The Goal
If we, as humans, wish to grab an object on a table we can move one of our arms and grasp the object with our hand. How exactly do we accomplish this? This question is the core concern of this project.
The goal of this project is to create a system which could identify an object of a requested color and grab it gracefully using a robotic arm. The program will utilize a USB Webcam in order to find the object of a specified color. It will then use the servos of the USB Robotic Arm in order to move a gripper to a position from which it can grab the target. It will then grab the target and move it to a new location before releasing it and moving away from it.
The cognitive elements of this project came into play when designing the algorithm which would move the arm to the target. As humans we do not calculate the exact distance to an object we wish to grab but rather estimate it and move our arm some amount towards it. The algorithm used in this program takes this into acount and is elaborated on in the Algorithm section.
This project is written in C++ using the Tekkotsu programming platform (Tekkotsu). The arm and webcamera used are shown below.
 |
 |