172's built...a truck!

[DragonRagnarok]

As the programming team, I'd just like the make a little correction, we aren't using standard "skid-steer" coding. I had that for a day on the first upload, but it had since been modified when i took those videos. The yoke turns just from the differential motor speeds. the x-axis joystick reading has been cut in half so it turns nice and smooth. It takes a little getting used to to drive, but it looks much more graceful.

In the past I've always toyed with the idea of computer-assisted steering, fly-by-wire, etc. This drive train will very easily let me do this, along with the gyro a potentiometer which should be mounted tonight.

I've been thinking about working in a small dead-band into the x-axis of the joystick. As long as the stick is within the deadband, the robot will automatically keep itself perfectly straight. Even if knocked it could try to turn and resume the same heading. (Haven't looked to deep to see if that's actually useful yet, but it's a neat idea).

[edit] another idea is to use the pot to constantly read the yoke's angle, and use a USB steering wheel for added truck-iness. The potentiometer determines how long and in what direction to change the motor differential in order to keep the angle relative to that of the steering wheel.