Interfacing a digital compass with the RC

[Protronie]

Please forgive a uninformed question but,
How would you use a digital compress in a robot?
And wouldn't the electronics and metal of the robot throw it off a few dozen degrees?
Especially when inside a building.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Protronie

Please forgive a uninformed question but,
How would you use a digital compress in a robot?
And wouldn't the electronics and metal of the robot throw it off a few dozen degrees?
Especially when inside a building.

That is part of the high current pulse for cal, etc. Car compass modules use this type of device. It requires some thought and planning as to placement but it is done all the time. Cars don't really need to depend on direction when inside a building or structure so it is usually not a problem. I have had a car compass go a little whacky inside big garages or undergound though.

[Kelly]

We have a holonomic drive train, and we want to use the compass to determine which way our robot is pointing so we can make a field-centric drive system. We aren't worried about it being off relative to the Earth, we just need it to be consistently off.

We're trying to use the 2007 RC for this project. Can it receive PWM input?

[Qbranch]

Originally Posted by Kelly

We have a holonomic drive train, and we want to use the compass to determine which way our robot is pointing so we can make a field-centric drive system. We aren't worried about it being off relative to the Earth, we just need it to be consistently off.

We're trying to use the 2007 RC for this project. Can it receive PWM input?

Ahhh I always wanted to try this! Though with the added bonus of a fluxgate compass in the OI pannel too, so a crab drive could always be relative to the OI pannel, even if the operator is walking with the robot. ANYHOW....

Absolutely it can recieve PWM input, thats the great thing about embedded processors, you can do about anything you want! If you need help with how to program up a pulse timer using a hardware timer and a PORTB external interrupt, i can definitely help, just get me in touch with your programmer and i'll see what i can do.

-q