Robotic Microphone Array Notes SP2010

• Team Members: Zach, Rafael
• PhD Supervisor: Phani
• Faculty Supervisor: Arye Nehorai
• Goal:
  • Complete and test the simulations when a new dimension of 'rotation' is introduced in the current system.
  • Check the hardware requirements to build and test the new system.
  • Learn how the current control algorithm works and how it can be modified when the robots can rotate.
  • Implement the new control algorithm in Matlab and integrate it with the hardware.
  • Make a plan about how the robot position can be tracked using IR sensors and how the system should be modified to make it 3D.

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• Status
• Week 1
  • The simulations of the additional 'rotation' dimension are functional.

• Week 2
  • The current robotic platform can be modified into a crude robot capable of rotating, but will require a number of experiments and calculations to be usable in a demo, will be highly limited by the microphone cabling, and will likely be prone to error. Thus, it was decided to use our current platform as a proof of concept and to use the new platform to implement what we learn.

• Week 3
  • We modified the existing robot setup to allow it the extra degree of freedom so that it can rotate freely. The rotation was tested and seems reasonably consistent for our current purposes. The next steps involve mapping out the geometry of how the robot's rotation affects the microphone position and incorporating this information in the system code, so that the system can accurately keep track of microphone position while rotating.