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Google's Project Tango Superior Indoor Micro Navigation

Hi,

Just did a search through the forum and didn't see anyone using this here yet.

This is the smartest sensor I've seen so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k43xJs3Roqg

https://plus.google.com/u/0/110913548697960843112
Here's one person's use that's quite similar to my desires:

" I use the Tango for full autonomous behaviors around my house. I can start the robot in any room in my house and tell it with speech recognition to go to any other location in my house and it can safely travel to that location. I can sit on the couch, take off my shoes, and say "take them to the closet" and it will take my shoes to the closet......once it gets there it can't do anything with the shoes since I haven't given it arms yet........but the arms are very close to being added into the design.
My favorite trick so far is telling it to go wake up my kids in the morning......the robot travels to the bedrooms and starts and alarm until they get up and use the touch screen face to turn off the alarm.

I have been creating the developer SDK for all aspects of the robot in Java, but a Unity SDK will be coming soon. "

So far there are only about 3,000 of these sold and only 5 of us using them for robotics. I'll create a tutorial once I get it interfaced with the EZ-B v4 via the USB and can turn on an LED.

Best,

Bill

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#14  
I think A. Does the device have a way to output information (serial or other)? It looks like the USB 3 port is only active when docked. I suppose that you could transmit the data via wifi but that would be pretty slow for the amount of data that would need to be transferred. If I read this right it looks like you would have to design the robot to also contain the doc which might not be that big of a deal.

I just skimmed things so it is entirely possible that I missed something.
#15  
Ooooh... I found Alan's credit card. Where can I order?:D
#16  
This is one that I will wait on until someone else writes a plugin for it. My hands are full and this would just take me down another path that I don't have time to work on right now. I will be digging into the SDK some though (as I can't resist seeing what is out there). My hope is that they will open it up to other hardware before too long and allow something like this to run on an on-board computer instead of this device.
#17  
Quick! Buy it before Alan catches up with you:
https://store.google.com/product/project_tango_tablet_development_kit

I didn't have the money for it either but I committed my first born child to Google. It's a new program they offer if techiness is in your DNA. :)

Just found this:


Regarding waiting for someone else to build a plugin, that was my intention also but we all know what path is paved with good intentions.

Bill
#18  
This is exactly why I made it public that I wouldnt be working on this one. I have enough plugins to complete and just decided that the others will never get finished if I go down this rabbit hole...
#19  
Regarding interfacing with it. I've seen bluetooth, micro USB OTG to female cable, and I connected with it through WIFI with EZ B's build an android interface builder.

I wasted a day searching for "Project Tango interfacing, USB, bluetooth connectivity". Then I went Dah, it's an Android OS. There are 1000s of links and how tos out there. The differences are adding the portions from the SDK for loading the Area Learning Files etc.

Cheers,

Bill...
#20  
Here's the bot body I've begun installing the Ez B / Project Tango (PT) brain into. I'm going to start by making it just remote controlled via that super cool iPhone Sensor Streamer app interface DJ added to ARC. Then when someone breaks the PT code, I'll add that device. I still have about 2 months left of construction of the new home / office that this thing will interface with.

User-inserted image


User-inserted image


It's 19x16x6 inches or 48.26x40.64x15.24 cm

This is that cart project I've been planning for about two years.:)

Best,

Bill
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Synthiam
#22  
I've been keeping an eye on the project and Google group. Added tango to my google keyword search so I get updates. The mental barrier I'm having at the moment is a practical application for robotics considering its form factor, availability, price and development challenges.

Although I really really want to see a plugin utilize the data. And the hacker in me wants to jump in and okay with this thing. The responsible adult with a list of immediate ezrobot priorities says otherwise:)

This project needs hackers like you to identify use case scenarios.

The tango v2 will be one to take seriously...
#23  

Quote:

The tango v2 will be one to take seriously...


And that assumes that this is not one of those Google projects that lives just long enough to be useful and then they kill it. If they don't find a way to monetize this beyond selling special purpose tablets, it may not continue.

I do wonder how much of the same technology is being used in their self-driving car project(s). If there is a lot of overlap, that could keep it alive even for a small development community.

Alan
#24  
It seems to be some awesome piece of tech...I dont think this will be ditched, but could also be outdated or there might be a lot of updates to the product soon!

Its still some sort of a developers edition right now, but it is a big leap into a direction which all of us would like to be heading!

Still super stoked!:D
#25  
If the black tablet wasn't out of stock I might not have hidden my credit card. My Nexus 7 is having some issues so I might need a new tablet anyway, but I don't want a white one.
#26  
Hahahaha Alan you are the best!:D

Dont start searching...you might find it!:D:D
#27  
Make's sense DJ. You have that whole office build thing going on. We're going on two years of delays for our office / home. Just installed the staircase Tuesday. Whew what that hair raising. It came from Wisconsin to CA in two 1 ton pieces and had to be cork screwed in through our sky roof. Everything fit perfectly within millimeters. CHOCK ONE UP FOR ENGINEERS!


All right, I'll give my best shot at building a plugin. I'm off to learn MS Developer Studio Express. If I can wrap my head around Apple's Xcode, I should be able to do anything. Xcode was about as steep of a learning curve as 6502 assembly on my Atari 400.

Regarding others using PT for robots, this guy has the coolest completed consumer level robot I've seen. He built his own robot controller and is threatening to create a PT robotic SDK, in all his spare time. He's a very busy robotics engineer so that's likely to take some time.
https://plus.google.com/110913548697960843112

Here are some others:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/s/project%20tango%20robot/top

Alan, PT has a slot for a SIM card so I would assume it could be used as a phone. I don't see anyone using them for that yet.


Wish me luck,

Bill
#28  
Good luck Bill....if you can accomplish it will definitely be a piece of hardware that I would be willing to invest in!:)
United Kingdom
#29  
Ahh Johnny Lee famous for his work as a student using Wii to create 3d views and other tracking hacks
#30  
He's one sharp dude!

I hope they don't kill this one. I have a feeling the Levono phone they're releasing next month is going to have some big problems with heat and battery life. The 192 CUDA core processor is a power pig.

I'm setting up MS Visual Studio Community 2015. It's taking most of the day. MS doesn't make things easy.

Cheers,

Bill
#31  
OK, now the controller is working with the custom movement panel.

I'm controlling it with the keyboard. I'm also powering it from the 5v BEC from the Sabertooth and it seems to be working fine.


#32  
I love your SuperDroid base. It's built seriously tough... Wish I could afford one. This is a great project you got going....:)
#33  
Lenovo just announced that they will be making the first Project Tango phone, available unlocked at BestBuy for $499 in September (even without a carrier, this might be a better Robot solution than a tablet due to the size, although it is going to be a big phone - 6.4" display). Having the 4G and ability to create a hotspot might actually be really useful in a robot.

http://www.droid-life.com/2016/06/09/lenovo-phab2-pro-project-tango/

Alan
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