Better Remote Control Options For Robotics Challenge

Community General Discussions
1

Hi;

Sanity check and advice please.

We are entering a Robtics Challenge for schools which consists of a number of autonomous and remote controlled challenges. For remote control we are currently using a Pi Hut 2.4Ghz Wireless Game Controller:

https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-compatible-wireless-gamepad-controller

We have a couple of issues with this method:

(a). Every so often, normally at crucial moments' the connection seems to get lost and either the Robot crashes or stops and cannot be moved, the controller flashes whilst it is trying to get a new connection and the all of a sudden we have control again.

(b). In the Roboteers hints section it says "Controlling your robot over WiFi can only lead to pain" and also suggests "Analog power control is best for controlling your robot in remote control mode, allowing for fine control of your robot. An RC transmitter or game controller are best for this".

So I am guessing, to avoid disappointment on the day, we probably need to switch to full blown RC Transmitter Control (27Mhz). I have a cheap 2 Channel Transmitter that my son bought on eBay and I have a 2 Channel Receiver somewhere (they can be picked up cheap anyway. I just need a matching set or sets of crystals.

Is my thinking correct and any advice on what colour crystals to get?

We then need to find out how to control the Pi using the signals from the RC Receiver?? So any pointers on that would also be appreciated. 

Many thanks 

2

RC vs Raspberry PI

For the RC vs autonomous aspect, if you’re using RC, what does the Pi do? Unfortunately not aware of any “easy” RC receiver to Pi adapter.

3

Thanks for the response. I

Thanks for the response. 

I now have a better understanding than I did before. 

The Robotics competition is called PiWars and the Robot has to have a Raspberry Pi at it’s core. It can use other onboard micros but the Pi has to be involved in some way shape or form.

So a 2.4Ghz Radio Transmitter and Receiver would be better than an old 27Mhz set.

There is very little info on using a Raspberry Pi to read data from an RC transmitter as the Pi is not setup to handle this kind of communications. There is info on using an Arduino and a few other bespoke boards such as Pololu RC switch. 

I have managed to get Bluetooth working (An Android App to send data to a Bluetooth enabled device by Martin O’Hanlon and following the docs here I have written a python script to read the data being sent by Bluetooth and converting it to drive the Motors attached to the ThunderBorg motor driver board.