Interdepartmental Effort Gets SHSU Into Robotics--Cheaply

From left, Dave Luning, John McCoy, Jason Minter, Cecil Hallum, Gary Smith, with their WiFi-controlled 1:6 scale model M5 Stewart Tank. --Photo by Saby Hernandez

A small group of revolutionaries in the math/statistics and computing science departments at Sam Houston State University is building an army of the future. They already have the armor and are planning for an air force.

It started with a 1:6 scale M5 Stewart Tank that math professor Cecil Hallum found on e-Bay for $99.

Hallum began looking for a vehicle like that when he and other faculty members discussed ways that remotely-sensed digital imagery could be mathematically quantified, and the rapidly growing WiFi environment that they expect to eventually blanket the United States.

More than 80 cities have WiFi networks, which allow anyone with a computer to go online from any location within that grid, wirelessly. Just recently the Houston City Council approved a network that will be one of the largest of its kind in North America, with expected completion in 2009.

With that news, robot antennae began to vibrate and tiny lights twinkle, in anticipation of their business and government masters being able to control them remotely using computers instead of radio frequencies.

Potential uses include searching for bodies, assessing damage in hard to reach areas after a disaster such as a hurricane, searching for hidden weapons and watching the border for illegal immigrants.

The problem with vehicles controlled by radio frequencies is that they must stay within range of their control signal. The SHSU team took a radio frequency controlled device--the tank--and converted it to WiFi control.

It was a relatively inexpensive project. In addition to the $99 e-Bay tank, it required a $59 wireless router from Office Depot, $99 for their own URL address, and $119 for a small Web camera that could be mounted on the tank's turret.

All the hardware needed cost less than $500, Hallum estimates, not including his 14-ounce OQO computer with a 2.0 Gigahertz processor that was inserted into the area of the tank where the crew and ammunition would usually go.

"We wanted to show that something like this could be put together that the general public might be able to afford," said Hallum.

Doing the grunt work on the project was an army of old soldiers and one raw recruit.

Dave Luning, who retired from full-time teaching in math in 2004, and John McCoy, professor emeritus of computing science, who retired in 2003, both chipped in. McCoy was in charge of the wiring, and Luning directed the overall hardware configuration effort.

The junior officer was Gary Smith, associate professor of computing science, who created the software. Smith is so convinced of the future usefulness of such technology that he is working to create a robotics laboratory in the computing science department.

The foot soldier in the project was graduate student Jason Minter, who did his master's thesis on the statistical aspects of converting data from the tank's camera to useful images. Minter graduated in December and moves on to SMU this fall for doctoral work in mathematics.

The project has provided a little extra excitement around the math/statistics offices. You never know when you'll come around a corner in some hallway and meet a tank roaring along as if operated by some tiny rodent.

What is actually happening is that Hallum is demonstrating his creation, and it's probably being driven from some room that's out of sight by a high school student from Huntsville or New Waverly, who have both brought groups to see it.

The secretaries say that so far it hasn't been too bad, but they don't know what to expect from the next step in General Hallum's campaign plan. This will be an airborne vehicle such as a blimp or helicopter.

Minter explains that the tank was selected as the first tool because it "can carry a relatively large payload for its size and it is less prone to complete destruction than an airborne vehicle."

Hallum said the project has already been a good recruiting tool for the university, and he looks forward to the next stage. He already has a couple of graduate students lined up and interested in taking over what Minter started, and the motor pool volunteers are ready for the next phase of Sam Houston State University's entry into the world of robotics.

—END—

SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
April 24, 2007
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.