Feb 272017
 


This was a fun project I created over a couple of evenings. The idea was to create a room with four walls that looked into different worlds. I wanted to be able to walk into those worlds and come back. It went pretty well.

In this scene you see summer, winter, fall, and sky. There are butterflies in the summer, crows in the winter, leaves in the fall, and the open sky has seagulls. From the center of any room you can peer out into all four worlds. If you step into a world, you can explore it as immersive space. It is only when you walk around to the backside of a wall you will notice there is no wall present and the illusion of an open room is maintained.

I did find that having all thirteen stereo camera’s active in the scene could take a toll on frame rate. I played with it a little bit more and optimized it in order to only have four camera’s on at any given time. Why four? One stereo camera was needed for the player. That is the ‘eyes’ you (as a player) look through in the scene. The other three are for the corresponding walls looking into those worlds. Each wall acted as a 3d screen you could look into. Each screen’s display is from a stereo camera located in the other world. Each stereo camera move’s just like the player in all four worlds at the same time. It look’s better as long as I don’t go too crazy with particle effects. Optimizing to four active camera’s was much better then the original thirteen since the extra nine stereo cameras were not visible.

Feb 272017
 

This is a test scene created in Unity. It is using HTC’s Stereo Renderer to create portals. It is created for the HTC Vive, but would also work on an Oculus.

In this test scene I have created four platforms. Each is a different color. Each has one shape. On each of the platforms there are three walls. They look through to their corresponding wall on each of the other platforms. When you stand in the center of a room, you can turn your head around and see all four shapes.

Jul 302016
 

HouseOfAlice_LVRoom

House of Alice – Living Room

I switched gears a few months back and have been focusing on developing for Virtual Reality and the HTC Vive. It has been a ton of fun digging deeper into Unity and sharpening up my C# skills. After attending a few hack-a-thon events in Seattle, focused around VR, my wife and I decided we should work on developing an Indie VR game for the HTC Vive. We recently were able to release that game on the Steam Store in their early access section for the Vive. It has been a ton of fun and we are still working towards full release in September.

The game titled House of Alice is an escape into an Architectural Digest-like designed home. All the dishes are done, there’s no clutter, and everything has its place. You can take a moment and pause to drink in all the beauty and peace. Or, you can pick up a perfectly placed antique candlestick and throw it across the room. Once you teleport in the game you’ll have a hard time not being able to teleport in real life.
HouseOfAlice_CapsuleLg
 Posted by at 12:27 am
Sep 132014
 

Using Google Earth to plot a course at the park. In prep for Robo-Magellan 2014. Felix does a pretty good job of following the path. There is slight displacement, and the course isn’t perfect, mostly because we are unsure of the exact starting location, and it is all dead reckoning from there. It uses a 9DOF IMU. Adam Green wrote the IMU classes to filter and process the values. It tracks really well. Need to figure out how to get a fix on the starting location.

 Posted by at 6:15 am
Sep 032014
 

A video showing status of Felix as we are prepping for the Robo-Magellan competition at Robothon 2014 in Seattle Sept 20th at the Seattle Center. This is to show some of the things going on inside Felix at this point. Target and path plotting using Google Earth, reactive collision avoidance. Also note he is running much faster through the house. With only a couple of weeks left, can we pull it together in time?

 Posted by at 5:22 am
Aug 082014
 

This is another iteration of seek with collision avoidance. In this piece I have increased the obstacle density. The obstacles represent 1 meter boundaries around lidar reflections. It is all reactive and there is no real path planning taking place.

 Posted by at 3:45 am
Apr 212014
 

WARP (Wheelchair Assist Robot Platform) shows off it’s collision avoidance and “Drive to Destination” targeting mode at the Norwescon SciFi and Fantasy conference in Seatac on Easter Sunday.

No children were injured despite their aggressive nature towards the robot.

The robot was very patient with the squishy life forms despite their continued taunting.

 Posted by at 2:30 am
Oct 262012
 

Check out the latest Mechanized Stroller.

Robotic Stroller Conversion Kit Now Available for Purchase

Seattle, Washington – October 8, 2012 – For those of you who have the all-terrain strollers, now there is an easy way to turn your stroller into an autonomous robot. Purchase Xandon Frogget’s kit and within an estimated 20 minutes, you can convert your stroller into a robot that will drive autonomously. Or you can put it in ARAS mode and let the “autonomous robot assisted steering” drive itself around and avoid obstacles. This kit is intended for geek moms, dads or anyone looking for a solid platform for learning and discovering robotics.

There are three kit configurations for sale: Basic, Medium, and Complete Kit. The basic kit starts with all the hardware you need including either a Kinect or ASUS Xtion Pro but the buyer must provide the laptop/netbook and the stroller. The Medium is all the hardware including either a Kinect or ASUS Xtion Pro and a Netbook, but the purchaser provides the stroller. The complete kit includes all the hardware, the netbook, and the stroller. The kits are expected to retail for $2,500 – $3,500, depending on the configuration. (* See update at bottom)

The kit connects easily to most jogging strollers that are similar to the BOB Jogging Stroller and does not require any destructive modification. When you are done playing, you can return the stroller to its original configuration unharmed.

The wheelchair motors are rated for up to 300lbs, in case you need to use it as a porter to replace your Sherpa. And did we mention it is so quiet and that you can drive it around the house at night while everyone is sleeping?

In the demo video, Frogget is using a rooted NookColor to control the interface, showing off some of the unlimited possibilities. The sample code is written in Processing and can be modified easily so that any hackable device can steer it including a smart phone or Wii remote with Wii Wheel. Using software like Apple’s FaceTime or Google+ video chat, the robot can be teleoperated and provide a telepresence for grandparents everywhere, including the zoo.

The robotics stroller conversion kits will be built-to-order beginning mid October 2012. Please contact sales@daddiorobotics.com for purchases or inquiries.

Update August 3, 2013: We have suspended our current stroller conversion kit in order to focus on the new prototype. Apologies for all those who had been dreaming of getting a kit for fall 2013. Check back as we have exciting news coming.

 Posted by at 6:31 pm
Oct 262012
 

I needed some running lights for a robot I have been working on; Brake lights, Turn signals, accessory lights etc. After reading an article the other day on how to make your own infinity mirror, I got the idea to use it on the robot and give a depth effect to the lighting system. I made up a prototype to be sure the effect would be easy to reproduce and look nice. I then spent several hours cutting and creating the aluminum housing, sandwiching a row of 11mm addressable RGB LED’s between a mirror (on the back) and a one way mirror (on the front). I ended up with these four corner lights for the robot. There is still some finishing work to do before mounting them, but the infinity mirror effect looks very nice I think. Mostly the lights will be used to display status and movement intent and will be greatly subdued so as to not look like a Vegas show. Of course there is always robot party mode where the robot plays disco and creates an interactive piano on the bed for little girls to jump around.

 Posted by at 9:40 am
May 202012
 


MiniBob is an early prototype for the Mechanized stroller. It was designed for Robothon 2012 to meet the weight requirement of 50lbs. He weighed in at 49 lbs.

In this video MiniBob takes his first steps! One caster is easier than two. Yeah! Wish MiniBob well on his competition Saturday at Robothon. Please let there be grey skies Saturday so that Felix and MiniBob are not blind.

 Posted by at 12:17 pm