Updates

Now that our wheel can turn with input from a joystick, our team has decided to implement two joysticks that control going forwards and turning left or right. The reason why we decided to go with two joysticks instead of one joystick is to reduce complexity in terms of turning for a child. In other words, when the child uses their left hand to move the joystick forward, both wheels will begin to spin and begin to move forward. When the child moves the joystick to the right, the left wheel will spin and cause the hover buggy to turn right. Conversely, when the child moves the joystick the left, the right wheel will spin and cause the hover buggy to turn left.

Here is a demonstration of our working hover buggy.

For this month, we successfully rotated both hover board wheels using a joystick. The components used to make the wheels spin are listed below:

• 2x brushless motor (wheel)
• 2x ESC 30A
• Li-Po battery
• Arduino board
• 2x potentiometers (joysticks)
• Jump wires

We modified existing Arduino code for the BLDC motor control to control the speed of the brushless motor from zero to maximum using the potentiometer.

#include <Servo.h>

Servo ESC;     // create servo object to control the ESC

int potValue;  // value from the analog pin

void setup() {
  // Attach the ESC on pin 9
  ESC.attach(9,1000,2000); // (pin, min pulse width, max pulse width in microseconds) 
}

void loop() {
  potValue = analogRead(A0);   // reads the value of the potentiometer (value between 0 and 1023)
  potValue = map(potValue, 0, 1023, 0, 180);   // scale it to use it with the servo library (value between 0 and 180)
  ESC.write(potValue);    // Send the signal to the ESC
}

After connecting the wires to their respective inputs, we were able to spin both wheels in the forward direction.

Our next goal is to have only one joystick control the speed of both wheels and have the capability of turning left and right by modifying the existing code we have written this month. We also plan to construct a case for the joystick to mount it securely either onto the frame or the seat.

This month, we evaluated the previous team’s progress completed on the PVC frame, hover board wiring, selected seat, and wiring documentation. As a team, we have decided to move forward with the previous team’s design PVC frame; however, we plan to mount the hover board behind the child seat in order to improve stability.

For this month, we plan to accomplish:

• Understand wiring design on the opened hover board
• Charge and ensure the hover board moves forward, backwards, and turn.
• Create a mounting mechanism for the hover board to the bottom of the PVC frame
• Download Arduino software to control motor using the provided joystick

This month, our team convened and evaluated the materials and documentation provided from previous semesters. Our first task was to assign our roles and address our skills and knowledge that we can provide to the Early Wheels project.

Some of the main goals for the end of the month are outlined below:

• Document every item available
• Identify what kind of tools and materials we will need
• Solidify our understanding of the project
• Read the documentation provided by the team from the previous semester
• Locate additional materials left by the previous team

From our evaluation, we have concluded that:

• We need to reattach the PVC frame to the hoverboard
• Turn on and repair the hoverboard
• Figure out how to properly mount the PVC frame to the hoverboard