HERO Sensor

I realize the contest is over, but I'm continuing to work on HERO.  I have scanning pretty well complete, which means I can scan an area in any defined pattern while taking sensor readings.  At the moment I'm only taking temperature readings, but I'll add in distance and FLIR readings soon.

Using Atmel's START and Framework, the drivers are pretty much complete.  Some tweaking may be needed, but for now I can get all the inputs to see something and all the outputs to wiggle.

The application code, though going much more slowly than I had hoped, is coming along.  I have code to scan an area with the Pan/Tilt and read from a couple of the sensors in the HERO Array.  I hope the have the remaining sensors in the array completed in the coming days.  Code will be updated in GitHub here: https://github.com/wlynt3/HERO

The last leg to complete is the communications interface between the sensor array and the robotics platform.  Realistically, I doubt this will be done in time for the conclusion of this segment of the contest, but I'm having a lot of fun with the project (and I can't bear to have an uncompleted project on my desk) so I'll definitely see this through to completion.  Stay tuned for more updates!

I've completed and mounted the actual Sensor (the center and purpose of this entire project).  Two new pics in the gallery show it - one of the front and one of the rear.  Note that I also placed the remote control in these pics since I realized I omitted pics of that (not that it is at all integral to the project).

On the front side of the HERO, you'll find the FLIR, the VL53L1X distance sensor and the IR temperature sensor.  These three devices sense "downrange" so of course they had to be front-facing.

The rear of the HERO holds the environmental sensors.  These monitor conditions in the the immediate area so they can really be mounted anywhere.

The package is mounted to a Pan & Tilt so we can search independently of the robot to which we're mounted.  The idea being HERO can look around, pinpoint a target and provide coordinates in 3D space to the robot (azimuth in degrees, altitude in degrees and distance in mm).  Then the robot can use it's own obstacle-avoidance sensors to navigate in the direction of the target.

Platform construction and wiring is complete.  This includes all power supply concerns, the sensor array pan/tilt mechanism, locomotion and obstruction avoidance (step, front and rear distance sensors).

I also assembled and completed the code for an RF remote.  This uses an Arduino Uno R3, a joystick shield and the SPI-based RF24 wireless transceiver board.

I have yet to assemble the sensor array itself (the star of the show) so I feel a little behind, but I'll have that done in another day or so.  (Free time is certainly at a premium these days.)

I've added some photos of the platform and remote - enjoy!

Despite the fact that the SAMv71 on the Xplained Ultra has tons of I/O, it was a challenge finding the kinds of I/O needed for this project that were accessible via connectors on the board.

I was originally going to plop an Arduino-compatible motor controller in the appropriate connector space on the Ultra, but turns out that the Arduino pin-out wasn't followed 100% so some functionality wasn't available where I needed it.  But I was able to find mostly what was needed on the two EXT connectors, with just a few pins being pulled from the Arduino's Analog Low connector.