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The Serializer Robot Controller provides a ready-to-use solution to interface Microsoft .NET applications to common robotic hardware, e.g. the Traxster Robot Kit. With the Serializer, you can interface the DC motors, servos, analog sensors, I2C devices, single and quadrature encoders, switches/relays, and other devices to the Microsoft .NET framework.

The Serializer can be controlled by any device with a serial port. This could be a Personal Computer, a PDA, a PC104 board, a Single Board Computer, or a microcontroller. With the use of the Microsof .NET framework and various Bluetooth devices, it's also possible to control the serializer using your cell phone to drive the Traxster Robot!

This kit includes the IR Panner, a pan servo, three Sharp IR Sensors, and three Sharp IR cables. It provides a scanning range of 270+ degrees. The angle between each sensor is 45 degrees.

The infrared sensor takes a continuous distance reading and reports the distance as an analog voltage with a distance range of 4cm (1.5") to 80cm (31.5") depending on the specific model selected.

The CMUcam2+ consists of a SX52 microcontroller interfaced with a 0V6620 Omnivision CMOS camera that allows high-level data to be extracted from the camera's streaming video. Its primary function is to track and monitor highly contrasting color regions. It can also detect motion, provide color statistics, and transmit image information to a computer for additional processing.

The CMUcam2+ has the following functionality:

• Track user-defined colors at up to 50 Frames Per Second (FPS)
• Track motion using frame differencing at 26 FPS
• Find the centroid of any tracked data
• Gather mean color and variance information
• Gather a 28 bin histogram of each color channel
• Manipulate horizontally pixel-differenced images
• Transfer a real-time binary bitmap of the tracked pixels in an image
• Arbitrary image windowing
• Adjust the camera's image properties
• Dump a raw image (single or multiple channels)
• Up to 160 X 255 resolution
• Supports multiple baud rates
• Control 5 servo outputs
• Automatically use servos to do two axis color tracking

With the CMUcam2+ Turret, it allows the CMUcam2+ to pan left to right, and up and down for a greater range of visibility. The CMUcam2+ Turret can tilt 45+ degrees up and 45+ degrees down. The pan ability of the turret is only limited to the sweep of your servo, which is typically around 180 degrees. It also features a "Sensor Shell", which sits in front of the CMUcam2+ to allow you to mount popular robotic sensors to improve your robots (such as Traxster Robot) vision capabilities.