Avatar Project

Eagle Avatar Project - Robotic Telepresence for the Disabled

We have a friend. His name is Steven. He is a sophomore at Lasell College, studying to become a sports agent. He leads a very active life, as a student and a Resident Advisor, holding down several part-time jobs and running cross-country. However, he has a major challenge to his active life - he has Cystic Fibrosis. Every 4-6 months, he has to go to Children's Hospital in Boston for 2-3 weeks for pulmonary treatments. Because of a lung infection that he contracted in earlier treatment, he must spend most of his time isolated from the other CF patients. Link to our Q&A with Steven.

This causes him to drop behind in his studies on a regular basis, as well as separating him from all the activities of his regular life. Steven has collaborated with us in our Avatar project, designed to attempt to address this kind of disabling isolation, whether it is occasional or constant.

We have named our project the Eagle Avatar project, Eagle for our team designation, and Avatar for the Hindu word for the physical incarnation of a god, which is used to represent an embodiment or manifestation. We have categorized our Avatar telepresence (presence at a distance) project into several different levels of functionality.

Level 1	Video camera recording	Video and sound to Steven, but not until media is delivered
Level 2	Internet Webcam	Video & sound to Steven immediately, no reverse flow of information, must be physically moved or multiples installed
Level 3	Laptop-based camera & microphone	Bidirectional sound and video for full conversation, still must be physically moved or multiples installed
Level 4	Laptop-based camera & microphone w/robotic chassis	Bidirectional sound and video for full conversation, ability to move platform under remote control
Level 5	Laptop-based camera & microphone w/robotic chassis plus manipulators	Bidirectional sound and video for full conversation, ability to move platform under remote control and manipulate environment (open doors, press elevator buttons, etc.)

We have focused on Levels 3 & 4 for our Avatar project, passing by Levels 1 & 2 as insufficient functionality, although in some circumstances the Level 2 Internet webcam could be useful.

With the help of our IT advisor, we have configured a pair of laptops running Microsoft Windows 2000 for bidirectional wireless communications (802.11b PC cards), either directly between each other (for demonstration purposes), or over the internet (for real use). They are configured with webcams and microphones for two-way conversation, using MSN Messenger for Internet linking, and Microsoft NetMeeting for video, audio and application communications. We presented this to Steven while he was at Children's Hospital for treatment.

We have built prototypes of a robotic chassis, for demonstration of Level 4 Avatar functionality. Our Avatar chassis prototypes are inspired by observations from the FRC competitions, especially from observing Michael Norton and his gracious FRC team from Blackstone Valley Regional at the 2004 post-season competition, BattleCry @ WPI. Our first prototype was constructed from LEGO Technics and Mindstorms components. Our second prototype was constructed from EDU Robotics components, from Innovation First, the same kit that is used for training FRC teams, and operates under radio remote control. This design was expanded upon with additional components and motors, to be large enough to actually carry our laptop and camera/microphone system.

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