Ash Charles

As of February 1st 2010, I'm working as an intern at Gumstix.

On which projects are you working at Gumstix?

At this time, I am completing the transition to unifying support for the Verdex Pro series into the Overo repository.

On which Gumstix projects are you working at your University?

As a computing science graduate student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, I'm building a herd of 30 "Chatterbox" robots in the Autonomy Lab. These 'bots use a configuration of the following:

• An iRobot Create as a base,
  
• Some extra sensors and actuators,
• A PXA255-based Gumstix connex motherboard stack acts as the brain of each Chatterbox. 

What is your background?

I'm halfway through a master's degree in computer science at the moment. I studied Mechatronics Engineering during my undergraduate. Really though, I've been taking apart computers and building Lego robots since I was old enough to wield a screwdriver.

What started your interest in gumstix technology?

My introduction to Gumstix came in September 2008 when I started working with the PXA255-based Gumstix Connex boards that are the brains behind some of the robots in the Autonomy Lab at SFU. 

Ed note: The PXA255-based Gumstix connex series are now EOL, as per this notice. 

What gumstix products are you using in the project?

The "Chatterbox" robots use a Gumstix Connex motherboard coupled with a WifiStix-CF expansion board as well as a RoboAudioStix expansion board to interface with our custom daughter board.  

I'd like to switch some of the robots to using the technology of the Gumstix Overo series. The Gumstix Overo Fire COMs, with DSP and 802.11g, would run some more advanced video processing and eliminate the extra network hardware.

Why is Gumstix technology the best solution for the project?

From an engineering perspective, the diminutive size and minimal power consumption of Gumstix products makes them ideal for our robots; it is
much better solution than the laptop strapped to a set of wheels that is so common in research.  For me though, I appreciate that the entire software stack and build system is open source and, equally importantly, the details of the expansion boards are likewise available.

What projects do you have planned for the future?

Too many :)
I'm really keen on using audio information to expand the capabilities of robots; this seems like an under-utilized sensing and signaling modality.

Will Gumstix technology be part of your future plans?

For sure.

Why?

First, I understand the product line and build environment now and, because so much is made available, I can quickly customize the software for my own applications.  

Second, the Gumstix products are unbeatable when it comes to price and power consumption and are well-suited for robotics applications.