In between aircraft I built this rover. It is a Traxxas Slash frame with a piece of 1/8" aircraft plywood on top for an electronics platform. The plywood measures 16.5" x 6.5". It was super easy to build. In the next few days I will finish configuring the electronics, update and confirgure the software and test it out. If anybody has any related tips or experiences they would like to share I would be happy to hear them. I will post updates when I have it running.
Comments
What a coincidence i am working on something similar.Its a relief to not be worried about weight which makes the process so much easier.I used a cheaper car frame,tore out the electronics and substituted my own.What Vtx are you using?Do you have any heat issues?I used soda cans as my aluminium source for a heat sink.
After I finish my hexacopter it was always my plan to build a rover. I look forward to your updates.
Hi all,
Here is a link to a rover on Robot Magazine: http://www.find.botmag.com/051205
The code for this rover should be available in May. The rover uses an Arduino Uno and Parallax Ping distance sensors. Since UGVs cannot usually go in a straight line to the next waypoint, obstacle avoidance should have priority over navigation.
Here is another link to a rover project that combined navigation and obstacle avoidance and is quite complex: http://geology.heroy.smu.edu/~dpa-www/robo/jbot/
I would definitely recommend programming a subsumption process to allow the rover to navigate and avoid obstacles.
Regards,
TCIII
James Goppert is the lead on that. I'll ping him and see what the status is..
Interesting. I've been curious to try the Rover software, but I'm just not sure what the status is. I've got a rock crawler chassis I'd love to put it on. But whenever I look at it, it seems the Rover side of things is a little bit "dead". It seems like the PID stuff is hard coded with #defines, making it difficult to tune, ie: can't do it over Mission Planner?
Is anybody even working on this anymore?
John,
Nice work. Looks like a very clean installation.
I have put together a Traxxas E-Maxx from pieces bought off of eBay. I have been planning to use either a Parallax Propeller or an Arduino Mega. I have several APM 1.4s laying around that might work. Like you, I use the body mounting towers to mount a platform (15" X 8") above the chassis. I modified the body mounting towers to get them to be as low as possible on the shock towers and had to cut a clearance hole in the plate to clear the transmission. I presently reside in TX, but am retiring to Ft. Lauderdale, FL in about three months. If there is anyone in the Ft. Lauderdale area posting to this thread, I would be definitely interested in working on this project with them. Will definitely follow this thread.
Regards,
TCIII
Do you think it will RTH, waypoint and why not, gyrobalance a cam to allow fluid cam movement ?
adding sonar 360 around would allow obstacle avoidance ? too bad i can't code C
looks like a great way to test the APM2 and all other hardware before putting it in a plane or copter.
Earl
oh oh, now i want to build one, great way to recycle apm 1 :D
Excellent. I've done much the same, but haven't loaded the software yet. Looking forward to following in your footsteps!
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
of 4 Next