Asteria Networks Blog: servo

1/11/13

Rover 5 Robot soon ready

So there's been a while since last post.

Huge improvements has been done. The robot is essentially operational. This is what what I have done so far: This robot seems fairly similar to Mr. Explorer, actually.

Rover 5 (4 motor/encoders, the ROV5.3 model)
DFrobot Robot Base Plate mounted on 50mm standoffs. 9V
Dagu 4 channel motor controller mounted upside-down on 250mm standoffs, right under the pan servo.
Metal framework mostly made of Hoist/Metal Element metal pieces.
Arduino Mega ADK mounted with baseplate and mini breadboard, vertically 9v.
Arduino Ubo R3 mounted with HME parts, including mini breadboard, vertically. 9v.
DFrobot Pan/Tilt Kit but with extra long U bracket
Maxbotix LV+EZ1 Ultra Sonar (Running on high power 4.5v battery, measured to 4.9 volts)
Dagu/AREXX IR Compound eye. 5v
8 and 9 mounted on tilt servo with HME parts.
IR detector, using an old PanasonicTV remote to communicate with the detector
Piezo buzzer, photoresitor, 2x LM35 temp sensor, humidity sensor, dewpoint sensor, 2x IR sensors
4-keys on breadboard for core functions
Sparkfun LCD 09531 128x64 LCD (Running on separate 9V)
Custom 2-tier OS, codenamed 'Defiance', with multitasking and will communicate with you trough LCD and a buzzer. User input is the 4 keys and a TV remote.
Diffused tricolor LED for system status indication.
Mega and Uno communicates vie RX-TX and RX1-TX1. (Still working on that.)
TODO: Hook up my S2 running CM9 and utilize BlueTooth, WiFi and of course its excellent array of sensors, the 1080p camera and the sheer power of a quad core ARM to do the heavy CPU stuff!

Now all code is tested, all components are running separately and the work ahead now is just to tie it together with some neat AI, as well as tidy up the code, gather some more credits (yes i blatantly stole some code here and there).

My primary concern now is to figure out a mechanism that will kill the 4 motor power source in case the 5V controller supply should die. (this situation is not good)

My other problem is that the one of the robot chassis tracks will derail once in a while. I am working on a remedy including weight distribution and tape. I will at the end of this produce a how-to on this whole endeavour.

Here's some pictures of the process and a link to a video that shows the motors working.

The first version of cabling between the motor controller and a breadboard.
Although it would probably work, I decided to use regular F7F cables instead.