WayneA
USA
Asked
— Edited
Resolved by DJ Sures!
Good Morning,
Last night i was playing with my robot, and i think that it went out of wifi range. I could not stop my robot and it ran into a shelf and broke one of my wife's coffee mugs. I know on the version 3 board if you went out of bluetooth range the board stopped everything. On this version 4 board it is supposed to do the same thing?
Thoughts?
(P.S. My wife would love to know also!)
Large robots should have a safety switch for more reasons than your wife's unfortunate coffee mug incident. Specifically when there are children or if the robot is being used in public.
Generally, wifi is very stable and there shouldn't be a problem. On the rare occurrence of an issue, the safety switch will come in handy.
Its a remote controlled switch.
www.ebay.ca/itm/New-12V-Signal-Channel-Fixed-Encoding-Wireless-Remote-Control-Switch-/251279303366?pt=Home_Automation_Controls_Touchscreens&hash=item3a8169e2c6
@DJ, that's a long way to run if it goes out of range! That's where my idea comes in.
The EZ-B V3 would drop all IO pins to ground on disconnect, which was useful as you could do things like this...
I presume the V4 works in the same way.
You can take this to the next level and wire in a TIP122 based switching circuit which would energise a relay which then enables power to the motor controller.
This should then act as a failsafe should disconnection occur, basically put it will kill the power to the drivetrain so the robot should stop on the spot and therefore avoid any demolition, maiming or breaking of coffee cups or people.
Chris