Master's Thesis Proposal

Introduction

Producing visually attractive television coverage of sports events and entertainment shows is a challenging business. Today's method of setting up unwieldy cameras on fixed stands or using shoulder-mounted cameras with one cameraman for each camera is costly. The thesis will present an easy to use, effective, and currently unavailable alternative: an autonomously flying micro robot with integrated TV camera.

Objectives

My objectives of this research are to

1. show a feasible schedule for developing such a device, ranging from a simple autonomously free flying micro platform (Phase 1), to a hyper intelligent micro robot which has a highly developed ethical awareness, and the ability to carry out autonomously verbally formulated complex missions, to adapt to its environment, and to repair itself (Phase 8);

2. implement and realize the first three phases of this schedule:

   • Phase 1: Building a small (< 10 in.) and quiet (< 70 dBA) entity, which is able to stay still in the air, to stabilize itself automatically, and to move in three-dimensional space

   • Phase 2: Mounting a wireless video camera for conveying pictures from otherwise impossible camera angles: extreme close-ups (distance < 2 in.) and fast camera viewpoint changes (e.g., 20 feet vertical travelling in < 2s) without view obstructing stands, cranes, or dollies

   • Phase 3: Adding the ability to listen to simple verbal commands like Go up! Turn left! Zoom in! ;

3. show the possibilities and limitations of speech recognition in this project.

Approach

For this Master's thesis research, I plan to realize the following phases:

• Phase 1a: testing and evaluating Keyence's Gyrosaucer II E-570.

  • Controlling concept: Elevation, roll, pitch, and yaw are controlled by adjusting the speed of the 4 motors/propellers (two rotating clockwise, two counterclockwise). Through this construction, Gyrosaucer has 4 degrees of freedom (DOF): up/down, sideways, forward/backward, and horizontal rotation (vertical axis). These are controlled manually through a 4CH remote control, with limited support from the built-in gyroscopes.
  • Sensor concept: How is the efficiency of the free gyro and the rate gyro?

• Phase 1b: building simple FFMP with exobrain and umbilical cord
  The mechanically simplest construction, which enables automatic hovering. It consists of:

  • 4 motors/propellers: ducted fans or impellers
  • single sensor: absolute position sensing
  • controller: processing outboard on a PC ("exobrain")
  • no batteries: power for motors through wires ("umbilical cord")
  Questions:
  • Automatic stabilization: Is a absolute position sensor enough for stabilization, or are gyroscopes, inclinometers, and compass necessary as well?
  • Which are the options for absolute position sensing in 3D space?

• Phase 2: mounting video camera and wireless transmitter.
  There is a variety of commercially available components which have to be evaluated, e.g., Supercircuit's PC-48 (size 1.8 in. square, weight < 1 ounce, resolution 330 lines, low light performance 2.0 lux), MicroVideo's DM30A Miniature Dome Camera, Codex's Micro Video Transmitter, or Spymaster's VID1.

• Phase 3a: indirect voice control over radio set (walkie-talkie).
  The output of the radio set will be connected to the ground station, where standard software like AT&T's Watson or IBM's ViaVoice recognizes the spoken commands.

• Phase 3b: direct voice control through on board microphone and audio processing.

A detailed description of the phases is online at http://www.media.mit.edu/~stefanm/FFMP/FFMP_Phases.html.

Tentative schedule

Here is the schedule for this research project:

References

The following references and hyperlinks as well as many more are on-line at: http://www.media.mit.edu/~stefanm/FFMP/FFMP_Phases.html.

I wrote this proposal as an exercise for MIT class 21F.225, during March 1998.

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Send me some comments! Last updated Apr 15 1998.