All three
      levels of the robot are now installed, with each level sporting
      fully functional electronics. THIS is the base Vision Logic robot
      I will be using for all future robotic vision experiments. The
      robot is about 9 inches wide, and about that tall. Each level
      has a designated function. The bottom base level for example
      is the drive motors, 12v rechargeable gel cell battery, and wheels.
      It also contains a fully functional 5 section bumper switch array
      for normal movement in unpredictable environments.

      
The second level
      is the processor board, number two of three custom made robot
      boards I designed, for use with a PIC16F877a processor. It contains
      all the control for the robot. Currently, the base program is
      the converted software from the entire PicBot II series on bumper
      logic. The robot in other words has about the most intelligence
      you can pack into a bumper controlled robot, the result of the
      four month long Bumper Logic program. The center level also now
      contains a new device - an SP03 text to speech processor with
      speaker. This will for the very first time allow this robot or
      any other I have made to TALK. Im hoping Ill be able to use it
      to describe what it is seeing, without having to always look
      at the LCD.

      
The top level is
      the experiment pallet. It now contains an illuminated serial
      LCD display for indicating numerical values and status. All the
      vision experiments will be mounted on this top plate to guide
      the robot in its assigned task.

 

        

          
 
 
          
 Top
            view of the robot ready for action. Currently it can roam around
            autonomously, and escape nearly any condition it bumps into.
            This will be the background basic program running, just in case
            the vision experiment goes awry!
        
      
 

        

          
 
 
          
 Here IVe opened the "hood".
            The top plate hinges upward like this to make the main board
            easily accessible for programming and assembly. The square speaker
            like box at the bottom is the speech engine. It is very sophisticated,
            they do not make these anymore, and it is one of the last of
            its kind. 
        
      


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