ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611110089
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
The poster children of the Virginia Tech engineering department. That's how one mechanical engineering senior described CALVIN and BOB, the department's two autonomous navigation vehicles - better known as robots.
Less than 2 years old, the two are drawing the attention of companies, universities and students from across the country.
The autonomous vehicles are designed and operated by a team of 28 students in the mechanical, electrical and computer engineering programs at Tech in cooperation with students from the university's computer science and math departments.
Graduate student Susan Larkin brought the idea for creating autonomous vehicles to the university after working on a similar project as an undergraduate at West Virginia University. Tech's project is funded by 17 sponsors - from international conglomerates to campus departments - which offer financial support and donate thousands of dollars worth of parts such as computers and motors.
"When Susan came to me and asked why we weren't doing it," said Charles Reinholtz, faculty adviser on the project and professor of mechanical engineering, "I told her it was a great idea but no one had taken the initiative to get it started. But she did."
While CALVIN and BOB undergo continual construction in preparation for the Fifth Annual International Unmanned Ground Robotics Competition at Oakland University in Minnesota in May, a third vehicle, IVAN, is being built from scratch.
"An autonomous vehicle is one that makes all of its own decisions without any input from humans whatsoever," explained Tech senior Scott Wenger. "There can't be a remote that controls it. It all has to be done on board."
Distinctly different in physical appearance, CALVIN uses a golf cart as its chassis, with two "eyes" that look to the side of the wide vehicle. BOB, on the other hand, uses a child-size four-wheel all-terrain vehicle as its base, and tops its vertical look with one central "eye." The "eyes" are, of course, cameras. The "brains" of the operation, are desktop personal computers.
Both vehicles also use computer vision tying the camera eyes to the computer brain, tactile sensors, ultrasonics, and a navigational device to maneuver effectively, said senior Britt Stoudenmire.
"Every year the concept of the project is to design a vehicle that can navigate between two white lines and dodge obstacles," said senior Chris Roman. "I'm really happy with this project. It's a powerful mechanism for combining classwork with hands-on experience. Everything revolves around mechanics and electronics ... this project is a compilation of it all."
At the 1996 competition at Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla., the two vehicles were judged for both their design and their ability to navigate an obstacle course. CALVIN won first place in the design competition and 12th in the obstacle course. BOB placed third and sixth, respectively. The combination of the four rankings left the two Tech robotics among the top at the competition.
A group of team members said their concentration on being interdisciplinary helped them stand above the other 17 competing schools, despite it being the team's first year in the competition.
"Not all the teams were interdisciplinary and it was obvious," Wenger said. "There were some teams composed solely of electronic engineers, and their vehicles had trouble with mechanics ... and vice versa."
At the first competition, the group learned it needed to be less dependent on the vision system to locate the white lines on the obstacle course. On grass surfaces, the glare of sunlight causes the robots to "see" white dots, Wenger explained.
For the May competition, the team hopes to have not only a secondary system for detecting the lines, but a system that can tell if the robot crosses the line, quickly getting it back on track.
While placing high in the competition is the team's priority, the project isn't all about fun and games, team members say.
"For the last semester and a half we've focused not just on the competition at the end of the year but on the technology we're trying to develop," Roman said. "Just being in the competition doesn't do a whole lot of good without keeping in mind where the technology can be used."
The technology used to operate the vehicles is being studied for use in smart highway projects, for wheelchairs for handicapped people, and in remote sensing at hazardous waste sites.
"I still like the ideas of autonomous lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners," added Reinholtz with a smile.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Alan Kim. Virginia Tech's Autonomous Vehicle Teamby CNBmembers observe B.O.B. (Beast of Burden) during trial runs on
campus. It was veering off course, caused by the leaves on the
ground. color.