Hardware - | CMUCam | HiTech Toys |

Developed by Carnegie Mellon University, CMUcam is a new low-cost, low-power sensor for mobile robots. You can use CMUcam to do many different kinds of on-board, real-time vision processing. Because CMUcam uses a serial port, it can be directly interfaced to other low-power processors such as Parallax Basic Stamps and PIC chips. Using a CMUcam, it is easy to make a robot head that swivels around to track an object. You can even build a robot that will chase a ball around. The kit comes with everything you need to get started with the camera. The software for your PC or Linux machine is available for download on the CMU site and we pre-program the Scenix chip with the most current version of the firmware. This firmware can later be upgraded but requires a programmer for subsequent changes.

At 17 frames per second, the CMUcam can do the following: track the position and size of a colorful or bright object measure the RGB or YUV statistics of an image region automatically acquire and track the first object it sees physically track using a directly connected servo dump complete image over the serial port dump a bitmap showing the shape of the tracked object The camera dimensions are 2.25" wide x 1.75" high x 2" deep. The camera kit uses a Omnivision OV6620 single-chip CMOS CIF color digital camera with a 4.0mm, F2.8 lens and IR filter. This camera is in kit form and does require assembly. Soldering is required. The instructions for assembly of this kit as well as the User's Manual can be found at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~cmucam/.