Hi!,
I'm BRAND Spankin new here, but I've got tp say, this is one of the most knowledgeable groups I've wandered across in a long time. Lookin' forward to learnin', contributin', an makin new friends, soooo "Howdie Y'all!" 8-P
Here's the thing, I'm starting small, with a ground vehicle first, an intend to move on to fixed wing, heli and multi-copters later. I was just about to order myself an APM w/Oil Pan, and now I see the new product is out and everything I thought I knew from my research, well it just kind of got all confused and blown out of the water, so I was hoping I could post what I was trying to accomplish and someone would be kind enough to help me out with some suggestions/recommendations.
For my land vehicle my goals are to build a test platform to learn more about obstacle avoidance, figuring out routes from point A-to-B etc. but I would also like to have telemetry, video, OSD, GPS etc.
Not sure if the obstacle avoidance would be IR, SONAR, or even integrated w/video OSD? so any suggestions/ideas here are greatly appreciated (oh, and for the ArduRover folks, I've been doing embedded Linux for about 5 years now, so I have some skillz I can contribute, but admittedly my C++ is a touch on the rusty side but I'm sure it will come back quick enough if needed).
So, what do ya'll think? Where should I start and what's the best way to go? Conventional APM w/OilPan, or the new APM 2.0? I'm not so much worried about the money as much as I am the flexibility.
BTW, is there a difference between a regular, standard 2560 Mega and the APM? Kinda figured the IMU was a built for purpose shield for the autopilot, but was wondering if the APM was in any way growth/flexibility limited to a 2560 Mega, b/c it seems like it's got a ton of flexibility for just about everything.
Given I'm going to want to mess w/a bunch of other things later, and I've got soo much to learn, I'll probably end up w/multiple rigs, but for now I was hoping to stick with one, good, flexible (expandable?) system till I can learn my way around.
The R/C rock crawler's built and ready to go, it's even got a plexi deck already installed just waiting for some electronics, and I'm off the week between Christmas and New Years, so I'd like to get something ordered, in, and get started (the suspense is killing me).
Thanks in advance to all that share their precious time to respond. MOST appreciated.
All the Best to you for your holiday season! <wink><smile>
Replies
If you're in a hurry, then get the APM 2560. The APM2 is brand spankin new and the first batch hasn't been finished yet. I don't think more than a dozen or so have shipped to users even. Preorders probably won't all be filled until March.
The APM board has a 2560 on it, and as far as I know it's the same thing as you get on a regular arduino board. The APM board however is custom, designed specifically to work with the IMU.
Obstacle avoidance would be awesome! But I don't think anyone has really started working on it.
Welcome to DIYDrones!