Okay. I have got the rover running with a Hitec Laser 6 transmitter and a 75MHz HFD-08RD 7/8 channel receiver. The receiver is connected to a BS2 which controls two Parallax HB-25 motor controllers that provide me with skid steering.
The next step will be to get your Servo Commander program up and running with your PCTx. Then, using a Saitek joystick, control the rover through the PCTx Hitec transmitter interface.
The rover can be controlled either by RC or autonomously by an onboard thermal tracker. I can drive the rover to the area of interest and then let the thermal tracker guide the rover once a target is acquired.
I have two onboard cameras. One is wide angle and is used for steering while the other is used for surveillance and is mounted on a pan and tilt platform. Video is transmitted to a base receiver by a 1.2GHz 200mw transmitter.
How are you achieving the autonomous, non-autonomous modes? Are you placing a MCU in between the R/C receiver? Or are you sending the sensor data back to the PC and controlling it autonomously over the PC and then back through the R/C link?
Presently I have a MCU in between the R/C receiver and the HB-25s. It decodes the R/C receiver channel 1 and 2 pulses and sets up the pulse outputs for the HB-25s to do skid steering.
The MCU monitors the landing gear channel to know when to switch between manual and autonomous modes of operation.
I do have a one way 433MHz radio link that can send back telemetry, but I have not made use of it yet.
I presently have my hands full getting the direction/steering and wireless camera functions going. Wireless telemetry will follow once I am satisfied with the direction/steering and wireless camera functions.
I am most impressed with your Servo Commander software and GUI. You sure have packed a lot of features into the GUI. As Darth Vader would say: “Most impressive!”
Thanks for the kind words about the software. Please post some pics of your bot. I am eager to see what you have going. You mentioned your bot would have a thermal sensor. If you don’t mind me asking, what would you be using this type of robot for?
I am returning to Texas from California on Sunday so I will try and snap some pics of the rover before I go.
The wife and I are building a new home in Melissa, TX which is about 50 miles north of Dallas and is the second home in a new development of about 75 new homes. We are somewhat out in the sticks and I am a little concerned about security. Therefore, I am building this rover to act as a remotely controlled surveillance device until there are more homes in the area.
If I see some unusual activity in the area I can send the rover out and guide it manually, using the onboard wireless camera, to the area of suspicious activity. At that point, if there is thermal target in the area, I can put the rover in the autonomous thermal tracking mode. It will then automatically track the target of interest while sending back wireless video from the onboard camera.
Sorry it took so long, but the work load at work has been tremendous and it has taken until now for me to have some free time to myself.
Here are some pictures of my Rover that uses your ServoCommander software for control by PC over an Hitec RC link.
There are two banks of home made 12v 4500ma rechargeable batteries (NMHi) to power the motors and there are two Parallax HB-25 motor controllers to let the BS2p Stamp perform skid steering when commanded by the RC link. There are two 7.2v NMHi batteries wired in series to provide 14.4v for a 12vdc regulator used to provide power to my wireless camera and transmitter and Luxeon headlamp and a 9vdc regulator for the BS2p Stamp.
The gray superstructure mounted on the aluminum chassis will eventually have fenders on the sides and will support the wireless camera on a home made servo controlled arm using Lynxmotion brackets and tubing.
I actually had the Rover moving under remote control using the Servo Commander software on my PC which was interfaced to my Hitec Laser 6 with a PCTx. The BOE/BS2p received two servo inputs from the onboard Hitec receiver and converted the inputs to drive the two Parallax HB-25 motor controllers for skid steering.
This Rover is a real composite of hardware suppliers. The wheels and chassis are from Superdroid Robots, the 12vdc motors are from the Robot Market Place, the Hitec Laser 6 RC combo is from Tower Hobbies, the BOE/BS2p/PSC and the HB-25s are from Parallax while the NMHi batteries are from all battery on ebay. The servo controlled camera arm, not seen in the pictures, is from Lynxmotion and the CCD camera is from CCTV-Surveillance on ebay. The camera wireless transmitter/receiver is from the Protection Depot.
I have not done anymore work on the Rover since early January since I am now back in Texas awaiting completion of our new home. I will probably not be able to work on the Rover until we have moved to Texas which will probably be around late May. Though I might be able to get back to LA between now and May depending on how busy I am at work.
I cheated and bought the chassis from Superdroid Robots. It is their ATR welded aluminum base for 32mm motors. The quality of the welding is adaquate, but I had to file a lot of the welds down as there was way too much weld at the joints. In my opinion, I do not believe that this chassis is worth $259. Next time I will use an aluminum plate and aluminum angle stock to make my chassis.
When I received the chassis, it was slightly bent in on one side due to the fact that it was not well packaged for shipment from the East coast to the West coast.
Being a pretty fair technical type, I did not follow the motor adjustment instructions that Superdroid Robots provides for the assembly of the motor/chassis combination.
Instead of making the motors adjustable in the motor mounts. I anchored the motors firmly in their mounts, and then, using an ammeter, adjusted the outer chassis wall for the lowest no load motor current. This process worked great and I do not have to worry about the motors coming lose from their mounts as they are firmly anchored in place.
The Rover is excellent, I too could have warned you of their chassis. The work and materials behind that project IMO dosent sum up to 260$. It looks like they do a poor job of welding from the pics on their site since they seem to use way too much weld on the sides to join the aluminum.
I would not have used the Superdroid chassis had there been other options available to me. I had considered having a custom chassis welded up locally, but most machine shops were either too busy or wanted more than $250 to weld up a custom chassis.
The nice thing about this chassis design is the fact that the motor shaft does not carry all of the vertical load. There is a bearing in the side of the chassis that takes up most of the vertical load allowing for a bigger payload and more robut suspension.
Jim’s biggest chassis was just too small for the application that this Rover is designed for.
I know that Jim has plans for a 6WD Rover, but from what I understand this design is still a ways down the road and I need a bigger chassis for use now.
It would be nice if Jim could design universal chassis rails of various lengths and widths that could be easily assembled to a metal plate to be able to make up a custom chassis.
The motor mounts could be universial so that various motors could be used. I think that it is something that Jim ought to consider for the future because there has been a number of threads concerning bigger chassis.
I do buy Jim’s products as I have a 4WD1, A4WD1, a J5 Arm, and various other pieces of Lynnmotion hardware.
The single thermal sensor will be mounted on a pan and tilt servo with a CCD camera at the end of the arm that is not in the pictures.
It is a Devantec TPA81 thermal sensor array with nine pixels, one as a reference and the other eight as a sensor array.
My original thermal tracker was a modified version of Steve Norris’ Follow Me thermal tracker where I used a Parallax BS2p to process the TPA81 sensor output in place of a PIC.
I am presently going to incorporate Steve’s new Thermal Tracking System (norrislabs.com/Projects/RTT/index.html) into my Rover. It has a number of nice features such as auto tracking that can send back bearing data as well as hottest pixel information which simplifies the tracking process.
The SES U channels with ASB-06 L brackets could be used to create a rover chassis frame. You might need longer lengths or different lengths, depending on your robot’s requirements. Those U channels are quite strong and the pictures do not do them justice - they are made from thicker aluminum than most of the SES parts.
The motor mounts are designed to accomodate the motors Lynxmotion sells. However, they may work with other motors with a similar mounting hole arrangement.
I have just received the new motor mounts MMT-03 last week. I will be building some interesting things with them and the U channels. I will keep you posted, um but not in this thread, sorry…
Okay, I am finally settled with the wife in my new home in Northeast Texas, Melissa to be exact, and will be working on the rover shown in the preceeding pictures.
I have also built a six wheel rover using Jim’s new 12v motors and motor mounts. You can see pictures of that rover in the Projects subforum.
I am presently investigating using the PCTx with the Spektrum DX6i as the PCTx will not work with the Futaba 6EX which I have already in my possession.
The range on the Hitec Laser 6, which I originally started with, was just to short and I am looking for an R/C combo that has a longer range and will work with the PCTx.
