I'm working on a research project for a university in Peoria, IL with an omnidirectional ground based robot. I'm wondering if the APM is a good choice for a brain for the robot.
My main question is can I use the APM without any shield at all? I know I'd have to program it with an ftdi cable or the like, but there's no reason I can't just use the APM to read 8 PWM channels, output 8 PWM channels, run a XBee 2 way link, and monitor other sensors while running my own arduino based control code right?
Am I correct in thinking that the APM is basicly an Arduino Mega with a hardware PWM chip thrown in? (plus the purpose built layout and connectors of course)
The robot I'm using has a pair of a new type of omni-directional wheel that uses a brushless motor and two servos per wheel. It also has a helicopter-style gyro for heading correction because of the unstable wheels.
Please let me know if I'm just a complete idiot for my assumptions or if I might be on to something :)
Thanks alot!
-Curt
Replies
Can the APM be used as a standalone board or does it require the oilpan? For near free, I happened to get an APM w/1280 processor but have none of the other equipment needed for standard configuration but I really want to do something. I've had a sidelined rover project for a while and if this guy works... I'd like to use it.