my rc car

[Dcofer]

So for school I have been coding and building an r/c vehicle that is controlled via any computer.  Currently it is a mess but all that matters to pass is functionality so I will make it look purdy later hehe.

A little about the project:

All the coding was done by me with MPLab on the Pickit 3 demo board (pic 18f45k20).  Gearbox currently at a 58:1 gearing (i believe, soon to be 203:1 for more torque to fix turning).  Camera mounted on the front using 2 servo motors for pan and tilt, transmits wireless to the computer.  Have GPS so it can drive itself though I  am having issues parsing the code to get the longitude and latitude, but all data is stored on the microcontroller.  also have infrared sensors on front and sides for when it is driving on its own to avoid objects.  No build pics due to it mainly being coding.  so here is the forward, reverse, and servo test.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddWaRrRbnHM

[Sammy]

Wow! pretty awesome!!!, cant wait to see it when you get it done.

[Dcofer]

me too haha, so gearing the gearbox to 203:1 seems to have fixed the turning problem, it stripped a plastic wheel though so I need to hot glue that bish then ill get a better video up.

[Monk3y]

really cool project you got going there, my volume was pretty crappy when watch the video though but is the car powered through your computer?

[Dcofer]

fixed the turning problem by gearing the motors to 203:1 which made it slower but much more functional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDA1LT4wXRU

Basically you send commands through a terminal program then that sends via XBee wireless module which mine is a point to point module so it can only communicate with the one on the vehicle.  from there the commands are read by the pickit 3 via the USART and then based on the received command the TRISD register is changed to a designated value that dictates the direction for each track to move.  I prolly over explained it but thats the full communication sequence between the computer and my r/c car.  It is powered by 2x 9v batteries (one for camera and one dropped to 5v for the servos and H-Bridge logic levels) 7.2v 1600mA r/c car battery for the motor power and a 3v battery for the microcontroller, there are no wires between the computer and vehicle.  Hope that I was able to explain it well enough haha.