Hello,
> 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)?

I will be able to once I get up back to school (I'm 920 miles away
from it right now, leaving monday night)

> > 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?

US Digital is the name of the company.  www.usdigital.com.  Quadrature
encoder with index.  We got the size to fit the output shaft of the
motor that we used.

> > 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.


Sure.. It still had bugs at its last testing but I have some visio
diagrams of the software flow.. it was pretty simple..

> Are you guys further developing DAVe?

Perhaps, I don't know since we didnt win the competition....  We may
just to be able to have a base to be able to experiment with AI and
obstacle avoidance.

--
andrew (with my 7 month daughter playing with the keyboard and mouse
as I try to type.)

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