Short Term Goals

Implement Behavioral Control Because of my background in game development I was fully aware of how challenging this aspect of Albert's programming would be.  The complexity comes from having to put all the code in a giant loop, so the robot can continuously check his sensors for environmental and other changes that might interrupt the current behavior.

Status (8/20/99):  I've figured out the basics and will start on the code this weekend.

Write HC11 Interface to VB 5.0 Control Program I need to write some 'C' code on the HC11 so it can communicate effectively with my VB programming running on the laptop.  I'd also like to implement some functions on the Visual Basic side to make things easier.

Status (8/10/99):  Finished

Get the Max Base Working Unfortunately, it's going to take some time to get all the components that I ordered with the base to work.  Initially, I'd like to get everything hooked up so I can make sure it all survived the trip from Missouri.  Then, I want to get some of the sample HC11 programs running (to start and stop the motors, etc.).  After that it will be time to hook up the laptop.

Status (5/17/99):  This is finished, though I'm not getting accurate encoder feedback.  I'm trying to run the encoder routines in an interrupt -- but it could be a mechanical problem.

Implement Speech Synthesis and Voice Recognition Laptops are NOT ideal accessories for small robots due to their cost, size, and greedy power requirements.  To help justify (and fully utilize) this addition to my robot, I would like to implement high quality text-to-speech synthesis and limited voice recognition.

Status (8/17/99):  Text-to-speech is working, but I haven't tried to implement voice recognition yet.  (Here is a sample of how Albert sounds.)   

Test the Effectiveness of the RF Modems My plan to control Albert from my PC using a pair of RF (radio frequency) modems may not actually work.  It is possible that the data transfer rate (slowed by transmission/reception errors) could be too slow for real time control.

Status (2/15/99):  My initial tests with the Trilobot were unsuccessful.  I couldn't get the modems to "see" each other.  I'll have to spend more time on this problem.  One issue with the Max base, however, is that the laptop's serial port is needed to interface with the robot's HC11 processor.  There is a parallel connection on the RF modem, but I'm not sure if I can use this for full duplex communications.  More on this soon.