A4WD1 Combo Kit (PS2 Control) can't get it to respond

Lynxmotion Rovers, Sumo, and Tracked
1

I’m an engineer student at Itasca Community College (ICC), and I’m working in the school’s concept lab this summer. ICC has many summer camps for the engineering program, and one of the project requires me to create a rover. This is my first time every using any Lynxmotion products. Because of that, I seem to be facing a problems with getting the rover to move.

The rover I have is the A4WD1 Combo Kit (PS2 Control). I believe I have all the wiring hooked up correctly. I was just following the assembly guide provided on Lynxmotion website, but I’m running into the problem of the robot not responding to the PS2 controller: even though the controller is linked to the robot. I’m using an Arduino Duemilanove board to run the code, which will make the rover function to the commands of the PS2 controller. However, I believe the board isn’t getting the information from the PS2 controller, or the code I put on the board is processing the information incorrectly: I’m not sure if the problem is one of those two or something entirely different. In addition, the code I’m using for the board is the one Lynxmotion provide on their website.

If you have any advice or idea of what the problem could be please list it bellow. It will really help me get this project moving along, and will help relieve some frustration on my part. Thanks for taking your time to read my forum; I will add photos, so you can get a better idea of how I’m hooking everything up. If any more information is needed just let me know I can add it.

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2

You will need to troubleshoot one step at a time. First and foremost, you will need to provide a variety of clear photos of your setup, especially showing the electronics and how they are connected.

3

Take a look at step 1 here:
lynxmotion.com/images/html/build123b.htm
With your current setup, the BotBoarduino is being fed from two different power supplies, which is not good.
Next, confirm the wires between the level shifter and the BotBoarduino are correct (pin to pin) and verify this with the code you are using.
To start the sketch, you need to press the start button on the remote control.

4

After eliminating the power supply from CH1 and CH2, I added the 9v battery. From doing that change in power supply I have two new LEDs that are lighting up: TX and RX. However, from the tutorial provided by lnyxmotion it shows more LEDs that are lit up then what i have. In Figure 1 it shows D3 and L being lit up, and i’m not sure why mine are not. If any idea of what I would need to change please let me know.

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5

It now looks like you have something connected to both the VS and VL terminals on the BotBoarduino - is this the case?
In order to upload code with the 9V battery connected, the switch needs to be ON to power the microcontroller so it receives the code.
When you turn on the PS2 remote control (after the robot is powered), does the second LED turn on? If not, try reversing the DAT/CMD/ATT cable.
We await your reply.

6

When trying to start the tutorial guide for the AL5 arm, the tutorial doesn’t provide the download for the Basic Micro Studios. Was hoping someone could provide me with the correct link for the download, for the one in the tutorial sends me to the page saying server error in ‘/’ Application. Thanks for the help.

7

Do you have a Basic Micro board / processor? We have not sold this in quite some time - all kits have been converted to BotBoarduino / Arduino (download from www.arduino.cc).

8

The board type i’m using is called SSC-32U. I was just following the tutorial guide provided by Lynxmotion: the URL is bellow.
lynxmotion.com/images/html/build148.htm
This tutorial say’s to use Basic Micro Studies. If this is not the correct tutorial could you provide me with the correct one, and the code needed for arduino to run the arm with a PS2 controller.

9

This one’s for the BotBoaduino + PS2: lynxmotion.com/images/html/A4WD1U-guide.html
Arduino program: www.arduino.cc
Sample code: raw.github.com/Lynxmotion/Rover … WD_PS2.ino