The Equipment
The SlashBot system will consist of three different modules: a real-world interface, a sensing & computing unit, and an actuation component.
Real-world Interface
This component is responsible for producing the video signal and provides an interface to interact with the game (i.e. accepting input from the controller). It also has a monitor to display the video signal on a screen.
PlayStation2 gaming system
Guitar Hero game disc
Guitar Hero game controller
Visual Display
Sensing & Computing
Here we designed a system that will digitize the input video signal, use triggers to analyze the signal, and send appropriate control commands to the analog robotic circuit. We are employing a National Instrument PXI system for this processing component. After speaking with National Instruments (NI) representatives, we configured such a system to meet our needs.
NI PXI-1031 System Chassis (1)
NI PXI-8106 Controller (2)
NI PXI-7833R Reconfigurable I/O FPGA (3)
NI PXI-5114 High Speed Digitizer (4)
NI SCB-68 I/O Connector Block (not pictured)
Actuation
This is the actual “robotic” portion of the design. Six solenoid actuators will be mounted above the Guitar Hero controller. One for each of the colored input buttons and one for the “strum” bar.
Analog amplifier circuit
Solenoid actuators
Mounting rack
