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Asked — Edited

Suggestion For New Motor Control Movement Panel

I have a suggestion for a new Movement Panel for controlling H-Bridge Motor controllers.

I have noticed that since I switched over to the EZ-B board from R/C control that I am not longer able to accutately control the movement of my robot. Using the R/C equipment and two joysticks in the Tank drive mode I could percisely steer the robot diagonally as well as forward and reverse because I was contolling each motor independally. Now that I am using the EZ-B board I can no longer do that since the Movement Panel is layed out on a X design and control both motors together for forward and reserse movements as well and turning left and right.

Is it possible that a movemnt panel could be created that allows two drive motors to be independally controlled give more persice control of the steering.

That way you could have one Movement Panel of either side of a tablet and using your thumbs slide them up and down to control the direction of each motor. This is extremely useful when both drive motors are not perfectly matched and spin at slightly different speeds which cause the robot to not drive in a straight line. This would also give to operator better control for a more fluid movement to the steering of the robot.

Just a suggestion, but one that would be highly useful.

Dan S.
Mind Munchie builder.


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#2  
that would be cool. wall-e could shimmy forward when he's bad!
#3  
using a custom Movement Panel you could set this up.

And while we-re on the Movement Panel topic, what do you think about adding a command that says which Movement Panel you mean. that way you could have multiple movement panels in one .ezb file! You could run multiple robots on one ARC instance on multiple movement panels.
United Kingdom
#4  
Unless it was changed during the revolution release/rewrite ARC could not support multiple movement panels. I suspect it still can't since the EZ-Script commands of Forward, Reverse etc. still don't require board numbers.

Do we still have the slider control or was that an old build? Just a thought, if it's there, they could be used for control of motors and have one either side of the screen... I guess I need to check (I close ARC for 2 minutes and have to open it again)

Edit: yes we do:) But they are left/right not up/down. But you could use them and set the value to move a motor one way or the other.
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Synthiam
#5  
There is no plan to support multiple robots (movement panels) in a single ARC instance. Load multiple copies of the software per robot.
#6  
ahhhhh! well that was worth a try.

I came up with a hole command line!

wait, I have an idea that lets you run multiple robots on one ARC software that doesn't require a second movement panel.

heres a sample:

[code]controlcommand([board number] 1, [command] forward)

In the connection box, you could specify the driving motors like in the movement panel. then just make scripts like this, and run them! then you have the ability to run multiple robots.

Just an idea.
United Kingdom
#7  
You can move multiple robots with one instance through scripts and other controls. The easy way is keyboard controls, each key tied to a script which moves the right motors the right way...

I expect there's an example somewhere, if not I'll do one tomorrow.
PRO
Synthiam
#8  
Thanks for the suggestion TechnoPro, it's a great idea!:) However, we still do not feel more than one robot should be controlled by ARC at a time. Multiple instances of ARC would make projects easier to manage.

We have plenty of new features on the way... stay tuned:D You will enjoy them!
#9  
I like the idea of having multi h-bridge controls. My robot jack needs one for the tracks to move forward/reverse left and right. I also need one for the 2 motors to raise the robot up and down and to climb stairs.




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United Kingdom
#10  
@Tymtraveler, I'll be posting an example to the cloud later with scripts and keyboard controls to move a hbridge without a movement panel. It may vary slightly from hbridge to hbridge (i.e. different types) but the basics will remain the same:)
#11  
@ Rich, with the script will I be able to say "Robot rise or lower" that's all I want it to do I think with my design I will not be having him climb stairs. I just need him to rise up and open the beer fridge and grab the beer. I am still learning scripting but I figured out that when the door is open I made a devise that will push a beer out so JAC can grab it. My script will work like this if it is possible.
1. Command: JAC get me a beer.
2. JAC runs script to first search for a glyph on the fridge that will guild him to the fridge.
3. Once he finds the fridge he will run a script to first rise up.
4. As he approches the fridge he will activate a motion detector that will pop open the door using a motor and bracket that is installed on the door
5. Beer will be in a tray that will be in the front.
6. JAC will then move forward and grasp the beer, then back up.
7. Then the door motion detector will time out and close tha door once JAC has backed away from the fridge, then he will run a final script to find me (face rec)

This is one of the reasons I want the Kinect and face rec for JAC.
PRO
Synthiam
#12  
There's a script in Examples called "Two HBridges"
United Kingdom
#13  
That'll teach me not to look in the examples, I've just done my example:) Oh well, it gave me something to do, I'll have to see if I did mine the same way or a different way. It may sound crazy but I've barely looked at examples.

Although I got carried away and threw in a Movement Panel and a slide script which can toggle which H-Bridge is controlled by the movement panel... It doesn't allow the Forward/Reverse/Left/Right/Stop script commands to work with both, they will only work with whichever H-Bridge is enabled.

It's on the cloud.


However, that wont be needed for your rising/lowering h-bridge @TymTraveler. To raise and lower you can simply just use Set(DigitalPort, On/Off) and some timings to enable/disable the motor, basically what is used in the script manager of my example to make the forward, reverse, left, right and stop movements.
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Synthiam
#14  
Todays' release will contain a search feature in the File Open dialog
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