When training or uploading images or changing camera settings all these changes are stored in volatile memory on the RoboSight board. This means that if you turn off the RoboSight board all these settings are lost. To save these settings such that they are used again once the RoboSight board is turned on you need to "Save to EEPROM". Likewise, if you wish to reload all saved settings (to erase all current settings stored in memory) you can press the "Load From EEPROM" button.

Variables

ROBOSIGHT_NAME_X - The category name associated with the recognized
category. Note that this is a RoboRealm specific association and is
NOT present on the RoboSight board. Up to four categories can be
recorded at one time. Note that they are ordered with regards to
distance with the first being the closest best match.

ROBOSIGHT_CATEGORY_X - The numerical category RoboSight has assigned
to the trained pattern. When the pattern is presented again to RoboSight
this category number will become available as a recognition
identification code that the object is present.

ROBOSIGHT_DISTANCE_X - A measure of recognition confidence or the "distance"
of the current recognized pattern to its associated pattern stored in
RoboSight.

New Post

RoadNarrows_RoboSight Related Forum Posts	Last post	Posts	Views
None