I beg your pardon but i find this comment rather rude. Much design goes into this and the things you have said are terrible design for a AGV, i would know seeing how i have built and programmed a few. “why not mount everything inside?” because how would i ever program the thing!!? If i put the micro controller inside the body where it is inaccessible then i cant program it. I dont know if you realize how much programming and testing goes on to get it to work the correct best way, i change the program, run the vehicle and then change the program again and again and again. And you think there would be now problem mounting the compass module on the top of the buggy? I beg to differ being how i have tired that. A motor is just a bunch of magnets and get that any where near a compass and the compass will NOT work. The compass will not work with a little electromagnetic interference from the micro controller. To say my design is wrong and awful is very rude of you, this happens to be one of the best low budget amateur AGVs that i have seen.
i was not rude ! , i like it a lot, but that’s just my comment , for the programming issue , why not make an extension to the programming port that plugs into the body , it would be gr8 , and much much easier for you . to ease programming for debugging i usually plant the programmer in the project ! and just plug a usb and program . about the compass , well i have no experience with those but you can try shielding of any magnetic interference by some torroids around the wires leading to the module . and read again my comment , i said that the stick is awful . only the stick ! . and of course the way you mounted the stuff in the back . just my two bits keep up the good work .
This was a very simple design and there is no need to complicate things with programmers in the project or extensions. Its a black box autopilot, plug in your cables and sensors and your ready to go. I also needed to make it easily replicated as i have a tutorial on how to make it that i now have to update, i tried to make it as much as plug and play as i could. Elegantly simple. I guess we think very differently, i find my design perfect while you think other wise, that is fine i suppose. None of it matters either way because it all comes down to the programming.
Very nice work friend! Perhaps you can avoid EM interference if you place the compass right on top of the truck , then shield the body from the inside with aluminum foil? That way you might be able get rid of that stick. I think i’ll be using the same compass for my robot and it’s definitely going to be much closer to noise sources. I wouldn’t worry too much about the permanent magnets inside the motors. These generally have to be very close to a compass to have any effect unless they are very powerful. Plus there is “stuff” between the motors and your compass that’s going to inhibit the magnetic field. Sorry to b*** you about the stick as well.
hey patrick, your design is excellent and your theory is ingenious. Dont let anybody tell you different. your AGV is an inspiration for everybody who wants to make a cheap amateur AGV.(I, for one think you are a junior jeff lieberson).
P.S- i know that jeff is the host of time warp but he also build a robot.Absolut vodka paid the bills
Great job with the AGV. i too disagree with the previous statement of the AGV not being well designed. the entire purpose of us building robots is to experiment and furthur our knowlegde. test platforms are not meant to be a perfect product. they should be desinged in a way which allows easy modification and development and in my opinion your design has encapsulated all of these elements giving a great platform.
your simple and effective solutions are a good example about what prototyping in hobby robotics is all about.
This board you have designed can be used only in gound vehicles or it can be used in sea and air vehicles?
Also you can upgrade your board and add some xbee socket in order to provide the user the abiliity to use xbee communication modules.(and get the whole control wirelessly)
Love that kind of projects Patrick,and you’re a great source of inspiration for everyone and specialy newbies like me. I’m one of your fans.
I’ve only built the Frist start here robot II and planing somethink else.I’m ready and reading everyone’s great projects and as I’ve notice allready,there are a lots of Arduinos. Would that be a better choice rather than Picaxe? Sorry to ask but can’t make up my mind on what would be the programming to learn. Keep up the good work for us
Well i use arduino and like it a lot so of course i recommend it. Right after my start here robot, i switched to arduino. I would say its better than picaxe but i do not want to start a micro controller war ;). I say give arduino a shot and you will not be disappointed.
I have a car that is exactly like the one that you used above. Did you modify the steering at all or does it work well with the “bang bang” or disproportional steering? Thanks for your time
You can check out my tutorial https://www.robotshop.com/letsmakerobots/node/19554. I attached Servo16.h, it is named “Old_servo_library”. In order to get it, i had to download Arduino IDE version 16 and i grabbed the servo library from it. But remember, you can only control 2 servos with servo 16 library. This is why i might be adding a slave.
I hope i can get in the air too one day ;). But i am going to start on changing the new AGV around a bit. Getting rid of the truck shell and putting a dual platform on top made of lexan so i have a area to add sensors and maybe a camera mount and whatever else comes to mind.
My big AGV is a bit too cumbersome to make programming changes to, so I followed your lead and put everything on an RC monster truck. Works pretty good. Make a run, pick it up, plop it on the desk for updates and back outside again.
and just plug a usb and program . about the compass , well i have no experience with those but you can try shielding of any magnetic interference by some torroids around the wires leading to the module . and read again my comment , i said that the stick is awful . only the stick ! . and of course the way you mounted the stuff in the back . just my two bits