Now that the Rover v2 base is working and driving well, I am turning my attention to the new LIDAR module. After reconsidering the previous GT2 pulley based design, I decided to redesign it completely on the new Rover base, using a gear based approach. Reasoning behind using a geared…

Before jumping to the PID implementation and eventually autonomous driving, I wanted to make sure that the Rover v2 could drive and turn with stability. I could have done a simple keyboard implementation but I really wanted to integrate an old Xbox controller I had lying around. What I have…

I spent a bit of time today improving the data delivery protocol I have been using with the XBees. I noticed during various tests that it wasn’t very robust, and it also required the devices to be powered on in a specific order. So I have been meaning to improve…

I had my first try at visualizing incoming data from the LIDAR tonight. Good news is that it worked, and I got a successful SLAM map of the room. That’s pretty awesome. Bad news is I definitely have to redesign the pulley mechanism. Stepper motor is ridiculously loud, heavy and…

I made some solid progress on the v2 design of the rover during last week and finally assembled an initial test version last night. The difference is incredible. Even with no PID implementation, it drives in an almost perfect straight line. I believe the added weight of the motors and…

I spent the last few days experimenting with PID algorithms and tuning parameters for straight driving using only motor encoders. There were tons of learnings along the way, and I’ll try to summarize them in this post. First off: After a lot of frustration, I realized that there was something…

After implementing the simple straight driving sample for the rover, and integrating the XBee wireless protocol, it was time to test things out. I installed the new gearboxes (they came with motors installed and cables soldered, yay!) and did a test run. However, the first issue I ran into after…