Platform Drive Control.
This platform is driven by two wheels mounted so that the wheel axis
is just off center. There is a small caster wheel mounted in the 'rear'.
At this time there is no speed control feedback.
Maneuvers are accomplished by independent but coordinated control of
each wheel motor.
The drive motors are servos that have been hacked to continuous rotation.
The servo hack involved pulling the feedback control board and pot as
well as cutting the stop on the main gear. Thus the servos are converted
to basic DC motors.
The drive motors are powered from a bank of 4 C cell batteries. That power
is fed through a L293NE dual H bridge controller IC. Each half of the H
bridge controls one motor. The motor speed is controlled VIA PWM of the
enable pin of the H bridge circuit. Motor direction is controlled using
2 digital outputs for each motor, more details further on.
Note: I have an L293NE, only real info I can find is for the L293D. Not
sure what the difference is. Maybe current limiter diodes???
Two wheel drive maneuvers
As with any drive system you will need to go forward and backward (revers).
With a two wheel system this is accomplished by turning both wheels in one
or the their direction at the same time. When it comes to turning you have
a couple of more options. You can rotate the platform on it's center axis
or you you can rotate by stopping one wheel and turning the other one.
I've decided to divide these various maneuvers into categories. This is
because I'm anal enough that I want to differentiate the various turning
styles.
Turning is either Clockwise or Counter clock wise. This removes any
confusion concerning external references.
Rotation or rotating refers to driving both wheels in opposite directions
to go clock wise or counter clock wise.
Turning refers to driving one wheel while the other wheel is stopped to
go either clock wise or counter clock wise.
- Both wheels turning in one direction, at the same speed = forward.
- Both wheels turning in the other direction, at the same speed = reverse.
- Both wheels turning in opposite direction, at the same speed = rotation.
- Clockwise = right wheel reverse, left wheel forward.
- Counter clock wise = right wheel forward, left wheel reverse.
- One wheel turning while the other wheel is stopped = turning.
- Clockwise forward = right wheel stopped, left wheel forward. Front
left corner of platform advances.
- Clockwise reverse = right wheel reverse, left stopped. Front right
corner of platform recedes.
- Counterclockwise forward = right wheel forward, left wheel stopped.
Front right corner of platform advances.
- Counterclockwise reverse = right wheel stopped, left wheel reverse.
Front left corner of platform recedes.
Motor Control IC:
L293 wiring.
Right wheel control = 1A, 2A
Right wheel motor = 1Y, 2Y
Left wheel control = 3A, 4A
Left wheel motor = 3Y, 4Y
Arduino, L293 wiring.
Wheel Ardhino Pins. L293 Pins.
Right Enable D6 (PWM) 1 (1,2 EN)
Right(1A) D7 2 (1A)
Right(2A) D8 7 (2A)
Left Enable D11 (PWM) 9 (3,4 EN)
Left (3A) D12 10 (3A)
Left (3A) D12 10 (3A)
Motor wiring.
Right wheel L293 Pin
Positive 3 (1Y)
Negative 6 (2Y)
Left wheel
Positive 11 (3Y)
Negative 14 (4Y)
Digital Motor control
1A 2A 3A 4A Maneuver
L L L L Stop
L H H L Forward
H L L H Reverse
L H L H CW Rotate
H L H L CCW Rotate
H L L L CW right Reverse left stop
L L H L CW right stop, left forward
L H L L CCW right forward, left stop
L L L H CCW right stop, left reverse
Issues Encountered:
During controller reset the drive motors would respond erratically.
The recommended method to control this is put 470 ohm resistors on the
motor control outputs to ground. I happen to have 390 ohm resistors and
installing them made a huge difference. One motor still twitches a little
during resets but it's acceptable.
You could make a couple of adjustments.
You could save an OUTPUT per motor by using an inverter. Feed the uC OUTPUT to one pin, and, also to the inverter (NOT gate). From the OUTPUT of the NOT gate to the second INPUT for the first motor. Do the same for the second motor, and, now you have saved an OUTPUT pin per motor. Second, what would happen if you pulled the ENABLE lines low instead of the motor INPUT lines?