PBP projects for R/C models

[Kenjones1935]

Thank you rmteo,

I enticed MikroBasic Pro to compile its 1st_project 'blink the LED's' Basic code . I then got PICKit2 to download the resulting .hex file. The only mistake was that MikroBasic assumed the LEDs are attached to PORTC. On the PICKit2 card they are attached to PORTD. After that minor adjustment. It works.

KEn!

[Kenjones1935]

Way back I thought a good middle school project would be
to race by R/Cing the car out a door, wait for it to find its way autonomously back through another door (This second door would have a naked 150W bulb at its threshold.), then repeat the cycle some number of times. The R/C - autonomous toggle to be controlled by powering ON and OFF the radio transmitter. If the transmitter's power is ON, the PIC detects activity from the radio receiver and switches control over to the original system.

Advantages of that idea are:
1. No need for proportional controls. A toy level car will do.
2. Photo cells are much less expensive than sonar sensors.

A problem is that the kit requires six DPDT coil driven relays: two for PIC generated steering, two for PIC generated wheel control and two for toggling between PIC control and R/C control. These are inexpensive, but add complexity in kit construction.

This car could also do the swarm-after-teacher who's carrying a naked bright light game. I've been changing my focus from teach-the-student to teach-the-teacher. What do you think? The RC system itself is full of "How things work" answers.

Your thoughts?

Ken

[Kenjones1935]

Wednesday morning I'm going out of town for at least a week. I will not make any robocar progress.

I have one BITWhacker that operates per the documentation. It establishes connection thru the USB and behaves by flashing its lights per "http://www.schmalzhaus.com/UBW32/doc...mentation.html".

The other one has HIDbootloader successfully loaded via PICkit2. It will not make USB contact, it does turn on its LED's, but does not flash them. This too seems to match the above LINK's statements. I have no idea how to get this one back to standard.

My next step is to build that toy level car with the trio of photo cells. Will I need pots to tune each one? I hope not.

Ken

[mackrackit]

POTs would be best to fine tune things but if you are in a very dimly lite room and have a very bright light then you might be able to preset the sensors with fixed resistors.

[Kenjones1935]

My problem loading the BITWhacker PIC32 from PICkit 2 is that it is not capable of doing so. MPLAB tells me that I need PM3, REAL ICE, ICD2, ICD3, or PICkit3.

MichaelS referring to PICkit3 said in a September 2010 entry:

# The application supports all devices supported in MPLAB 8.56 except PIC32. This is not to say it has been tested on all devices. If you have any problems programming any devices, please leave a note here or send me a PM.
# PIC32 support is coming very soon. I have stable support working in my current development builds.

See you in a week or so.
Ken

[ScaleRobotics]

My problem loading the BITWhacker PIC32 from PICkit 2 is that it is not capable of doing so. MPLAB tells me that I need PM3, REAL ICE, ICD2, ICD3, or PICkit3.

MichaelS referring to PICkit3 said in a September 2010 entry:

Yes, MPLAB doesn't like the Pickit2 for use with PIC32, but who needs Mplab to load the Bitwhacker? All you need is the Pickit2 programmer IDE. I get the message saying "Programming Successful", and the command line interface I get after doing so. The Pickit2 is perfectly capable of programming PIC32 chips. Otherwise, it would not have a drop down menu including them. I don't quite know why MPLAB is forcing the use of other programmers, but you don't really have to worry about it.

[Kenjones1935]

My PICkit2 says it works, but the code is not embedded in the chip. I think the problem is with the size of the PIC32 memory. HIDbootloader goes near the front of memory. The high address is 4A20. StickOS goes higher up. StickOS gives me the warning when I try to download it. I have been able to load HIDbootloader, but have not been able to load the OS. At one point I think I got the OS loaded but in so doing it wiped out the bootloader. Of course this is all guess work.

Ken

[rmteo]

I would seriously look at alternatives to CPUStick/StickOS.

[ScaleRobotics]

Here are some that were referenced in the thread. None of them use your chip though, so some modifications would need to be made, or changes to a new chip.

A 12F683 design (would require a fair amount of changes to work on your chip)
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/show...4998#post84998

This one could not be modified for your chip, and would require a 18F2431, or 4431.
http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/show...1961#post91961 (cleaner code than above)

And the one rmteo pointed out, which would require an 18 series chip: http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/cont...e-Servo-Driver (Darrels, so you can't really go wrong)

Once you decide which way you would like to go, I am sure we can help you get it going.

[Kenjones1935]

My video shows my kit uses a 0.1" centers solderless prototype board. If I am to change PICs I would like something compatible.
I tried the 32BITWhacker board of 32MX460. I was disappointed because I could not program it using the PICKIT2 system. Maybe if I purchase a PICKIT3.....(It is programmable via its USB port. That requires I completely change my coding system and learn yet another variation of BASIC or C)

What Microchip PIC do you all suggest that has a Dual Inline (DIP) configuration and is easily programmable?

Ken

[Kenjones1935]

The BITwhacker is appealing because it has 0.1" center holes. All I need to do is solder male to male connectors and stick the whole shebang into a solderless protoboard. It is a bit large for the HPI SPRINT R/C car. I never got the BITwhacker to work. (I purchased two. One came with a teeny tiny slide switch in the wrong position. That led me on a wild goose chase which ended up with one BITwhacker losing its embedded STICKOS code. The other board is good as new, but now I am leery of the whole thing.

Is there a MIcrochip and/or MicroEngineering Labs product that works in a predictable fashion with the BITwhacker?

If not the above then I need the schematic of a starter kit showing how a powerful-enough-to-do-my-job DIP configured PIC is hooked up to either a classic USB port or the RJ11 Microchip USB adaptor. The I need a PC based compiler that will do the job and a programmer that will load the resulting code into the PIC.

Suggestions??

Ken

[cncmachineguy]

Ken, Here is what I think.
I agree with going back to the basics. As I have been reading this thread since your project started, I for 1 am not real sure where you are with methods, hardware, program,...

I suggest you do this: List all the parameters needed. such as how long does the sonar need to accquire a distance? How many things does the PIC need to do? Then you will be able to determine if your chosen PIC is up to the job.

I think it prolly is, and I think PBP is also up to it. Worst case is to sprinkle some ASM in if needed.