ROB3 - Rover 5 base experiment

ROB3, my third robot started out using my ROB1 base, as I wanted to play around with the gyro again using a 2 wheeled robot, but alas, one of the servos died. So what’s a robot builder to do? Use a Rover 5 base of course! I have the 4 motor / 4 encoder version. I wired up everything except the encoders to my Arduino. That’ll be one of my next steps.

So now this turned into an experiment to learn to use encoders to maintain a constant speed and relearn the gyro to maintain a rotation rate. As well as flesh out my communication code using 2 way communication. I am once again making use of my ICE2 controller.

I also have a gyro, xbee and oled display wired up. I’m using Xbee’s again since it lets me have 2 way communication. Not only does the remote tell the robot what to do, the robot can also tell the controller to display things about itself. For example, the robot knows how much current each motor is drawing, and sends that information to the controller, which in turn displays it on the OLED for me to see. I can also have sonar readings, battery voltage etc.

The video is showing him in an early stage. Basically has drive and 2 way communications working. I had the gyro code hooked up and was able to drive with the joysticks, but there was a bug I needed to ferret out so I dumbed the code down and didn't’ have a chance to re implement it before posting to LMR.