I am working on a project for my school. I am planning to use a track vehicle to carry a robotic arm around. I have chosen the motor (GHM- 13, lynxmotion.com/Product.aspx? … egoryID=94). The vehicle will be 24" long and 16"wide.
I am having trouble deciding if I should use four motors or just two.
How will this change in motors affect my control wirings?
What kind of electronically components will I need if I was to use four motors?
Also the control for the vehicle and the Arm are separate.
I would say to go with 4 motors since tank tracks make a lot of friction witch makes it harder for the motors to advance, especialy if you have added weight like an arm. the GHM-13 are good, high torque is good for this kind of thing.
Like you can see on the LM site ( lynxmotion.com/images/html/build072.htm , the section when they wire the two motors together) you wil connect the two motors from the right together and the two from the left together… is this what you meen by :How will this change in motors affect my control wirings?
As for electronics (it depends how you wnat to control it…) , you will need a scorpion motor controller, the mini ABB (mini atom bot board, this board is where you connect the microprocessor) and to control the arm an SSC-32. these three boards will be connected together (the scorpion to the mini ABB and the SSC-32 to the mini ABB aswell). You can control your bot with a ps2 controller, a computer, or simply with a program in the microprocessor.
And one question: what do you meen by you want to control the arm and vehical seperatly? each with its own processor? because one processor can do the job (like the Atom pro)
Sam, if you can clarify what you want to do with it, ti would help us
I am required by rules of the competition to use two controllers (one for the Vehicle and another for any other moving parts on the Vehicle). In other words, I will be using two controllers to control the robot.
What is the difference between a Basic Atom and a Basic Pro Atom?
Also, what hardware do I need for my Tracks other then buying the track and the motor?
What benefits will I have if I was to use a 9 link Track Sprocket instead of a 6 link Track Sprocket ?
Thank you for explaining to me about the wiring, that was what I was asking about.
I was asked by the TSA teacher at my school to lead the team for the RC transportation system competition. My objective is to create a robot that can move, pick up objects, and place them into a tube. These objects will weigh about 2 oz each. Also, the less time it take for my robot to pick up the objects then the more points I will earn.
I choose tracks for this robot because it is more maneuverable and can move a lot of weight. The only problem I have is I am trying to figure our how the electrical system works for this robots made by Lynxmotion. However, I want to use this Lynxmotion system because it would be a lot easer to use and I can have more stuff on this vehicle with a PS2 controller relative to a Radio control system (7 Channels not 14 channels).
My plan is to have one controller control the Tracks (because that is what the rule wants me to do) and then another controller control the Arm and also other moving components on the robot.
1-they have different language… but I’ve heard there pretty similar.
2-the pro as 100 000 plus instructions per seconde (this is the speed of the microprocessor) and the atom (normal) has 33 000 instructions per second, so the atom pro is much faster. I can not give you more iformation since I have never actuly used this microconroler
For hardware: you will need track sprokets (LM has two different size ones, and you need two for each motor(it comes per pack of two), and hubs (wich will connect the motor to the sprokets wich will drive the robot, one for each motor). And you will need idlers wich you will have to figure out a way to biuld them. a 9 link vs a 6 link? I dont quite understand…
Iwill answer the rest tomaro since its getting late and im tired…
witch electrial system? how you connect the motors to the microcontroller? if this is waht you are tlking about you will need the scorpion motor controller (you can connect two motors, that is why you will connect the two right ones together and left too) you will plug a battery and solder a fuse (2 amps should be good) to the + side of the battery, so if the motor draw to musch current the fuse will explode and your electronic will be safe. to connect to the mini ABB you will need servo extender cables (I’m not sure where you can plug them in the ABB…)
so you will buy an arm from Lynxmotion? you will control the arm with a ps2 controller, or the tank track, or both, with two different ps2 controllers?
My plan is to buy the Arm from Lynxmotion. However, I might need to customize it since the griper must be able to hold a 15" object. My plan is to control the Arm and also the Track vehicle with two PS2 controllers seporetly because of the rules. My major concern is the coast of the arm if I was to customize it and also the the fact of how the PS2 system works. THis is the first time have heared about a system like this.
WHich basic atm should I use for my robot? Will the Pro help my robot or not?
Also, what benefits will the robot have if it was to use 9 link track sprockets instead of 6 link track sprockets? Will is move faster or carries more weight?
If this is for the national type of high school robot comptition, you might want to post up some links to show what what is involved (some local schools enter this each year). The 2 oz 15" object sounds like the balls they have to pick up. How high is the tube off the floor?
A basic stamp 2 as difficulty reading both analogh sticks (the little ticks that you can move in all the dirrections), A Basic atom, on the other hand, can read it well. between the pro and the normal, for your application, I dont think it will matter (guys correct me if I’m worng)
If you have have a bigger sproket (9 link) you robot will move faster and if you have a smaller one, your robot will have more torque (it can move more things, stronger). if you dont want to carry a lot on your tank then its ok with the 9 link one since you have strong motors (16.7 kg-cm, GHM-13)
Idlers are the kind of wheels that dont have a motor connectedto them, like the ones on tanks. Its just wheels to titen the tracks so they dont get to loose.
THank you Sam for explaining that to me. Is posible to use a computer as a control for the robot? If it is then what kinds of component will I need to make that posible?
Remember to make sure that your motor controller is rated above the maximum stall current of all four motors (add the four together).
Yes, you can control it from a PC.
What do you need to do that?
All you need is a means to connect your motor and servo controller to the PC.
This could be two DB9 serial cables.
Or it could be a wireless module.
Bluetooth (SMiRF is one example) and WiFi (WiPort) are popular choices for that.
What kind of electronic devices would I need if I was to use a Wifi system for my robot? Also, what kinds of software do I need for this control system?
I went to the Basic Micro site and got the spec sheet for the Atom Pro 24, the 28 isn’t available yet. The spec sheet doesn’t mention the power requirements. I seem to remember 60mA but I haven’t tested that number. The Atom like the stamp has a built in regulator, but I never use them. So I don’t know what values are ok to apply. Don’t assume you can connect a large voltage like 12 or 24vdc to the regulator. It may be limited to 9 volts.
What carrier are you using? The Bot Board has it’s own 5vdc regulator. If your using something else I dunno. I would think 7.2vdc on the unregulated input would work fine, but again, I don’t use the Atoms regulator.
Hi i think your going to have a lot of problems …? , understand the electrical dynamics of the system your battery has a amp rating too which might be too high …and blow up your micro … or there are shielding problems with motor kickback currents screwing up the micro circuits …
plan and then implement ask a electrical engineer or like me read a book about basic electricity …
Sorry that’s just not true. Microcontrollers do not just blow up if a battery has more current than it needs. Implement that logic with a car radio. The car radio may need 2 amps to operate. The car battery can deliver hundreds of amps. According to your logic everyone’s car radios should be blowing up.
