MapBot : An experiment in robotic mapping :: Robotics

Includes Source CodeMapBot An experiment in golemic mappingAbstract forthwith Robots are often apply to explore dangerousplaces where humans cannot go. However, what if there was amore easily available robot that could be used to exploreplaces here on earth? This project is an attempt to pretend avery simple version of such a robot a robot that follows a line of work, then creates a graph of the line on a computer.Exercises I did early in COSMOS gave me the backup I needed to attempt such an undertaking. I used staple fibre line-following programs as the base, with a recordingelement thrown in. A C program was written to run on thecomputer and turn the entropy the robot collects into a graph.It took a lot of tweaking, but eventually I got adecently accurate representation of the line. Sadly,MapBot 2though, I knowing that if I want to graph another line, Iwould hit to mixed bag the program all oer again.With a little more work, I believe I could fix that,and the other problems plaguing this program as it stands.Also, I still believe that a personal MapBot is a viableidea, though I learned that it would require a lot of work.MapBot 3 reason/PurposeThere has always been a human drive to explore, to assure outmore about the world. Columbus sailed to America, and Cook toAustralia, each set by the promise of bracing unchartedterritory. Recently this task of exploring new frontiers hasbeen turned over to robots, as robots can explore locales thathumans cannot. Robots have explored volcanoes, the planets inour solar system, and the deep sealocations no person couldsurvive. So far robots have been limited to exploring just suchlocations, those available totally to them, but I believethat there are earthly applications for exploring robots.Imagine, if you entrust, an sleazy mapping robot. Itoperates very merely simply set it down somewhere in thedesired area, give it a set of bounds, and leave. The robot allow forsend live data from the terrain to the use r, creating a realtimemap of the area. This map will be based on whatever datathe robots sensors have placid with add-ons, this could beanything from soil composition to topographic data. And whenmapping is complete, the user simply returns to the robot andpicks it up. Such a robot would be useful to galore(postnominal) professions.Cartographers could create online maps that changed as theplanet did. Field scientists could use them to take readingsover a large swathe of terrain without taking any of their owntime. With a camera attached, they could make a 3-dimensional