Jack’s Status Report for 04/29/23 – Team B4 : Robotic Trash Concierge

Week recap
- Created a bin detection algorithm with George
  - Used LiDAR and edge detection to grab a vector representing the bin
  - Then while rotating the Roomba, the vector was then compared to the current LiDAR scan using L1 norm to find center of bin for alignment
- Worked on bin alignment with George
  - We were not happy with the LiDAR bin detection algorithm performance, so we have returned to using a back camera for bin detection
  - Now we detect the bin distance using LiDAR, and use ARuco for bin pose estimate to create an alignment procedure
- Enhanced robot rotation with George by listening to ROS transform messages for more accurate orientation estimation
- Completed battery test with George
  - 80% drain over four hours
Schedule
- Behind on bin alignment and integration testing, using Finals week as buffer.
Deliverables
- Continuing to work on bin alignment
- Once bin alignment is done (and hardware is frozen) complete bin pickup and integration tests