Students build SEGWAY in 3 months using Labview and the cRIO

[neutrino15]

Video (FLV) Via ni.com
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8788/picture2xl2.png
(may open as popup) (http://www.ni.com/video/popup/?url=rtmp://cosine.ni.com/flvplayback/us/2008/human_object_transport_vehicle.flv)

NI Labview is apparently much more powerful than I have previously given it credit. Some students were able to design, model, prototype, simulate, and eventually BUILD a functional SEGWAY in 3 months. I wonder if they will go into competition with Dean Kamen for Segway sales ;) A direct quote from the video:

"We were able to impliment.. A complex project.. Without delving into the low-level implementation subsystems like TCP/IP communications and Micro-controller development and programming..."

I fully understand why hand-coding everything can be beneficial.. However, after seeing some students make a flipping segway out of Labview, It makes me want to learn! If anybody else can find some cool Labview videos, link us up!

On another note, they used the cRIO and it's standard components to build this segway.. This thing is POWERFUL!!.. Abnormally FAST.. It can go as fast as KENYANS.. People will watch it and think it's KENYAN.. Maybe it will be deported back to KENYAAA... (I'll stop now (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs))

[whytheheckme]

Video (FLV) Via ni.com
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8788/picture2xl2.png (http://www.ni.com/video/popup/?url=rtmp://cosine.ni.com/flvplayback/us/2008/human_object_transport_vehicle.flv)

The link is broken!

Please fix it, as I'd LOVE to see this!!

Jacob

[neutrino15]

It's not broken here, but this is a link to a more main page:
You must navigate to Academia->Watch Students Use LabVIEW to Create Segway-Inspired Machine (last link)
http://www.ni.com/labview/whatis/



I also just found a youtube video of a similar contraption running with an NXT controller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUPojb_DpNU

[whytheheckme]

Thanks Jordan!

I found that this video won't play in Safari, for anyone trying to view this on a mac.

-Jacob

[neutrino15]

Thanks Jordan!

I found that this video won't play in Safari, for anyone trying to view this on a mac.

-Jacob


Mehh, works for me with Safari 3.1.1 on Leopard.. But Firefox is better anyway :)

[Alan Anderson]

Impressive.

It would be even more impressive if they had done it in one FSU instead of two. :)

[Qbranch]

I can't believe how fast that robot went from lying down to settled in a balanced condition... :eek:

Cool!

-q

[EricVanWyk]

First FIRST team to do this IN COMPETITION wins.

Its been proven to be possible (ish). Now go do it!

[crake]

That demo blew away the crowd - and Dean was our keynote speaker the very next day... so that NI Week was full of balancing goodness! We actually had a balancing NXT brick in the NI booth in Atlanta as well as a mini balancing cRIO bot.

I want to challenge teams to use just two wheels, but no one takes me seriously!

[AdamHeard]

Impressive.

It would be even more impressive if they had done it in one FSU instead of two. :)

FIRST season unit?

[Billfred]

FIRST season unit?FIRST Standard Unit, if one is of the Lavery school of thought.

[dlavery]

While this is a very cool project, and the students that developed it are rightful to be proud of their work, it is worth pointing out that this capability is far from unique to the NI platform. For example, two years ago Benge Ambrogi built a similar self-balancing device (I am being very careful to NOT call it a "Segway") in a few weekends.

The controller he used? The VEX RC (yeah, the same one that we already have, er uh um, used to have, in FVC, ah, uhm, I mean FTC).


-dave

To quote Arthur C. Clarke, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."



.

[cooker52]

The controller he used? The VEX RC (yeah, the same one that we already have, er uh um, used to have, in FVC, ah, uhm, I mean FTC).


Our team is undergoing a similar segway project and one of the first ideas was to use the VEX controller. I thought it was pretty strange, but then again, I've never worked with Vex before.

[crake]

The controller he used? The VEX RC (yeah, the same one that we already have, er uh um, used to have, in FVC, ah, uhm, I mean FTC).

Did you catch the part where I said this was also shown with an NXT controller? :)

I should also add that cRIO allowed for the students to do much more than implementing the balancing control loop.

[Eldarion]

I've seen this done with the Lego RC (non-NXT), which is significantly less powerful than any of the other controllers mentioned.

Of course, it was programmed procedurally in NQC--the graphical Mindstorms software implementation just wasn't efficient or powerful enough to get the task done.

[cooker52]

I've seen this done with the Lego RC (non-NXT), which is significantly less powerful than any of the other controllers mentioned.

Of course, it was programmed procedurally in NQC--the graphical Mindstorms software implementation wasn't quite efficient or powerful enough to get the task done.

No, it never seems to be. Using NQC or other software is absolutely necissary to get the full potential of any Lego computers.

There's tons of books out about it, too.

[cooker52]

Has anyone ever seen a lego segway before?

Edit:
A little unnecissary cause a quick google search came up with a few.
Here's a couple of videos.
Using a Light Sensor (and possibly more) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3vDnwwBmgQ)
and using Gyros (http://www.thelongtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/03/lego_segway.html)

[neutrino15]

From my 2nd post:
I also just found a youtube video of a similar contraption running with an NXT controller.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUPojb_DpNU

[crake]

From my 2nd post:

Excellent find - did you notice the user interface?

[Alan Anderson]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

I've always enjoyed the obvious corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."

[dlavery]

Did you catch the part where I said this was also shown with an NXT controller? :)
Yes. Did you catch the part where I said that this had already been done with
a VEX (not FTC) controller, well before the NXT controller was even available?

[Protronie]

Knowing some of the students of and having been to some of the parties at RPI.... yeah they built it to haul the keg !
RPI is built on a very high hill after all.

[neutrino15]

To quote Arthur C. Clarke, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

I sometimes wonder if a more advanced civilization (millions of years our senior?) is either toying with us, or experimenting on us. Not in the Pop-Cult UFO Abduction way, but more discreet ways. I mean, Think of an an ape's response to a Car, or your Grandmother's response to an iPhone.. Now think of MILLIONS of years ahead of what you know... Magic...

[MrForbes]

I'm still waiting for someone to make a self balancing unicycle. That's a challenge.

[cooker52]

I'm still waiting for someone to make a self balancing unicycle. That's a challenge.

No kidding. If it's not falling one way, it's falling the other.

[sanddrag]

I'm still waiting for someone to make a self balancing unicycle. That's a challenge.Done quite a number of years ago. Only balances in the fore-aft direction though. Sideways is left to the rider. http://tlb.org/eunicycle.html

Single ball drive anyone?

[s_forbes]

Done quite a number of years ago. Only balances in the fore-aft direction though. Sideways is left to the rider. http://tlb.org/eunicycle.html

Single ball drive anyone?

From what I've heard from several people in the unicycling community, you kinda need to already know how to ride a unicycle to ride one of them things...

But a single ball drive sounds like a very plausible way to do it. It'd be the ultimate segway; you could even strafe on it!

[neutrino15]

But a single ball drive sounds like a very plausible way to do it. It'd be the ultimate segway; you could even strafe on it!

I am working on that one.. Will post to youtube if I ever finish it.. (Can't find time to actually build it.) The ultimate in Meditation 2.0!

[EricVanWyk]

From what I've heard from several people in the unicycling community, you kinda need to already know how to ride a unicycle to ride one of them things...

But a single ball drive sounds like a very plausible way to do it. It'd be the ultimate segway; you could even strafe on it!

Friend of mine worked on that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballbot

http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/ballbot/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnJofB43x-Y

[MrForbes]

Oh, it's been done....that's awesome! Now we have a summer project for after NURC....building our own.

[cooker52]

Friend of mine worked on that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballbot

http://www.msl.ri.cmu.edu/projects/ballbot/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnJofB43x-Y

That is cool. The idea floating through my head as I see the Ballbot is to have a computer mouse do that. Freak the teacher out.

Oh, it's been done....that's awesome! Now we have a summer project for after NURC....building our own.

When will the segway projects end?!?:ahh:

That would make a really cool project, though. Neutrino, I hope you find the time to make it. That would be an amazing thing to do. Good luck.

[neutrino15]

When will the segway projects end?!?:ahh:
That would make a really cool project, though. Neutrino, I hope you find the time to make it. That would be an amazing thing to do. Good luck.

Well, after I am sure I can ace the SAT, and finish some APs without harming any woodland creatures in the vicinity, I will try. I think it would be pretty badass to have a platform you could glide around on.. Like, sit cross-legged and just tilt in the direction you wanna move, maybe press buttons with your hands to spin..

For another day :(