Society of Robots - Robot Forum
General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: robott on April 19, 2010, 05:27:08 AM
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Hi to everyone!
I am mostly a C/C++ programmer not an electrician, so all my job with Robots is mainly focused to coding.
I bought Robonova RN-1 few years ago, which came with a MRC3024 board - programmed with BASIC.
It was very easy to learn the Basic so i managed to build my GPS guided rover quite fast.
Obviously as my only board is the one bought with Robonova i also got all possible sensors RN1 came with - which are
Gyro,
Multiplex bluetooth (SERIAL PORT),
IR distance sensors,
Sonar,
Accelerometers,
they all are connected to AD ports - MRC3024 has 7 of those.
The MRC3024 had only one RX/TX serial port which is a total pain, as i had to use my PocketPC ( Windows Mobile ) telephone connected via Multiplex Bluetooth Module to drive it somehow 'logically'. I used PocketPc built in GPS to find location and sent commands via BT to the MRC3024.
It was good for some time, but that Phone thing was driving me crazy,
additional battery, additional weight, additional code, and many many other things you might think of.
The time has come, i decided to have it all 'on a one board'.
MRC3024 was not giving that possibility due to the fact there was only one RX/TX ( serial port ) -
i wanted to have it running this way:
Main board :
- Sparkfun VENUS GPS connected (serial) http://www.google.pl/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=sparkfun+venus&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 (http://www.google.pl/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=sparkfun+venus&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8)
- Sparkfun Xbee telemetry module (serial) http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9099 (http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9099)
- additional serial ports available ( for future plans && development )
- Sensors taken from Robonova-1 connected.
- At least 6 servo ports
- All that powered from a single battery.
The telemetry module (XBEE) will be used to:
- receive command from laptop
- send live telemetry data to laptop
So i will program my own 'groundstation' application,
that will handle the robot tasks.
As you can see, the most important are the Serial ports, as all the other points were OK with Robonova Board.
I saw AXON II has few UART ports (serial?) - but will they work as i planned?
Will AXON II be able to:
pseudocode:
while(1){
read_gps_data(com1);
format_nmea_string(gpsdata);
calculate_the_destination_heading(gpsdata);
run_the_servos();
send_telemetry(com2);
usleep(1000);
}
What about the CPU performance,
isn't that too much ? - my next step is to adapt this to a small plane, so there is more to come like heading controll,
gyros etc..
I decided to ask before i buy,
i hope that i finally found a best solution for my problem :)
Best regards from Poland,
RoboTT
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Don't buy the Venus GPS from Sparkfun, its garbage:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=9190.0 (http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=9190.0)
Otherwise, the Axon II example code has a GPS example. Shouldn't take you more than a minute to figure it out.
(also, example programs for bluetooth, sonar, accelerometers, gyros, and sharp IR)
Also, its a bit tricky to get the Xbee to work, read this for instructions:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=9790.0 (http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=9790.0)
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=9992.msg76577#msg76577 (http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=9992.msg76577#msg76577)
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Many thanks for the reply,
i am ordering axon II :)