I don't think you will have any trouble with the weight. I don't use this chassis, but I use the motors and drive wheels on a steel chassis build with Vex hardware. It must weigh in at around 40 lbs and is quick and lively. (I have a hole in my sheetrock wall to prove it).· I think that the "Extra 2 wheels" you are refering two are just for ballance. Directonal control is "Tank" style. If both motors are moving at the same speed, it goes straight. If one is faster than the other it turns. Put one in forward and the other reverse and it can turn inside it's own radius.
Thank you! I just had one more quick question. For a power system does the base kit come with the right guage cables to interface or use with this microprocessor or would I have to find my own to use with a 12v lead acid battery?
Hi, I’ve put together the equivalent of the Robot Base Kit piece at a time.· I didn’t buy the kit because I already had the Motor Mount and Wheel Kit with the HB-25 motor controllers.· I have the MSR1 Controller mounted on standoffs, with a Board of Education Board about three inches above it.· I just took some 4-40 screws and cut the heads off and made my own length standoffs.· Ok!· Why the Basic program board when I’m obviously using the MSR1 Propeller board?· Well, the truth is I am not yet smart enough and/or have confidence enough to make all of my ideas and sensors work with Spin – I have to make it work with Basic first, and then I’m not necessarily good enough to do it right – I have already burned up two Wheel Kit encoders by having a connector backwards, white and black between the two encoders switched.· As you can tell I need some help.· I have the motors all proven out with basic, now I need to do it in Spin. ·My next challenge is to tackle the 10 pings and make my sometimes autonomous robot avoid things.· Being retired, this, and a six legged crawler will be my life’s work.· I plan to make this Bot sort of a lab on wheels where it will have cameras, many sensors, be autonomous for safety, and also be controlled by remote joy stick.· I then plan to use the experience to autonomies, and remote control my power wheel chair so if I am not able to control it, hopefully not any where soon, my wife can remotely (Xbee) walk along side and drive.· That’ll be a big Bot.· Actually I am putting together now, two servos and couple of solenoids for the buttons, in a box to fit over my chair’s Joy Stick, and Xbee it remotely just for fun, however to do it right it needs to have autonomous safety sensors, kill circuits, etc. to be practical.· Ok, after a good laugh about my dream Bot ideas, I sure could use some guidance on spinning those ten Pings.· I believe I have scrounged enough spin examples from the Parallax libraries to motorize the Bot in Spin.· Any suggestions, sample Spin, or block diagrams on making those ten monsters work would really be appreciated.
Robert ·········Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt. ·
I have a fused line running from the battery to the HB-25's, then to the motors,·and and a lessor fused line from the battery to the MSR1 Prop Controller, which has a 12v input.· However, be aware that I have not been able yet to get the MSR1 to work with the Wheel_Controller.spin OBJ -- In the mean time I have breadboarded the Propstick with voltage reduction which is working just fine of which·I'm probably going to stick with.
Yes, there is voltage regulation of various levels on most controller boards, however if you use just the propeller or basic stamp chips by themselves, you have to take care of regulating all componant voltages yourself among other issues. I’m sorry but I don’t quit know what else to tell you.· The MSR1 board has a 6 to 15v receptacle for a wall outlet type of power supply, and a receptacle to plug in the wires from a 12v battery.· The on board circuitry handles further voltage reduction to the appropriate IC and controller chips.···But remember what I mentioned above – I have not been able to get the MSR1 board to power the wheels through the program I want to use (wheel_controller.spin).· There are other boards that use the propeller chip that work just fine, although some will require you to reduce the voltage to at least 9vdc.· I now plan to use the PropStick and breadboard everything to take advantage of all of the computer chip pins.
It appears that you might benefit by surfing the parallax.com web site for a more complete picture of what is available, and you may want to take advantage of the many downloadable free tutorials and books that are available, that would be essential if you are new to the electronic and/or computer chip controller.
Robert
oh ok I see now. I am doing using the base kit in a group project with 7 other people. Your issues seem to be coming from the fact that even for 7 of us this seems like a daunting task so I can only imagine how much more difficult it would be for one person. Our project ideas are very similar. After looking at the website and specifications a little more thoroughly it would seem as if wheel controller.spin should work with the msr1 and those motor controllers. Should my group discover how to get it working I will post my findings here, Id really like it if you did the same.
I don't belive that interfacing directly to the motors or even the motor controllers would be a problem, however, when you use Wheel_Controller.spin with an application program like the test program WC_TestHarness.spin you are also utilizing the motor assembly·Position Contollers·boards as described in the beginning document of the Wheel_Controller program.· The author of Wheel_Controller.spin indicated that he also had his doubts on whether the MSR1 controller board was suitable for use with his OBJ.· I believe that·the MSR1·is the controller used in the Parallax StingRay robot which has a different type of motor and Position Control system.
I don't have anything hooked to an MSR1. ·As I have told you before, I took the MSR1 out of the circuit because it didn't work for me.· When I·did try·it, I hooked it up exactly the same as you would with any controller board.· I powered the motors·through the HB-25 motor controllers direct from the battery through a maual·OFF/ON switch.· I then wired a control signal line from the Controller board's Pin7 to the Position Controllers which are hooked to the HB-25's.· So, the main Controller Board, be it an MSR1 (which does not work for me), a Prop Demo Board, a Prop Proto Board, a PropStick powered Breadboard, or a single Prop Chip on a Breadboard, sends a programed signal from P7 or what ever pin you setup, to the Position Controllers(#29319), that are hooked up parallel, and they in turn send the signal to the HB-25 Motor Controllers·(#29144), which in turn powers the Motor Mount and Wheel Kit (#27971).· All of this information I am taking out of the information provided free on the Parallax.com web site and available to you.· Please try to review it.·
Are you possibly using a language interpreter program to converse on this forum?
oh ok I see how you did it. On the object exchange a comment mentions in wheel_controller.spin that:
"The code expects you to have the two wheel encoders connected up in chain fashion (one plugged into the other, and only one going to your prop/board). "
Attached are some pictures of how I wired mine up. I have a 12v SLA battery for the HB-25s & wheel kit, and a 7.2v R/C battery for powering the MSR1 board. This was easier for me since I already had the batteries and a connector for the MSR1. I could·wire up a connection from the 12v SLA battery to the MSR1, but it's nice to be able to turn off the motor power and still run the MSR1 for debugging and testing.
I used the obex object to drive the wheel kit just fine using the MSR1 board.
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Post Edited (Roy Eltham) : 5/30/2010 8:50:32 PM GMT
Man, if everybody is buying 10 Ping kits for these robot bases, I should have switched my 401K investments to Parallax...
You're kidding me, right? Are 10 Pings REALLY necessary? How about one or two and some motorized scanning arrangement, like Robby' like B-9 (Lost in Space), or Hero 2000 (a real robot that did it quite well).
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
erco: The full kit comes with the 10 PING)))'s and the metal brackets to mount them. I like the look of them on the wood platform, plus I can scan all directions several times a second.
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erco: Well, I think that might have been a little too much [noparse]:)[/noparse], but I have plans for quite a few other sensors on that thing. Plus the·robot base only comes pre drilled for 10 PING)))'s.·My problem is finding time, and my other problem is that I have so many different things I want to work on between the Stingray, quadrotor, this bot, and I want to make a balancing bot like the Dancebot in the PCMPM book.
p00ndawg: Yes you can connect the 12v battery directly to the MSR1, but I chose to keep it separate. I happened to already have a connector for the MSR1 to a standard R/C battery, so I went with that.
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You certainly did a nice job on your setup.· I have wired mine the same way, and it's working fine, however, am not able to get any results from the MSR1 boards, and I have two of them and they both react the same -- the wheels just go crazy, back and forth, chatter, and never the same.
You said "(I·used the obex object to drive the wheel kit just fine using the MSR1 board.)"· Which obex object did you use?· I am using Wheel_Controller.spin which has some great features.
Im now struggling with the logic for operating the Pings autonomously.· No problem with the programming just the logic.· I am planning to use the front five for all forward autonomous operations, and the rear·five and the forward five for safety when operating it remotely with a Joy Stick or other controller.
erco, I don't know what to advise you on your investments.
treborz17: I am using Wheel_Controller.spin. I started with the WC_Test_Harness.spin that is with it on the obex. I modified it to use P10 instead of P27 for the Wheel Controllers, and I removed the code for the push-button and LEDs. That works fine on the MSR1.
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Ken, that sounds fine! I've got a lot of things I am working on, so they would have sat for a bit anyway. I can get them when I come up for UPEW. I'll be bringing my bots with me, so maybe I can fit one while there.
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Roy Eltham said...
treborz17: I am using Wheel_Controller.spin. I started with the WC_Test_Harness.spin that is with it on the obex. I modified it to use P10 instead of P27 for the Wheel Controllers, and I removed the code for the push-button and LEDs. That works fine on the MSR1.
Roy, this· really has me stumped.· I made the same hookup as yours with the same object Wheel_Controller.spin and WC_Testharness.spin.· I used P23 instead of P10 and I left the push-button and LEDs hookup until I found what was wrong.· I supplied the 12v battery power to the same conector as you did, and I tried powering the MSR1 seperately with a 12v switching power supply wall plug.· I have had great success with a Prop Demo Board and the breadboard from the Propeller Education kit Labs, naturally without the ten Pings hooked up.·
Wow!· Now I have another project.· I just can't let something like that get the best of me, now I'll have to set it up again with the MSR1 and try again.· The MSR1 seems to be perfect for the project with all of the availabe pins and at five volts as they are.· Any suggestions would certainly be appreciated.
Sounds like UPEW will be fun and a great place to hobnob with like-minded folks. Unfortunately I have a conflict that day and won't be able to attend.
But if I start programming the route now, and attach some big solar cells, I could send my Retrobot rover autonomously in my place. It's only 423 miles. I can use "line following mode" for 365 miles along the shoulder of I-5. Wouldn't that be a hoot...
Ken, can I count on you to bungee some good Parallax schwag on top (NOT blocking the solar cells), turn it around 180 degrees, and press the reset button?
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ·"If you build it, they will come."
Comments
I don't think you will have any trouble with the weight. I don't use this chassis, but I use the motors and drive wheels on a steel chassis build with Vex hardware. It must weigh in at around 40 lbs and is quick and lively. (I have a hole in my sheetrock wall to prove it).· I think that the "Extra 2 wheels" you are refering two are just for ballance. Directonal control is "Tank" style. If both motors are moving at the same speed, it goes straight. If one is faster than the other it turns. Put one in forward and the other reverse and it can turn inside it's own radius.
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Searider
http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerDevelopmentBoards/tabid/514/CategoryID/73/List/0/SortField/0/Level/a/ProductID/584/Default.aspx
Post Edited (p00ndawg) : 5/14/2010 7:08:28 PM GMT
Robert
········· Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
·
Robert
A sort of direct connect from the batter to the propellor that requires a wire/line?
http://www.parallax.com/Store/Robots/AllRobots/tabid/128/CategoryID/3/List/0/SortField/0/Level/a/ProductID/666/Default.aspx#
on the things you supply section they say to use a ps1270.
Even after your post im still a little unsure of how to get that battery to work with the prop so I can use the prop with the ping))) sensors.
Any help greatly appreciated and thanks for your post.
Post Edited (p00ndawg) : 5/27/2010 11:19:10 AM GMT
It appears that you might benefit by surfing the parallax.com web site for a more complete picture of what is available, and you may want to take advantage of the many downloadable free tutorials and books that are available, that would be essential if you are new to the electronic and/or computer chip controller.
Robert
Thanks
EDIT:
Here is a thread I started with some useful info.
http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=25&m=456730
Post Edited (p00ndawg) : 5/29/2010 4:35:08 PM GMT
Robert
Are you possibly using a language interpreter program to converse on this forum?
Robert
"The code expects you to have the two wheel encoders connected up in chain fashion (one plugged into the other, and only one going to your prop/board). "
you may have overlooked this.
I used the obex object to drive the wheel kit just fine using the MSR1 board.
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Post Edited (Roy Eltham) : 5/30/2010 8:50:32 PM GMT
You're kidding me, right? Are 10 Pings REALLY necessary? How about one or two and some motorized scanning arrangement, like Robby' like B-9 (Lost in Space), or Hero 2000 (a real robot that did it quite well).
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·"If you build it, they will come."
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I like the look of the kit as well which is why I went for it, even tho 10 ping sensors is sort of unnecessary.
May I ask where you got that strip where you plugged in the 12v sla battery?
I do not think the kit comes with it.
Post Edited (p00ndawg) : 5/30/2010 9:41:20 PM GMT
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·"If you build it, they will come."
I still need quite a few components(terminal strip included) before I can start this beast.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it would not be suitable to directly connect the 12v battery directly to the msr1 controller?
p00ndawg: Yes you can connect the 12v battery directly to the MSR1, but I chose to keep it separate. I happened to already have a connector for the MSR1 to a standard R/C battery, so I went with that.
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You certainly did a nice job on your setup.· I have wired mine the same way, and it's working fine, however, am not able to get any results from the MSR1 boards, and I have two of them and they both react the same -- the wheels just go crazy, back and forth, chatter, and never the same.
You said "(I·used the obex object to drive the wheel kit just fine using the MSR1 board.)"· Which obex object did you use?· I am using Wheel_Controller.spin which has some great features.
Im now struggling with the logic for operating the Pings autonomously.· No problem with the programming just the logic.· I am planning to use the front five for all forward autonomous operations, and the rear·five and the forward five for safety when operating it remotely with a Joy Stick or other controller.
erco, I don't know what to advise you on your investments.
Robert
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We've ordered an Epilog 24x36 laser cutter and it should be at Parallax in two weeks. If you can wait then I can make these at Parallax for you.
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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.
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Wow!· Now I have another project.· I just can't let something like that get the best of me, now I'll have to set it up again with the MSR1 and try again.· The MSR1 seems to be perfect for the project with all of the availabe pins and at five volts as they are.· Any suggestions would certainly be appreciated.
Thanks for your input and the pictures.
Robert
·
But if I start programming the route now, and attach some big solar cells, I could send my Retrobot rover autonomously in my place. It's only 423 miles. I can use "line following mode" for 365 miles along the shoulder of I-5. Wouldn't that be a hoot...
Ken, can I count on you to bungee some good Parallax schwag on top (NOT blocking the solar cells), turn it around 180 degrees, and press the reset button?
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·"If you build it, they will come."