Dome Spin

This weekend was another milestone.  After fighting with the SyREN10 and the test motor I finally got the motor to engage and spin the rockler.   Its really slow but super high torque.   I could probably drive R2 around and low speed with that thing.  Order a Pololu that is pretty common in the Astromech forums.  Should be here Friday.

While looking for motor specs in the forums I came to realize that I need to upgrade the power bus wiring.  What I have was ok for proof/testing but good chance it won't stand up well to long term usage.  Going to have to order some 14 Gauge wire.  I'd like to swap out the terminal block for a fuse block at some point as well.

Now I need to get a battery, voltage regulator for 12V-5V drop,  and a slip ring to finish out the basic electronics.  Once I have foot motors I'm looking to add some relays that I can break the moto-to-Sabertooth loop to avoid any regenerative breaking feedback.  I am planning to use the Arduino to energize the relay so that 2 things are required for the motors to receive power:

1.  the Arduino is On
1.  this means if the board is powered off the foot motors will automatically get disconnected. 
2. The Arduino enables the foot motors by command from the controller
1. The foot motors would be disabled automatically on boot
2. Manual intervention at the controller is required to enable the motors.  I can disable them at any time from the controller.  Example would be when R2 is just sitting at a convention booth.  He can't move around but the random sounds and dome movements can be running.

Sound!

Re-mounted all the main electronic components and added the Amp and ground loop isolator.  Wired it all up and now R2 has a voice.  Sounds work perfectly.  I plan on adding some sounds in so I'll need to tweak the sketch a little,,no issues there.

Droid Skid

Saw a design I liked on the Astromech forums for a loading skid.  Cut out most of the parts out of some scrap I had int he garage.  I'll use those to cut out finally pieces later when I get some time.

Dome Gear and motor

Borrow one of the local builders aluminum done gear set and quickly knocked out a gear set of my own on my router table.  Also bought and installed a motor I'm going to test out for the dome movement.  Testing to come ater after I wire up the system board more.

Shop Tools

so in the last year my shop tool list has improved.  I now have a small router and table, a drill press, and a band saw.  Worked some small projects and man its nice to have the right (or better) tool for the job at hand.

Try to upload some pictures later.

S.H.A.D.O.W controller

Ok so its beena long while since my last update.  After a lot of attempt to get PS2 controller to  work, I finally gave up and migrated to what is called the .S.H.A.D.O.W (or just Shadow) controller setup.  I've seen others use this with a long range in crowds and I just could never get my PS2 controller to stay connected to the Arduino.  The Shaow setup is easy and I just needed the $10 controller, a $50 Arduino Mega ADK and the $16 bluetooth USB dongle and BAM, its up and running with little problems.  I did have to go back and re-add all my sounds onto my card one at a time instead of bulk loading them like I used to.  Now all my sounds work perfectly.  Yay!

Ordered the rest of the sound system which should alll arrive in the next few weeks.  Speaker, amp, bits and pieces.