RC MARS Rover

thingiverse

RC vehicle inspired by Mars rover Curiosity built with 3D printed parts. Processing unit is Ardunio Mega board. For movement, six high-torque servos with metal gears and optimized for continuous rotation are used. For steering, six standard 9g servos are utilized. Control system relies on standard four-channel design. The power source is a 2S or 3S lithium polymer battery paired with a 6V smart battery eliminator circuit (SBEC). ------ Rover Mk II ----https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puso_W5l1AA A must-see! youtube: 0 - Presentation control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAg5VBJ3dfA 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kdi7T4iqAI 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh_syhhbGSI simple instructions: http://www.mochr.cz/index.php?id=rc-rover (wait for completion) WARNING New website address: http://www.mochr.cz/index.php?id=rc-rover Instructions Arduino code is included in a compressed archive file. Bill of Materials: - 6x 9g servo (TG9e, TowerPro SG90) - 6x 9g servo with metal gear (TGY-5009M) - Arduino Mega 2560 - SBEC Lipo 5/6V 5/6A for 3S lithium polymer battery - 3S lithium polymer battery approximately 1300mAh - 12x servo extension cable (10-30cm) - 12x resistor 2.2K ohm - universal printed circuit board (PCB) - green LED 3mm - red LED 3mm - yellow LED 3mm - 3x resistor 160 Ohm - some wires - 42x screw M2x6 - 6x screw M2.5x6 - 2x screw M3x25 - 8x screw M3x6 - 8x nut M3 - 4x nut M2 - 4x white LED 5mm - 4x red LED 5mm - RC transmitter and receiver (TX and RX) - connector to Arduino board - cable ties - 3D printed components Arduino setup: After building the Rover, it's necessary to center the servos. Upload this file to Ardunio: // 2 - 7 for all steering servos // 8 - 13 for all wheel servos int pin = 13; Check all servos using serial monitor to confirm their center position. My calibration values range from 1300-1500. Value written to this file and uploaded to Arduino: // Data from servo calibration - center position of each servo int W1_center = 1350; int W2_center = 1390; int W3_center = 1360; int W4_center = 1370; int W5_center = 1435; int W6_center = 1355; int S1_center = 1500; int S2_center = 1480; int S3_center = 1420; int S4_center = 1410; int S5_center = 1480; int S6_center = 1480; Now, connect the receiver (RX) to the PCB and Ardunio to a PC. Set the control stick on the TX to neutral position. Serial monitor writes some values, which are copied into Excel and averaged with approximately 50 values. This process is repeated for both channels: // calibration RX signal Serial.println( value_ch1); and // calibration RX signal Serial.println( value_ch2); Servo modification Servos with metal gear are used on wheels and require modification to enable continuous rotation. The steps involve cutting off the potentiometer, adding two resistors, and removing a pin from the tooth wheel. Example instructions: https://learn.adafruit.com/modifying-servos-for-continuous-rotation/overview