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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Mar 10, 2014 11:04:10 GMT
Just taught I would mention my idea to make my tractors controllable from my tablet. As most of you probably know I like to use XBee modules in my RC Tractors which use UART to communicate with a micro controller. UART is a fairly common communication method for hobbyist electronics guys and as a result you can pick up pretty much any type of radio module with UART. I bought a Bluetooth module about a year ago and never used it so I figured why not hook it up to the xbee and drive my lorry which I was testing with my tablet. The module I have is a BC04 Bluetooth module and all I done was wire it to the XBee, power it up, connect with the tablet and I had control of my lorry using a bluetooth terminal app.
My plan now is to get a grain silo or maybe a slurry tank and hide the module inside it so that it doesn't look out of place. If anyone has any questions about Bluetooth RC Tractors control, let me know.
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Post by thomas on Jul 7, 2014 20:25:46 GMT
what kind of money are you chatting about using the blue tooth set up thanks
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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Jul 7, 2014 22:02:42 GMT
Well for simplicity sake lets say you choose the big John Deere 9560R model that I mention on the site that cost me around 25 or 30 euro, not 100% sure. Then the bluetooth module I use in the video is a BC04-B bluetooth Module which cost around €6. You need an arduino, I'll be using an Arduino pro mini because it is very small and only costs around €3.20 however you'll need an ftdi cable or usb adapter to program it. Then you need a servo for steering I used a hobby king HK15138 Standard Analog Servo which cost around €2.50 plus shipping which I don't think was cheap, you'd probably be better getting a similar dimension one somewhere else so lets say that €5. Then for the motor I'm using is a Tamiya 70189 Mini Motor Low-Speed Gearbox which was around €12. I also got longer shafts for the motor which where Tamiya 70105 shaft set which was €8.60 but you could avoid this if you wanted. You'll then need a motor driver chip, I'm going to use dual motor driver module based on the TB6612FNG chip which cost €5.50. The rest depends on what LEDs or other features you add so lets say €10 on other stuff. So all in you're talking over €80 I guess which is a lot but an SIKU control 32 model will set you back over €100 anyway. Really it just depends whether you'd enjoy the challenge of making it or just get frustrated, I personally love hobby electronics so I'd build them all day if it paid the bills
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Post by thomas on Jul 9, 2014 18:58:59 GMT
Is there a way of getting a RC tractor to drive a course on its own using arduino. Thanks
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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Jul 9, 2014 20:28:48 GMT
Yes that should be possible, you'd just be making a tractor shaped robot. You could have it follow a colour line on the ground that would be easiest because its been done a lot for robots. You could try mounting infra-red obstacle avoidance sensors on it and build something like a road with walls so that the tractor just needed to stay between the walls.
Or do you mean, something like you drive the path then get the tractor to replicate it? That would be harder, not really sure how you would do that. Maybe if the route wasn't too complex you could approximate it with an accelerometer.
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Post by thomas on Jul 10, 2014 7:57:50 GMT
Yeah was thinking for driving around a field in a model farm , field is about 4 x 2 , with one of them britains balers that the bales come out the back ,
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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Jul 10, 2014 10:26:58 GMT
Well it would be very difficult but I don't think impossible. If you could put a coloured strip to identify the path you want the tractor to follow then it should be able to do it with a line follower program. Alternatively you could try place a webcam high above the field and have a computer control your tractors in the field but that would be extremely difficult I think.
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Post by thomas on Jul 10, 2014 21:22:29 GMT
Could you program the arduino. To drive straight for ten seconds turn Straight for ten again turn Kinda like a timer program
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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Jul 11, 2014 10:14:31 GMT
Oh yes definitely, that would be very simple. You might have to weigh the from of the tractor down and maybe go slower in the turns to prevent it drifting off course. I know some of mine don't steer perfectly without something holding the front tyres to the ground.
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Post by thomas on Jul 11, 2014 15:49:43 GMT
I have just ordered a ardiuno from ebay so I will see what I can do now . Was looking at a guy on you tube that is using his ps3 to control a car via wireless, looked cool
I am more used to using RC plane parts for my machines. It easy to work with .
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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Jul 11, 2014 21:54:52 GMT
I use parts from an rc plane to test the servos and motor after I install them. Its handy but too big for the 1:32 tractors.
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Post by thomas on Jul 12, 2014 19:44:35 GMT
What ,s the smallest receiver I can to work with a ardunio. I see you use xbee , is that the smallest , I see a tx and rx set on ebay for ardunio , but not sure how many sevro,s it would work. If any
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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Jul 13, 2014 12:35:41 GMT
No you can get smaller, I just find the XBee very easy to use because of the serial communication method they use UART. Is it these modules you're looking at? If yes then you need to add the antenna yourself so a wavelength at 315MHz is roughly 950mm, you would want a quarter wave monopole so a single core wire around 238mm long should work. Those module are very basic but I haven't used them myself, what happens is the transmitter is off until you make the input high. When you make the input high it transmits a waveform at 315MHz. The receiver constantly searches for a signal and adjusts its gain all the time while its searching. When you transmit the signal it locks in and adjusts the gain accordingly so you need to send some kind of preamble first but that shouldn't be a big deal. You just need to have your transmitter input connected to your controller arduino TX pin and your receiver output connected to the RX of your tractor arduino and in theory it should be the same as having a wire connected between the two arduinos. I haven't used them myself but I can order a few since they are so cheap test them out and do a video in a few weeks if you like? If you'd find it useful I'm sure others would too.
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Post by thomas on Jul 14, 2014 19:24:17 GMT
That would be great . The u tube videos are great to learn from. Thanks
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Post by RC Tractor Guy on Jul 14, 2014 22:33:26 GMT
I'm glad to hear people are finding the videos interesting. I'll order a few of those tomorrow but they usually come from china so it will be a few weeks for them to arrive.
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