Roll-Out

Information

Based on the project I implemented as an intern at the Accenture Tech Labs in San Jose. For more information, please read my post here.

Project Concept:

A user picks a set of locations to visit, and a fleet of cars dispatch to every location in that set.

Basic Required Utilities:

• ELEGO Robot Cars (Arduino-based)
• Linux gateway
• Poster board
• Wide black tape (should be at least 2” width)

Included Files:

• pilot.ino – The very bottom of the stack. Controls Arduino I/O to define basic movements and sensor functions. Utilizes these basic actions to establish consistent discrete steps.
• mapmaker.py – Creates the graph to be used for pathfinding. Translates input task locations to their corresponding states.
• comms.py – Handles programmatic communication and the setup of serial connections with devices.
• nav.py – Finds the shortest path between two states and provides the discrete instructions required to take it. Also provides tools to manage collision prevention.
• task_manager.py – The control center. Keeps track of all cars, determines necessary actions, and sends the commands to carry them out.

Instructions

1. Download pybluez using sudo apt-get install pybluez.
2. Pair the cars to Bluetooth. (In Ubuntu, this step can be carried out in the Settings>Bluetooth menu.)
3. Run the file mapmaker.py if using the original layout. Otherwise, this file should be customized to match the state space graph for your own layout. The graph file should ultimately be pickled into the file graph.txt.
4. Place the first two cars on the bottom left corner of the map and any others in the top left corner (or change the initial locations in task_manager.py).
5. Run task_manager.py.
6. Using the command line interface, input a list of tasks. The cars will dispatch automatically.