Mars Rover for your Home!

Designed for research, education, and exploration, Surveyor's SRV-1 internet-controlled robot integrates a 1000MIPS 500MHz Analog Devices Blackfin BF537 processor, a digital video camera with resolution from 160x28 to 1280x1024 pixels, laser pointer ranging, and WLAN 802.11b/g networking on a quad-motor tracked mobile robotic base. The new 4 motor design, uses 4 specially made 100:1 gear motors to provide high torque, more speed, and a lower overall profile.

Operating as a remotely-controlled webcam or a self-navigating autonomous robot, the SRV-1 can run onboard interpreted C programs or user-modified firmware, 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 IPRE's Python-based Myro, Microsoft Robotics Studio, Cyberbotic's Webots, and RoboRealm machine vision software.


Software
Robot Firmware: easily updated, written in C language under GPL Open Source, compiled with GNU bfin-elf-gcc and bfin-uclinux-gcc toolchains
• Onboard User Programming: interpreter for "small C" language with special robot-specific commands are provided for running user programs from onboard Flash memory
• Development Tools: GNU toolchains via http://blackfin.uclinux.org
• Console Software: Java based application, runs on Windows, MAC, Linux. WebcamSat web server module built into console software, allows multiple simultaneous remote viewers via Internet
• Robot Control Protocol: Published here. Easily used from other applications

Third-party Software Support
• RoboRealm - http://www.roborealm.com/help/Surveyor_SRV1.php - The SRV-1 can now be directly controlled from RoboRealm, a very popular Windows-based machine vision software package for robots. The RoboRealm extensions for SRV-1 allow creation of scripts that combine image processing on live video feeds from the robot, e.g. color filtering, blob detection/tracking, edge detection/outlining and feature extraction, with decision processing and robot motion control, making it easy to create behaviors such as object location and tracking, obstacle avoidance, motion detection, notification, etc, with a web interface, and control can be scripted from C/C++, Python, Java, C#, Lisp, Visual Basic, WScript and COM through the RoboRealm API.

• Microsoft Robotics Studio - http://www.surveyor.com/MSRS.html - Drivers for the SRV-1 in Microsoft Robotics Studio are now available. MSRS is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. Key features and benefits include: end-to-end robotics development platform, lightweight services-oriented runtime, and a scalable / extensible platform.

• Webots - http://www.cyberbotics.com - SRV-1 support is now included in Webots mobile robotics simulation software. Webots provides a rapid prototyping environment for modelling, programming and simulating mobile robots under Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux. The 3D modeling and physics are outstanding.