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Subject: comp.robotics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) part 2/2
Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions
    and their answers about robotics. It should be read by anyone
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Archive-name: robotics-faq/part2
Last-modified: Mon Jan  4 12:58:04 1993


This is part 2 of 2 of the comp.robotics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list.
This FAQ addresses commonly asked questions relating to robotics.

Part 2
    Sensors
    Suppliers and sources for Parts
    Hero Robots
    Puma Manipulators
    Simulators
    Real-Time Operating Systems
    Robot Controller Survey
    Books

    Acknowledgements

Changes, additions, comments, suggestions and questions to:
    [e-mail]
aka:     Kevin Dowling
         Robotics Institute
    Carnegie Mellon University
    Pittsburgh, PA 15213

___________________________________________________________________________
Sensors:

    This list covers only the most frequently requested types of
robot sensors. These include point-range sensors, cameras, and
acoustic devices. See Sensors magazine <in periodical section of this
FAQ> directory for a large and comprehensive list. This list covers
the following:

    cameras
    inertial measurement devices
    laser rangemfinders
    force/torque sensors
    sonar sensors
    position determination devices
    pan/tilt mechanisms
    shape memory devices

----Cameras

    There are a large number of cameras on the market and many
consumer products such as the smaller camcorders are inexpensive and
suitable for imaging applications. I'll try to list some different and
unusual ones here.
    Note that although some of these cameras are very small many
of them are appended to a large box of electronics via a cable that
supplies power and transmits video.

    Sony Component Products
    15 Essex Road,
    Paramus, NJ 07652
    tel: [phone]
    fax: [phone]
    Sony XC/999/999P is a nice small color CCD camera the size of a
    microphone. CCD resolution is 768Hx493V. The 999 is NTSC and the 999P
    is the PAL format.
    XC-75 has small camera head and separate electronics.

    Toshiba IK-M40A -- head is 1.5" long, 5/8" diameter

    Panasonic GP-KS152 -- head is 1 3/8" long, 15/32" diameter

    CCTV Corporation
    315 Hudson Street
    New York, NY 10013
    tel: [phone]
    fax: [phone]
    CCTV makes a number of small CCD surveillance cameras. Some as
small as a pack of cigarettes that sell for less than $300.

CIDTech has some really nice ones with CID instead of CCD, especially good for
machine vision, no blooming, fast image grabbing.

----Inertial measurement devices
    This includes such devices as accelerometers such as
accelerometers, gyros, and inertial devices used for measuring
orientation or acceleration of moving vehicles. Accelerometers are
devices for measuring the rate of change in velocity and can provide
estimations of distance or be used to detect high forces.

KVH Industries
110 Enterprise Center
Middletown, RI 02840
[phone]
Nice small well-designed units that provide heading data. About $1K w/
RS232 adapter.

Lucas NovaSensor
1055 Mission Court
Fremont, CA 94539
[phone]
Lucas makes a 1"x1"x0.5" accelerometer for about $200. Good noise
immunity but fragile.

Humphrey

BEI - Systron Donner
2700 Systron Drive,
Concord, CA 94518-1399
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
GyroChip - a very small solid state angular rate sensor. Based a
quartz tuning fork device - all support electronics are included. Max
range available: +/-10 deg/sec to +/-1000 deg/sec. Input +/- 5VDC
Output scale +/- 2.5VDC. Systron Donner also makes a variety of linear
accelerometers and inertial measurement products.

----Laser rangefinders
    There are a variety of laser rangefinding devices that have
been builtand used over the past 8 years or so for robotics. The 3D
devices are still large, power hungry and heavy but give very nice
images suitable for fast map building and navigation work. Expect to
pay over $80K for these time-of-flight devices. Most AM Lidars measure
phase shift between outgoing and reflected beams.  A mirror system
rasters the beam forming a video-camera-like image. Some devices
supply the reflectance image as well as range which is nice for
corresponding the two. Comprehensive references include:

P. Besl, ``Active, Optical Range Imaging Sensors'', Machine Vision and
Applications, v. 1, p. 127-152, 1988.

A longer version of Besl's paper appears in ``Advances in Machine
Vision: Architectures and Applications'', J. Sanz (ed.),
Springer-Verlag, 1988.

Other good surveys are Ray Jarvis' article in IEEE TPAMI v5n2 and
Nitzan's article in IEEE PAMI v10n2.

A number of laboratory works have also demonstrated FM or chirp
systems which can be highly accurate (e.g. elevation maps of coins are
one demonstration of these) but these are very specialized and I don`t
know of commercial devices currently.

ERIM (Environmental Research Institute of Michigan)
    ERIM has built a number of custom AM laser rangefinders
including those used in the ALV (Autonomous Land Vehicle) program. CMU
and Martin Marietta have both used this systems in extensive work.
Basic system was a 128x64 2fps 20m (ambiguity interval) system.

Odetics

Perceptron
A spin-off of ERIM, Perceptron has also built a number of
AM laser rangefinders.  CMU and Caterpillar have used these for map
building and obstacle avoidance work in rough terrain navigation.
128x128 programmable up to 2048x2048 through tilt, 2fps, programmable
tilt on nodding mirror. About $90K

Schwarz Electro-Optics
3404 N. Orange Blossom Trail
Orlando, FL 32804
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
Schwarz makes some very nice point range laser ranging devices. These
devices are slightly bigger than a soda can. About $6K. CMU experience
for use in simulated unmanned air vehicle platform worked well. Their
MARS (marine angle range system) is a rotating laser device that
reflects off targets in the environment. Max range up to 1000meters
using corner prisms. Accuracy +/- 1m.

Origin Instruments
854 Greenview Drive
Grand Praire, TX 750750-2438
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
The Dynasight sensor is a 3-D optical radar that provides real-time
3-D measurements of passive targets with sub-millimeter resolution.
Automatic search and track is provided, eye-safe operation and no
adjustments or alignment required. Original application was head
tracking of computer users but end- effector tracking is also viable.
Operatin range depends on target size 0.1-1.5m for 7mm target, 0.3-4m
for 25mm target and 1 to 6m for 75mm targets. RS-232 interface.
Accuracies 1mm cross range and 4mm down range, resolutions 0.1mm cross
range and 0.4mm down range.

A number of labs have built light stripe devices using projected light
LCD shutters and laser line projectors determine distance through
geometry (as opposed to directly measuring distance through
time-of-flight means) One common need is that of generating the laser
line.

LaserMax
Rochester, NY
Manufactures semiconductor laser diode packages and cylindrical
lenses. Packages and small and rugged.

Recent power tools such as miter saws and radial arm saws are using
laser line projection - these may be available cheaply as spare parts.

----Force and Torque Sensors:

California Cybernetics
10322 Sherman Grove
Sunland, CA 91040
[phone]
[phone] (fax)
Six DOF F-T devices.

JR3
22 Harter Avenue
Woodland, CA 95695
[phone]
6-DOF force-torque sensors. Strain gage technology. Newer packages
have all electronics built into the sensor. Make some high-force
devices as well. CMU's Ambler used JR3's on all the feet.

Assurance Technologies (ATI)
(formerly Lord Industrial Automation)
503D Highway 70 East
Garner, North Carolina 27529
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
Largest supplier of muli-axis force sensors. Use silicon rather than
foil strain gages for lower strain levels and increased life. F/T
sensor ratings from +/- 15lbs to +/- 150lbs (+/- 15 in-lbs to +/- 600
in-lbs) weights are 0.4 and 2.2 lbs for the 4 available sensors.
Serial or parallel digital interface or analog interface.  ATI also
makes robotic tool-changers and an RCC device for assembly operations.
An ATI sensor is also incorporated in the Hughes SMARTee end-effector.

Hughes STX
4400 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
A 6-dof end-effector with automatic load sensing and compensation.
Control modes include position control (cartesian with user spec-ed
poses and frames), impedence and force control modes. Programmable
behaviors (sliding, hinge, move-to-touch, guarded move, follow etc),
open architecture (VxWorks, VME, user-linakable libraries) and a lot
more. Interfaces available included RS-232, ethernet, RS-422 and SCSI.
Pretty amazing end-effector!

Cybernet
1919 Green Road
Suite B-101
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
email: <[e-mail]>
PER-force - A 6dof compact force-reflecting controller. Can be used
for teleoperationor interactive graphics applications.

----Sonar sensors
    Acoustic time-of-flight devices have been around for awhile
now. The ubiquitous Polaroid device is cheap and easily integrated and
has has found wide use in robotic devices. Other companies have
developed nice complete turnkey sonar devices though and Polaroid is
no longer the only choice.

Polaroid
(617)-577-4681 or write at
119 Windsor St,
Cambridge, MA 02139
Polariod Ultrasonic Components Group offers two ultrasonic ranging kits:
Specs are:
    Distance range: 0.26 to 10.7 meters
    Resolution: Nominal +- 3mm to 3m, +-1% over entire range
    Sonar acceptance angle: approx. 20 degrees
    Power Requirement: 6VDC, 2.5 Amps (1 mS pulse), 150mA quiescent
    Weight: Transducer, 8.2gm
            Ranging module, 18.4 gm
Designer's Kit:
    1 transducer, 1 ranging module, electronics display
    accurate to 1/10th meter. Cost is $169
OEM kit:
    2 transducers, 2 ranging modules. Cost is $99.

Siemans - nice complete sensor package, 5 degree cone angle

Massa - components

----Position determination
Noncontact, cabled measurement of 6DOF's. Virtual reality
applications. System ranges can be as small as a tabletop and can
extend for kilometers. All measurements are given in metric unless
spec sheets appear in English units only.  All pricing is in $US.

Polhemus Inc
[phone]
[phone] (fax)
Burlington, VT
3Space, Isotrak, FasTrak:
Electromagnetic devices for sensing xyz and rotations remotely.
Limited to 1m or so radius. Sensitive to metallic objects in vicinity.
Approx $3k

Ascension Technology
[phone]
[phone]
The Bird. A 6d0f measuring device much like the Pohlhemus device.

Denning Mobile Robots
21 Concord Street
Wilmington, MA 01887
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
LaserNav 2: rotating laser (Class 1 eyesafe) scans barcode targets in
area and returns target angle. This is combined with target location
to provide vehicle position and heading. RS-232 interface.

Caterpillar also has a rotating laser device for it's SGV products
for factory Automation. They license the Cedeglec (nee GEC) developed
technologies.

Video systems
Selspot - used for biomechanical applications.

----Pan/Tilt devices
A common robotic need. Most pan-tilts sold today by companies such as
Pelco and Vicon are for CCTV applications for continuous scanning or
remote operation. At most these will have pots for feedback.

Directed Perception
1451 Capuchino Avenue,
Burlingame, CA 94010
[phone]
Computer controlled pan-tilt unit Model PTU-33-17.5
Weighs 1kg and can support ~1.5kg camera payload.
Very nice specs: 200 deg/sec slew, 3-4arc-min accuracy,
RS-232 interface, About $1200.

CCTV Corporation
315 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
Standard CCTV pan-tilt devices like those from Vicon and
others. Inexpensive but no computer control. $557 - $1400

CameraMan
CameraMan is a pan/tilt device built to support any camcorder
and has a wireless interface to an external remote control. 360 deg
pan and 50 deg of tilt.  The unit is made by ParkerVision and sold
through Columbia AudioVideo (and probably other suppliers)

A number of undersea companies make pan-tilt devices as well.

Remote Ocean Systems
5111-L Santa Fe Street
San Diego, CA 92109
[phone]
Underwater P/T systems, expensive $6K but very nicely packaged

RSI Research
Sidney, BC
[phone]
Underwater pan-tilts

Photosea
6377 Nancy Ridge Drive
San Diego, CA 92121
[phone]
underwater pan-tilts including Cobra, very small design.

Telemetrics
Hawthorne, NJ
[phone]
Computer controlled P/T devices - fairly large though.

Zebra Kinesis, a spin-off of Zebra Robotics, has a pan-til head.
Jeff Kerr
[phone]

Shape memory materials:

Nickel-titanium alloys were first discovered by the Naval Ordinance
Laboratory decades ago and the material was termed NiTinOL. These
materials have the intriguing property that they provide actuation
through cycling of current through the materials. It undergoes a
'phase change' exhibited as force and motion in the wire.

Mondotronics
524 San Anselmo Ave.,
#107
San Anselmo, CA 94960
tel: [phone]
     [phone]
fax: [phone]
net: <[e-mail]>
A number of muscle wire (nitinol) projects including a small walking
machine.  Book and sample kit with 1m each of 50,100 and 150 um wire -
enough to build all 14 projects in book.

Memry Technologies
57 Commerce Drive
Brookfield, CT 06804
tel: [phone]
fax [phone]
Memry sell a Mitsubishi developed polyurethane based Shape Memory
Polymer. The material undergoes property changes in hardness,
flexibility, elastic modulus and vapor permeability under temperature
change. Medical applications are one series of applications for this
material.
____________________________________________________________________________
Robot parts: Suppliers of useful mechanical and electrical components.

Allied Devices
2365 Milburn Avenue,
PO Box 502
Bladwin, NY 11510
[phone]
[phone] (fax)
Standard precision mechanical components

Winfred M. Berg
499 Ocean Ave.,
East Rockaway, LI, NY 11518
[phone]
Precision Mechanical Components

C&H Sales
Pasadena, CA
[phone]
[phone]
Surplus parts. Motors etc.

Small Parts Inc.
6891 NE Third Ave
PO Box 381966
Miami, FL 33238-1966
[phone]
fax [phone]
Lots of neat small supplies including: materials, metal stock, fasteners,
tools etc.

Servo Systems
115 Main Road
PO Box 97
Montville, NJ 07045-9299
[phone]
fax [phone]
Surplus pieces and prices, motors, actuators, geardrives, controllers,
robots, encoders, transducers, amplifiers.

Herbach and Rademan
401 E. Erie Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19134
[phone]
Lots of surplus stuff including AC and DC motors.

Nordex
50 Newton Road
Danbury, CT 06810-6216
Gears, cams, universals etc.

Seitz
Box 1398
Torrington, CT 06790
[phone]
drive components, gears etc.

Stock Drive Products
2101 Jericho Turnpike
Bobx 5416
New Hyde Park, NY 11042-5416
[phone]
[phone] (fax)
Great set of handbooks of thousands of components.

Edmund Scientific
101 E. Gloucester Pike
Barrington, NJ 08007-1380
[phone] order
[phone] customer service
Lots of optics, science and educational items. A little high priced, but
nice selection.

PIC Design
PO Box 1004
Benson Road
Middlebury, CT 06762-1004
[phone] (except CT)
[phone]
Bearings, clutches, brakes, couplings, tools, belts, pulleys, gears etc.

Any technical library should have catalogs from the larger
distributors. These include McMaster-Carr, Grainger, Allied, Newark,
etc.

____________________________________________________________________________
Hero robots:

Heros are no longer being made but Heath (Zenith) still offers some
replacement parts.  They had about 8 years of sales: 4,000 Hero Jr's,
3,000 Hero 2000's, 14,000 assembled Hero 1's. Ones with less
capability didn't do as well but higher priced ones did ok in the
market. Service and maintainability are a problem due to the sheer
number of bolts, pulleys, boards, sensors, cables etc. Used ones can
be picked up cheap - caveat emptor.

Heathkit
Benton Harbor, MI
order line [phone]
tech line [phone]
_____________________________________________________________________________
Puma manipulators:

Pumas are probably the most common robot in university laboratories
and one of the most common assembly robots. Designed by Vic Schienman
many years ago, the Puma (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly)
was produced for many years by Unimation (later purchased by
Westinghouse and sold at a loss later to Staubli, a Swiss company)
Found in many university labs as well.

PUMA singularities:

The PUMA has three singularities: the ``alignment'' singularity (wrist
is as close to the axis of joint 1 as it can get), the ``elbow''
singularity (elbow is fully extended or folded up; the latter is not
possible because of joint limits), and the wrist singularity (the axes
of joints 4 and 6 are aligned).

The angles corresponding to these depend on the Denavit-Hartenburg
(DH) parameter assignment.  For the PUMA, the definitions given in [1]
are perhaps the most commonly used Using these, and letting A2, A3,
D3, and D4 denote the translational DH offsets, the singularities
occur when the following are true:

Alignment:    D4*sin(ang2+ang3) + A2*cos(ang2) - A3*cos(ang2+ang3) == 0

Elbow:        sin(ang3 - atan2(A3,D4)) == 0

Wrist:        sin(ang5) == 0

Typical offset values for the PUMA 560 are

A2 =  431.80
D3 =  149.09
A3 =  20.32
D4 =  433.070

[information provided by John Lloyd <[e-mail]>]

Useful references:

[1] Richard Paul, Brian Shimano, and Gordon Mayer, ``Kinematic Control
    Equations for Simple Manipulators''. IEEE Transactions on Systems,
    Man, and Cybernetics, Vol SMC-11, No. 6, June 1981.

[2] B Armstrong, O Khatib, and J. Burdick
    The Explicit Dynamic Model and Inertial Parameters of the PUMA 560 Arm
    Proceedings IEEE Int. Conference on Robotics and Automation, April 1986
    San Francisco, CA pp510-518
_____________________________________________________________________________
Simulators:

Simulation allows researchers, designers and users to construct robots
and task environments for a fraction of the cost and time of real
systems. They differ significantly from traditional CAD tools in that
they allow study of geometries, kinematics, dynamics and motion
planning. This list is NOT a comparative analysis of the different
systems but rather a list of systems that are available.

Ars Magna:

The ARS MAGNA robot simulator provides an abstract world in which a
planner controls a mobile robot. The simulator also includes a simple
graphical user-interface which uses the CLX interface to the X window
system. Version 1.0 of the ARS MAGNA simulator is documented in Yale
Technical Report YALEU/DCS/RR #928, "ARS MAGNA: The Abstract Robot
Simulator".  This report is available in the distribution as a
Postscript(tm) file, as well as from
  Paula Murano
  Yale University
  Department of Computer Science
  P.O. Box 2158 Yale Station
  New Haven, CT  06520-2158
  Email: <[e-mail]>
Comments to Sean Engelson: <[e-mail]>
ARS MAGNA is available by anonymous ftp:
    location: ftp.cs.yale.edu
    directory: pub/nisp
    filename: ars-magna.tar.Z

CADSI
PO Box 203
Oakdale, IA 52319
[phone]
[phone]
DADS - kinematics and dynamics package. Have ProEngineer to CADSI
interface.  Supports rigid and flexible body analysis. Animation and
interfaces to FEA/FEM and CAD programs.

Deneb Robotics, Inc.
3285 Lapeer Road West
PO Box 214687
[phone]
Product:    IGRIP
Platforms:    SPARCs, (SGI's?)
Cost:    US$50-$60,000.
Allows offline programming, dynamics capability etc.

Mechanical Dynamics Inc.
2301 Commonwealth Blvd
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
[phone]
ADAMS dynamics package

Silma/Cimstation
1601 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road
Cupertino, California  95014
[phone]
Product:    CimStation
Platforms:    SGI-4D, SUN SparcStation, Apollo, Intergraph,
        Computervision, HP, IBM Risc6000 and DEC.
Cost:        Base system around $55K (commercial license)
        They also have a University Partnership
        Program to enable universities to purchase CimStation
        for around $20K US and $25K International.

Provides: Basic CAD Tools: 2D and 3D solid & wireframe, IGES
interface, Robot Modelling: generate the required governing equations
(iterative or closed form) automatically for "many" classes of robots
Path Generation Kinematic Simulation with Collision Detection Dynamic
Simulation (CimStation only at this point) I/O Operations

John Craig of "Introduction to Robotics" fame is head of Silma's R&D.
Silma has a programming environment called SIL complete with its own
PASCAL-like iterative language with graphics and robotics extensions.
CimStation is built out of this language.  This allows you to add your
own functionality. E.g. your own path planner. You can also write
C-code, compile it, and add it to the system.

Comutek
1223 Peoples Avenue
Troy, NY  12180
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
contact:  Vinay Joshi
Products: Work-Out
Cost: Around $25000.

Tecnomatix Technologies/Robcad
39750 Grand River Avenue
Suite A-3
Novi, MI 48375
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
Platforms: HP, Silicon Graphics, IBM and Sun
Tecnomatix makes several packages for simulation including ones for
Spot welding, Arc welding, Painting, Teleoperation (Martel), CMM and
Drilling. They also have an open systems environment, ROSE, that
allows user customization and interface design. ROBCAD itself allows
robot modeling (library of 100 robots is supplied), collision free
path generation, importation of IGES, VDAFS and SET files and direct
interface with Catia and ComputerVision.

GMF Robotics
2000 S. Adams Road
Auburn Hills, MI  48057
ph# 313 377 7000
Products: OLPW-200
Platforms: ?
Cost: ?

Auto Simulations, Inc.
655 Medical Drive
Bountiful, UT  84010
ph# 801 298 1398
telex 801 298 8186
contact:  Teresa Francis, ext 330
Products: AutoMod II
Platforms: ?
Cost: ?
_____________________________________________________________________________
Real-Time Operating Systems

This is an abridged list of Dave Stewart's FAQ on RTOS'. See
comp.real-time and news.answers for that FAQ.

Below is a list of both commercial and research Real-Time Operating
Systems (RTOS) which are being used around the world for implementing
robotic systems.  Only the names and addresses of the distributors are
included.  Since the available features of each are constantly
changing, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are greatly a
matter of opinion and target application, no such descriptions are
given.

Commercial RTOS:

    * iRMX III
        Runs on Intel 80X86-based computers
    U.S.A.:
        Intel Corporation
        3065 Bowers Avenue
        Santa Clara, California 95051
        tel [phone]
    * LynxOS
        Runs on wide variety of platforms, including Motorola,
        Intel, Sun, and Hewlett Packard.

        Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc
        16780 Lark
        Los Gatos, CA 95030
        tel [phone]
        fax [phone]

    * OS-9
        Runs on Motorola MC680X0-based single board computers.

        Microware System Corporation
        1900 N.W. 114th St.
        Des Moines, Iowa 50322
        tel [phone]
    * pSOS+
        Runs on a variety of Motorola 680X0 and 88100, and
        Intel 80386 computers.  Requires a host workstation or
        personal computer if pASSPORT+ real-time programming
        environment is to be used.

        Software Components Group, Inc.
        1731 Technology Drive
        San Jose, CA  95110
        tel [phone]
        fax [phone]

    * VRTX
        Runs on a wide variety of processors, including Motorola 680X0,
        Intel 80X86 and 80960, National Semiconductor series 3200.

        Ready Systems
        470 Potrero Avenue
        P.O.Box 60217
        Sunnyvale, CA 94086
        [phone]
        fax [phone]

    * VxWorks
        Runs on a wide variety of MC680X0 and SPARC-based single
        board computers. Requires a workstation for program
        developments. Widely used in Unix environments for realtime work.

        Wind River Systems Inc.
        1000 Atlantic Avenue
        Alameda, CA 94501
        [phone]
        fax [phone]

Research RTOS that are distributed:

    * Chimera II
        Runs on MC680X0-based single board computers.
        Requires a Sun workstation for program development
    U.S.A.:
        Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
        Carnegie Mellon University
        5000 Forbes Avenue
        Pittsburgh, PA 15213
        ATTN: David B. Stewart
        tel [phone]
        fax [phone]
        email: [e-mail]

    * Harmony
        Runs on MC680X0-based single board computers
    Canada:
        Division of Electrical Engineering
        National Research Council of Canada
        Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
        K1A 0R6
        ref: NRCC Tech Report No. 30081

Robot Control C Library (RCCL)
A robot programming environment embedded in C/UNIX. A graphics
simulator is provided which supports the PUMA, Stanford, and ``Elbow''
manipulators. The system can be compiled on SGIs (so the Indigo should
be fine), and the graphics runs under either X or GL.  You can get the
system from RCIM for a small fee to cover copying and shipping. If you
are interested send mail to:
John Lloyd            Research Center for Intelligent Machines
[e-mail]   McGill University, Montreal
[phone]            Fax: [phone]

_____________________________________________________________________________
Survey of Robot Development Environments

This version: Mon Sep 14 07:16:31 1992 Please send updates, additions,
corrections, etc. to: <[e-mail]>
[Sorry about the format, I'll try to work it into 80 cols - nivek]

Organization    Project        Robot        Development        Languages &
                        Type        HW Environment        SW Enviroment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alcatel Alsthom Indoor robot    Own design    SPARC II, VME proc     VxWorks, MOTIF
Recherche (AAR) Outdoor    robot    Own design

Brown U.        Mobile robots    Own design    SPARC I & II,        OS/9, GNU Emacs, Xlib,
                        (RWI base)    VME 68030        MOTIF, Forth, C, C++

CMU             a) SM^2(walker)    Own design    VME 68020 & 68030,    Chimera II RTOS, C,
                                Sun            Sun tools
                b) AMBLER (6    Own design    VME 68020 & 68030,    MOTIF, VxWorks,
                   leged walker)        SPARC II, Iris        X windows, C
                c) Mobile Mani-    HERO 2000    Z8088s, Sun IPC & ELC,    X Window, Lisp, C, Hero
                   pulator            NeXT            Basic

                d) Mobile robot    Own design    SPARC, Iris, Mac,    X windows, Openwindows,
                                VME, Maspar, Titan    VxWorks, Chimera RTOS,
                                            TCA, GIL, LISP
                e) Navlab    Own design    Sun-4            X windows, C


Colorado St.    6-legged robot    Own design    68HC11EVM, AT        C

Cornell U.    2 mobile robots    Own design    Gespak 68000, Intel    Scheme, Lucid Lisp
        (robot with    (RWI base)    80c196, Sun(?)
        tank-tread
        base coming)

Cray Research(?)Mobile robot    Own design    MC68HC16EBV, 386    Assembler

Georgia Tech    Mobile robots    Denning    DRV-1    SUN IPC, Decstation,    X windows, C,
                        & MRV-II    Microvax II        Lisp

Grumman CRC     SmartyCat    Cybermotion    Mac II's/IIci's,    C, CLOS, LISP, SAL
                        K2A        uExplorer, SGI(soon)    VxWorks(soon)
                        68030 VME board(soon)

IBM TJ Watson    TJ, TJ2        Own design    Symbolics, RS/6000,    LISP, CLOS, CLIM,
(1989?-1992)                   (RWI bases)    286, 386, Suns        C, X-windows, MOTIF,
                                            GNU Emacs

ISX Corp        Subsumption    Own design    Mac II cx's/ci's    C(?)

JPL             7 robots    Own design    Suns to 6811        RCCL, ALFA

McGill U    Mobile robot    Own design    Sparcs, mc68hc11, PC    GNU, X, Small-C
                (RWI base)                C, C++

MIT        20 robots    Own design    Mac II & IIsi, HC6811    Behavior Language
        Polly        Own esign    VME, 6811, Mac        Senselisp(Scheme)
                (RWI base)

MITRE           Mobile robot    Denning MRV-1    MacQuadra, uExplorer    Lisp, REX/GAPPS, C, C++

NRC of Canada    EAVE        Customized    Mac II's, 68020's    C, HARMONY OS, MacAPP
                Cybermotion


NC State        Mobile robot?    Own design    VME 68020 & 68040,    OS/9, P/NET
                                Mac

Purdue U.    PETER        Cybermotion    Sun4, 68030        C, VxWorks

Stanford        Landmark based    Nomadic        Mac IIci        C, LISP
                Navigation

Swiss FIT       Mobile robot    Own design    Mac            MacMETH, Modula-2

U of Central    a) 6-leg walker    Own design    Commodore 64        SuperC,    C
                b) 6-leg walker Own design    Amiga 500        C

U of Edinburgh    a) ALDER    Fischertecknik    8052, SUN, PC        Basic
        b) CAIRNGORM    Fischertecknik    68000, SUN        C

U of Mass.,            Denning        DECstation 5000,    C, LISP
Amherst                        Sparcstation

U of New    Underwater    Own design    Sparcstation,        VxWorks, C(?)
Hampshire    robots                CMOS VME boards


U Wash.         Mobile robots    Denning        HP 9000 series 300's,    Gensym G2, OS/9
                        68000            LLAMA (Forth), Lisp, C

VTT (Technical    Akseli        Own  design    HP-1100, 386        MS-DOS, LynxOS (soon)
Research Center            base with                C
of Finland)            "turtle" config

_____________________________________________________________________________
Books:

The readership of this group ranges from the naive user to experienced
robot designers and users. Accordingly, this list covers the gamut as
well.

The Robot Builder's Bonanza: 99 Inexpensive Robotics Projects
Gordon McComb
TAB Books

Interfacing Test Circuits With Single-Board Computers
Robert H. Luetzow
TAB Books

Build Your Own Universal Computer Interface
Bruce Chubb
TAB Books

Robots
Peter Marsh
Crescent (Crown) Publishers, NY 1985
Marsh edited the volume and the book is made up of several
contributions from robotics researchers.  A very well illustrated book
that covers the general topic of robots.  Excellent source materials
and graphics.

Microprocessor Based Robotics
Mark J. Robillard
Howard Sams & Co. 1983

Advanced Robot Systems
Mark J. Robillard
Howard Sams & Co. 1984

The 6.270 Robot Builder's Guide
Fred Martin
  Server: kame.media.mit.edu (18.85.0.45)
  File  : ~ftp/pub/fredm/README
  This directory contains "The 6.270 Robot Builder's Guide", the
  course notes to the 1992 MIT LEGO Robot Design Competition.
  Contact: Fred Martin at [e-mail]

_____________________________________________________________________________
Acknowledgements:
[People who responded directly to me or the net]

Hans Moravec, Maki Habib, Ken Goldberg, David Stanton,
John Nagle, Sean Graves, Sjur Vestli, Mark Yim, Rich Wallace
Dan Hudson, Sanjiv Singh, Matt Stein, Dave Stewart, Ed Cheung, Ron
Fearing, Klaus Biggers, Lisa Rendleman, Nobuhiko Mukai,





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