Archive for 'The Build' Category
Video of First Deathpod3000 Run
Someone shot video of 2 of the first round trials at the Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Competition including the first run of Deathpod3000. The video is from a cell phone so it is a little grainy, but it’s fun to watch. I especially like his comments while he’s shooting. :-) The first bot is RAD and [...]
Deathpod3000 Specs
There were some requests on the Sparkfun site for the specs of the vehicles so I thought I’d list them. All the info is in the build posts, but the design changed along the way so here is what we ended up with: (Click More…)
Race Day
Race day finally arrived. To be honest, I had been spending so much time on the car, I was happy that spending every spare minute on the build was finally over. The ir sensors that we added in the last post were working well for avoiding obstacles and curbs so it looked like we had [...]
How to read rc servo pulses with an AVR Atmega32 and final board construction
In the last post we took a run around the race course and found out we will need obstacle avoidance. I forgot one step – putting the final board together. In this installment I will show how I read rc server pulses from the receiver allowing me to use the rc transmitter as a failsafe [...]
Test run at the track
After installing a new gps and compass in previous posts, we took the Deathpod to a parking lot for a test run around a simulated track. The results were not bad. The car went around the track at 30% throttle and 50% throttle. At 50%, it tended to spin out and fishtail in the corners [...]
Maiden Voyage = Epic Fail
In the last post, we finished all the initial programming and It’s time for the maiden voyage of Deathpod3000! The first test drive of the car was less than perfect…Ok, it sucked big time. There are two videos showing all the fun.
What are our liabilities…and our assets?
We’re building an autonomous vehicle to compete in a competition sponsored by Sparkfun Electronics. The goal of the competition is to have a vehicle make 1 lap around Sparkfun’s building in Boulder, CO in the fastest time. The trick is, it must make that lap on its own with no interaction from any [...]