Hello to all,
I would like to build myself an autonomous boat, which can deliver bait to a specified spot on a lake.
When I started my research I quickly found this website and after a couple of days of reading I decided I'd register myself because I'm left with a couple of questions.
The foremost important one is which board should I choose. I've found two versions on Ebay
APM 1.0 and APM 2.5. The latter one has a case and all but costs twice as much.
Since I'm on a budget the APM 1.0 has got a nice price, but does it have everything on board to control a boat. The boat needs to be able to 'drive' and control a couple of extra items (two separate dispensing units for the bait; one hook release mechanism; lights and sonar/fish finder)
I've also ordered myself a Ublox NEO6MV2 GPS module, which brings me to my next question. As one can see the board doesn't have connectors on it so I'll have to make a connection from the GPS to the Ardupilot. Presuming you guys prefer the APM 2.5 to the 1.0 version it needs a little white connector which connects the cable to the board. How is that connector called? I'd solder the wire directly to the GPS shield and put a little white connector on the other side.
Also ordered a Telemetry Kit, a HMC5983 Triaxial Compass, a 2.4GHz transmitter and receiver
and a couple of servos. The actual boat, motor, and speed limiter still have to be ordered. A good start would be the Reely RC from Conrad.
What do you guys think? Any feedback is ok ;)
with kind regards,
Billie
Replies
You could haved saved yourself a lot of aggravation and many, many hours of work had you just gotten an APM 2.6. The APM 1 you are looking at is just the main processor board. It needs a sensor board that goes on top. You will prety much have to write your own code to use the APM one board by it's self. It can be done if you are reasonably skilled at Arduino(C++) code.
You can find all the bits of code in the APM rover code. If you haven't had any experience writing code for embedded systems, then you will have a lot of learning to do. It can be done if you have the skills.
Good luck