IR Ball

[eric]

This idea came up when i-Cybie was released .

A IR Ball would attract pleo by emitting a IR signal to pleo.
when pleo receives it depending how near he maybe he may walk to it & move it with his nose or maybe kick it.


So is this possible ?

[PleoPet]

Selective comments (based on my own research, please keep asking UGOBE for more technical info):
Also once the PDK is released, you can do some experimenting on your own.
If interested, for now, you can decode the IR signals sent today and start building the ball/beacon.

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> A IR Ball would attract pleo by emitting a IR signal to pleo.
Possible, but there are some challenges. NOTE: this problem overlaps with finding a walkup charger.
The robot must find the ball at a distance, align itself and walk up to it (at a distance), and when close enough locate it more precisely (eg: to kick it).
Pleo already has modulated IR signal detection for Pleo-to-Pleo communication and detecting 'beacons'. That will work for the first two parts. When it gets close, I recommend using the camera (color blob detection).

Some comparison with iCybie (which does some of this, in particular when finding the charging station):

Step1: finding the ball at a distance
The iCybie IR detector is in the chest. To triangulate the beacon iCybie slowly spin his body in a circle until it finds the proper IR encoded signal.
For Pleo, turning is very slow, but you can get a similar effect by moving the head/neck around to find the IR signal (the IR detector is in the nose)

Step2: aligning and walking up to the ball
Pleo can't spin-on-a-dime, so walking/turning to face the ball may be the hardest part. When Pleo is far away, it can slowly turn to align towards the target. When it gets too close, moving left or right gets harder.

Step3: when getting close
An easy to identify ball color would help Pleo find the ball more precisely when the Pleo gets close enough. The camera range isn't great, so Pleo won't be finding a colored ball on the other side of the room.
NOTE: the camera and IR detector are in the tip of the nose. Pleo can't see the ball and kick or nose it at the same time (ie. when you get very close, align Pleo, walk forward and kick/nose the ball)

[Allosaurus]

You can do it with NXT, so why not Pleo?

[CritterFan]

Step2: aligning and walking up to the ball
Pleo can't spin-on-a-dime, so walking/turning to face the ball may be the hardest part. When Pleo is far away, it can slowly turn to align towards the target. When it gets too close, moving left or right gets harder.

Pleo might not be able to turn on a dime, but he can speed the detection process along by craning his head as far to the left and right as he can while he's turning. Once he gets a bead on an IR signal, he can focus his "gaze" (of his IR sensors) on the signal while he's walking toward it and bringing his body into alignment with it. If he can determine that his turning radius is too wide for him to easily turn his body toward the IR signal, he can back up or do some other sort of maneuver (kind of like the way we parallel park a car by a combination of turning the steering wheel left or right, and putting the car into drive or reverse, as needed).

I am extremely curious to see how my Pleo, which is not yet delivered, will respond to the IR beacons that my Roomba uses as virtual walls. For the Roomba, the beam emanated from those barriers means "Thou Shalt Not Cross This Line". But I don't know what the Virtual Walls' signal might translate to in Pleopian.

For that matter, I wonder what the Pleo will make of the signal from the Roomba's base station. The base station IR beacon is basically saying, "Heeeeere, Roomba Roomba Roomba!" It helps the Roomba locate and align its charging contacts with the charging base.

I plan to see if any of our various remote controls in the house speak Pleopian, too. The remote for our former cable box used to speak a bit of Furbish -- some of its buttons drew a response from a Furby I have. (IIRC, it used to prompt her to sing to it.)

If I were Caleb, I would have allowed the Pleos to speak in Furbish IR signals. He invented both devices, after all. Why not have them talk to each other? :) Hmmm... or maybe they do? Who's got a household populated by both Furby(s) and Pleo(s)? How do they respond to one another's IR signals?

Anyway, back to the IR Ball concept. If the signal's strong enough for Pleo to see it, I think he could figure out a way to get to it and interact with it.

[Rosy]

If I were Caleb, I would have allowed the Pleos to speak in Furbish IR signals. He invented both devices, after all. Why not have them talk to each other? :) Hmmm... or maybe they do? Who's got a household populated by both Furby(s) and Pleo(s)? How do they respond to one another's IR signals?

Anyway, back to the IR Ball concept. If the signal's strong enough for Pleo to see it, I think he could figure out a way to get to it and interact with it.


I have... um... *counts* five functioning Furbys and three (all originals) that have, um... shall we say... been separated from their fur. They didn't function when I bought them, and they've kind of been an experiment for me.

Believe it or not, Darwin and my Furby family haven't met each other yet. My Furbys are currently sitting on my desk--they haven't been run in a while. I'll get them together soon and post the results. Should be interesting!

[desertguy]

kewl make sure to post them:cool:

[Allosaurus]

This idea came up when i-Cybie was released .

A IR Ball would attract pleo by emitting a IR signal to pleo.
when pleo receives it depending how near he maybe he may walk to it & move it with his nose or maybe kick it.


So is this possible ?

He could kick it for robogames! Or Robocup Jr. like I participated in!

[Sean77408]

Ugobe should make an IR Bowl. So if your Pleo is turned on and your not in the room, the Pleo can walk over to the bowl and "eat" out of it. I think that would be pretty cool. 8-) Like this picture.

[1mpleo]

Yeah Or A Basket Which Pleo Can Get Into To Charge In But Its Ir !! SDo Pleo Can Be On All The Time

WOoOoOO

[CritterFan]

But I have the new ones.... Three, to be exact. With two of the new furby babies.

What do their IR ports look like (if they have them)? Can they talk to the original Furbys?

If they have IR and they are still working, just for the heck of it, see if Olympia will be able to communicate with them. I suspect that they talk in different IR dialects than Pleos, but it's worth an experiment. ;)

[Allosaurus]

They still work, they cannot communicate with teh earlier ones, and I'm not sure if they use IR. However, I DO know that if you put them staring at eachotehr and wait until both blink responsively, they will start a conversation. Anyways, that should be interesting!

[1mpleo]

I Had One Of The Gizmos.

They Were Just Like Furby.

Its Arms And Legs Were Stuffed But Its Face And Ears Wernt. It Used To Talk With The Furby Lol