Getting Data BACK From Google Earth and Into LabView

Bill | June 23, 2010 in Autonomous Rover, Source Code, Videos | Comments (0)

I wanted to be able to get information back from Google Earth. It’s already easy to plot information on Google Earth, but getting information back, like the GPS coordinates under the mouse pointer, was another story. Well, I slaved myself to my desk for a few days and figured it out. I created a sample VI program that displays the GPS coordinates of the Mouse over the globe, and captures the coordinates on a left mouse click. It then feeds them back into Google Earth as a point.


PlayStation 2 Controller Arduino Library v1.0

Bill | June 5, 2010 in Projects, Source Code, Tutorials, Videos | Comments (21)

The first fully working version (v1.0) is now available. I split this into a new blog post, as many things have changed.

The big change is you can now define what pins of the Arduino are used, no longer are you tied to pins 10-13.

Also, vibration (Rumble) and analog button pressure readings (how hard is a button being pressed) are now working.


OLD PlayStation 2 Controller Arduino Library

Bill | May 31, 2010 in Source Code, Tutorials | Comments (21)

Outdated. Go to new library HERE

A while ago, I spent countless days trying to interface an Arduino and a Play Station 2 controller. I wanted to build a controller for my SAGAR robot, and figured PS2 + Arduino would be perfect. However, no matter what I did, no existing library would work for me. I shelfed the project for a while, but recently found this forum post with some code by a member named Shutter. I tried out the code, and to my surprise, IT WORKED!!! Well, mostly anyway. It didn’t really have analog stick support, nor was it formatted into an easy to use library.


The Trouble With Communications.

Bill | April 28, 2010 in Tutorials | Comments (0)

A person has already come to me asking how to interface an Axon Microcontroller to LabView. Instead of a bland answer to the effect of “It’s nothing special”, I decided to write a quick write-up about communications between computer systems; and I will use the communication between my SAGAR robot and LabView operator panel as an example.


SAGAR System Overview, Part 1

Bill | April 20, 2010 in Autonomous Rover, Projects, Tutorials, Videos | Comments (0)

My SAGAR project has gotten to a point where I would like to document the system design through a series of detailed posts.

First I’ll show the new interface, and talk about how it communicates with SAGAR.

Here is a video of the new interface, with an inset of SAGAR as it runs the mission.

NMCI friendly:
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SAGAR Update!! Mission Mode with LabView Panel

Bill | April 13, 2010 in Autonomous Rover, Projects, Videos | Comments (2)

In a joint effort between my girlfriend and I, SAGAR now has a super fancy LabView based graphical user interface. The video below is a screen capture of the interface as SAGAR runs a mission taking it around a parking lot. All communications are in the form of NMEA sentences. The DIYdrones ground station gave us a few ideas of what we wanted to do.


S.A.G.A.R. update – IT’S ALIVE!!!!

Bill | April 7, 2010 in Autonomous Rover, Projects | Comments (0)

Ok, so I’m a little overexcited. I just got back from watching SAGAR complete it’s first autonomous mission. I just finished coding the navigation functions and couldn’t wait till the next day to test. Attached is an image of the mission it ran.

I used a Ardupilot program to generate the mission file with waypoints, convert it to a hex file using gcc, and I manually flash that into the Axon’s EEPROM memory. When SAGAR comes online, I give it a command to scan the mission file in memory, then I command it to run the mission.


S.A.G.A.R. Update, Compass Woes

Bill | February 6, 2010 in Autonomous Rover, Projects | Comments (0)

I have been asked by a few people how SAGAR is going, so I guess I need to do some updates more often. Anyway, SAGAR was shelved for a while. The last tests of the closed loop heading controller showed I had something messing with the compass readings. Further tests concluded that my batteries were biasing my compass.


Irobot Create – Force Field Obstacle Avoidance

Bill | February 3, 2010 in Projects, Videos | Comments (2)

While waiting for parts to come in for SAGAR, I decided I’d kill three birds with one stone. I wanted to adapt my Irobot command code to be compatible with Webbot’s Lib, I wanted to test Webbot’s new Project designer, and I wanted to try out a Force Field Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm. This is what I came up with.


Build Your Own Li-Ion Battery Packs from Leftovers – Tutorial

Bill | January 19, 2010 in Tutorials | Comments (0)

All right folks. The attached is my first attempt at writing a tutorial, so go easy. It goes over how I turned Li-Ion packs from obsolete equipment into usable packs for my SAGAR robot. For about $10 per pack, I built my own 14.4V 2.2Ah Li-ion pack, and in the attached pdf, I show you how I did it, so you can do it too.

Download:   DIY Li-Ion Tutorial