Posted by Aaron Buckner on August 29, 2009 at 7:57am
Hi everyone, I'm new to the community though I have been keeping an eye on this project for several months with the hopes of integrating it with my ROV Project. Last week I finally ordered my initial load out of Ardupilot gear. For starters I'll explain my project and my goals.My project is very different from anything I have seen using Ardupilot of course I could be wrong and if I am thats going to make my life easier :) My project is a PC Based Tread-Based ROV Chassis (more details here). There are several issues I will have to overcome in order to get this to work properly, Control, Data Transfer and I'm sure I'll hit a few other snags.So far on my list:The ROV isn't "RC" so I have to somehow send the control commands to the PC and then interpret them into signals the motor controller understands (currently using an Phidgets HV Motor controller).The ROV doesn't have a typical control system, no "steering" system its just like a tank, turning based on motor speed.Communicating with the Ardupilot is also going to be interesting, I'm not currently looking into Xbee as I have a wifi link to the ROV, but I'm not ruling it out, I have some short range Xbee modules I may do some testing with.Thats it for now, I know I have alot of work ahead I certainly don't think this is going to be a quick and dirty project but thats half the fun. I have an Ardupilot and the new "Main" Sensor board with an EM406 GPS unit coming next week.
Why reinvent the wheel, Jordi and Chris seem to have done a pretty good job with this system so far, and eventually I would like to get airborne, either with the heli I have (which seems to be a problem due to size) or with a fixed wing aircraft.
why exactly do you need the ardupilot board at all? you already have control of your motors and you could easily get a GPS to send data directly to your PC...
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