Yes and no...

1. The EZ-B doesn't host the camera video feed because the communication bandwidth could not support the video AND commands.

2. The EZ-B is a microcontroller, not a computer. If it were to have a computer sized processor, the PCB alone would cost as much as a laptop.

3. Devices like Raspberry Pi and Beagleboard are not powerful enough to run applications like ARC - they are ARM based processors with a limited instruction set for very basic GUI interfaces and light weight OS' like Linux BusyBox, etc..

What I would recommend is hosting a PC/Netbook within the robot. If you look at all robots from every laboratory/university - they have an embedded PC within the robot, or a remote PC with a wireless communication (like the EZ-B works natively).

You will find the Forum Search feature will help you find one of the many discussions regarding hosting a Netbook within your robot

EZ-Robot is as powerful as your laptop/PC. We leverage the power of your computer by providing a wireless I/O extension to control physical hardware. You can find out more about EZ-Robot by clicking the ABOUT menu option on the top of this website, or click here: https://synthiam.com/About

:)

thanks for the reply DJ - couple things i don't understand...

i'm no network or processor guru, but i don't understand how SBC's like the R-Pi and BeagleBoard are apparently powerful enough to stream HD video and run word processors, yet not powerful enough to run ARC?

so if i use the EZ-Board, and wanted video, apparently i would have to add another board to process the video (possibly a SBC), plus a 2nd WiFi connection (or use a WiFi cam) since there would not be enough bandwidth on a single connection to run the Builder and video - is that correct?

with antennas being that close, that could be a real problem i would think

Questions are good

If you put a NetBook or Embedded Mini-ATX computer in your EZ-Robot, like hundreds of others... You can use cheaper wired USB cameras with higher resolution and better color response. The EZ-Robot Camera is "okay" - but not as good as a wired camera.

So in your robot you will only have:

1. Netbook or Embedded Mini-ATX computer
2. EZ-B

You can connect to the Netbook over Wifi to view the video or control it.

Why not embedded Linux? It's because the ARM processor is great at doing a single thing - not many things. Also, streaming HD video is simply processor speed, not calculating speed. To process video and recognize objects within the stream, process scripts, speech recognition, and allow plug'n'play hardware is much different than a word processor or HD video playback.

Also, the Linux OS is considered "fast" because it is light weight. Meaning, it lacks the comforts that Windows includes. Yes, you can run graphical interfaces in Linux - but you'll notice they don't feel soft like windows. Well, the amount of comfort that Windows has included in the OS is not just graphical - it also applies to software development also. To maintain a Windows Software is much easier than a Linux version.

We have discussed a Linux ARC, but there are many issues.. Mostly with time to port, wouldn't run on raspberry pi's, etc.. and less than 1% of our customers would use it.

I saw an interesting post on a friends Facebook the other day. It was regarding the Linux Campaign to ban UEFI Secure Boot. And only 41,208 people have signed it since Sept 19.... Think about that, only 41,208 people want to run Linux on hardware made in 2013? Windows 8 sold 40,000,000 copies in it's first 30 days!

It's not that Windows is popular... It's that Windows is "normal". It's the average thing to use. It's everywhere and everyone has it - no matter how hard you try to avoid it. We all cheer for the little guy to win, but it'll take A LOT of work to get the little guy Linux into the same usability category as Windows. Also, I don't really think the Linux developers want that anyway - they appeal to a different crowd (of about 41,208 people). And to them, Linux is a big deal and I respect that. However, to people like myself - we don't have an interest in running Term, TOP or SSH'ing into anything. We simply want to point, click and have things "work" like magic.

As EZ-Robot advances, we develop toward the similar goal. With the announcement of Revolution, you'll see how much further we are stepping away from soldering, drilling, screwing, glueing, and programming.

This is a quote I say often....

"A carpenter doesn't cut down a tree to make 2x4's to build a house. A carpenter doesn't melt and cast steel to make a hammer... So why is a Roboticist expected to solder, program, cut, screw and design electrical schematics?"

Realistically, to build a fast Linux machine, it would cost the same as a Windows machine. There is a reason Linux Netbook's have disappeared from the market. There are many Linux die-hard's out there, but it's not a market we will consider because it's not a market. As a past Linux contributor for many years in the security industry, I have left it in the past where it belongs - as a learning tool. I owe all of my programming and project management experience to Linux. I learned how to manage projects by reflecting on my Linux experience, and do the opposite now

If you want a free robot software solution, look into ROS and Arduino. You'll see why we need to get paid for our work - to produce a solid, powerful, scalable, easy, comfortable, and professional robot platform that anyone can use

wow - i really appreciate your comments

i'm still not getting my head wrapped around the hardware config though - with the EZ-B and the embedded PC, am i now able to use a single WiFi connection? am i not still bumping into bandwidth limitations? or are you thinking that EZ would run on the embedded PC?

your comments on *nix vs windows are interesting

i would argue the '41,208' stat however... many wireless devices including phones, tabs, routers and robotics devices run nix. consider the popularity of Android alone. massive portions of the web are powered by nix/apache/mysql (far FAR more than IIS i'm sure). i would wager that the vast majority of embedded devices are running something other than windows. consider all of that, and you have the majority of hardware, other than PC's, running non-windows OS's, so i think that 41K figure is totally inaccurate by multiple orders of magnitude and that wave doesn't seem to fading in the slightest

i think there is little doubt that open source hardware and software is the future. in my opinion, proprietary hardware and software, as well as patents, do nothing but hinder progress in the long run by preventing access to the technology

and this is coming from someone who is glued to windows i have almost no experience with linux

this is not to say i hate windows as a desktop OS - quite the opposite - but i do hate the company and lack of ethics behind it. luckily, when you're on top, as MS is with the desktop OS market, there's only one direction to go

unfortunately i'll probably be dead by the time something like ReactOS reaches v1.0 LOL

but yes, i DO see the points you're making and i TOTALLY agree - one should not have to jump through command-line hoops to get stuff done! when i think about it, i realize how incredibly UN-sophisticated computers are

It's true... computers are quite unsophisticated

And robots? Robots are in an even worse shape. Ever stop and look around at the big players in DIY robotics, and notice their technology is 15-20 years old? Companies like Parallax have been selling the same product for 15+ years. Can you imagine using a 15 year old computer?

still trying to understand this - i have almost no idea how the hardware components interact and what data is processed by what component

so i'm trying to understand the most important part to me atm - the video

i had planned on a wired camera anyway, so no issues there. so with the camera, apparently the concerns are processing power and bandwidth, keeping in mind i would like to, if possible, run both video and control over a single WiFi link...

1. what is about the camera that requires so much processing power and can any of that work be off-loaded - are there camera that can do the bulk of the work with their own hardware? is that inherently what a network (IP) camera does? in other words, can i skirt around having to embed an SBC on the bot by using a particular type of wired camera?

2. using the right camera, is it now possible to do bot control and video over a single WiFi link? it seems to me that control data out and trivial sensor data in return, such as polling a temp sensor every 1000 ms, would consume only the tiniest bit of available bandwidth over an 802.11 b/g connection. am i missing something here?

3. i'm wanting WiFi for a few reasons; i'm imagining running a web server on the bot that anyone can connect to with a browser to view the video stream. however, that is not the way it works, is it? instead, they would have to connect to the PC (me) where the ARC s/w is located, correct?

4. i'm assuming i can get better range with WiFi than BT. is that correct? i have some knowledge of antennas and i basically know how to greatly increase range without using more power, so the protocol i guess really doesn't matter - i'm just curious as to why WiFi is supposed to go further.

5. just curious as to why EZ uses BT instead of WiFi - was this to overcome some limitation?

6. looks like the software cannot be used for commercial purposes according to the TOS. so one wanted to do, say, tank inspections, that's a no-go?

dj linux is better at using it in a non-desktop usage so please release a linux version of ez_builder bec, it will help us no super-robot like:"nao,asimo,darwin,bioloid"uses windows all use linux linux is better bec, it uses less resource than windows also we don't need a gui in robots so linux is the best option to embeded computing also on 3) in post #2 beagle bone is very powerfull

@atomizer

1. impossible
2. yes,if dj released a linux version you could but a beagle bone in your robot and make connect to other people throught making it act like a router to make an internet connection
3. answered in 2)
4. yes
5. bec, BT is easier to setup
6. no