ArduBoat: Any way to have it hold position against current/wind?

Posted by AntimatterCrusader on September 24, 2015 at 5:40pm

Hello! I am rebuilding an old APMBoat from a few years ago, and at the time was unable to find a way to get the boat to hold position. When it reached the final waypoint, it would just stop and float with the current/wind. The only thing I was able to do is have it change speed and repeat a pattern with the DO_JUMP command very slowly. 

But that wastes power - is there a way to get it to return to a location if it drifts a set distance away? 

I was thinking I would use a geofence, but it looks like that capability is not implemented iwth APMRover. 

Any workarounds, suggestions? 

Thanks!

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Replies

    • AntimatterCrusader > Richard Kennedy November 30, 2015 at 3:19pm

      I am sorry, I do not - however, it's worth noting I no longer have the motor on the back like this. It placed too much pressure on servos, and also did not allow any maneuvering without power. I have changed it to a motor pod/rudder type situation. 3702727514?profile=original3702727529?profile=original

    • Richard Kennedy > AntimatterCrusader November 30, 2015 at 4:48pm

      Nice! If the code did allow for position hold your propulsion set up could go a long way to letting that happen. It could even push the boat sideways or backwards as needed provided the steering could move that much. But... not sure how you'd get the nose of the boat in line with the 'rudder' after that.. 

      That must turn some heads people seeing a boat with nobody driving :]

    • Darius Jack > AntimatterCrusader September 29, 2015 at 12:53pm

      Thank you,

      excellent boat, excellent video

      darius

  • AntimatterCrusader September 24, 2015 at 6:16pm

    I agree fully, but of course APMRover is not as developed nor has the support of the plane/copter versions. I am grateful we even have a rover version to play with! That said, I basically just want my boat to detect that is has moved X number of meters from it's HOLD/LOITER position and return to the center. 

    If one wanted to add a LOITER mode to APMRover or fork APMRover and create a new APMMarine firmware - what would be required to do that and get community support/proper integration? I do not have the expertise to do this and maintain it, though would consider hiring a developer to do it and fund with kickstarter.... at least to get the ball rolling? 

    A few ideas: 

    - Loiter Mode (Where if the boat drifts outside of its target area, it returns)
    - Implement GeoFencing (Would be nice to prevent the boat from running into the shore, whether drifting or driven)

    - Implement some type of water speed sensor, and intelligent software which can detect current direction and speed. 

    Thoughts? 

    • Darius Jack > AntimatterCrusader September 25, 2015 at 2:47pm

      Ok,

      I can manage this project, called Boat Dynamic Positioning.

      I can develop algorithms from the scratch, autoconfiguration, selftesting, autotuning, wind speed and direction control, current speed and direction control.

      Fuzzy Logic, AI, SelfEgo, EcoMode

      Any feature you wish can be developed and embedded.

      Within one week I can start writing intelligent algorithms.

      Just let me know your wish list

      If budget can be offered just let me know lower/upper limit since a number of live, real tests have to be done and a number of boats have to be assembled and pretested to verify algorithms work fine, as expected.

      I prefer interactive mode:

      feature request > solution , script code

      To build wire frame I need some response 

      my boat, 1-2... motors, top speed, battery type, control type, dimensions, image

      ..

      I wish to have it equipped with Dynamic Positioning to feature:

      blah blah blah ...

      ...

      ...

      let me know your opinion

      darius

      manta103g@gmail.com

    • AntimatterCrusader > Darius Jack September 25, 2015 at 4:31pm

      This is very interesting, I think I need to post perhaps a dedicated thread for this topic to gauge community interest and create a community wishlist. Personally, I didn't need dynamic positioning just rather a loiter function which will return the boat to the center when it drifts, say... 50m radius from the loiter_unlim waypoint. (same options as ArduPlane).

      However, I also see the possibilities and applications for dynamic positioning - this would be a great concept. 

      I don't have any budget myself. I'm pretty broke at the moment, but I think this could be a possible kickstarter venture, and would be happy to use my boat or create another perhaps with motor pods for prototyping and testing. But because of that, I would need an fairly accurate estimate of cost prior to launching the kickstarter. 

    • jean-luc > AntimatterCrusader September 25, 2015 at 7:27am

      I thinks it's a very good idea to create an "arduboat" firmware with a dynamic positionnig mode!

      But, perhaps that the boat's user community is too small for the moment, no???

  • Darius Jack September 24, 2015 at 6:01pm

    An intelligent controller can detect and calculate wind's speed and direction in case of drones, so why not in case of a boat.

    Developer/s should open API to software to let users to develop intelligent scripts to provide and offer nice features.

    If this is not the case, try to ask developer/s behind this software and embedded control algorithms directly.

This reply was deleted.