Objectives

The Physics 99 course will be during Winter 09, therefore we will have 6 weeks to work on it. However, I would like to continue working on this during the school year, as we can make the vehicle do more complex maneuvers as we improve the coding or vehicle itself.

During the 6 weeks, we will start with basic programming. I believe Professor Mason was going to originally use Python to program, but the blimp comes with Arduino. The programming to be used is still undecided. The following is a general plan for the course, to be changed at whim.

1. First week: basic programming. Program motor control of vector thrusters, test sensors to see if they can recognize objects. Program to follow RC as well as autonomous directions
2. Second Week: Program the blimp to follow the commands of the computer, moving the 3-D plane autonomously.
3. Third Week: Object recognition and tracking. Place objects in front of the blimp and have the blimp rotate around tracking the object
4. Fourth Week: Object recognition and response. Pass object in front of the sensor and make the blimp maneuver about
5. Fifth Week: Autonomous flight. We should have the blimp be able to move down a hall way and maneuver around obstacles
6. Sixth Week: Targeting and following. We will designate the robot to find a specific target in a room and then follow it around the building.

The final objective may change by the end. As an on going project, I would like to attempt to modify the blimp to be able to do AUVSI Challenge. This competition pits universities around the world to build an autonomous drone that can station itself near a building three kilometers away, deploy a smaller autonomous robot that enters the building, navigate around obstacles, and find a panel on a wall and take pictures, which we be routed back to the main computer three kilometers away.