Assorted projects and pontifications.
I created a ROS driver for the ELP-1MP2CAM001 Dual Lens stereo camera while working on some underwater point-cloud applications. Included in the package is: a URDF macro for the camera a usable calibration udev rules to reliably access the two cameras a launch file to start two usb_cam nodes and a stereo_image_proc node a launch file to start the calibration process Links Source: https://github.com/joshvillbrandt/elp-stereo-camera-ros-pkg Documentation: http://wiki.ros.org/elp_stereo_camera
I finally set some time aside to build some maps of my apartment using a SLAM algorithm! I ended up using the hector_slam package in ROS to do the job. There was a lot of trial and error involved in tuning my odometry and the hector_slam algorithm, but it eventually worked just fine. Check out the screenshots below! Links Mecanumbot ROS package
My latest creation is an internet-of-things door lock. The package actuators the deadbolt using a servo and determines if the door is shut or not using a reed switch. There is also a motion sensor that can determine if someone is approaching the door. The lock builds on the SmartThings platform using their Arduino Shield. With it I can control the lock over the Internet using the SmartThings app. What…
One of the most fun projects that I’ve gotten to work on recently was the SolarSurfer project. A unique aspect of that project which I hadn’t done before was remote control via a satellite connection. The project is extensively documented on Hackaday; check out the logs on satellite comm overview, real-time tracking, and mission simulation. Here is a short summary of the different project aspects: Developed telemetry protocol for bandwidth-constrained…
I have updated my Mecanumbot code to the latest and greatest ROS distribution – Hydro. During the upgrade, I wrote a companion app to publish velocity commands based of of the output of my ball tracker. The result is that the Mecanumbot can follow a red ball around the room! I wrote the ball tracking code itself back in college. The segmentation approach is pretty naive, but I only spent…
I recently created a little Django app that controls can control multiple GoPros simultaneously. It makes use of the GoProController Python class which does the leg work of actually taking to the camera over a wifi adapter on Linux. Links GoProApp GoProController
In the last two years at SpaceX, I have worked on a number of quick turn around web applications. Every time I start a new app, it takes me at least a day or two just to get the essentials in place, even with a framework like Django. In order to aid myself and others in future projects, I’ve taken advantage of Django’s template option to create the django-quick-start-project template…
In an effort to demonstrate a new django-quick-start package I’m making at work (similar in purpose to pinax, but with some SpaceX-specific packages), I decided to create an Arduino data logger that is viewable through Django. The data from a couple different sensors is first collected with an Arduino. A Python daemon polls the Arduino periodically and asks for new data. The daemon saves this data to the Django database.…
I’ve finally achieved end-to-end control of the Mecanumbot’s LEDs! The latest hurdle which prevented me from writing the LED code was a RAM limitation on the microcontroller side. The solution involved swapping over from an Arduino Duemilanove with 1KB of RAM to a Seeeduino Mega with 8KB of RAM. The increased RAM also opens the door for me to code up the Mecanumbot low-level telemetry including items like bus voltage and bus current.…
Meet Bob, the goldfish (pictured below.) Bob is a pet at work, and we needed to keep him fed over the Thanksgiving break. I had an Arduino and a servo that were free, so I wanted to make something that would supply him with the right amount of food for the four days we would be gone. I came up with a little cylinder that I 3D-printed with a MakerBot…