DIY Remote Control XBee controller for Robotics

Lynxmotion Electronics & Software
461

Hi Kurt,

Awesome, you got them! :smiley:
I like that they doesnā€™t take much space inside the case. The knob was really big but will probably work very well.
I would really like to get my hands on one of those. Another DIY remote project maybe?

All three self centering?! Hey, that was very interesting. That might be very useful actually. Like Alan said it should be possible to disable the self centering part on the knob. Maybe disable the left and have the right self centering? The self centering knob might be useful for doing body rotation on all axis using only one stick! 8)

I bet you are going to have much fun with these, I know I would. :wink:

Btw, did they come with any documentations?

462

Thanks Alan and Zenta,
Not sure yet, if there is ways to disable them, it is a lot more self contained then the Hitec ones where you could see the springs and the like. Not much time to work on them todayā€¦

Not sure yet if to retrofit old one or to maybe build a new one.

Nope :frowning: Just came in a box with the screws and cover top pieceā€¦

Kurt

Edit: I played around for a few minutes. It looks like if I unscrew the two top parts of the knob, there is a spring inside that I could probably remove if I wanted to disable the self centerā€¦

463

Hi Kurt,

The joysticks look pretty cool! I would like to hear if they work as accurate as the original ones. Shipping makes them expensive so I want to make sure that they are worth the money :wink:

I just received a shipping quote. 2 sticks including shipping will cost me $110.67. Dutch Tax (19%) and import costs at customs will probably bring it up to $150 to $160. They will be shipped with USPS so will be on the road (read dutch customs) for a few weeksā€¦ Shipping with USPS to the netherlands isnā€™t that great so I think Iā€™ll ask another quote for UPS. They are much faster when it comes to shipping to the netherlands.

Xan

464

Hi Xan,

I have not played with them much yet, as I have been busy on other projects, but hopefully soon. Sure sounds like shipping to there is very expensive :open_mouth:

Kurt

465

Its the same problem with high shipping to Norway to. To badā€¦

466

If you have some free time, check out the progress Iā€™ve made on my version. Here:forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?131831-Propeller-powered-Wireless-Xbee-Robot-Controler.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/daytonaz1981/diy%20robot%20controller/IMG_20110522_161125Medium.jpg

467

Thatā€™s a nice one! :smiley:

468

Wow! :smiley:

Excellent work, I love it!

What robot are you planning to control? :wink:

469

this is going to be the guinea pig :smiley: .

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/daytonaz1981/diy%20robot%20controller/IMG_20110523_180132Medium.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/daytonaz1981/diy%20robot%20controller/IMG_20110523_175736Medium.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/daytonaz1981/diy%20robot%20controller/IMG_20110523_180025Medium.jpg

470

Whoa! :open_mouth:

471

:open_mouth:

Now, that hex do deserve a decent controller!
Those pics deserve some more written details. :wink:

Interesting design for the front legs, and what is that head? Cool!
Are you planning to post some more details about it?

472

Looks like the head is on a long powered neck?

Tell us more man!

Alan KM6VV

473

Well, first off let me say you guys are inspiration. Iā€™ve always wanted a walker and after seeing what youā€™ve done here, I just had to have one. :slight_smile:

OK, on too the hex. It started out as a standard Phoenix kit. After I finished the assembly, it was just begging for some personalization. I thought, how cool would it be, to be able to pick up small objects. With some trial and error, I finally settled on the current configuration. The idea is after approaching an object of interest, I could then transition into a quadrapod mode and use the front legs as arms. The head/neck is just an artistic touch at the moment, as I plan on using the neck assembly to mount a small camera. Though it looked a bit odd with just the two bare servos stuck there. Out of need to fill the void i clipped on a Ball Cap Flashlight, at that moment it seemed to come alive!

Now, I just can not wait to finish my controller. So I can breath some life into it and see my kids faces as it moves across the floor. They already point and scream at it, ā€œSpider Spiderā€. LOL

Oh my, sorry if i was rambling. Hope this answered some of your questions.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s179/daytonaz1981/diy%20robot%20controller/IMG_20110524_190233Medium-1.jpg

474

Looks great. Videos?

Kurt

475

no vids yet, as I still have some finishing touches to do. you can probably tell by all the servo leads hanging every where. My primary focus has been the controller, should be under raps by this weekend.

I hope I havenā€™t highjacked this thread too much :neutral_face:

476

OK, here is a quick teaser video. Worked hard over the holiday to pull this off.

477

Kurte,
I have added a third slider to my DIY Transmitter. but have been having some issues. I was hoping you could look at the code and get me back in the right direction. I appriciate any help

Thanks
Phil
Diy Transmitter 3 Sliders.zip (35.5 KB)

478

Hi Phil,

Might help to know what the issues are. Display issues, not receiving the packets at the other endā€¦

I have done a little reviewing of the changes. There are some issues with your code versus use_xpots code as the use some same variable names, IO pinsā€¦

In the defines file, you changed: CNT_SUMS con 6
To CNT_SUMS con 8
But only added one variable, probably should be 7

There is another define based on this as well, which is the packet size. The robot receiving code currently is pretty dumb, in that if the size of the packet received is not exactly the length expected, it throws the whole thing out. Have meant to update this to say, it must be at least X bytes. If it is less than the number of bytes my app wants it fills in default values, if > than I can use, toss the restā€¦

That is about the only things I noticed so far.

Kurt

479

Sorry, :blush:
-display issues:

abLCDUpdX bytetable 13, 13, 1, 1, 9, 5, 7, ; RJoyH,RJoyV,LJoyH,LJoyV,Rslider,Lslider,Cslider abLCDUpdY bytetable 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, ; for some reason the display has a missing digit for the Center slider ā€œ2 5ā€. tested the LCD and it has no dead spots. so just changed the display around that.

-didnā€™t know where to make changes for calibrating:

I was not sure about all the defines. Since i only added a slider (wanted to keep the speaker) thought i could just copy the lines that were used in the other sliders. Then when done just delete all the XP_POTS stuff.

-I didnā€™t know where to start with the packet stuff:
Tried making changes to this and just got crazy results

[code]elseif (fPacketChanged & %0000000011000000) ; Sliders R, L
if bTDataLast <> 3 then
bTDataLast = 3
gosub ShowLCDString[1, 1, @_SLIDESTRING, 7]
gosub CheckAndTransmitDataPacket ; check after each string we sendā€¦
gosub TASerout[Display, i19200, @_blanks, 9]
gosub CheckAndTransmitDataPacket ; check after each string we sendā€¦
endif

				; now display the joystick values
				gosub DoLCDDisplay[13, 1, 0, bPacket(6)]
				gosub DoLCDDisplay[9, 1, 0, bPacket(7)]
                                                            ;gosub DoLCDDisplay[9, 1, 0, bPacket(?)] add for center slider[/code]

I think once i get the transmitter correct I can start by changing

XBEEPACKETSIZE con 8 ;10 ; define the size of my standard pacekt. from 8 to 9 and that should get me started

480

Kurte,
I cleaned up most of the code. I have one part I donā€™t understand

[code]elseif (fPacketChanged & %0000000011000000) ; Sliders R, L
if bTDataLast <> 3 then
bTDataLast = 3
gosub ShowLCDString[1, 1, @_SLIDESTRING, 7]
gosub CheckAndTransmitDataPacket ; check after each string we sendā€¦
gosub TASerout[Display, i19200, @_blanks, 9]
gosub CheckAndTransmitDataPacket ; check after each string we sendā€¦
endif

           ; now display the joystick values
           gosub DoLCDDisplay[13, 1, 0, bPacket(6)]
           gosub DoLCDDisplay[9, 1, 0, bPacket(7)][/code]

Should i change this part of the code to this

[code]elseif (fPacketChanged & %0000000111000000) ; Sliders R, L, C
if bTDataLast <> 4 then
bTDataLast = 4
gosub ShowLCDString[1, 1, @_SLIDESTRING, 7]
gosub CheckAndTransmitDataPacket ; check after each string we sendā€¦
gosub TASerout[Display, i19200, @_blanks, 9]
gosub CheckAndTransmitDataPacket ; check after each string we sendā€¦
endif

           ; now display the joystick values
           gosub DoLCDDisplay[13, 1, 0, bPacket(6)]
           gosub DoLCDDisplay[9, 1, 0, bPacket(7)]
           gosub DoLCDDisplay[9, 2, 0, bPacket(8)]    ;add for center slider

[/code]

thanks