I am hoping somewhere here has tried this or tested the Ardupilot on a ground vehicle.
I have a remote control drive system for full size cars (see the picture at the bottom of the main page at www.cdr-trainers.com - the car was on remote).
I use Spektrum DX6 receivers and Roboteq motor controllers. I am looking for a way to set a "target" point, start the car manually, retain control of the throttle and brake, but use an Autopilot to control the steering to keep it on course. Torque-Steer affect on front wheel drive cars makes it hard at times.
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brad Muir
Replies
This sounds like a larger scale version of the AVC problem, definitely. So assuming a larger budget than I have, you could afford a much more stable gyro and good wheel encoders. That's a good start and what I used along with my own pose estimation software in the 2012 AVC.
What kind of accuracy & precision do you need? I was able to get consistent results within 1m or so on my 1/10th rover (Data Bus which won 3rd in the AVC this year) in the tests I've run so far. I have no idea how that would scale up to a full size vehicle. I'm certain better accuracy and precision are both within reach.
Some type of vision system is probably far from turnkey but if it could be done it seems like it would help if you have visual clues, like a road, to follow. I'm working on a vision system but it'll be quite awhile.
On a full size car, a magnetometer is probably a lot more feasible and might help the position / heading estimate. The issues I ran into on a tiny car close to the ground would be mitigated.