That is the primary a part of a collection on Jesse Brockmann’s construct for the OpenCV Spatial AI Contest.
Jesse Brockmann is a senior software program engineer with over 20 years of expertise. Jesse works for a big company designing real-time simulation software program, began programming on an Apple IIe on the age of six and has gained a number of AVC occasion over time. Be sure you keep up-to-date with our weblog to learn all about Jesse and his crew’s submission!
The Lego Land Rover Defender is prepared for an Oak-D Lite improve!
The Midwest Defenders crew consists of the next members:
Jesse Brockmann: Jesse lives in Iowa and is a Senior Software program Engineer for a really giant firm and has been working for twenty-four years as a software program developer on a multibody dynamics solver utilized by many corporations within the automotive and different fields. In his free time he likes to work on autonomous rovers, promote STEM as Model Ambassador of Sparkfun Electronics and work on different initiatives when he has time. He gained the Sparkfun Autonomous Car Competitors (Sparkfun AVC) in 2016 and 2017 and has labored on autonomous rovers since 2011. He just lately accomplished the Udacity Self Driving Automotive Engineer program with lessons on pc imaginative and prescient, deep studying, localization and path planning.
Ted Meyers: Ted lives in Colorado and has been concerned with computer systems and robotics since he was a younger youngster. He presently has 25 years of expertise as a software program developer. He now works for Northrop Grumman writing software program that processes knowledge for sensors that fly on unmanned aerial autos. He’s additionally a robotics fanatic and has constructed a number of robots and competed in quite a lot of robotics contests over the past 10 years. He competed a number of years within the Sparkfun AVC, successful a number of awards. In 2014 Ted labored on crew “Troubled Youngster” on the Sparkfun AVC the place he helped convert a Jeep Wagoneer to a full -size autonomous automobile that took first place within the “doping” class competitors. Extra just lately, in August 2021, he competed within the Dallas Private Robotics Teams RoboColumbus competitors; a contest to construct a very autonomous rover that would navigate an outside impediment course. His rover navigated the primary problem space efficiently and positioned third total within the competitors.
Our crew determined to make use of the Lego Land Rover and the Oak-D-LITE to copy the atmosphere of a warehouse robotic, or every other atmosphere the place autonomous navigation is perhaps used. Though we determined to make use of road indicators, using april tags can be a great substitute.
Some instance 3D printed indicators
The primary stage was to construct the Land Rover and modify it to run as a substitute of being a static show. For this we used instructions bought from Rebrickable to permit motorized conversion of the rover. We’ll notice our construct deviated from the directions, as we determined to solely have excessive gear and switched to utilizing an RC servo to drive the steering as a substitute of the servo beneficial within the construct.
Engine bay with Lego motors
The beneficial Lego servo has very coarse steering management and was very weak in comparison with a normal micro passion servo. The servo was mounted utilizing a 3D printed bracket. Management of the Lego motors was executed utilizing a inventory RC Velocity Controller. On the finish of this course of we had an RC managed Land Rover. Testing was executed to verify this automobile operated effectively earlier than continuing with the conversion to autonomous.
The lego construct was subsequent modified so as to add the options required for autonomous operation. The roof was eliminated and inside buildings strengthened to compensate for the roof removing. The entrance engine bay was cleared of the simulated motor to permit room for a big USB battery financial institution. All inside items for look had been eliminated and a 3D printed platform was added to mount a Raspberry Pi and a customized circuit board with a Teensy 3.2 microcontroller.
Elements as seen from the driving force’s aspect door exhibiting modified design
Elements as seen from passenger aspect door exhibiting modifications
A battery pack with 6AA batteries was added to energy the drive motors and the RC servo. An encoder was added to detect distance traveled and velocity. A BNO-055 IMU on a customized 3D printed half was added to offer heading info. At this level the Pi was mounted within the automobile, together with the Oak-D-LITE. The digital camera was mounted utilizing two 3D printed brackets product of ABS. ABS is a more sensible choice on account of its potential to deal with greater temperatures. There was some concern that PLA may deform from the warmth of the digital camera. The Pi was positioned right into a case and easily mounted utilizing two sided tape.
Completed rover with all modifications
