Turtle is a simple robot I built recently just for fun. He is built on an iRobot Create base (a modified Roomba, from iRobot). As I started building him, I discovered the Turtle project from Willow Garage ( who makes the PR2 and drives ROS development). So, I purchased a couple of the Turtle “Deck Disks”, and mounted them on the iRobot Create base, and built a simple interface card to power the Kinect, Servos, and LEDs.
The ROS Turtle project is based upon Linux, and I wanted to stick with Windows for my development for now, but I really want to play with Linux/ROS when I get a chance.
I modified my Loki software to work on Turtle, but it’s a bit of a hack. Feel free to use my code on a Turtle, but expect that you need good Visual Studio understanding to get it working. Mostly, I think the code is useful for examples (such as how to talk to Turtle and Kinect).
I found some blue led strips and put them all around the top. They are controlled by the laptop (see the schematic, it’s easy). The pictures don’t do them justice. They look pretty cool 
Hey, Dave!
Yes, I did read that. I did not know what MSDN, MSDDK, or GPA was about or where to get it. I am using MSstudio10 Express, the FREE version.
Is it possible to use a different C compiler that is less complicated?
Thanks,
Mel
hey Dave,
I hate to ask so many questions, but the hardware on the turtle, is it identical to the Loki? Or can it be a notebook, Create, Power/I/o board for the Kinect including the Gyro like an original Turtlebot?
If you have any more schematics or pix on the turtlebot. I have a turtlebot and before I install ROS, etc. I would like to try your program under windows7.
thanks again.
Mel
1>—— Build started: Project: Loki, Configuration: Debug Win32 ——
2>—— Build started: Project: Turtle, Configuration: Debug Win32 ——
1> stdafx.cpp
2> stdafx.cpp
2>c:\dev\_robot\turtle\stdafx.h(23): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: ‘afxwin.h’: No such file or directory
1>c:\dev\_robot\loki\stdafx.h(23): fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: ‘afxwin.h’: No such file or directory
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 2 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
I get these error messages.
thanks,
Mel
Hi Mel,
I looked into this a bit. Unfortunately, I don’t have the Express version, so I don’t know why it would not find stdafx.h (that’s a pretty standard header file). This is an MFC project, if that helps.
Regarding hardware, yes, I used the same ports on the iRobot as TurtleBot does. (there’s only 3 to pick from). I am not using the accelerometer at this point.
Regarding building you a binary, I’d be glad to do that but it would not help. It would fail when it can’t find the needed .dll files. So, I think you need help from someone that knows Visual Studio well, and can help with the dependencies.
I have updated the download page to make this more clear.
Sorry I can’t be more help!
P.S. Regarding the hardware, you can compare the schematic above to the one provide for the TurtleBot at http://turtlebot.com/build/
Also, I think I am going to “take the plunge” and try out ROS on my Turtle Bot, so I probably won’t be adding much more functionality to this code for Turtle (but will keep enhancing it for Loki).
Cloud you explain more about slam . Did you build a map by manual control before and store it in a file ? . And I see ‘LockOn’ function in your code. Dose it use for navigate the robot ?
Thanks,
John Paw