From: "andrew kelley" <leetslacker@gmail.com>
> I've had a little experience with such things (like working on the
> DAVe, the UMass Dartmouth vehicle for DARPA grand challenge.) We used
> a rack and pinion setup, with a DC motor turning the pinion gear.

First of all congratulations on DAVe, now that I've been working on 
autonomous rovers for a little longer than 1 year, I know how difficult is 
to build such a beast, especially when you make your own platform. Can you 
share some info on your motor/gear/controller combo (such as manufacturers, 
models)?

> There was a US digital optical encoder($80! since it was custom..) and
> used a PIC for controlling the motor via PWM and feedback into the
> counter..

You mean USB? Or US digital is the name of the company?

> the index on the encoder was aligned with the wheels
> straight.  I still have the code if anyone is interested.. (controlled
> over RS232 port with a second PIC for the DC motor drive control[via
> PWM].  The steering controller could send the wheels L/R to R/L as
> fast as the wheels could slip on cement.. I also had worked on the nav
> and route following system

Since I'm starting on this task, I'd be very interested in taking a look at 
your code for learning purposes, since we'll probably buy the controller off 
the shelf. We want to be done with actuators as fast as possible and start 
to play with the "fun" stuff such as navigation and vision as soon as 
possible.

Are you guys further developing DAVe?


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