Quote:
Originally Posted by 7-11number1
Today has not been a good day.  Two of our brand new Victor Speed Controllers exploded in flames (yes they were wired correctly) and an Andy Mark Tough box locked up.
However, these are minor setbacks. I want to talk about (3) issues.
1. Drive control. Linear speed control is not a good idea e.g. (pwy=p1_y) since it is very hard to control using the kit joysticks. I read the white paper on creating a lookup table to smooth the throttle. Is there a better way?
2. Speed Calibration. How do you get all of your wheels to spin at the same speed when given the same PWM value? I realize there are quite a few mechanical and electrical variables involved but want to know how you handle the one wheel that lags the others.
3. Rapid Speed Changes. How do you handle rapid speed changes in your code? Example, going from pwm=250 to pwm = 10 (full motor reversal)? This is obviously not good for the drive train. If you have written any code to handle this please share and save all of our drivetrains. |
Many many questions I see...
1. How do you want to drive your robot? 1 joystick, or 2 joystick. You can possibly buy a chicklet and/or buy a new joystick.
2. We never have really had our wheels spin at the same rate with the same PWM value. Actually, it is almost impossible. There are so many little variances that will make one side spin faster than the other. You can possibly try to install the Dual Axis Accelerometer or the two gear tooth sensors and write some code that would make it go straight.
3. We never really have dealt with rapid speed changes. Of course it's not good, but we've never run into that type of problem (and we run #25 chain). If you do try to do this, you will lose some control while it slows down and speeds up again. I would recommend making a drive train that can handle this. The Victors do pretty good at handling this abuse (but if they released the magic smoke or "exploded in flames" then you may want to try to look into programming in a throttle). The best solution: Train your drivers NOT to do this unless needed.