Hey all, I've been working on building up an R/C car using the ardupilot. I have plans to include an obstacle avoidance subroutine using Parallax Ping sensors in the future, but for now I'm just trying to get the stock ardupilot system set up.
I got everything mounted yesterday and the connections between the servos, receiver and ardupilot board made. I'm not using the shield, since I don't need the functionality it provides.
The issue comes about with the bind plug and the ardupilot's behavior when I kick it to life after loading up the software.
Starting with the software, I modified the easystar header file and renamed it with the following settings changed:
//1-7
#define GPS_PROTOCOL 2 // 0 = NMEA, 1=SIRF, 2=uBlox, Choose protocol
//9-1
#define FAKE_BEARING 1
//9-2
#define DESIRED_FAKE_BEARING 0
//9-6
//set to 1 in order to disable stabilization for ground guidance only
#define WALK_AROUND 1 //Must be "0" to test the GPS and heading against the servo and "1" for normal operation
I have the system connected together like so
Steering Servo to OUT1
Speed Control to OUT3
Rcvr Channel 1 to IN 1
Rcvr Channel 2 to IN 3
Rcvr Channel 3 to CTRL
I have a 'standard' jumper that I scavenged off of a defunct hard drive for my bind plug connecting D6 and GND on the Ardupilot board. After loading up the software I turn the unit off, then turn it back on. What I end up seeing happen is the the GPS lock LED blinks (acquiring lock) and then goes solid. As soon as it goes solid the throttle kicks on to full and then the steering turns the wheels right, left, right, left, straight and then it often stops, re-acquires and runs through the same thing endlessly. At this point, my toggle switch control on the radio I'm using has no effect on behavior. Now while its doing this looped behavior, I pull off the bind plug jumper and with my radio in the Autopilot Off mode the car works correctly, giving me control over it, like it should. Then when I put the switch into Autopilot On mode, the throttle kicks up but it just runs the throttle without reacting to any direction changes I make to it. It does the same thing when I switch it into RTL mode.
When it's running in Autopilot mode, the GPS lock, Power, Mode and Mux LEDs are all on. When I switch it to RTL mode, the Mode light goes off, but everything else stays on.
So in many ways a mixed success. Now I'm trying to figure out why it doesn't try to navigate north and why it does this weird behavioral loop with the bind plug in. Any ideas on why it seems to be acting so goofy?
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