I finished wiring the small rover. I also centered all the steering servos; some disassembly was required for this one.
The solar test is still going strong, despite being upside down for two days and plenty of rain. I am thrilled with the performance of the 10k battery and the four panels.
The plan for the rover is to have (1) 10k battery and (2) 18650 batteries in series to run the servos. I am not happy with the planetary gears’ friction, but better done than perfect. I might change the entire design even if friction was not an issue. Who knows. I can work on that after learning more.
I started working on Mission Control. I did not archive the old version of mission control and the running software on the rover. Shame on me! It looks like I am starting from scratch. As of this writing, I have the UI finished and the form submitting all the data. I will call this version 1.2.
For version 1.2, I will put in the angle of each servo, the wheel’s speed, and the movement duration in seconds. The idea is to get it up and run with basic commands. I will work on obstacle avoidance and waypoint finding later. The goal is to get it moving and lasting outside in the backyard for weeks or months.
Roadmap as of now:
- Moving and surviving.
- Camera Mast
- Obstacle avoidance
- GPS, Compass
- Waypoint
- Sensors
- 3D mapping
I am sure there will be other things added in the middle, and that is the fun of the hobby. Writing this, I can see putting a distance-measuring rotating radar dish on the top. All sorts of things are yet to come.