Quick questions on navigation(solved)

.:John:.

Just a few quick questions.

1. Can GPS coordinates be inputed and have a GPS unit in conjunction with a BASIC Stamp lead the robot to it?

2. Does the PING sensor tell which direction the signal bounced back from?

Thanks!

Post Edited (curious_roboticist) : 4/2/2008 9:52:24 PM GMT

Mike Green

1) Yes. You can connect a GPS unit to a Stamp. Parallax makes one for that purpose. The positional resolution is not useful for small distances.

2) No. The signal can return via a wall or other surface and the PING can't tell the difference

Searider

I wonder if you had three ping sensors with partialy overlapping field of view.
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If all three see the same distance then it is in front of you. By compairing three three sensors I wonder if you could tell left - front - right ?


Edited to add: I my drawing got smushed and I don't know how to fix it.

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Searider

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Bruce Bates

Searider -

Rather than spending money on three PING)) Sensors, why not use just one PING )) Sensor and rotate it with an R/C servo? That will provide about the same output much more economically.

Parallax Part Number 570-28015 contains everything you need to provide that kind of rotating action when the sensor is mounted on a robotic platform.

Regards,

Bruce Bates

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Involvement and committment can be best understood by looking at a plate of ham and eggs. The chicken was involved, but the pig was committed. ANON

.:John:.

Mike,

I was confused by your answer. I was asking if the Stamp can use the GPS unit to plot a course to coordinates that I enter in?

.:John:.

Sorry, I should have searched for a page already. There is already good info on the forums about this. Thanks for the answers though. I am sorry i wasted your time.

Searider

Sorry for taking so long to get back. I have been out of town. I was responding to Question #2 in the original post about a way to tell what direction a signal bounced back from. I agree with Bruce that a moveable Ping Sensor would also work but would be much slower due to the time to re-position the sensor. At the same time you could probably come up with some very cool code that dynamicaly optimized the anges to ping at to find edges of objects. I saw in another post a similar idea that was refered to as a Software Lens. If having one sensor and moving it between reading was too slow, then I guess you could have two or more mouted at fixed angles and then move the entire assembly slightly to get a multiplying effect on the ping sensors.

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Searider

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