MOTIVATION TO STUDENT...... TO THINK

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Specialty Summary: Sustains network infrastructure, cryptographic equipment, and deployable switching systems in a fixed and deployed environment. Sustains and operates systems through effective troubleshooting, repair, diagnostics and system performance analysis. Related DoD Occupational Subgroups: 150 and 160.

FPGA (field-programmable gate array) is a silicon chip with a programmable internal structure frequently used in electronics design. FPGA-based approach has advantages of reprogrammability and shorter time-to-market.

The possibility of using third-party FPGA design services is based on the fact that FPGA design services can be easily outsourced. Indeed, outsourcing of the FPGA design tasks is somewhat similar to the software development outsourcing. Outsourcing FPGA design to countries with emerging markets (that is, using FPGA design services from those countries) can greatly reduce expenses due to lower labor costs.

Basically, Sixth Sense is a mini-projector coupled with a camera and a cellphone—which acts as the computer and your connection to the Cloud, all the information stored on the web. Sixth Sense can also obey hand gestures, like in the infamous Minority Report.

However, instead of requiring you to be in front of a big screen like Tom Cruise, Sixth Sense can do its magic—and a lot more—everywhere, even while you are jumping hysteric over Oprah's sofa.

The camera recognizes objects around you instantly, with the micro-projector overlaying the information on any surface, including the object itself or your hand. Then, you can access or manipulate the information using your fingers. Need to make a call? Extend your hand on front of the projector and numbers will appear for you to click. Need to know the time? Draw a circle on your wrist and a watch will appear. Want to take a photo? Just make a square with your fingers, highlighting what you want to frame, and the system will make the photo—which you can later organize with the others using your own hands over the air.

But those are just novelty applications. The true power of Sixth Sense lies on its potential to connect the real world with the Internet, and overlaying the information on the world itself. Imagine you are at the supermarket, thinking about what brand of soap is better. Or maybe what wine you should get for tonight's dinner. Just look at objects, hold them on your hands, and Sixth Sense will show you if it's good or bad, or if it fits your preferences or not.

Now take this to every aspect of your everyday life. You can be in a taxi going to the airport, and just by taking out your boarding pass, Sixth Sense will grab real time information about your flight and display it over the ticket. You won't need to do any action. Just hold it in front of your and it will work.

The key here is that Sixth Sense recognizes the objects around you, displaying information automatically and letting you access it in any way you want, in the simplest way possible.

Clearly, this has the potential of becoming the ultimate "transparent" user interface for accessing information about everything around us. If they can get rid of the colored finger caps and it ever goes beyond the initial development phase, that is. But as it is now, it may change the way we interact with the real world and truly give everyone complete awareness of the environment around us.

Or just make a few people look like dorks. It can go either way, really. Whatever it is, I want to try it. [TED]

Robot Hardware

• Battery : 4-Cells 14.8V Li-Po
• Controller
  • FPGA : Xilinx Spartan-3, XC3S400 TQ144, controls everything on the board including the kicker board
  • Processor : Altium Designer TSK3000A, 32-bit RISC soft core, integrated in FPGA, runs at 30MHz, 30MIPS
• Motor driver
  • 6 MOSFETs, three phase inverter, P-N complementary configuration in each phase
  • Fairchild FDS6679 (13A 30V P-Channel), FDS6680 (12.5A 30V N-Channel) SOIC-8 MOSFET
  • Microchip TC4427 MOSFET driver
  • 10kHz PWM frequency
  • Hall sensor based (six-steps) commutation, implemented in FPGA
  • Current sensor (hall element type) ACS712 from Allegro MicroSystems
• Materials : Base plate and supports are 6061 aluminum, kicker and chip kicker are 7075 aluminum, polycarbonate wheel, plastic solenoid, the dribbler is covered with a silicone tube, Buna-N o-ring, all pins are stainless steel
• Wheel
  • Based on Cornell Big Red’s design
  • Maxon EC-45 Flat (30W) brushless motor with back shaft extended (for fitting encoder codewheel)
  • Current limited to 2.14A, according to the safe operating current in motor datasheet
  • Custom made internal gear and external spur gear, 72:20 ratio
  • Optical encoder attached, E4P from US Digital, 360 CPR
  • 15 rollers covered with double seal o-ring from McMaster-Carr
  • Maximum robot speed : 4 m/s in front direction, limited to 3.5 m/s in the software
  • Maximum acceleration : Limited to 5 m/s^2 by software
• Dribber
  • Suspension design based on Cornell Big Red’s
  • Maxon EC-16 (15W) brushless motor with 5.4:1 Maxon gearhead
  • Current limited to 1.71A according to the safe operating current in motor datasheet
  • External spur gears, 28:40, KG Gear
  • Maximum speed : 13000 rpm (free running)
  • Rubber size : 16 mm outside diameter
• Kicker
  • Operated by two 250V 2700uF capacitors
  • Charged by boost converter circuit, 47uH SMD inductor, operated by 25kHz 85% PWM signal
  • Charging current and time : 2 amps in 5 seconds
  • Kicker solenoid : 23AWG, ~500 turns, 7 layers, 1.6 ohm
  • Maximum kick speed : 12-14 m/s
  • Chip kicker solenoid : Flat shaped, FU Fighter’s design, 24AWG, ~250 turns, 5 layers, 1.6 ohm
  • Maximum chip distance : 7.5 m
• Communication
  • 2.4 GHz Wireless
  • Nordic nRF24L01+, 250 kbps data rate
  • Using THIS and THIS module with THIS antenna, SparkFun Electronics
  • One wireless module on each robot, runs in RX mode
  • Robot commands : velocities, kicker, dribbler, debugging parameters
  • Each robot sends back a status packet after a command received
  • Robot status : battery, IR, capacitor
  • Two modules on the base station board connected to the PC, providing full duplex bi-directional communication