RC Car managed by Java leJOS NXJ

This project tries to manage any RC Car which you can purchase in your city using a NXT brick and a Lattebox NXTe.

2009/06/07
I am finishing a preliminar GPS navigation solution for leJOS project, but I have a problem to understand some value, azimuth.
In my tests I had some problems to understand the azimuth value which is returned by the method AzimuthTo in a Coordinates Object. AzimuthTo return an angle which is referenced with North pole.

In my tests I use a GPS point as goal:

Goal: 40.445049309324573,-3.4673066139221191
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.445049309324573,-3.4673066139221191

I give you a GPS point which is located on the street where I did my tests:

Current: 40.445049309324573,-3.4673066139221191
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.445049309324573,-3.4673066139221191

If you make a line bettween the both points, the line is on the street but azimuth give a value 144º so if the robot change the course to angle 144, so the robot would leave the street. I don't understand how to use the value 144. Is it neccessary to make any trigonomical calculation to find the solution?

I have made a doc about the problem and some questions:
http://www.juanantonio.info/jab_pdf_reader.php?pdf=COORDINATES.pdf&year=2009

I made some videos about the system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nA0v8rrpXU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKh1TRWzigU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJN38XfvmPo

Do you have an alternative calculus to make the azimuth calculus?
Do you undertand my problem?

2009/06/06
Today I begun to test my first GPS Navigator. Besides I have to improve the system which manage the steering maybe using PID or another technique...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJN38XfvmPo

If you take a look the prototype, I have uploaded some pics in my Flirck account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/esmetaman/sets/72157619259589605/

2009/02/29
This year I will use a new RC Car chassis, Maverick Strada model which I replaced some pieces, for example the speed controller. With this model, the place where is located NXT brick is more stable.

I have released a new gallery about this model:
http://picasaweb.google.es/esmetaman/LEJOSRCCAR2

NXTe allows me to control RC Servos and DC Motors easily. Currently I can go forward and backward. leJOS project has worked so hard to improve garbaje collector, to manage with NXT's CPU complex Java Programs.

I have released a new RC Controller. I am working on this tasks:

1. Integrate GPS Subsystem
2. Integrate Google Earth Support
3. Improve autonomous subsystem
4. Develop GPS Navigation
5. Research Kalman Filter to make sensor fusion

I have published a map where you can see the place where I am doing the tests. I need a large area to test algorithms.

http://www.juanantonio.info/research/robotics/lejos/nxj/leJOSTrainingArea.htm

Further information here: http://www.juanantonio.info/jab_cms.php?id=228

Note: In my website, in the previous URL, it is possible to download a paper about the project.

Juan Antonio Breña Moral
www.juanantonio.info