Gravity: Digital 5A RelayPrice: $2.95
MX-106 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $699.95
MX-64 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $509.95
MX-28 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $369.95
AX-18 Arbotix Starter KitPrice: $239.95We now offer a full line of research cameras from low cost entry level to high end research. There is a choice for every budget covering a vast spectrum of needs. Each camera also comes with mounting hardware so that you don’t have to spend time building custom mounting solutions yourself. You can check out the full line of Robotic Research Cameras here.
Of course, the cameras and mounts are all compatible with our line of Robotic Arms.
Below, Andrew talks about the cameras and their features.
Trossen Robotics is proud to announce our partnership with Roborealm to bring an extremely affordable and simple way of getting started with Machine Vision! We present to you the RoboTurret Vision Tracking Starter Kit– everything you need to give your next robotics project the sense of eyesight! At the core of this kit is the MosquitIO Pan & Tilt Microcontroller, an Arduino-compatible board that provides a USB connected pan/tilt unit, I/O, motor control and a solid state relay. We’re also including a ready-to-mount Lifecam webcam and a FULL license of Roborealm to tie everything together on the PC side of things.
But wait- there’s more! We’ve collaborated with Roborealm to create a customized module built specifically for the RoboTurret withing the Roborealm environment, making it easy for those of you with little or no programming experience to jump head first into the exciting world of machine vision! On top of the module to help you get interfaced, we’ve also provided a number of various colored object tracking demos with more to come soon. Want to break out of the GUI of Roborealm and program directly to it’s API? We’ve got you covered there as well with .NET C# and VB code project examples! Never before has it been this simple to get into vision processing, and at only $150 for the entire kit we can’t wait to see what awesome projects you guys come up with. Turrets, motion detectors, robotic-surveillance, object recognition, object tracking, the sky is the limit!
Here’s a quick video showcasing some of the basic colored object tracking that can be done, but remember- that’s not all it can do!
And here is a quick video demonstrating some basic features of the RoboTurret itself (Now, with 75% more Techno Beats!):
Sourcing the right eyeballs for your bot can be a pain. With the help of our awesome community of roboticists we have identified some great cameras for each level of price point and quality from low cost to high end research.
We have the cameras in stock now. Stay tuned because soon we will offer them with custom made brackets for mounting solutions making your life just that much easier!
Need something cheap and small?
Grab the Microsoft LifeCam VX-800 Webcam for a mere $19.95
Quality Webcam more your pace?
The Microsoft LifeCam Cinema Webcam – 720p HD is an AMAZING BUY giving you HD for $59.99
Need to go wireless for teleprescence or offloading processing? The perfect video solution for your next Mech Warfare entry?
We got you covered with TRENDnet TV-IP110W WiFi Camera for $119.95
and coming soon, the Firefly research camera from Point Grey.
Pi Robot from our forums has a pretty awesome project posted up and watching it progress has been awe inspiring to say the least. Uncanny Valley came to mind watching Peppy grasp for his various colored balloons; it honestly looks like a small child grasping for a toy. Great stuff! Looks like Pepe was build using a gaggle of various parts including some AX-12+ servos and apparently uses Visual C# 2005 Express and Roborealm on the software side of things.
Roborealm is hands down one of the most incredible tools available to roboticists today and amazingly it’s completely free, as in free beer! Roborealm is a vision processing platform for Windows that allows experimenters to harness basic webcams and wifi cameras for use in robotics. We’re not just talking about telepresence here, Roborealm allows you to filter and manipulate video, as well as get output variables for use in various programming languages and even built-in hardware interface modules (SSC-32 servo controllers, joysticks, etc).
Many roboticists are well aware of Roborealm and all of its awesomeness, so why am I preaching to the choir here? Because they recently published a tutorial on using vision for obstacle avoidance, and one look at it had my jaw dropping. Some very useful stuff here, as well as downloadable example files and code showing how to use it in a real world application. Anyone interested in machine vision and PC based robotics should definitely check this out! While Roborealm is available for free the cost associated with its development is by no means cheap, so if you enjoy the product please consider donating! Information on donating to Roborealm can be found on their site.
