Doug, Wow, I am not used to having things turn out so well. My department chair told me on Monday that I had the $1000. I talked to a friend that is somewhat involved with PYRO and she suggested the pyro-users discussion group. I signed up for the discussion group. I looked through a few of the archives and saw your message to William Yu and sent you the posting. You wrote immediately so from starting to look and what appears to be the answer - 4 days.
It sounds like I was thinking about the same things as you and IPRE were thinking. I have been wanting to spice up the AI section in the CS-0 course. I had a quick look at some of the materials on the wiki and other webpages. It looks perfect. I was not planning to go to SIGCSE. If I decide to go is the Myro workshop full? I consider myself somewhat technically able. Can I figure this out without attending anything at least initially using the online materials? I would like to purchase one at the approx. $200. Let me know how to proceed. Thanks very much for all the good info. Terry Scott On Wed, 21 Feb 2007, Douglas S. Blank wrote: > Terry, > > I have, perhaps, just the thing for you! I have been working with some > colleagues at the Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE) on a > robot for just such a course. I didn't mention this one in my original > message to William (included below for those who are interested) because > it is a very different niche than the Aibo, but nice for CS0, CS1, and > maybe even CS2. > > The basic idea is that we make engaging robots cheap enough so that > every student can have their own. We hope in the end that they will cost > about $150, but we are closer to $200 right now. But, the pieces are > mostly off-the-shelf. Here is what we currently have: > > - the hardware > - Scribbler robot > - retails for about $80, but discounts for bulk purchases > - 2 light sensors > - 2 IR obstacle detector > - 2 IR line detectors > - stall detector > - bluetooth wireless > - plays tones (up to 2 at once) > > - the software > - called Myro (based, in part on Pyro) > - written in CPython > - simplified for CS0, CS1 > - adaptable, open source code > - modified IDLE > - runs on windows, linux and mac > > - the materials > - in progress > - written in a wiki, add your own pages > - real textbook is also planned > > The best thing about the materials is that it incorporates more than > just robotics. We have art-based lessons using the Scribbler's ability > to draw, we have music-based lessons using the tone generator, we have > an Instant Messaging library, for exploring communications, etc. Of > course, all of these activities do involve robots (for example, you can > send a command to a robot over the IM) but they involve activities that > make the robot more than just a remote-controlled toy. > > Our plans are to support as many robots as we can for educational > purposes (including all of those mentioned to William: Hemisson, SRV-1, > ePuck, Roomba, Lego NXT, etc), and make an easy path from Myro to Pyro. > > You can find a picture of the IPRE robot kit here: > > http://wiki.roboteducation.org/wiki/index.php/Myro_Development > > along with more details of the entire project. You can read a brief > description of the IPRE and the project here: > > http://wiki.roboteducation.org/wiki/index.php/Appendix > > and find out more about the IPRE here: > > http://www.roboteducation.org/ > > Of course, I'd be glad to answer any questions. (There are also related > workshops at SIGCSE in a couple of weeks, at AAAI Spring Symposium in a > month, and more events this summer). > > Take a look at see if this would work for your needs. We can also offer > assistance for getting started, and help on behind-the-scenes setup (how > to teach such a class). > > -Doug > > Terry Scott wrote: > > Doug, > > > > I have just become a pyro-users subscriber. I saw your posting to William > > Yu about possible robots. I went to look on the web and got info about the > > ones you mentioned. I have prices but many of the other criteria I have > > are not listed there. > > > > I am buying a robot for use in a CS-0 class (in case you aren't familiar > > with that notation this is called a breadth-first computer science class - > > in this case many of the students are not very technical.) > > > > The students are learning Python and will be somewhat proficient with it > > by the time we get to the AI section. > > > > I am hoping you might help me figure out what might be the best robot for > > my criteria. Here are my criteria > > < $1000 > > battery powered would be nice. > > can use Python to program it. > > able to have a wireless card or an onboard interpreter and RAM/EPROM > > I assume some sensors so that the robot can naviagate a maze or follow a > > line > > > > Also, I am wondering if I sent this correctly so that it is seen by other > > members of the pyro-users group. > > > > Terry > > _______________________________________________ > > Pyro-users mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/mailman/listinfo/pyro-users > > > > William, > > This is the $64,000 question! > > Unfortunately, there is not a $64,000 answer. The answer will really > depend on the details of what you want to explore, what you value, and > how much money you want to spend. > > There are pros and cons to all of the following options, and maybe other > will have their own opinions. But, here are some options (all of these > have some type of vision, and either work with Pyro, or soon will): > > 1. Roomba, from iRobot. This option is quite cost-effective, and with > some clever thinking, you can do a lot. I really think a modern robot > has to have a camera, and you can put a laptop with a webcam on the > roomba. My roomba is in the mail, so I can't personally can't comment > yet on the recent additions to Pyro by James Snow that allow Pyro to > control the roomba. (James's code looks excellent, though!) Also, Pyro's > vision code currently only works under Linux. This isn't a > self-contained robot though, so it will take a little work to get the > laptop, software, webcam, and needed parts. > > 2. ePuck, from GCtronic. I'm just starting to test this out. It is a > little pricey and small, but looks like a nice challenger to the > Khepera, if you like desktop robotics. Pyro support should be easy (may > use the exact same commands as Khepera, which is already supported). > > 3. Hemisson, from K-Team, and RoadNarrows. A little pricey (once you add > all of the needed attachments) and is missing odometry (which the Aibo > never had). The vision is done through a separate wireless analog > connection. I have had issues with dropped connections, but I know Kim > and Robin have been working on this for a couple of years. > > 4. Surveyor SRV-1, from Surveyor.com. I don't know very much about this > one, but it looks like it might be able to quite a bit. I have one of > these in the mail, too, so I'll know more in a week or two. > > 5. AmigoBot from MobileRobot.com. The smallest and cheapest (but still > pricey) from the company that produces many robots for research. It can > play wav files, has a wireless camera (like the Hemisson), and uses the > standard MobileRobot interface. Pyro should work with it through the > Player interface. I haven't had one for 8 years, so others might have > more to say. > > 6. Pioneer from MobileRobot.com. The standard in research robotics. Very > pricey, but very flexible. Comes in a variety of options (indoor, > outdoor, PeopleBot, gripper, etc). > > There are some other options on the horizon (few months off), and this > will surely be a topic at both AAAI Spring Symposium, and at SIGCSE. > > Any other ideas? > > -Doug > > William Yu wrote: > > Greetings, > > > > > > > > Can anyone suggest an alternative hardware platform to AIBO? > > > > > > I recently (actual, it’s been a few month now) received a small > internal grant to purchase 4-5 > > > > AIBO for my AI class using the PYRO. Unfortunately, although this > seems a pretty good idea > > > > when I wrote the proposal in January, I can not get any AIBO now that > the money is available. > > I'm wondering if any of you could suggest an alternative to AIBO. I'm > looking for something that > > > > is relatively powerful and is supported by PYRO in the window's > environment. As for my AI class, > > > > I just wanted to do a few simple modules such as reactive control and > behavior-based control modules > > > > plus one other advanced module. Since it'll be just be a relatively > small part of the AI class, I'd really > > > > like to work with something that's sufficiently sophisticated yet > already supported by PYRO simulator > > > > so as to minimize the learning curve. That's also pretty much the > reason that I selected AIBO, besides it being so cool. > > > > > > > > Any help will be greatly appreciated! > > > > > > > > William Yu > > > > Computer Science > > > > Southern Illinois University Edwardsville > _______________________________________________ Pyro-users mailing list [email protected] http://emergent.brynmawr.edu/mailman/listinfo/pyro-users
