Settling in on the use of a USB interface was actually a good idea. I may have trouble later on because of latency, but in terms of testing and experimentation, this is turning out to be a very good decision. It turns out that I can do a "table test" with some of the gear hooked up to my Ubuntu laptop via the USB cable into the USB Hub to get the overall structure of the software running correctly. I can then port the software over to the Chumby and test it further from an autonomous view. Since pretty much everything is USB connected, I can perform this type of integration testing in independent chunks with all of the equipment. It even allows me to add parts later on as they are needed and I become more familiar with their characteristics. The only thing that is annoying me right at the moment is the amount of power that will be consumed by the Pololu servo controller. I may end up having to add an extra battery somewhere in the mix, perhaps connected to the USB Hub or directly to the servo controller. I also have one more USB Hub port available to me for an extra USB drive or another camera (stereo?). I will visit this again later.
As an interim measure, I will probably make a simple routine that passes information via Wi-Fi from my Ubuntu laptop to the Chumby and directly to the USB port on the Chumby. The main idea here is to add the capability to have an tether-less interface to the Ubuntu laptop for integration testing. This will increase the overall testing and experimentation capabilities of the setup.
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