Asked
Resolved by Jeremie!
Has anyone played with Robot platforms that use Mecanum wheels and navigation and tracking? My Roomba, Turtle bot, Roli etc are difficult to navigate when you are trying to line something up using navigation software. I am looking for something that would work well with ARC and Navigator but never having any experience with Mecanum wheels not sure where to start. There are a bunch of mecanum wheels on line and some robot platforms but was hoping someone else had played with them before I rush out and purchase something.
Related Hardware LattePanda
Related Controls
Intel Realsense T265
Intel Realsense D435i
But then I just saw this. NO DON'T DO IT. but it has gesture control and its only $55 CAD on amazon (OK I am sidetracked). Yeah just gonna buy 4 wheels and attach them to a bridge and some motors ... umm but its its in my cart NO, having flashbacks to Jeremies hack remember his $20 Walmart car (Oh they are still in stock) https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/150th-scale-yamaha-nano-yxz-with-drift-function-wheels-carbon-blue-color-carbon-and-blue/6000201633689
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08C7XF21N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have! It started with my Live hack where I hacked a $20 RC toy with Mecanum wheels from Walmart. While that didn't work out as planned, I broke the gear boxes in the car likely from feeding them too much voltage, I did move on from there and have had great results.
I wanted to point out that there is a difference between Omni-wheels and Mecanum wheels. Omni-wheels have their rubber barrels running in parallel with the wheel, whereas mecanum wheels have their barrels mounted at an angle.
While you will have problems with Omni wheels on a slanted surface, you won't have any issues with mecanum wheels. Mecanum wheels work against each other when not spinning, there are two types L and R that won't let you slide on a tilted surface. I feel that mecanum wheels are also far superior as they give you the ability to do NW,SW,NE, & SE strafing patterns.
Omni Wheel:
Mecanum Wheel (there are two types in a set L and R):
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08C7XF21N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
plus the arduino gives you a lot more ports.
@Proteusy on the LiDAR yeah I have an old Neato xv11 but I think ARC NMS only works with the Hitachi so I may have to buy one of these but I think I will save that for later as navigation is pretty slick with the two intel sensors.
Edit: OK I see on the ARC page it says ESP32 only supports WiFi and not COM port
https://synthiam.com/Products/ARC
The Hbridge Movement Panel only supports 1 dual hbridge so I am looking for some guidance on the best way to do this either with a custom Movement Panel or maybe through AutoPosition panel etc
i also added 4 wheel encoders to track positions but the Arduino code only supports 2 left and right wheels. Not sure if modifying code to support 4 wheel encoders as the NMS probably doesn’t support 4 so I guess I am better off with the intel sensor for position only. Also think I would need to merge esp32 code and wheel encoder code on the EZB firmware or add a second Arduino.
Also, wheel encoders on a wheel designed to slip are a terrible idea :). Make sure you use a lidar with the real sense if that's the route you're going. But really, a good lidar (such as the RPLidar A1) and you won't need the real sense tracking camera. The lidar does a far better job on its own.
As for your Movement Panel question would be to use a custom movement panel. That's precisely what it is for. The way that the robot navigates will be somewhat challenging to control. With the custom movement panel, you'll have control over what you need out of the robot for navigation. That's going to be an exciting configuration when you're done! It'll be like a drone - so maybe using the joystick would be a good start.
I ordered my RPI from RobotShop. It took longer than they said as well.
The RPI has an rpm spin. That will affect how accurate the slam pose is predicted. So having the robot move slower will help accuracy. Can your Omni wheels move slow and still move the robot?
i don’t have any experience with those wheels. And the only times I’ve seen them are on r/c toys. They’re driving one million miles an hour and banging into things like bumper cars haha