Finally! BlimpDuino code now in beta!

Jordi's done some heroic work squeezing the maximum out of the Arduino platform (with some help from Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi. We finally have a code base that does everything it's supposed to. Here's the code. It works with any version of the board from 431 up.

(Note that we've also changed the voltage regulator to this through-hole one, which has a more linear response curve for when battery voltage is dropping. As you can see above, we just soldered it on to the same SMD traces on the old board, but the new version of the board--V432--is designed for this new voltage regulator.)

Jordi explains what's new in the code:

"Now you can read two channels from the receiver..

Blimpduino will detect when you have the receiver connected and will run in manual mode... If not, autonomous...

You have to connect the vectoring servo directly to the receiver in order to fly in manual mode.. The two RC input channels control the motors for; forward, back, left and right...

The problem was: I can't use pulseIn function because is not supported in the pins PB6 and 7.. so i have to use the timer1 to count the pulse length...

The Atmega168 only has 3 timers. The timer 0 is for millis() counter, the timer1 is for pulsing the vector servo in automode and reading the RC inputs in manual mode, they can't be used at the same time... and the timer 2 is to control the PWM of the motors...

I also solved an small bug in the anti static friction module of the motors...

I love to fly in manual mode, Oliver [Jordi's baby] was scared, hehehe... Blimpduino is a very funny toy.... =)"

Guys, this is world-class Arduino coding. Read it and learn ;-) Congrats, Jordi!

Here's a pic of it all taped to the bottom of a blimp--not pretty, but it works!

Tags: blimpduino

Comment by Phil Wilshire on October 26, 2008 at 6:48pm: I see lots of .c.o files in the rar.

Are there any changes to the core arduino modules or is it all in the .pde files ?

Regards
Phil Wilshire

Comment by Chris Anderson on October 26, 2008 at 7:11pm: Phil,

We did have to make some modifications to the libraries (we're using some pins that aren't normally available in Arduino), but for details I'd have to ask Jordi.

Comment by Jordi Muñoz on October 27, 2008 at 6:13am: Phil,

You can open it with arduino IDE 12, and it will compile with no problems... =), all the modifications are inside the code... So no problem... But this code will only run in blimpduino 4.3.1 hardware..

Jordi

Comment by patrick on October 27, 2008 at 10:24pm: hello...felicitation Jordi and Phil... nice job

is this page
still the good one to get the 4.3.1 hardware?

I would like to try to use your bluetooth port to comunicate with the blimp. does this port is still on the board? I would like to try to get the position of the blimp with 3 webcam + visual tag and send back instruction with bluetooth...I did it for for a car and planned to convert the code for this application.

Comment by patrick on October 27, 2008 at 10:26pm: trying to paste this hyperlink ( http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A38515)

Comment by Chris Anderson on October 28, 2008 at 7:55am: No. the 431 version of the board is here.

Comment by Phil Wilshire on October 28, 2008 at 12:28pm: Hi Jordi, Chris,
Any plans to release the library modifications ?

I'll get one of the 4.3.1 boards when I can but I would like to be able to tweak things if I need to.
The PDE's look great...

Thanks
Phil

Comment by Chris Anderson on October 28, 2008 at 12:53pm: Phil,

I've now posted all the details for the V432 board. The code will run equally well on 431, but if you want to have the latest version with a slightly better power regulator and better labelling, there it is.

Comment by Jordi Muñoz on October 28, 2008 at 2:09pm: Don't worry about the library's, all are build in in the code, actually are C++ functions, one of them extracted from some arduino librarys that is not support by arduino IDE 12 or either arduino running at 8mhz...

Good luck,...

Comment by Phil Wilshire on October 28, 2008 at 7:11pm: Hi Chris,
Many thanks.
I'll take a good look at it all.
Phil

Finally! BlimpDuino code now in beta!

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