This document summarizes a student project called DOOMBA that modified an iRobot Create robot to be remotely controlled. The project was sponsored by Professor Mondragon and included Lee Craig, Mark Williams, Ye Cheng, Murat Belge, Doug Jones, and Dan Lluch. They transformed the robot over 10 weeks to add a BeagleBoard, webcam, and wireless connectivity to allow remote control and video streaming from the robot. Challenges included power requirements and video lag. Improvements identified were remote control via a web app, using a BeagleBone for its features, and adding a mobile camera mount.

1. DOOMBA
Lee Craig + Mark Williams

2. ESD3 project.
Sponsored by:
Professor Mondragon
RIT ECT-ET department
Ye Cheng, Murat Belge, Doug Jones, Dan Lluch

3. What did we do?
From this...

4. What did we do?
... to this, in ten weeks.

5. Product Vision
A robot that can go into spaces where a human
cannot or should not go for recon, bomb
detection, or search and rescue operations.
Designed for military or police use.

6. Created / Borrowed
Created:
Code running on BeagleBoard
Control program on the PC
Borrowed:
MatLab video capture, display, and color
detection algorithms from MathWorks.
Thanks for the help!

7. DOOMBA

8. DOOMBA

9. DOOMBA

10. DOOMBA

11. DOOMBA

12. DOOMBA
Controlled by a program running on a PC, or by SSHing into the
BeagleBoard.
Current specifications:
• iRobot Create
• BeagleBoard
• USB Webcam
• USB Wireless card
• 12v 7Ah lead acid battery (powering BeagleBoard + peripherals)
• 5 volt voltage regulator (3 amp max)
Connections:
PC ---(UDP)---> BeagleBoard ---(serial)---> iRobot Create
MatLab ---(TCP)--> BeagleBoard ---(USB)---> webcam

13. Roadblocks:
What went wrong?
• UDP on the DE2 FPGA.
• Power requirements.
• Video Lag

14. Things to change
• Control from web app instead of program on
local PC
• Switch from BeagleBoard to BeagleBone -
removes need for USB->serial level shifter.
• Power sources for the beagle and roomba
• Alternative robot platform with less power
consumption
• Mobile mount for camera - pan+tilt
• Variable Speeds
• Lasers and Rocket launchers

15. What we learned
Documentation is key
10 weeks is really short time for a rapid
prototype and development

16. Retrospective
Initial:
Controlled from touch screen running on DE2 FPGA.
BeagleBoard powered by Roomba's battery.
Connected to RIT's wireless network
Final:
Scrapped DE2, currently using PC to control.
Needed a second battery to power BeagleBoard.
Microsoft Project

17. Jira
Project timeline

18. Recommendations:
Research your tools.
Larger teams.
Have clear goals set.