Where can we buy Livera kit?
On Hicat website or Robotshop currently.
What capabilities will have Livera “out of the box”?
Livera is an open source hardware project which aims to bring low cost machine vision features to the Arduino community.
Machine vision features in Livera mainly focus on two things: 1. High resolution video recording and streaming(720p). 2. OpenCV enabled color and object tracking.
It also contains all the main components such as WIFI, Atmel MCU, accelerometer, which you need to build a robot or any IoT application.
On videos, camera board have an external black antenna; Is necessary? it will be included? (only in Robot kit appears a PCB antenna)
PCB it self contains an ceramic antenna, it’s working good under both AP&AD mode. In the case of Livera robot kit, we consider that some components like battery and servo has to stick on top of the livera board, they might influence the signal.That’s the reason we put pcb antenna on top of the robot.
Do you have planning for QR codes recognition? (Pixy doesn’t)
Sure, QR code recognition can be done. The vision core of Livera is Hi3518E embedded system, it supports OpenCV Library. Basically, you could just write c/c++ code, invoke QR code recognition API(there are a lot of open source openCV QR code recognition Libraries), Cross compile it to a program, and put it into the Linux system’s onboard flash or SD card via ssh, serial port or save directly into SD card, then run the program). If you need the QR data within Arduino environment(arduino core/32u4). Could use our bridge server to transfer data through Serial communication.
BTW, We will consider to put into our Arduino Library, the library will contain functions like color tracking, line tracking, object and face detect, the library isn’t done yet, will release before shipping, Happy hacks!
There are a good picture showing Arduino connections and functions, but which of there remains free? Which used by Livera board itself and which by motor drive?
Within Livera’s Arduino Core: I2C: D2/SDA 3D/SCL MPU6050: I/0 8 UART: D1/TX D0/RT its connected to hi3518e, but it can communicate with other device while not using hi3518. also the Arduino lib support GPIO turn to soft Serial port.
Can there be some way to connect Livera to a VR head set? Then it can be used for FPV on drones and RC Cars.
For VR enabled fpv experience, you just need to do a set up into within the mobile app, duplicate the the video into left view and right view, we’re considering to put this feature into our stretch goal(embedded into our mobile app).
A big feature I’ve always wanted for my drones was for them to follow me around (on my trips and treks) . Can this be done with Livera?
One of Livera’s main feature is that it could easily take control of and make your exist robot or RC vehicle into FPV control vehicle. A little suggest, bring a mobile wifi Router to extend(let mobile and livera connected through) the video transmit distance could highly enhance the experience.
What is the effective distance for the camera to recognize objects?
About the effective distance for object tracking, It depend on the focus distance of the lens, for Livera, the lens we use is 140 degree wide angle and the focus distant has been set to infinity. We didn’t do the actual test, but It should be work in quite a long range.
Will be the robot frame design will be available after the campaign?
We released all the source file include Livera dev board layout, Livera and robot frame cad, dog feeder 3d file and pan-tile 3d file. Also, we really expect to see more design based on livera.
Will Hitcat livera work in Python, are the libraries expected ??
Micro Python is supported
Does it support power from USB port like raspberry pi?
Yes, you could power up the Livera through USB cable, or battery.
Would love it if there were apis, tutorials and documentation available when we receive the set so we can dive right into making a great robot!
There are a lot of APIs, like Arduino APIs, Web APIs, Linux APIs
Check these out
