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A project log for DRVR

An autonomous robot based on the RVR platform

daryllDaryll 08/09/2021 at 18:250 Comments

This is the updated design for the DRVR. We're still a bit overweight, but not much. The single 18650 cell can run the Raspberry Pi 4 and the Oak-D for about an hour, which is enough. The 3D printed parts are now very stable.

The path planning is improved in this version of the code improves the speed driving around the park to 15-20 minutes. Two big changes are included. First, by improving the stability of the camera we could remove the time the robot was spending waiting for everything to settle after each move.

The other change is that the previous code treated turning and distinct operations, and only knew how to turn left or right by a few degrees. It would:

  1. Take a photo
  2. Run machine learning to segment the image
  3. Find the left edge and decide if we're lined up OK to move forward.
    1. If we're OK, drive forward
    2. If we're not, the turn left 3 degrees or turn right 3 degrees
  4. Wait for things to settle

The new version replaces step 3 and removes the delay in step 4

  1. Take a photo
  2. Run machine learning to segment the image
  3. Find the left edge and decide where we want to be after the next move
    • Calculate the angle change required to hit that point
    • Turn and drive at that angle

There's still a bit of a delay between each step it takes, so I need to dig into that a bit more and figure out where it is coming from. The path planning still needs more work. It caught a wheel on the bench (its nemesis) but managed to correct itself. It should give the bench a wider birth.

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