Surveyor SRV-1 (SRV stands for 'Satcam Robotic Vehicle') is a robotic webcam that can be remotely controlled or programmed to run autonomous missions.
The little unit can crawl around your home at around one foot per second. Its wireless receiver streams its findings to your computer and up onto the web, and you can control and monitor the bot with any major operating system or via a web browser. If you don't feel like taking manual control of SRV-1, it can do fine by himself driving around, navigating obstacles, and even communicating with others of his kind via IR.
This robot features a 60MIPS ARM7TDMI 32-bit processor, a digital video camera with resolution from 80x64 to 640x480 pixels, 100 meter range Zigbee 802.15.4 wireless receiver, beacon detection and inter-robot communication sensors. The 4 infrared emitters and detectors for proximity and the video camera enable it to avoid obstacles. Two tank-style urethane treads with differential drive via two precision DC gearmotors allow him to drive at speed of 200mm - 400mm per second (approx 1 foot/sec). It does not have any problems to drive on hard floor surfaces or on carpet. It can even roll up on a 40 degree ramp.
The SRV1 robot base is constructed from machined aluminum. The Li-ion battery pack provides 4-6 hours of operation on a single charge. The starter kit includes one SRV-1 robot, one USB base station radio, and one battery charger. It comes fully assembled, ready to use.
Modes
SRV-1 can run in two modes: teleoperated webcam or autonomous roamer.
In the teleoperated mode the user can send motion control commands from the base station console application or through a remote browser via the Internet, and view images as they continuously stream back from the controller. Those images can also be routed to a web server for viewing by others.
In autonomous roamer mode, the robot is given specific missions which it performs on its own, reporting status back to the base station on a scheduled basis. There's now the ability to run small BASIC programs directly on the robot, accessing all of the sensor and image processing functions.
Programming
The SRV-1 can run onboard C or BASIC programs or be remotely managed from a Windows, Mac OS/X or Linux base station with Python or Java-based console software. The Java-based console software includes a built-in web server to monitor and control the SRV-1 via a web browser from anywhere in the world, as well as archive video feeds on demand or on a scheduled basis. Additional software support for the SRV-1 is also available by way of the Microsoft Robotics Studio. Robot software is Open Source (GPL) and fully programmable.
