Mind Crowd Rover

Using the Samsung Chord API, two people using mind control devices will transmit their brain waves to move a robotic rover. One person will control forward and backward motion while the other will control steering. Sonar signals and video feed are being sent back remotely from the rover using the Samsung Chord API. The sonar signals are converted to Immersion’s Haptic feedback and the video feed are displayed on remote devices. Both users try to complete a simple task using mind control with feedback from the rover. They will not be looking directly at the rover to simulate distant remote control.

Functionality. The robot is a Lego NXT version 1 with bluetooth. We use low level raw direct commands to control the NXT from the Samsung device. The NXT isn’t running any programs, the “brain” if you will, is the Samsung device. Attached to the NXT is also an ultrasonic sensor, it can sense the distance between itself and the object in front of it. The distance information is sent back to the clients and converted into Immersion haptics. The closer it is to an object, the stronger and more fierceful the vibration. On the attached Samsung device, it is also capturing snapshots once every second. The data is compressed and sent to all attached Samsung Chord peers.

Currently, there are two clients. Both clients can manually control the Rover remotely using touch controls over Samsung Chord. But the fun part is controlling them with your mind. One client can decide to control steering while the other controls forward and backward moving by either relaxing on concentrating. Cooperatively, with the sonar and video feedback from the rover, they can navigate a remote terrain with their minds.

But sometimes there can be disagreements on whose mind is not functioning as well as it should in cooperation mode. So, those two people decide to duel it out in a friendly game of mind tug a war. The rover goes into Competitive mode and is positioned in the middle facing a wall. A decision is made between which side each client will get. The rover sends either a mind challenge. The players do their best in the challenge and the raw values are sent back to the rover. The rover compares the values and moves in the direction of the winner. It will also decide the winner based on how far it has moved to either side.

Note: If you are wondering how remote control possible over the Internet if Samsung chord uses multicast over the local network? VPN, virtual private networks. ;-)