APMRover 2, a fun UGV project for full autonomous recon missions...

John Hestness April 29, 2012 at 8:19pm

R Lefebvre, I am glad you got your APM 2 rover going. The Xbee does not work on my APM 1 rover either, but I think that might be by design as Jean-Louis said this version was to be minimalist. You can configure MP using the usb cable.

I agree about having a seperate category for the rover project. Planes might turn by rolling but I wonder if the rover should steer with yaw control.

Rob_Lefebvre April 29, 2012 at 5:30pm

I got it! I gave it another shot, and I realized I stupidly missed/misunderstood the part about plugging the Ch2 into Ch3, and then plugging the ESC into Ch3, not 2. It was confusing because I went 2-2-2, and it worked fine in manual mode.

I never really figured out the servo reversing, but miraculously it works???

Anyway, so for the most part it works.

I think one problem is that the route I am trying to drive is too small for the GPS performance we are getting. I'm just in my back-yard, and sometimes it crashes into things. Other times, especially when I have just laid out a pattern and flip it into auto, it goes around and around and around trying to hit that point. Like it's not happy that it got close enough so it just keeps trying. But then eventually it gets it, and moves on to the next point. But then strangely all the other points it's VERY liberal about hitting those points. As long as it passes within 5 feet, it's happy and moves on to the next. I made a square using about 9 points, with the box being about 30-40 feet to a side. It basically ends up driving a circle with a radius of about 20-30 feet *inside* the box that I laid out.

So it's weird that it seems really picky about the first point, but then really loose with the other points?

Anyway, it was neat finally having something driving by itself, as I haven't got an aircraft to that point yet.

Also, I had some indications about just how bad the GPS data is, at one point it was following the pattern, but the whole pattern was offset about 40 feet to the east. That's bad. But then, on the other hand, the speed regulation is quite good. ???

JL, I'd really like you to put this into APM-Trunk as a new folder so I can contribute. I'll also talk to the dev group about somehow making a "ArduRover" environment for us in MP. Currently you pretent it's an Arduplane, let's fix that so we can rename things.

Any idea why the Xbee doesn't work?

I'd like to get the sensors working. If the accels work, then we can try to get some anti-tipover stuff going.

Rob_Lefebvre April 29, 2012 at 11:51am

Well, I spent most of a day working on this, and can't get it to work. I got it driving, but I can't center the servo. I tried saving waypoints, then putting it in Auto, and nothing happens. Well, the steering moves, but that's it. I tried connecting the Xbee to I could try and see what the problem is, but that doesn't work either. Bricked it trying, unbricked it. Tested it on another APM to see if the Xbee is still working, it does. Connected back to the APM2 ArduRover, won't connect.

I have no idea.

Rob_Lefebvre April 29, 2012 at 8:02am

I also can't figure out how to change the servo trim?? The steering is off. I tried manually doing it with RC1_Trim, but nothing happens?

Rob_Lefebvre April 29, 2012 at 7:56am

I'm working on this now. APM2 on an Axial SCX10. So far it's going OK, but I'm having a bit of trouble with the servo setup. My servo and ESC both are going in the wrong direction. I don't know how to reverse the outputs. I tried using the radio config, but I'm not sure that's right, and it doesn't work anyway. It changes the input direction, but the servos still go the wrong way anyway? I can't find any way to reverse the servos, which I find weird.

I manage to get them going the right way in manual mode by reversing the channels in my radio, but I don't think that's right either.

Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin April 28, 2012 at 1:21pm

Here below some additional photos about the frame used for my APMrover, you see the brushed motor and the ESC.

Regards, Jean-Louis

T3

healthyfatboy April 28, 2012 at 9:19am

His is just a basic r/c truck but converted to a UGV by adding the APM. It only has one motor and a gearbox as most r/c trucks do and doesn't have four separate motors.

Once I get my APM1 in, I'll be sticking mine on an old Rustler and will have a chance to mess around with it as well. I'm really excited about it.

Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin April 28, 2012 at 6:39am

Hello Michael and Robert,

Implementing differential drives (two motors with two ESC) with the APMrover is not a real problem here, this is equivalent to use an ailerons mixer in the arduplane... I need only to buy a tank for testing the feature ;-)

May be, you may test it yourself if I add this new feature in a new release of the APMrover...

Regards, Jean-Louis

Rob_Lefebvre April 27, 2012 at 11:34am

I was wondering the same thing. That will probably require more work.

Michal Rusina April 27, 2012 at 11:00am

hi. this is great! what about differential drive (two escs for left and right wheels)?

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APMRover 2, a fun UGV project for full autonomous recon missions...

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