You can start here...EZB4 and here ARC and specifically the Camera

It would be very difficult to sit and type on how to use the EZB4 camera with such a broad based question... However, the simple answer is yes the camera (ARC) has colour, facial (with a plugin written by a member on here called EZ-Face) and object recognition... I learned by reading the above and when I got my EZB it made it much easier to get the camera up and running... Reading in the "Learn" section of this web site is a really good start... If you have any further specific questions after that we will be able to help you out...

i have a project in school a robot that will work independent without using a remote control and only the program of a mobile robot work itself... here's what my robot to do: Line follower Robot (the color of the floor is white and the line is black), with robotic arm to pick the object inside the arena, and the robot that can recognize 3 different Shapes and Colors... i don't know if EZ-Robot is capable of doing all these things... i need some advice of what im going to do before buying 'cuz the price is expensive...

Shapes? Not quite yet, colours yes... Line following, again no problem... Robotic arm will be a snap with ARC's auto positioning control... It can recognize glyphs and QR code and rudimentary object recognition only (still a work in progress)...

@Richard: Yes, shape... only cube, cylinder and circle(like colored ball)... btw thank you for the quick response

Hey, no worries... It might work, but as I mentioned object recognition needs a bit more work, but is looking very promising for sure... I am sure DJ has plans to get back to it at some point... Right now EZ Robot is focusing all of it's energy rolling out Revolution and the EZB4.... So currently EZ Robot can do about 95% of what you need... And programming is light years simpler than C using ARC software....

Cheers

Well object recognition is currently in the works. A beta version is available in ARC right now. You have to do a lot of training though in different lighting conditions.

Color is no problem. You an track as many colors as you want and what ever color you want.

There might be an issue with what you are looking to do based on the definition of Remote Control. If you want the robot to be fully self contained and not be run based on a wifi connection to your network, then this might not be what you are looking for. If you can put a small computer into your platform, like a windows based PC, Android device, or an IPhone then you can do most of what you are looking to do plus a lot more.

The EZB4 connects via wifi to one of these devices, which is where the programming logic executes. The EZB4 is used basically as a gateway to the sensors, motors, cameras and other components in your robot. Because of this, if the robot needs to be fully self contained, you would need a small form factor PC or an Android or Iphone to handle the programming logic side. This makes for a very powerful robot that can handle a lot more than the tasks mentioned above. It also allows you to program in any of the .net languages if there is something that the ARC software will not handle right now.

This thread will help you understand.

The Link

Line following using the camera is quite easy. Using the multi color tracking mode.

Having the robot arm pick up shapes and colors is also easy. The colors can be programmed individually. The shapes (long as they aren't very detailed, ie plain colored blocks work great or a yellow duck, etc).

Many people are new to object recognition here and have attempted to train their robots with complicated detail shapes. If you ever watch a robot video that demonstrates shape detection, they use plain shapes like a rubber duck or cups or blocks.

Everything you asked for can be done with a few clicks of the mouse in ARC.

i want to create a robot like the video shown below, using the EZ-Robot implementation... i have a problem about recognizing the shape of the object because my scope is not only to pick up the ball it can also identify cube and cylinder... my solution is to create another hardware that can recognize the shape and then integrate it to the EZB4... Sir @DJSures, is it possible to integrate my Shape Recognition hardware to the EZB4 and how?

right now, i really dont have any idea how to do it in EZ-Robot 'cuz i do not have it and i watch series of video about EZ-Robot, but many of them only show the output of their work they didn't show how they did it... btw, i have knowledge about the PIC16F877A but its kinda old if i use this for my implementation and i want something new to upgrade my knowledge in robotics... i found out EZ-Robot is powerful of solving my problem but i still have many questions how to do it... my whole concern is about purchasing the product it is quite expensive and hard to buy because it is only available in Canada that is why im asking here like a NOOB actually im really new about robotics ... im very interested of buying EZB4 but please guys gimme some tips and ideas before purchasing the product... Thank You

CHEERS!

Yeah, that would be very easy to do with EZ-Robot. The shapes are all the same - all they are using is color recognition. The multi color recognition would take less than an hour to program that

I do not fully understand why they are not letting the robot pick up the balls though?

@DJ: i think the robotic arm is not strong enough to hold the ball...

In my robot i want to add 2 more objects (which is cylinder, and cube) with 3 different colors(yellow, blue and red)...

i need more tips/advice from ROBO People....

Cheers!

You can set the camera control to recognize custom colours as well, not just red, green or blue...

@Richard: how about the shape? if it is a cube/cylinder/ball...

@DJ: can i integrate another hardware to EZB4?

Basic object recognition is possible... DJ is still currently developing it... Right now as long as the shapes are basic and the background around the shapes isn't cluttered, lighting is good, etc then I would say yes, basic shape recognition should work.... Like I said, DJ is still working on it, so no matter what it will be improving as more updates come...

What hardware do you want to integrate? EZB4 has wifi, and serial in and out so it can talk to a lot of devices...

@Richard: because the objects will be place in random place like the video shown below...i think its hard to use EZB4 for object recognition... can you give me another way to find a solution for object recognition and integrate it to EZB4 if it is possible to do that? thanks to you

i want to add another camera/hardware device which is good for object recognition (or buy ordinary camera and use image processing) because right now im still looking a better solution to solve my problem before implementing and buying materials and maybe you watch the video below because if you have any idea to help me it would be great...

I did watch the video...But unless I am blind the game used balls only, no other shapes.... If that is the game you need your robot to run, then the EZB will accomplish it no problem. Roborelm software is known for it's awesome video processing....

@Richard: the latest rules for that game added 2 shapes (cube and cylinder)...

the robot inside the arena will collect the objects and segregate and there is a bin beside the arena to put the objects collected...

I still believe EZB4 is your best bet.... I do not work for EZ Robot, but I think you should buy an EZB4... For $99 for a board you can't beat the features your getting with it... After what DJ has said, I still believe the EZB will work for you... You would have to pay way more for another platform to do what you want... EZB is the best bang for the buck...

@Richard: here is other video for the game... but that game has only ball... i still need to add shape recognition for Cube and Cylinder...

ez-robot and roborealm now have a link.

Here is an idea for you. If you find that the camera processing in EZ-Robot cant handle what you are looking to do, you could also incorporate RoboRealm into your project. Variables can be passed between RoboRealm and EZ-Robot. The auto positioning in EZ-Robot would make it easy to pick up the items. Additionally, you could add many more sensors like ir for example, that could be used to identify where objects are. When you find an object, you can use the camera to identify the object and make a decision on if you should pick up the object or not. While this is happening, you could be scanning for the next object using IR. Another idea is that you could build a robot that has 2 arms. One could be identifying the objects that need to be picked up while the other one is picking up the objects that have been identified.

EZ-Robot gives you so much flexibility that you would be able to build a robot that would be far better than the one in the videos. You have the ability to do many things at once while exchanging information between multiple functions within the application. I believe that what you are looking at doing would not be an issue for EZ-Robot. If it is, the addition of RoboRealm would definitely allow you to accomplish this task.

@d.cochran: thank you sir...

what i need to do now is to make a design for the prototype of my robot and list down the materials...

Good luck... I am sure you'll win the competition.... let us know how you get on with the project...

Richard

Hey, one more thought. With EZ-Robot you could have 5 robots running around communicating with each other doing this challenge. They could pass variables to each other and know where each other is. a compass inside the robot would allow them to know directions. See what you did, you got me thinking about how to win the contest. The cost of doing this could be pretty high, but it shows you how powerful the platform is.

@Richard: Sure!

but pls answer me if i have some questions for my implementation...

Thx to you guys...

@d.cochran: i think its very costly... but i will still think about that...

@yatakitombi.... Your welcome, hopefully you'll have a video of your own robot winning.... Yep, if you any more questions feel free to ask here...

@DJ: Hi Sir good evening... im here again to ask series of question about the EZ-Robot accessories because i finally made a decision to use your products for my project... but for now im still working the design...

First Question: What is the estimated time for one Heavy Duty servo will drain the 7.4v LiPo battery power or make the battery empty? the servo will run continuous...

Second Question: How long the LiPo Battery Balance Charger can fully charge the LiPo battery power? in this case if the LiPo battery is empty...

Third Question: For one LiPo battery power up to how many Heavy Duty servo motor can support?

Fourth: I want to add a homemade hardware and integrate it with EZ-B v4 WiFi Robot Controller... if yes, in what way?

Fifth Question: I want to add more Lipo Battery because in my robot i will put many servos, cameras and other EZ robot parts.... if yes, how? or any idea what will happen...

Sixth Question: what is the implementation for EZ-robot line follower? because i cant find an example for EZ-robot line following...

Seventh Question: What EZ stands for in EZ-Robot...

i hope you could help me to answer all my questions to make my design better and avoid many problems during implementation... Thank You!

@d.cochran: sir did you try to incorporate RobotRealm to EZV4 or do you have a sample video for that? just asking to clear my mind about robot realm...

I don't know the times for draining batteries. I guess it would depend on how long and how hard your using the servo.

You can use just about any homemade or store bought hardware. There are Serial / Uart ports to send and receive Serial commands through, i12c Ports to control i12C devices, ADC ports to monitor voltage changes and Digital ports that turn on and off low volt (no amp) pins and also can be used for sending (only) serial commands through. There are some built in controls in ARC already to take advantage of these features and you can also write scripts in both EZ Script and SDK that can customize control over your devices.

EZ stands for Easy. It's as simple as that (and it is).

I am looking at Roborelm for a few things. I will be implementing the OCR and barcode reading features. There are ways to pass variables between Roborealm and ARC. This allows both to work with each other.

Batteries are based on volts and amps. The amps side will tell you how long the battery will last. The servos will draw a certain number of milliamps. Well, all of your electronics will draw a certain number of milliamps from the battery. The battery will have a milliamp hour rating. The ones sold here are 1300mAh batteries. This is the number of milliamps you can expect to get from the battery for an hour. Multiple batteries can be run together to either increase volts or amps, or technically both. You should look this up on google to see how to do this. Doing it wrong can kill your batteries or the electronics in your Bot.

roborealm can be downloaded and tested to make sure it does what you want. It is free for 15 days I think. ARC is free, and the EZ-SDK is free. If you haven't downloaded them yet, I would get these apps and explore them. Also, you will be able to see what sensors have been setup to be supported by ARC. I did this and stuck with these sensors so that I knew that they would work. That doesn't mean that others won't work, but using the ones that will work may save you some headaches.

i still dont get clear answer...

Here is the post you made with answers for each part.

@DJ: Hi Sir good evening... im here again to ask series of question about the EZ-Robot accessories because i finally made a decision to use your products for my project... but for now im still working the design...

First Question: What is the estimated time for one Heavy Duty servo will drain the 7.4v LiPo battery power or make the battery empty? the servo will run continuous...
Dave and I dont know the answer to this and didnt try to answer this one.

Second Question: How long the LiPo Battery Balance Charger can fully charge the LiPo battery power? in this case if the LiPo battery is empty... Dave and I dont know the answer to this and didnt try to answer this one.

Third Question: For one LiPo battery power up to how many Heavy Duty servo motor can support? This depends completely on how long you want the battery to last and how many amps are being pulled from the battery. It would be possible to connect 24 of these to a single EZ-B v4 though, and you would be able to use all of them at one time. Your battery solution would have to handle the load...

Fourth: I want to add a homemade hardware and integrate it with EZ-B v4 WiFi Robot Controller... if yes, in what way? You can connect homemade hardware that uses digital, analog, I2C, or Serial communication. As I explained, it would be best to get ARC and look at the sensors and components that have already been programmed to work with ARC and use those, but its up to you.

Fifth Question: I want to add more Lipo Battery because in my robot i will put many servos, cameras and other EZ robot parts.... if yes, how? or any idea what will happen... As stated earlier, you can add more batteries to prolong the time that the robot will run, or you can add more batteries to get more power. By combining these, you would get more power and more runtime. Please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdgq1-o1_8g for a brief explanation of how to do all 3 of the above. It is with a different type of battery, but the same applies for any battery.

Sixth Question: what is the implementation for EZ-robot line follower? because i cant find an example for EZ-robot line following... I haven't done this yet so I didnt answer. I have seen this in RoboRealm but haven't used it yet. DJ has said that this is possible in ARC.

Seventh Question: What EZ stands for in EZ-Robot... Grin Easy as Dave mentioned above

i hope you could help me to answer all my questions to make my design better and avoid many problems during implementation... Thank You! Smile

This isnt an official statement from EZ-Robot or anything, but please understand that they are trying their hardest to get the products shipped out the door right now, while also supporting the existing platform and also updating the software regularly to handle peoples requests for new features. I am sure that DJ and others would see the question about the servo power consumption if it were in a new thread instead of on an existing one that is entitled Ez-robot Ez-b V4 Camera (i Need Help For My Project). I would post a new topic with the title of something like Please provide specs for Heavy Duty Servo.

As far as RoboRealm, I am very new to it and am trying to figure some stuff out on it myself. I have messed with some of its features but I haven't had time to really dig into it to make something work well. I have seen how to pass variables back and forth between EZ-Robot and RoboRealm, and DJ is releasing another new feature to ARC soon that will pass all variables from ARC instead of individual ones. I would love to provide a sample, but I will be working on other projects and probably not get back to messing with RoboRealm much for about another month or so. I will be happy to try anything and see if I can get it working to help you out, but you will have to give me some time to be able to get to it.

I hope this helps more.

@d.cochran: thank you very much Sir...

the video link you gave is error... your reply help me alot but i will make a new thread about my questions in battery to get more ideas... im sorry if i asked alot because i really need to ask before buying... im only a student and my budget is not big enough that is why i need to make sure how it works... i hope you can answer more questions soon about my design... im still making my design thats why if i saw i problem for my future implementation i ran here and ask hoping to get answer from awesome people like you...

but if you found something that cant help me and you have enough time... pls dont forget to reply my topic...

I have found that many people like to help others in this community. I enjoy helping others, and do what I can as much as possible to do so. Your design will have to be your own, but people in this community will help for sure.

Wiring Batteries

I hope this helps you out.

Quote:

First Question: What is the estimated time for one Heavy Duty servo will drain the 7.4v LiPo battery power or make the battery empty? the servo will run continuous...

Quote:

Second Question: How long the LiPo Battery Balance Charger can fully charge the LiPo battery power? in this case if the LiPo battery is empty...

Quote:

Third Question: For one LiPo battery power up to how many Heavy Duty servo motor can support?

The rest has been answered.

I think he is asking specifically about the Heavy Duty Servo, LiPo charger and LiPo batteries in the DIY section of the store at EZ-Robot. I don't know the specs on these but did look. I couldn't find the details on them to do the math to give the answers.

I appreciate that however I subscribe to the whole "give a man a fish/teach a man to fish" thing

:) agree.

Some of these questions (not directed soley at the op by the way) people ask are liken to... "how do you build a car and how much will it cost"?.... These questions are next to impossible to answer....

To the op.... you need to just take the plunge and figure some of this out yourself.... we can't answer some of your question... You need to try it out and see.... I do promise you, you will love EZ Robot...

@Richard, you're always going to get that, there isn't much we can do about it other than direct them to pre-built robots like what they are asking for. I guarantee those questions never stop popping up from time to time.

Just while we are on the whole "give a man a fish" thing, @Richard R is a prime example of why I teach to fish. I'm sure he will agree when I say that his time on these forums has increased his knowledge tenfold (and seeing him teaching to fish now is just awesome).

Rich yes, tis true, the more time you spend on this forum the more you will learn and then be able to contribute to others.

@Rich..... I have always appreciated your help (and others).... I do agree that "we" as EZB users do need to "fish" for ourselves as much as possible.... I do try and work things out myself, but when I get stuck I do seek the forum's help...We learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes... Old cliché of course....

thank you guys

@yatakitombi please mark this as answered if it was, and mark the person that helped you the most as the person who answered the question.

Thanks

all my questions are answered... thank you

There is an option in the message to choose who answered the question for you. Please choose one of these fine people and mark the issue as resolve of answered.

done

and BIG THUMBS UP to sir Rich and other people...