I can speak for EZ-Face. It does not recognize objects. I've been researching ways to recognize objects and in my opinion currently the cleanest way/easiest way is to purchase RoboRealm software. One of my goals is to create an easy to use interface between RoboRealm and ARC and when I do I'll share that with everyone here.

Sound sensing/ sound level is something I am currently working on. I don't know how great a sound sensor via a PC mic would be for recognizing sounds specifically. I really don't believe it would prove to be an accurate method. With sound level we could achieve the robot having an interest in the sound, such as "Hey, that's loud - is it the car alarm, house alarm, smoke detector?" Then if the robot had further logic to investigate the sound, like navigate towards the smoke alarm, car, house alarm, door bell, ect, based on the sound level increasing the robot could determine with a higher rate of accuracy the cause of the sound.

The highest accuracy for detect alarm events would be to have to the robot tied into those systems for direct signal integration, but that is obviously not always possible or practical.

Hi Justin,

You are right about accuracy in detection... it really needs a connection somehow. My crummy ADT system makes a lot of noise and calls the police but there is no way to connect any interface.

I have played with RoboRealm a bit last year and if it had some API's I might be able to play with it in a .NET app.

Have you published any API's for EZ face?

EZ robots basic interface is great for testing but if I want to move farther along I will need to write something more complex and expandable. When I get the next arm built I will upload code for the EZ robot interface.

It takes about 100 hours to print, build and assemble one these arms for InMoov. I intend to build several for different purposes.. one will be security...

Thanks for the input. You did a great job on EZ-Face.

Will your ADT system send an X10 signal to blink a light? (most sold in the past 12 years or so can, you may need to purchase an add on module from ADT). If so, there are devices and software that can connect to your computer running ARC and you would be able to intercept it. I probably have everything you need sitting in my closet since I gave up on X10 based home automation (except the module for the ADT controller).

Alan

Does roborealm learn and recognize objects?

Hi Jackphillips

Is it that you want your robot to be aware of humans moving around your house (other rooms to where it is actually in)?

An idea I had, and I will try out soon is battery (RF) PIR units in the rooms you want covered, the advantage here is that no new wiring or alarm system is required, you just have to stick/screw the PIR unit to a suitable location.

www.electricalcounter.co.uk/products/Security+Systems/Lynteck+Alarms/PIR+Sensors/Lynteck+LS1500X+(LY52-028-45)+Wireless+PIR/2740527446?gclid=CImS3LPR7r0CFUoJwwodBGAA9g

They have 2 years operation on Alkaline batteries, and probably 5 years operation on lithium types, so low maintenance. I have bought a couple of these, and when I get the time I will hack the RF transmission so I can decode it on a small PIC microcontroller. This could then just flag the EZ-B what areas have humans moving around in, if the script knows that it is late at night or that you are out of the house, then it can deduce a possible alarm condition. This idea is also useful in non-security as it would be useful for the robot to be aware of where humans are, as it could then move to different locations (rooms) to find them for interactions etc.

If this sounds of interest, then when I get round to doing the code, I can program for you a couple of PICs that you can use in your own system.

You would also need a simple super-regen receiver module, but they are only a couple of bucks. The licensed exempt frequency will be different for you in the States, here the LS1500x PIR it is 433Mhz.

Tony

@jackphillips1953 - I don't understand your questions about an API for EZ-Face. An API is typical for an application that has a front end and provides an API or application interface (much like RoboRealm has an API) so it can be interfaced or controlled by other application or custom application. EZ-Face does not need an API because you get the source code with it. You just need an instance of Visual Studio to modify the code is you choose to.

@DJ RoboRealm does indeed have object recognition function that you can manually teach object. In my experiments I was able to teach RoboRealm to identify a telephone, hand sanitizer, water bottle and a lotion bottle.

I'm working an "EZ" style interface for RoboRealm so folks can take advantage of its visual processing.

Thanks everyone for all the help.. but did any get 2 USB cameras to be able to work on same computer?

Re: USB cameras. Yes, but they can't be the same make/model.

Alan

As Alan said, yes but they need to be different. If Windows sees them both as the same device name (i.e. "Wireless Video Camera") it causes problems in ARC. I had opened a topic about this a while back and it was to be added on to the to do list.

It may be possible to do if you use a different driver which sets the camera's name as something else or if you can edit the driver to do that. It's something I started looking in to but it wasn't a necessity for me so I didn't spend too long on it.

Rich,

ok thanks.. that is the problem they are both name the same. 2 eyes .. same cameras.

Many releases ago I had modified ARC to use the same camera models if there were more than one connected. Perhaps something has changed to prevent that - i'll look into it for you.

This is an interesting problem (2 camera devices with the same name). I'm researching it myself now.

Are you sure that there is not two video devices with the same name in ARC in the device list?

I just tested with 2 cameras that are the same driver and they both show up. They have the same name of course, but they're different devices. I am able to use 2 cameras with the same driver - but having to select the different one for each CAmera Control

If memory serves me correctly, both cameras would show up with the same name but running 2 camera controls and selecting each camera caused problems. Both had the same name (both were the V3 camera from the complete kit) of "Wireless Video Device" in the ARC Camera Control.

I can't say for sure if the problem was ever fixed or not, I thought it had been but may have been mistaken since shortly after the issue I scrapped the whole 2 camera idea since it didn't add much to the project.

This was my topic, if I get chance I'll check through the release notes of updates shortly after the topic date which should point us in the right direction.

It works for my cameras that I tested with, both are USB cameras which are the same make and model (Microsoft LifeCam) - maybe the cameras have an issue in its driver. Or if they are wireless cameras that there is interference with each other...

Oh geez, and I just realized that I should mention - our Office Cams are ran with the EZ-SDK and connect to 2 of the same cameras, the third camera of the Office Cam is a different model.

Both cameras show up as same name. USB... camera. Tried selecting and only one comes up at a time. Bothe cameras working perfectly.

@Tony , just kicking around that idea. It may be neat to have a wall outlet that had a ir beacon in it. So every electrical outlet could serve as a navigation point for robots. Maybe with a usb phone charger circuit provide the 4.8-5v needed to run the electronics and keep everyone out of sight in the wall.

You can get wall outlets with USB sockets built in (at least over here you can) which are 5v, saves any messing around :)