Author Topic: $50 robot help (Read 9399 times)

cooldog · « **on:** October 29, 2007, 10:29:18 AM »

i modifyed my servos but they are not strong enough

help

Steve Joblin · « **Reply #1 on:** October 29, 2007, 10:31:34 AM »

what is the voltage you are providing to them?

Admin · « **Reply #2 on:** October 29, 2007, 11:15:01 AM »

strong enough to do what?

how much torque/speed do you need?

cooldog · « **Reply #3 on:** October 30, 2007, 08:31:18 AM »

i have 4 AA batteries. they are not strong enough to pull the reciver & batteries

jabberwocky · « **Reply #4 on:** October 30, 2007, 08:36:50 AM »

What size wheel are you using? And what materials are holding the bot together??

Admin · « **Reply #5 on:** October 30, 2007, 08:48:23 AM »

alkaline batteries? you should use NiMH type.

are you sure they are fully charged?

cooldog · « **Reply #6 on:** November 02, 2007, 06:26:19 AM »

yes the batteries are brand new

the chasi is an old plastic sighn

cooldog · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2007, 03:45:03 PM »

i am planning on adding sharp IR to my robot and i read the tot but i was wondering do i need to programm a new microcontroller for the sharp ir or does the file just add itself to my microcontroller

cooldog · « **Reply #8 on:** November 11, 2007, 03:51:57 PM »

if i have sharp ir and a photocell with the 2 work at the same time so the sharp ir will detect the object but will not go otside the light. also if i unplug the photocell and plug ing the sharp ir in i's place will it just use the sharp ir or wil it even work

cooldog · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2007, 06:43:41 PM »

also i was looking at the stampy robot and it looks not that hard. but one question is there a caster wheel undet the base or does the front just drag on the ground

Admin · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:09:05 PM »

I am not entirely clear on what you want your robot to do . . .

You will have to write a small amount of code to get the Sharp IR and the photocell to work at the same time, but it is definitely easy to do after you made your robot.

I think that if you just follow the $50 robot tutorial, you will learn quite a lot.

Quote

is there a caster wheel undet the base or does the front just drag on the ground

It just drags on the ground . . . it doesnt work very well on carpets obviously

cooldog · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:11:56 PM »

what i was wondering is if i take the aleardy programed microcontroller and plug it to my computer then load the shar IR will it over write my perevious programming

HDL_CinC_Dragon · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:16:48 PM »

yes, anytime you program your Microcontroller, it over writes whatever was in its memmory before re-programming.

cooldog · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:22:58 PM »

does the sharp ir program include the code to make the photocell and motors run as well as the sharp ir

HDL_CinC_Dragon · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:25:07 PM »

The Sharp IR code is designed to be in place of the photocell. It will run the wheels and such but will not make use of the photocells.

cooldog · « **Reply #15 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:26:20 PM »

admin up top said i could have both working at once

Admin · « **Reply #16 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:39:22 PM »

Well the code can handle whatever you want . . . you just need to understand how to use it - just takes tweaking it for awhile.

For example, you will see a line in the code that says this:
sensor_value=a2dConvert8bit(5);//sensor reading

What this means is that whatever sensor is attached to port 5 (the place you plug in the sensor wires), that sensor value is stored in sensor_value. So in code, it doesn't really matter if its sharp IR or a photoresistor, that line will stay the same. What does matter though is that different sensors work better used in different ways, so you can optimize by tweaking the code.

If you build it, it will start to make sense.

cooldog · « **Reply #17 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:03:59 PM »

ok but if i have 2 microcontrollers one with the photocell program and the other with the sharp IR program and i just swap the controllers will they work. also with the sharp ir program there are extra sensor plugs can i just plug another sharp IR in will it work without a new program

cooldog · « **Reply #18 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:12:41 PM »

with the programer cord do i need to soder it to the board or can i just place it in so i can program other circut boards with the same programmer

Admin · « **Reply #19 on:** November 11, 2007, 09:25:50 PM »

I think you are worrying about programming too much

But if you want to do something that is not done in the tutorials, you will have to write your own program - mostly just tweak what I have already done for you.

I don't understand your question about the programmer cable . . . The cable is not permanent, so you can connect and disconnect it whenever you want to do other boards/chips.

cooldog · « **Reply #20 on:** November 12, 2007, 07:42:53 AM »

thanks

cooldog · « **Reply #21 on:** November 12, 2007, 05:26:27 PM »

to use the sharp ir do i need to unplug the photocell for the sharp ir to work

HDL_CinC_Dragon · « **Reply #22 on:** November 13, 2007, 05:39:43 PM »

If you are running the Sharp IR code then yes, you will need to unplug the photocells so that way the software doesnt make decisions based on the wrong kind of data.
(The photocells basically just tell it the level of light in front of it. The IR tells distances hence the requirement of the slightly different code)

cooldog · « **Reply #23 on:** November 14, 2007, 11:13:51 AM »

okay then i plug the sharp ir in to the first sensor slot

in the $50 robot sharp ir upgade admin just put it becide the photocells and keeped the photocells pluged in.

HDL_CinC_Dragon · « **Reply #24 on:** November 14, 2007, 05:00:41 PM »

You can keep your photocells on the robot as long as they are not plugged into any of the pins on the Microcontroller board. They wont hurt anything if theyre just sitting there on the robot doing nothing. And yes, the SharpIR Sensor would go on the front of the robot for maximum effectiveness.

cooldog · « **Reply #25 on:** November 14, 2007, 06:04:08 PM »

okay but witch sensor slot do i put the sharp Ir in to on the circuit board

HDL_CinC_Dragon · « **Reply #26 on:** November 14, 2007, 06:06:18 PM »

sensor slot 1 should do the trick

cooldog · « **Reply #27 on:** November 14, 2007, 06:09:24 PM »

okay but still in the video of how to attach the sharp IR admin just puts it in the 3 slot and leaves the photocells plugged in
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_50_robot_sharpIR.shtml

HDL_CinC_Dragon · « **Reply #28 on:** November 14, 2007, 09:56:18 PM »

The servo for the IR Sensor does go in port three for the output pins because the first 2 are for the motors. The third pin is then used for the Sharp IR servo.

Looking at the code Admin provided in the small tutorial... I think I might be wrong.
"a2dConvert8bit(3);//sensor reading " means that it will be looking for data on pin 3... If im not mistaken, I think admin programmed it to completely ignore any input pin that isnt pin 3... I think now we're just going to have to wait for him to see this thread...

cooldog · « **Reply #29 on:** November 15, 2007, 07:34:35 AM »

watching the video the sharp IR don't plug in beside the motors the servo the is attached to the sharp Ir does, and the sharp Ir plugs in beside the photocells

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Author Topic: $50 robot help (Read 9399 times)