Let's start an official ArduRover project

Inspired by John Arne's post, I got a Redcat Rockslide, which is totally cool and a great robotics platform. As you can see, it's really easy to add a mounting platform for electronics (that's APM with GPS and Xbee mounted above) and there's LOADS of room. You could even have it carry a laptop if you wanted. BTW, that's the 1/8 size Redcat shown above, which is $236. I think the 1/10 size Redcat would probably be just as good for most uses, and it's just $159. [Update: the 1:10 isn't big enough. See this comparison]

I've registered the ArduRover name, and am now just looking for the best starting point to modify the APM code for ground rovers. Since James Goppert is part of the APM dev team, we'll probably start with his rover code, which you can see at work here. But if others have code or sensor additions to the basic APM set that would be good to add to a rover, this is the place to discuss and share.

Ideally, we'll get this done in time for the Sparkfun AVC contest, on the hope that APM can have a decent chance of placing in all of the categories--ground, plane and quad. Which would be awesome.

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Developer

John Arne Birkeland February 2, 2011 at 12:20am

The accelerometer measures acceleration and deceleration. In other words movement or speed. And distance is speed * time. You start at zero speed and then use the acceleration to compute the current speed, and keep adding that speed to distance until you get deceleration decreasing the speed again.
Developer

John Arne Birkeland February 1, 2011 at 11:29pm

An alternative to wheel encoders that would be more universal is to use accelerometers. Accuracy should be just as good, especially if you consider wheel spin and uneven surfaces.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson February 1, 2011 at 10:37pm

Now we need to figure out how to design wheel encoders. The Pololu ones are designed for wheels that are too small for our purposes (outdoors)
Brad Smith February 1, 2011 at 10:08pm

lynxmotion has some nice parts and the servo erector parts for a custom arm and pan and tilt .

heres what i have so far my taratula

and here,s the arm (my super boebot,s double pan&tilt ) lynxmotion ses parts

i also have two sabertooth 2x10 esc,s and a ssc32 servo controller both can run on serial and a basic stamp boe i,m thinking i need another APM !! ohh and a sandpiper gps thats bigger than the apm, the boe board was too big so i took a break from it .
T3

healthyfatboy February 1, 2011 at 10:06pm

Sign up for a Tower Hobbies membership for $10, then get free shipping and wait for the $60 off code. You'll get it for under $500 that way. I love mine but it currently doesn't have FPV gear on it right now as I'm in the middle of a move.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson February 1, 2011 at 10:04pm

Here's a link to the Traxxas Summit. It's $550.
T3

healthyfatboy February 1, 2011 at 9:58pm

I know it's not cheap but how about the Traxxas Summit? It's an excellent off-road truck with two speeds, remotely lockable front and rear differentials, and has an exocage that would protect electronics and FPV gear in a rollover. For FPV, it's the best platform out there as you can go both slow and fast. The main issue is price and getting a nice flat platform for mounting things but it would be a rugged and robust platform. It's even waterproof if you can find a way to seal the APM in some container.
Stefan Barlow February 1, 2011 at 4:58pm

Excellent finds. I have been shopping for a rover platform for weeks while I wait for the ArduCopters to come back in stock so this is very timely for me. Now I am resisting the urge to order a vehicle until there is a determination on a standard platform.

I am in a very flat, heavily forested area so a slower rock crawler isn't as appealing as something that could go a bit faster but still handle some off-roading in the woods beyond my fence line.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson February 1, 2011 at 4:31pm

Here's another interesting chassis: the Dagu "Wild Thumper" 4WD. A bit expensive at $250 and doesn't sound like it's any faster than the Redcat rock crawlers, but built from the ground up for robotics.

Here's an Arduino-powered one:
Mike February 1, 2011 at 2:33pm

KinectBot video with Atom powered embedded, map dataset streamed wireless then SLAM

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