Re: Trash-Bot

["Nehmo" <nehmo54@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Narrowing down the conditions in order to get a firm specification
description, I'll go with...

Shape, Base vehicle:
I might as well use something like this wagon:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3D38137
Or this one with a wood deck
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3D37320

But I was thinking along the line of something a bit bigger than those
wagons. Perhaps just mounting a box on one of those wagons would work.

However, I can ignore the box vertical dimension in the prototype. The
prototype would be just be a flat piece of =BE" plywood 35" x 60"
divided into three sections, the 10" front equipment section, the 40"
cargo section, and the rear 10" equipment section. The equipment
sections would both be 10 inches wide. In other words, the 60" length
of the plywood is divided into 10"+40"+10" sections.

Front equipment section: containing the front viewing camera, steering
servo and steering mechanism.

Rear equipment section: To the rear of the bed would be the battery and
the drive motor & gearbox.

Material:
Aluminum; however, plywood would do for a working prototype.

Size:
12 inches high, (but prototype is flat)
35 inches wide overall, by
60 inches in overall length

Path:
For simplicity, the bot will drive one-way only on an elliptical track.
There will be two parking positions:
One will be the primary work station (Home), where it docks with the
recharger and is in a position to receive cargo from the household,
plastic garbage bags. Coupling with the recharger is inductive.
The second parking position (the Curb), would be by the curb where the
trash gets picked up. We'll use bags to avoid the problem of the
garbage men dealing with cans.

The positioning is controlled by time alone. Most of the time, the bot
is at Home. On garbage day, it moves to the Curb, stays there all day,
and then returns Home.

Physical Path indicator:
In this initial model, we'll paint a white line down the center of the
path. The path will be lit by regular photocell-controlled flood
lights.

Steering control...
.=2E.is accomplished by a video system using a regular UPS-connected
camera attached to a computer running Windows XP and some software

It would be nice if everything, the steering mechanism, and the drive
mechanism be controlled via USB port connections.

Drive:
Only one wheel is motorized for traction. And the speed is very slow,
perhaps a couple miles per hour.

Power
Everything is operated on a 12 Volt DC system provided by a standard
car battery. Recharging is via an inductive coupling at Home.
--=20
          (||) Nehmo (||)