Vision Sensor Helps Robot Rock On

        Machine vision sensors are often likened to human eyes: They scan and “see” the world around them, then transmit the data elsewhere for some action to occur. But can a vision sensor watch TV? Turns out it can. And when put together with mechanical actuators and a PLC brainwww.cechina.cn, it can also play video games.
        Casting about for a project for his robotics class at Minnesota West Community and Technical CollegeCONTROL ENGINEERING China版权所有, engineering student Pete Nikrin hit on the idea to design a robot to compete against a friend newly introduced to the Guitar Hero electronic game. Playing Guitar Hero requires fast button-pushing on a guitar-shaped input device in response to dots (notes) that move down a path on a video screen.
        For the project, Nikrin decided to use a mannequin—complete with Minnesota West sweatshirt and painted fingernails—with a vision sensor in its left eye and mechanical actuators attached to its painted nails. And, he wanted to keep the video game and the robot two separate entities.

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        When Roxanne plays Guitar Hero控制工程网版权所有, she can achieve up to 95% accuracy on Hard mode, besting creatorwww.cechina.cn, Pete Nikrin.

        At first, he says, “I couldn't find anything online like it. Then, a month or two into it, a bunch of videos showed up [using other methods]. To the best of my knowledge, though, mine is the only one that has the robot linked only by vision to the game.” Other projects tap directly into the game's electronic signalCONTROL ENGINEERING China版权所有, which Pete, as a robotics guy, thinks “is kind of cheating.”
        Not unlike the process of problem-solving in an industrial application, Nikrin hit upon two frustrations early on: finding the right sensor and building a vision system with high enough speed for the application.
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