whymarrh
commented
7 years ago For this control scheme, the difference in time required to implement step 2 vs step 1 is much more obvious so for the upcoming deadline we would target digital control only.
Is "digital control" supposed to be "differential control"? Anyhow....
[A] throttle/steer input is more intuitive from the users perspective, as this is how control is typically done on things such as RC vehicles, [vidya games], and real world cars.
Yes, we'll do this one.
Gamepad with dual analog joysticks that allows for a scaled power to throttle and steering, giving full maneuverability.
We'll do something like so:
arandell93
CalvinGregory
The boat is going to be controlled using differential drive. That is, we have two motors that will be used to propel and steer the boat. There will be no rudder on the boat.
In order to achieve this method of control via remote control, we have two options:
Differential Input
This is the simpler of the two input control methods, but it is less intuitive to the user. In this method we use two separate input axis; one axis controls each motor. This would be similar to the way tanks, excavators and other similar tracked vehicles are controlled. The control inputs would be:
I recommend that if this is the control method chosen we apply the following development process in order to decrease initial development time:
If the development of an analog control scheme would not in reality impact the time required to develop then it would be prudent to skip the binary control in favour of analog control.
Throttle/Steer Input
As opposed to a differential drive where the user is directly controlling the output of each motor, a throttle/steer input is more intuitive from the users perspective, as this is how control is typically done on things such as RC vehicles, video games, and real world cars.
The control inputs here are throttle (full reverse to full forward) and steering (full left to full right). Some math is required to translate these into outputs to the motors to propel the boat in the desired way. @cgregory52 should be able to come up with an intelligent scheme for controlling in this way, but it will definitely need to be tweaked depending on the real-world performance of the boat.
I recommend that if this is the control method chosen we apply the following development process in order to decrease initial development time:
For this control scheme, the difference in time required to implement step 2 vs step 1 is much more obvious so for the upcoming deadline we would target digital control only.