Page 231 - Robots Androids and Animatrons : 12 Incredible Projects You Can Build

that hold the video cameras and would converge the video cameras
in direct proportion to the operator’s eye convergence.
This type of master-slave system, as far as I know, has not been
built. It needs to be determined how accurate this system would be
in helping an operator gauge distance. While building this system is
beyond the scope of this book, it is not beyond the scope of an avid
experimenter.
Digital compass

Chapter 5 includes plans for a digital compass that is suitable for use
with Golem. The compass can be set up in two different ways. The
first method keeps the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of the compass
in the visual field of the video camera. A quick look informs the
operator in which direction Golem is traveling. The second option
uses a radio link between the digital output of the compass on the
T-bot and the remote location of the operator.

Rumble interface
When driving the model car via telepresence, you cannot feel the
tilt or roughness of the road as you drive. To incorporate a rumble
210 feature into the system, you could use the spring suspension of the
model car. Any number of sensors can be used for this purpose, for
instance, piezoelectric transducers, Hall devices, and strain gauges.
The challenge to the experimenter is not in detecting the rumble,
but in providing that information to the seat of the operator. Most
motion platforms use expensive pneumatic and hydraulic systems.
If cost is an issue, this isn’t an option.
A cheaper solution can be found in the ThunderSeat by Thunder-
Seat Technologies. The Thunderseat utilizes any sound source to
generate vibratory sensations. It contains a subwoofer speaker
coupled to an acoustical wave chamber inside the seat. The wave
chamber vibrates the entire seat. The low-frequency (woofer)
speaker can handle up to 100 watts (W) of power. The frequency
response of the system is 50 Hz to 3.7 kHz. Originally designed to
work with flight simulator programs running with a sound card on
a personal computer (PC), the output from the sound card is fed
into an amplifier and then to the Thunderseat.

Tilt interface
As with the rumble interface, there are several transducers one
can use to determine tilt (see Chap. 5). One tilt sensor uses a steel
Team LRN
Chapter nine