[Dprglist] Hovercraft for RoboColumbus, sonar mapping of entire arena

[David Anderson]

John,

I have a TYCO toy hovercraft:

http://www.geology.smu.edu/dpa-www/robo/firefight/hovercraft.gif

Or rather had one. I took it apart to use one of the blowers to 
extinguish a candle for the Trinity Firefighting Contest, from the 
before time.  Just an observation: They are very hard to control.

As to Steve's 3 questions, you don't fit the criteria because you don't 
hold yourself out as an expert on robot building.  ( More a devil's 
advocate, if I may be so bold.  :)

Quite the contrary, you know what you know.  Which is a trait much to be 
envied.   Plato would be proud.

cheers!
dpa



On 12/07/2016 10:18 PM, John Swindle wrote:
> Guys and gals,
>
> Just to let you know I figured out my mistake:
>
> I wondered whether twin-rotor caged "drones" (what a terribly mis-used 
> term) and Batmobile-inspired quad-rotor wheeled gadgets, that reduce 
> battery drain by rolling most of the time, would be appropriate 
> RoboColumbus platforms.
>
> Then I realized that my concern was marsh and high grass, and 
> a simpler solution already exists: a hovercraft.
> I can't carry much stuff on a hovercraft, and hovercrafts expend 
> energy all the time. But a hovercraft meets Dave's definition of a 
> robot that is be able to rotate about its center (if it is so designed).
>
> I don't want to build any mechanical stuff anyway, so I don't know why 
> I think about this stuff.
>
> If I can map the trees in the arena in one or two failed passes, along 
> with the allowed walk-around with instruments before the contest runs, 
> and then have a race to the cones on a third pass, using omni sonar, 
> then that would be interesting to me.
>
> Mapping with sonar at 450 feet is almost impossible at high 
> frequencies due to massive losses in the atmosphere. But mapping at, 
> say, 100 feet may be enough to map the outdoor arena, and stitch the 
> map together. Wobbling the mics three feet one way, and three feet the 
> other way, staying within a four-foot envelope, would work, at least 
> in simulation.
>
> I am not sitting at an armchair right now, but I nevertheless fail ALL 
> THREE of Steve's questions!
>
> But one of the Neatos just jabbed me. So it's time for me to move out 
> of the room. (It's fun to watch two of them jousting for position.)
>
> Later,
> John Swindle
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> DPRGlist mailing list
> DPRGlist at lists.dprg.org
> http://lists.dprg.org/listinfo.cgi/dprglist-dprg.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dprg.org/pipermail/dprglist-dprg.org/attachments/20161207/2348ceb8/attachment.htm>