Forwarded from info@sudoroom.org:

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Automation is gathering momentum, but implementation may shortchange society.

Vehicle automation is too important to leave to the big companies, so Jigsaw Renaissance is putting together a low-cost electronics and software kit that will open selfdrive for DIY experimentation. All contributions are appreciated. Can you help us out either financially or technically? The RocketHub crowdfunding campaign lasts until Monday, August 30, so we have less than 2 weeks for our Popular Science #Crowdgrant to fund production of printed circuit boards: http://bit.ly/DIYRobotKits

We are working on implementing our kit into a self-driving vehicle prototype that includes the vehicle, electronics, servos and actuators. One of the goal is to keep the cost down to under $5,000. Our kit will also fit on an RC car, which saves $2,000 on vehicle cost and $500 on actuators. The prototype is a drive-by-wire recumbent tricycle: legally a bicycle, so no hassle with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). And yes, all of our work is open source including the softwares and the electronics schematics.

We’re extremely excited about the release of our kits and hope you can help us spread the word. A sustained presence online will propel us well past our intended goal. Please forward this link. Support the project by backing it, tweeting about it (follow our @ElcanoProject twitter account), and even blogging about it. We want our platform to be as robust as possible, so your feedback would be awesome. We're happy to answer any questions people might have. The more questions you ask, the better our answers can be!

You can look at the current iteration on www.elcanoproject.org. We recently showed our first vehicle at the Stanford workshop on road vehicle automation (http://www.vehicleautomation.org). A second vehicle is being assembled at the University of Washington, Bothell, and will be the focus of a student project: http://blogs.uw.edu/cssuwb/projects/elcano2/

Our electronics system runs on Arduino microprocessors robustly mounted on custom printed circuit boards. We have already built the low level control module, which isolates vehicle specific functions. We are working on the high level module, which combines three separate processors to find current location, plot a path to the destination, and feed the next path segment (avoiding obstacles) to lowlevel control. We also have a design for a module of five sonar range finders. Future modules will handle the operator interface and connect to a PC based simulator. You are welcome to subscribe to the project update: http://fb.me/6qUFeMLZN Feel free to contact us at info@ElcanoProject.org with any questions or just to say hello.

Thank you!

Elcano Project Team

www.elcanoproject.org

We look forward to a continuing partnership with you.

Our mailing address is:

Elcano Project

815 Seattle Boulevard South, Seattle, WA

Suite 112

Seattle, WA 98134

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