Hi -
I am trying to see if we have the right equipment for our job. We have a track robot (Agent 390 base) that uses 2 HD planetary gearmotors (for driving), a small dc motor to run a brush, and a servo motor to push the trigger on a paintball gun (this robot is meant to clean residential solar panels). The initial set up used a Adafruit motor shield and a bluetooth shield on an Arduino Uno to allow remote control and switch to autonomous control (has ultrasonic sensor to detect edge of panel). The drive motors were under powered through the motor shield, which limited its ability to turn on the panel. We also want something with better range than bluetooth for remote control.
We purchased the Trex dual motor controller and have paired it with a Spektrum DXe RC transmitter. With that we are able to run the drive motors and the brush motor. The motors are definitely better powered and can turn the robot with significantly decreased difficulty. The idea is to use Ch 5 to switch to auto mode (still trying to figure this out because I’m trying to figure out how to read and write between the trex and arduino).
The problem right now with the direct RC control is that we don’t have a way to get the servo motor to press the trigger for the airblast at the end of the solar panel. Can Ch 4 (enable “flip mode”) be used in any way to do this? If so, how? I also purchased a mini-Maestro 6 channel servo controller. Will that help us out at all?
Thank you for any insight or suggestions you may have.