Well..... about my work(i.e. "trying to convert my radio controlled car into a robot"), its not going well, as I have a lot of university work to do. Anyway I learnd basics of image processing, and designed some algos. for the robot car. My design phase is going very slow but lets see........

I am trying to convert my radio controlled car into a robot.

Aim: The car has to travel to a given location. Angle and distance will be specified with respect to its current location.

I will attach a small camera to the car, and output of the camera will be received by the computer. The computer will do the image processing. Image data will be decoded, and information of what is in front of the car will be identified (I dont know how to do it yet...).

After image processing, best path will be determined. If there is no obstruction in front of the car, the car will go straight... and so on.

After the move of the car is determined, I will use the serial port connections attached to the remote control of the car to make the move.

This task can be divided into three steps.

ia) image input and processing
ib) Storing image information in a data structure

iia) Getting image information from the data structute
iib) Identifing the best move
iic) Storing move information in a data structure

iiia) Getting move information from the data structure
iiib) Implementing the move

Eye for robot = camera input + image processing Brain for robot = program/software Robot action = digital logic circuit + machine

My aim is to build a robot controlled through my serial port. The programming language I will be using is Visual C++. Right now I have no pratical knowdledge of what type of hardware to use, for the robot. If any of you have a step wise procedure to construct a very simple robot, that is controlled through a serial port, then please let me know. My e-mail address is asim1230@yahoo.com