Working notes about Robogame design - Revision history

AndreaBonarini at 15:31, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T15:31:55Z

AndreaBonarini at 15:30, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T15:30:27Z

AndreaBonarini at 15:28, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T15:28:50Z

AndreaBonarini at 15:26, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T15:26:58Z

AndreaBonarini at 15:24, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T15:24:50Z

AndreaBonarini at 15:21, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T15:21:16Z

AndreaBonarini at 14:27, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T14:27:49Z

AndreaBonarini at 14:26, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T14:26:58Z

AndreaBonarini at 14:15, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T14:15:46Z

AndreaBonarini at 13:54, 14 April 2009

2009-04-14T13:54:14Z

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 The interaction can be:
 * competitive: player and robot play each one against the other (e.g., a hunting game)
-* cooperative:player and robot interact to come to a given state (e.g., help each other to find an object)
+* cooperative: player and robot interact to come to a given state (e.g., help each other to find an object)
-* direct: the interaction signals are exchanged directly among the players (e.g. shooting at the opponent)
+* direct: the interaction signals are exchanged directly among the players (e.g. shooting at the opponent, or guiding it)
 * indirect: the interaction signals come indirectly from the environment (e.g. finding a marker left by the other player)

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 In this project we may consider users different by '''age''' (6-9 years, 10-15, 15-18, 18-25, 25-45, over 45) or also by '''gender''' (most videogames do not address the female potential users)
-The environment we consider is an indoor environment, typically a home, or a school. This reduces problems due to outdoor environment and makes the game more usable.
+The environment we consider is an '''indoor''' environment, typically a home, or a school. This reduces problems due to outdoor environment and makes the game more usable.
-−
-A central component is the autonomous robot. To have a realistic game we should keep the robot as cheap as possible (as a reference, consider the cost of a console (2-300 Euros) )
 == Robot features ==
 To characterize the robot we may consider the following aspects:

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:28, 14 April 2009
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−	~~== Introduction and conceptual considerations ==~~
−
	These are intended as working notes, to be shared and contributed by all the people involved in this activity, to define a basic framework for designing interactive games with autonomous robots.		These are intended as working notes, to be shared and contributed by all the people involved in this activity, to define a basic framework for designing interactive games with autonomous robots.
		+
		+	== Introduction and conceptual considerations ==

	A game involving the interaction with an autonomous robot is in a sense a '''computer game''', since the behavior of at least one of the players is managed by a computer. The main difference w.r.t. a computer game is that there is a '''physical interaction''' between the players. This means that all of them will probably have to '''move''' in some way, and, in order to do so, they have to '''perceive''' some signals from the other players.		A game involving the interaction with an autonomous robot is in a sense a '''computer game''', since the behavior of at least one of the players is managed by a computer. The main difference w.r.t. a computer game is that there is a '''physical interaction''' between the players. This means that all of them will probably have to '''move''' in some way, and, in order to do so, they have to '''perceive''' some signals from the other players.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-- Introduction and conceptual considerations -
+== Introduction and conceptual considerations ==
 These are intended as working notes, to be shared and contributed by all the people involved in this activity, to define a basic framework for designing interactive games with autonomous robots.
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 A central component is the autonomous robot. To have a realistic game we should keep the robot as cheap as possible (as a reference, consider the cost of a console (2-300 Euros) )
-- Robot features -
+== Robot features ==
 To characterize the robot we may consider the following aspects:
@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 ** WI-FI: long range, widely available, large band
-- Robot functionality -
+== Robot functionality ==
 Among the functionalities we may expect to obtain from the robot are:
@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 * fine movement and/or manipulation
-- Kind of interaction -
+== Kind of interaction ==
 The games we are considering are interactive games.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:24, 14 April 2009
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	* in real-time		* in real-time
−	* in	+	* in deferred time
		+
		+	Among the signals that can be used to interact we have:
		+	* position
		+	* sound
		+	* explicit signal (to/from the computer)
		+	* gesture
		+	* ...

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 These are intended as working notes, to be shared and contributed by all the people involved in this activity, to define a basic framework for designing interactive games with autonomous robots.
@@ Line 11: / Line 13: @@
 The environment we consider is an indoor environment, typically a home, or a school. This reduces problems due to outdoor environment and makes the game more usable.
-A central c omponent is the autonomous robot. To have a realistic game we should keep the robot as cheap as possible (as a reference, consider the cost of a console (2-300 Euros) )
+A central component is the autonomous robot. To have a realistic game we should keep the robot as cheap as possible (as a reference, consider the cost of a console (2-300 Euros) )
 To characterize the robot we may consider the following aspects:
@@ Line 31: / Line 35: @@
 *** encoder: gives the angular movement of the axis on which is mounted (e.g., the engine axis)
 *** accellerometers, gyros: give estimations of the accelleration or speed in a given direction
-*** camera: provides an image that can be elaborated. Some elaboration can be done on electronics connected to the camera (e.g., the WIIMote has a camera and elaboration HW that provides directly the coordinates in the image plane of up to four infrared spots, any optical mouse estimates movement by elaborating up to 2000 images per second, looking at differences between subsequent images). image elements relatively simple to elaborate (e.g., with the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/ OpenCV] libraries) are color blobs (dimension, shape, position in image coordinates), edges (strong differences in light intensity, typically on edges of objects or on specifically designed markers (e.g., those used in the [[LURCH_-_The_autonomous_wheelchair |Lurch]] project)
+*** camera: provides an image that can be elaborated. Some elaboration can be done on electronics connected to the camera (e.g., the WIIMote has a camera and elaboration HW that provides directly the coordinates in the image plane of up to four infrared spots, any optical mouse estimates movement by elaborating up to 2000 images per second, looking at differences between subsequent images). Image elements relatively simple to elaborate (e.g., with the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/ OpenCV] libraries) are color blobs (dimension, shape, position in image coordinates), edges (strong differences in light intensity, typically on edges of objects or on specifically designed markers (e.g., those used in the [[LURCH_-_The_autonomous_wheelchair |Lurch]] project). Any image processing done without specific HW may require relatively high computational power. When possible, exploiting embedded image processing is a cheap, effective solution.
 ** external

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:26, 14 April 2009
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	*** range sensors (e.g., sonar): give signals proportional to the distance to the closest object detected in the rangeof detection (usually approximated to a cone with 10-40 degrees of opening and spanning 2-4 meters)		*** range sensors (e.g., sonar): give signals proportional to the distance to the closest object detected in the rangeof detection (usually approximated to a cone with 10-40 degrees of opening and spanning 2-4 meters)
	*** magnetic field (e.g., compass): give a direction w.r.t. the magnetic North; may be influenced by local magnetic fields (such as an iron frame of a bed, or the loudspeakers		*** magnetic field (e.g., compass): give a direction w.r.t. the magnetic North; may be influenced by local magnetic fields (such as an iron frame of a bed, or the loudspeakers
		+	*** encoder: gives the angular movement of the axis on which is mounted (e.g., the engine axis)
		+	*** accellerometers, gyros: give estimations of the accelleration or speed in a given direction
		+	*** camera: provides an image that can be elaborated. Some elaboration can be done on electronics connected to the camera (e.g., the WIIMote has a camera and elaboration HW that provides directly the coordinates in the image plane of up to four infrared spots, any optical mouse estimates movement by elaborating up to 2000 images per second, looking at differences between subsequent images). image elements relatively simple to elaborate (e.g., with the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/ OpenCV] libraries) are color blobs (dimension, shape, position in image coordinates), edges (strong differences in light intensity, typically on edges of objects or on specifically designed markers (e.g., those used in the [[ \|Lurch]] project)
		+	** external

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 **** non-holonomic (has some limitations, like a car or a tank (e.g., [http://www.spykeeworld.com/spykee/UK/index.html Spyke])
 *** fixed (like an arm): the degrees of freedom and how they are distributed have to be considered
-** power and batteries: for moving robots, it's important to consider the weight, the power needed to move the robot as expected, and the relative battery capacity (which also influences the weight).
+** power and batteries: for moving robots, it's important to consider the weight, the power needed to move the robot as expected, and the relative battery capacity (which also influences the weight)