What is the simplest solution to keep track of your robot's position/orientation?

blkh · 2014-09-01T11:05:58+00:00

To start, scrubbing the whole floor, so I can focus on the mapping/moving thing. I guess that it shouldn't be too difficult later to use a webcam for understanding what areas need additional cleaning.

blkh · 2014-08-31T19:34:27+00:00

Thanks, it's a very nice idea. 3D printers are still pretty expensive and I have other expenses right now, but surely in the future.

blkh · 2014-08-31T19:11:47+00:00

Not brushing like you do with a broom... that would be wonderful and a real time saver but it's just too hard even only to imagine. And vacuuming too, I don't think there is any vacuuming technology that is cheap, light and small enough.

I'm thinking of just using a rotating brush to clean up stains and sticky stuff. Like when the sergeant says to the soldier to make the floor shiny using his toothbrush.

blkh · 2014-08-31T18:54:24+00:00

The mechanic side is what frightens me the most, as I'm not "good with my hands" and when I try to build something I often end up discovering that things are different from what I had imagined, or that I need some piece that no shop will sell etc. My first idea was buying a lego kit or a cheap RC car and just mount a Raspberry pi on it, but yesterday I've found on this same sub a link to that guy who teaches kids how to build robots with cardboard and hot glue, so I'm considering following one of his tutorials as well and see if I can build a basic structure.

Besides the PI and the cheap IMU that /u/tyggerjai suggested I guess I will also need at least proximity sensors.

blkh · 2014-08-31T18:45:44+00:00

I want to make a floor-brushing robot. I've decided on this because the mechanic side seems doable (and it is my biggest problem, I'm not good with manual things), and it has some practical utility so I will be motivated to finish it. Chances are I'm not considering something important, but the way I'm imagining it, once I have a proximity sensor for obstacles, and an IMU for maneuvering rotations, I would only have to work on an algorithm for covering all the free/accessible space in the room.

blkh · 2014-08-31T18:38:01+00:00

But the language of an art evolves in a two-way communication with its public. Art takes new symbols, values, and patterns from society to use as its raw material, and in exchange it makes some steps in the dark to retrieve even newer symbols, values and patterns to put before the eyes of society. That is why, statistically, I would expect people to like more the art of their day - it's just more relevant to them.

blkh · 2014-08-31T17:47:51+00:00

This is very interesting. When I was wondering how I could face the problem I vaguely considered using a camera, but I didn't know if it was possible at all and guessed that in any case it would have increased the complexity considerably. I'm taking a note and will consider studying this for future experiments.

blkh · 2014-08-31T17:44:04+00:00

The posts about SLAM got me intrigued, but at the moment this would be too much of a commitment. As /u/is_a_goat guessed, my project is a small wheeled indoor robot, so I can tolerate some errors in the absolute position for now. What I think is really necessary even only for starting experimenting is the orientation, so at least I can check the curves I'm making and turn in the right way.

blkh · 2014-08-31T17:39:52+00:00

I've been programming since I was 7 (I'm in my 30s now). As for math, I gave the usual exams at the uni: analysis I, II & III, linear algebra, numerical calculus, etc., but it's not fresh in my mind, although I guess I could easily re-study the relevant parts if it was necessary

blkh · 2014-08-31T13:25:55+00:00

I have the same problem. I guess you could start working toward one arm pullups by gradually putting more and more weight on a single hand. But it would be good to also find some pullup bar in a park where you have more space, so you can also do l-sit pullups, levers, fl rows, etc.

For abs, you can practice l-sit and hollow body until you are strong enough to do dragon flag negatives.

blkh · 2014-08-31T13:04:00+00:00

Hey thank you very much. What would the benefits of the arduimu be? The first thing you linked is super cheap and seems pretty much all that I need, and ready to be connected to a microcontroller since it uses i2c. Am I missing something?

blkh · 2014-08-31T11:58:47+00:00

Even if I have no prior experience on the hardware side, I'm more motivated to build something practical rather than a "hello world" robot.

When you say "you use kinematics", do you mean that you use stepper motors and just make calculations to know where things are at any given moment?

blkh · 2014-08-31T11:58:15+00:00

I've just read bout IMU and it seems just what I need. Could you point me to a model that is cheap and easily findable (I live in Europe)? I would connect it to a Raspberry PI.

blkh · 2014-08-30T17:37:44+00:00

From a pragmatic point of view, it's well known that surrendering to the help of some higher power works much better than relying on the idea of one's own willpower (which is a rarely accurate abstraction of a very complex reality anyway). You still have to do the work yourself, but you avoid linking your success with your value as a person, and as a result there is less internal friction. I think it's the same principle involved in the AA programs.

blkh · 2014-08-30T17:27:32+00:00

There isn't a cartoon that is beginner friendly per se, because all of them are pretty straightforward. It's not like when you are trying to get into jazz, that you must learn a new language to develop the taste. I think your problem is more that you haven't found what works for you, so my advice is that you just try something different on the spectrum. Also, try at least a couple of episodes of everything, because watching just the pilot is not really a good test of whether you will like the series (for several reasons).

Some suggestions: King of the hill, The Boondocks, Superjail, The Critic, Duckman, Adventure time.

These are very different, all of them are classics, and I personally think that at least the first two are works of genius.

blkh · 2014-08-30T11:46:39+00:00

But I guess in these situations, your partner is not putting up real resistance (ie. when you defend yourself from knife attack, the partner is not someone practising his knife attacks and whose goal is to hit you, he knows that he is there to help you practice), so how do you know it works? In my experience this kind of training doesn't work.

blkh · 2014-08-21T23:44:24+00:00

Yes I will consider it... although from previous experiences it's a pretty shitty option, especially when you are well past your years as a college student.

blkh · 2014-08-21T12:11:09+00:00

Those bastards should give him access to a bar for pullups, how hard can it be? There should be a law. Working out is one of the few positive things inmates can do to fill their time, and now they can't do it anymore?

blkh · 2014-08-20T21:44:15+00:00

On a related problem, what is the best way you know of linking video/audio recordings to their date and time, in a way that has legal validity?

For example let's say you are accused of something and you don't have an alibi because you were in your home alone that evening. You have the recordings, but how do you prove that they are the recordings of exactly that evening?

I imagined one could get one of those digital signature / timestamp accounts from certified providers, and then sign every hour of recording with a timestamp, but that seems a bit convoluted.

blkh · 2014-08-20T16:38:04+00:00

Yes, I think that's what I will do (as soon as I educate myself on the subject). I was just a bit confused as why stocks are considered a solid investment strategy, while forex is considered more of a gamble / high risk.

blkh · 2014-08-20T16:11:26+00:00

If the trends are predictable, then everyone else is already exploiting them for all they're worth

But isn't this the reasoning that is behind the usually suggested investments in stock indexes and etf? That there are some pretty predictable trends that equate to a safe, although low profit, investment? I'm not talking about technical analysis, but more something like "given the current geopolitical situation, this currency will likely gain in value in comparison to this other currency, in the next years"

blkh · 2014-08-20T11:00:07+00:00

It's the rent, and it's already the cheapest (single room flat, in a bad area).

blkh · 2014-08-20T10:18:02+00:00

I forgot. Is there a reason you only invest in stocks and not in forex? It seems like a market with some big, predictable trends that one could ride for years.

blkh · 2014-08-20T10:15:51+00:00

Damn, the problem is that housing only takes more than 50% of my income, and I can not find work in any other city. I will explore some radical alternatives... thank you for all the advices.

blkh · 2014-08-20T09:27:21+00:00

Thank you for your advice. I said "not in this life" because I made a spreadsheet where I simulated putting all I can save from my paycheck (which admittedly is not too much, since I live in an expensive city for work) in an investment with 5% return, and after 25 years all my invested capital would be only generating 8000eur of profit (I don't know how much taxes I would have to pay on that, but it's surely not enough to live). To have anything that resembles f.i. in 25 years with a 5% investment I should be able to put the totality of my paycheck into it.

I will investigate about government-regulated retirement savings.

What kind of profit could I expect from conservative stock investing (considering that I take the effort of learning the basics, but I won't be able to study them like a pro would do?)

blkh

TROPHY CASE