January 2019: MUCH OF THE INFO HERE IS NOT CURRENT. I hope to update eventually!
Part 2 of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpDjQe8sCa0
Safety Disclaimer: A machine of this size can kill you. Please exercise extreme safety practices and never operate near children or others. Be sure you have a solid method for killing the engine quickly and reliably. I do not endorse any particular method.
Look for later videos for more details on the function of the parts used. Disclaimer: I am a Newbie to the Ardupilot/Ardurover world. Take my comments appropriately! 🙂
Below are the parts I used. Some of them were used because I had them on hand not because they were the best choice. You can perform the functions that the Sparkfun Redboard and Arduino Due boards are doing with other smaller, probably cheaper boards. You can likely have one board perform both functions. I will be optimizing the design at some point in the future, hopefully. This is a proof of concept, not a polished design.
GPS: u-blox C94-M8P – https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/c94-m8p
Primary Control System Kit – Radiolink Pixhawk PX4 Kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4KJEV4
GPS Antenna: Garmin GA 38 – https://www.thegpsstore.com/Garmin-GA-38-remote-antenna-P262.aspx
Cable kit (cut these in half to make cables for use with external devices such as GPS): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4IRVQI/
Radio Telemtry Kit: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q7US5NG
Banana Connectors for Power: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XBVPV6L/
Servo Extension Cables: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXHLF3O/ and/or https://www.robotshop.com/en/sea-03-servo-extender-cable-24.html
UBEC (5V 3A Power Supply for Pixhawk): https://www.robotshop.com/en/5v-3a-power-supply-bec.html
4 Channel 5V 10A Relay Module: https://www.robotshop.com/en/4-channel-5v-10a-relay-module.html
Linear Actuator (2 required): https://www.robotshop.com/en/p16-linear-actuator-50mm-2561-12v-potentiometer-feedback.html
Actuonix Linear Actuator Control Board (2 required): https://www.robotshop.com/en/actuonix-linear-actuator-control-board.html (Note: I believe you could easily do this function with an Arduino or other controller.)
RadioLink RC Transmitter and Receiver: https://www.robotshop.com/en/radiolink-t8fb-24ghz-8ch-transmitter-r8eh-8ch-receiver.html
Sparkfun Redboard (or your favorite Arduino clone): https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13975 or elsewhere.
Arduino Due (could probably use a Mega also): https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11589 or elsewhere.
UPDATE JUNE 3, 2018: I am now using LoRa for RTCM3 communication between base gps and rover gps. I am using 2 Adafruit Feather M0 with LoRa boards. I am still working on perfecting the communication. Updated video coming soon.
, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kyI7HjmpcVM/hqdefault.jpg
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Bravo!
Hi Kenny are you still ok ?
Where are we now in March 2021
Hi Kenny this project looks great, I sincerely believe farmers are the best engineers
This is fantastic! I'm building a similar setup, using a smaller (and electric) rover I built to mow my (and other peoples') lawns. You're an inspiration. 🙂
Kenny, you are my hero! I've been working on my own autonomous mower for a while now and seeing you just jump in head first is inspiring. Right now I'm stilly prototyping my system on a wheelchair set up but am having compass issues (probably related to the steel frame and large brushed DC motors). Did you have any compass issues on your system? I imagine the magneto would cause some interference. Also, how did you do your compass calibration? I've seen it where you have to rotate your rover on three axis to get a good calibration but that's obviously very difficult with a machine as large as yours. Looking forward to more videos!
I was test driving this weekend attempting to determine the range of the C94-M8P eval boards with their stock antennas. When I got near the limit of the range, I got a few "Bad GPS Signal Health" errors. According to an experienced person on the forum at https://discuss.ardupilot.org/t/bad-gps-health-when-i-have-rtk-fix/26532/45, that means that Ardupilot (Ardurover) is not getting 5 updates per second. You can see the update rate by looking at the Flash Data log value gpa.delta (or gpa2.delta). There, indeed, I did have some spikes around 300 mSec, even one at 400 mSec. I am not sure how much this is affecting the control but it isn't good. I'm going to work on a solution. Stand by for more info.
I was test driving this weekend attempting to determine the range of the C94-M8P eval boards with their stock antennas. When I got near the limit of the range, I got a few "Bad GPS Signal Health" errors. According to an experienced person on the forum at https://discuss.ardupilot.org/t/bad-gps-health-when-i-have-rtk-fix/26532/45, that means that Ardupilot (Ardurover) is not getting 5 updates per second. You can see the update rate by looking at the Flash Data log value gpa.delta (or gpa2.delta). There, indeed, I did have some spikes around 300 mSec, even one at 400 mSec. I am not sure how much this is affecting the control but it isn't good. I'm going to work on a solution. Stand by for more info.
You should post this series of videos as a blog on ardupilot.org in the blog section (if not already done).
Love this ! Thank you for sharing.