Author Topic: controlling wheelchair joystick  (Read 5479 times)

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Offline dmehlingTopic starter

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controlling wheelchair joystick
« on: May 14, 2008, 01:31:37 PM »
I drive an electric wheelchair and now have great difficulty operating the joystick.  I want to figure out some way of using servos or some kind of actuators to move the joystick.  I would send commands from my laptop through a serial servo interface.  It is a rather small joystick with low tension.  Any good suggestions?  Thanks in advance.
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Offline BANE

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Re: controlling wheelchair joystick
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2008, 04:19:07 PM »
what type of out put does it have?  Digital or analog?  If its analog I'd use the joy with a microcontroller to control the servos.

Bane
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Offline dmehlingTopic starter

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Re: controlling wheelchair joystick
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2008, 04:27:10 PM »
Sorry, but I'm wanting to do the opposite of what you're saying.  I want to move the joystick with servos controlled from my laptop.
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Offline BANE

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Re: controlling wheelchair joystick
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2008, 03:19:21 AM »
are you controlling digital or analog servos?
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Offline jka

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Re: controlling wheelchair joystick
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2008, 05:46:16 AM »
Is the joystick analog or digital? If it's digital, you could use transistors or relays to perform the same action as the switches in the joystick. This approach would eliminate the need for a servo and a complex mechanism to make the servo move the joystick. If you wire the transistors/relays parallel to the joystick switches, you can still use the joystick.
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Offline dmehlingTopic starter

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Re: controlling wheelchair joystick
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2008, 10:47:18 AM »
It is digital, but it works with a very specialized interface that interprets joystick movement and then relays of signals to the drive motors and other actuators.  This is very high dollar stuff and I really don't want to mess with it.  I'd much rather have a mechanical solution no matter the complexity.
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Offline Admin

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Re: controlling wheelchair joystick
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2008, 05:59:04 PM »
What you need is a servo controller:
http://www.societyofrobots.com/member_tutorials/node/25

There are many you can buy online too. They hook up to a PC and you send commands through usually USB.

My Axon microcontroller, when I start selling it in a few weeks, will also optionally work as a servo controller.
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