As a Physics and STEM teacher, I wanted to let you know that I am so appreciative of you sharing your journey with us. I am learning so much. I look forward to seeing your next iteration!
Good morning Matthew, Thank you for the kind words and I am thrilled that some of what I am sharing will go towards helping young minds. I too appreciate your efforts in teaching and promoting STEM!!!! Cheers! Chris
Good morning youcasc9038 (another interesting handle!), Thanks for the words of encouragement, always very much appreciated, especially when you are into it for over half a year and it reminds you that it is not an easy goal! Cheers! Chris
You have endeavoured to construct a zoomy to achieve your design goals. Now that your good experiments have pretty much defined what the current zoomy is capable of, which, due to mechanical realities, appears to fall short of the original design aims, nevertheless its still a capable bot. I suggest that the zoom town should now be modified in light of the zoomy capabilities and not to continue to try to further modify the zoomy to fit the zoom town. Perhaps less zoomys', wider garage space, reduced speed, etc. will still result in a very nice zoom town demo. Its been great to see all the details of your experiments and quite instructive of the methodology to test just what can be achieved with some quite modest components. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to the next episodes whatever the outcome 🙂
Good morning YTbxg, Thanks for the comments and feedback. You are spot on with what will be changing, EVERYTHING ;-) Based on tests yesterday, I suspect I can still keep most of the layout the same, but it looks like the Guidelines for line following will change A LOT!!!! More on that in the next video which probably will be in two weeks. Thanks for being a part of ZoomTown Cheers! Chris
Hey Chris, i can relate because i just spent the last two days trying to get a diy voice control working for a TIG welder. Finally did get it working and my point is that i'm confident that with all your skills and knowledge you will solve the problems. Good luck!
Good morning RCWalletVacuum (What an interesting handle!!!), Sounds like you did a fascinating project with you Tig welder!!!! Is voice controlling the ON/OFF of the "spark"? Thanks for the words of encouragement, it always helps. Cheers! Chris
@@MakingStuffwithChrisDeHut Hey Chris,first of all i love your channel and i go there whenever i have PICO issues, lots of good stuff! The voice control is to replace the foot/hand control in certain circumstances on TIG welders.I do a lot of sanitary welding and a lot of times its tough to work a foot control and feed wire. The welders need a "dry contact" discrete to start up and the an analog voltage to control the current levels for precise welds. I am going to add a LoRa radio to it next. I will be doing videos in the near future on it. Thanks for your PICO help Chris
@@RCWalletVacuum That sounds like a very interesting project and application for a PICO. I love industrial applications as I can related to them so well. Thanks for being part of ZoomTown and sharing your thoughts!!! Cheers! Chris
Good morning, That is exactly the concept I am developing right now. Yesterday I finally had a good, repeatable series of tests that prove worthy of further exploration. Let's hope this new methodology works! Cheers! Chris
Discarding a design and starting again is always a tough decision. In addition to questions of time, quality and cost, for me it was always a question of whether the redesign or optimization within the existing design would cause more swearing ;-)
I just clicked on it to see what was going on. Then I realised I didn't have 1hr 1min and 12 secs to spare. I will be popping back to this video over the next few days. That's my 30 odd cents worth.
Well sounds like ya get what ya pay for kinda thing. If ur going for more speed and more accuracy its ganna cost ya im guessing. Maybe make ur tollarance a little (or allot) wider at first and try to get it narrowed after u accomplish that. Is there a different style encoder you would be able to use? Dont give up ever brotha!
Hi Jeff, good to see you here! Definitely got what I paid for, but if I bought good stuff, I would never have been able to do the experiment due to costs. I am working in the direction of "compromise" between precision and possibly changing the layout (it is only paint and time at this point) to accommodate the lower precision. Any other encoders are either bigger or much more expensive and bigger ;-) This new hybrid system I have been working is showing a lot of promise and I will be posting a video in the next few days. You will recognize the fundamental concept of from how a CNC Machine can use two encoders to improve accuracy, the normal one on the servo and linear (scale) encoder attached to the slide of an axis. This will not be nearly that accurate but my implementation certainly has improved precision. Not giving up yet, just very exhausted between challenging projects at work and all the other stuff I still believe I can do in my free time.
Cheer up, you'll prove that country singer lady wrong (what regards the zoomtown experiment) ... btw just had an idea how to (maybe) steer much more precisely but that would be a whole different mechanical approach ;) And yes, my offer is still valid!
Good morning Tomek, Luckily I have been making some good progress which is helping cheer me up! I would love to hear your idea, let me know either here or using the contact us form. Glad the offer is still valid, THANK YOU. Cheers Chris
@@MakingStuffwithChrisDeHut I'd love to, but I am struggeling to explain ^^ Imagine a disc. Under the disc, a motor is mounted. the motor turns a wheel and is exclusively responsible for ac/-deceleration. The whole disc is mounted at the bottom of the zoomy into a "ring" (maybe with a ball race) and could be turned by a servomotor. to have exact angles, the disc and the ring should have some limiters/stoppers, it it just has left/right/straight and nothing in between (except in the milliseconds of turning the disc) and this shold PULL the zoomy (instead of pushing it), so it has to be on the front part of the zommy bottom plate. inspired by a fork lift :)
@@tomek3633 IT took me a minute to wrap my head around what you were describing - it pretty much matches Zoomie 1.0!!!!! If I get time this weekend I will post a video about that (assuming I can find it). The concept has very good merit!
Look up present day practices in vehicle steering systems & control technology.. ACKERMANN STEERING..( this tech. is 100+ years old) for basic understanding. steering front wheels for turns/radius curvature..,the left & right wheel speed difference is a function of "tan" of turning angle..one added to one wheel ref. speed while corresponding value subtracted from the other ... , depending on direction of turn.. When turning the outer wheel has to rotate much faster compared to the inner wheel. hence the propotional difference in their relative speeds is a function of turning angle. Wheel diameter difference accross width of wheel/tire...to maintain auto centering on track/road . The tapered width of wheels with smaller diameter on the outside & larger diameter on the inside of the wheels allows for this auto correction.
Good morning analoghardwaretops3976 (WOW, another very interesting handle!), That was some of my early research I did on this project early last year. Steering is both "simple" and complex. Lot's of mechanical nuances along with feedback and control systems. Making it even more complex is the very high demands on precision I am trying to achieve with it. Gotta love a challenge, otherwise what is the point of trying it right! Thanks for being a part of ZoomTown and I hope to hear more from you! Cheers! Chris
As a Physics and STEM teacher, I wanted to let you know that I am so appreciative of you sharing your journey with us. I am learning so much. I look forward to seeing your next iteration!
Good morning Matthew,
Thank you for the kind words and I am thrilled that some of what I am sharing will go towards helping young minds. I too appreciate your efforts in teaching and promoting STEM!!!!
Cheers!
Chris
This is almost "rocket science". !!! I am impressed by your persistence and methods used.
You will certainly be able to overcome the problems.
Good morning youcasc9038 (another interesting handle!),
Thanks for the words of encouragement, always very much appreciated, especially when you are into it for over half a year and it reminds you that it is not an easy goal!
Cheers!
Chris
You have endeavoured to construct a zoomy to achieve your design goals. Now that your good experiments have pretty much defined what the current zoomy is capable of, which, due to mechanical realities, appears to fall short of the original design aims, nevertheless its still a capable bot. I suggest that the zoom town should now be modified in light of the zoomy capabilities and not to continue to try to further modify the zoomy to fit the zoom town. Perhaps less zoomys', wider garage space, reduced speed, etc. will still result in a very nice zoom town demo. Its been great to see all the details of your experiments and quite instructive of the methodology to test just what can be achieved with some quite modest components. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to the next episodes whatever the outcome 🙂
Good morning YTbxg,
Thanks for the comments and feedback. You are spot on with what will be changing, EVERYTHING ;-) Based on tests yesterday, I suspect I can still keep most of the layout the same, but it looks like the Guidelines for line following will change A LOT!!!! More on that in the next video which probably will be in two weeks.
Thanks for being a part of ZoomTown
Cheers!
Chris
Hey Chris, i can relate because i just spent the last two days trying to get a diy voice control working for a TIG welder. Finally did get it working and my point is that i'm confident that with all your skills and knowledge you will solve the problems. Good luck!
Good morning RCWalletVacuum (What an interesting handle!!!),
Sounds like you did a fascinating project with you Tig welder!!!! Is voice controlling the ON/OFF of the "spark"?
Thanks for the words of encouragement, it always helps.
Cheers!
Chris
@@MakingStuffwithChrisDeHut Hey Chris,first of all i love your channel and i go there whenever i have PICO issues, lots of good stuff! The voice control is to replace the foot/hand control in certain circumstances on TIG welders.I do a lot of sanitary welding and a lot of times its tough to work a foot control and feed wire. The welders need a "dry contact" discrete to start up and the an analog voltage to control the current levels for precise welds. I am going to add a LoRa radio to it next. I will be doing videos in the near future on it. Thanks for your PICO help Chris
@@RCWalletVacuum That sounds like a very interesting project and application for a PICO. I love industrial applications as I can related to them so well. Thanks for being part of ZoomTown and sharing your thoughts!!!
Cheers!
Chris
For localisation, you might consider using simple bar codes on the layout at key locations. I.e read with the line following sensors
Good morning, That is exactly the concept I am developing right now. Yesterday I finally had a good, repeatable series of tests that prove worthy of further exploration. Let's hope this new methodology works!
Cheers!
Chris
Discarding a design and starting again is always a tough decision. In addition to questions of time, quality and cost, for me it was always a question of whether the redesign or optimization within the existing design would cause more swearing ;-)
Your last statements just confirmed, that I'm not alone with this approach...
Good morning! Made me laugh, thanks I needed that.
Cheers!
Chris
I just clicked on it to see what was going on. Then I realised I didn't have 1hr 1min and 12 secs to spare.
I will be popping back to this video over the next few days. That's my 30 odd cents worth.
Good morning Nigel, I understand, and certainly appreciate your "30 odd cents" :-)
Cheers,
Chris
Well sounds like ya get what ya pay for kinda thing. If ur going for more speed and more accuracy its ganna cost ya im guessing. Maybe make ur tollarance a little (or allot) wider at first and try to get it narrowed after u accomplish that. Is there a different style encoder you would be able to use? Dont give up ever brotha!
Hi Jeff, good to see you here!
Definitely got what I paid for, but if I bought good stuff, I would never have been able to do the experiment due to costs. I am working in the direction of "compromise" between precision and possibly changing the layout (it is only paint and time at this point) to accommodate the lower precision. Any other encoders are either bigger or much more expensive and bigger ;-)
This new hybrid system I have been working is showing a lot of promise and I will be posting a video in the next few days.
You will recognize the fundamental concept of from how a CNC Machine can use two encoders to improve accuracy, the normal one on the servo and linear (scale) encoder attached to the slide of an axis. This will not be nearly that accurate but my implementation certainly has improved precision.
Not giving up yet, just very exhausted between challenging projects at work and all the other stuff I still believe I can do in my free time.
Cheer up, you'll prove that country singer lady wrong (what regards the zoomtown experiment) ...
btw just had an idea how to (maybe) steer much more precisely but that would be a whole different mechanical approach ;)
And yes, my offer is still valid!
Good morning Tomek,
Luckily I have been making some good progress which is helping cheer me up! I would love to hear your idea, let me know either here or using the contact us form.
Glad the offer is still valid, THANK YOU.
Cheers
Chris
@@MakingStuffwithChrisDeHut I'd love to, but I am struggeling to explain ^^
Imagine a disc. Under the disc, a motor is mounted. the motor turns a wheel and is exclusively responsible for ac/-deceleration.
The whole disc is mounted at the bottom of the zoomy into a "ring" (maybe with a ball race) and could be turned by a servomotor.
to have exact angles, the disc and the ring should have some limiters/stoppers, it it just has left/right/straight and nothing in between (except in the milliseconds of turning the disc)
and this shold PULL the zoomy (instead of pushing it), so it has to be on the front part of the zommy bottom plate.
inspired by a fork lift :)
@@tomek3633 IT took me a minute to wrap my head around what you were describing - it pretty much matches Zoomie 1.0!!!!! If I get time this weekend I will post a video about that (assuming I can find it). The concept has very good merit!
Look up present day practices in vehicle steering systems & control technology..
ACKERMANN STEERING..( this tech. is 100+ years old) for basic understanding.
steering front wheels for
turns/radius curvature..,the left & right wheel speed difference is a function of "tan" of turning angle..one added to one wheel ref. speed while corresponding value subtracted from the other ... , depending on direction of turn..
When turning the outer wheel has to rotate much faster compared to the inner wheel.
hence the propotional difference in their relative speeds is a function of turning angle.
Wheel diameter difference accross width of wheel/tire...to maintain auto centering on track/road .
The tapered width of wheels with smaller diameter on the outside & larger diameter on the inside of the wheels allows for this auto correction.
Good morning analoghardwaretops3976 (WOW, another very interesting handle!),
That was some of my early research I did on this project early last year. Steering is both "simple" and complex. Lot's of mechanical nuances along with feedback and control systems. Making it even more complex is the very high demands on precision I am trying to achieve with it.
Gotta love a challenge, otherwise what is the point of trying it right!
Thanks for being a part of ZoomTown and I hope to hear more from you!
Cheers!
Chris