Tutorial 3 Audra Benally ENGR 338

CE432 Robotics II
Final Project: Self Balancing Car
Name: Audra Benally
Email: albenally1@fortlewis.edu

1. Title: Self Balancing Car Project

2. Introduction: For this project we followed a tutorial to build a two-wheeled self balancing car. For this endeavor we practiced coding a closed-loop PID feedback system, using Elegoo UNO R3's interrupts, and controlling the master/slave controls for the accelerometer. The hardware used included the MPU6050 accelerometer, two NEMA stepper motors paired with two A4988 stepper motor drivers, the open-smart transceivers, an analog thumb joystick, and the ATMEGA328P microcontroller. After successful wiring we also designed a PCB for the controlling circuitry and the joystick controller. For these tasks, we also used the 3D printers and other machinery to assemble our final product design.

3. Materials and Methods:
      Materials:
                     - Elegoo UNO R3
                 - Computer
                 - Various connector wires
                 - Tutorial References
                 - MPU6050
                 - A4988 stepper motor drivers
                 - Joystick
                 - NEMA stepper motor
                 - Open-Smart transceiver modules
        Methods:
             For this lab there were several tasks to complete before getting the device to balance. First, in part 1, we displayed specific data that was taken from the MPU6050 device for each task. Task 5 called for raw acceleration data from the X axis. Task 6 had us display the averaged gyro pitch calibration value in the serial monitor. Task 7 introduced the timing method that will be used for the timing value for the gyroscope calculations as we were challenged to blink a LED at 1Hz using the method. Tasks 8 and 9 called for the angle calculations using the MPU6050. Task 8 methods used gyroscope and accelerometer data combined in a complementary filter to give the angle in which the balancing car has rotated. Task 9, which was labeled as a repeat of task 8, also showed the rotation angle but using only the accelerometer data. The next part of the project was the actual balancing of the robot. The next tasks were to make the car balance on a flat surface, then to add some type of weight as well as push the car forward and backward and have the car remain balanced. For extra credit a joystick can be added to the system and the car can be challenged to pass over a ramp and remain balanced. The final tasks were designed as partner work. Two PCBs were designed by each person, a car PCB and a joystick remote PCB. The last task was for the final testing, the presentation, and the report writing.

4. Results:
       Part 1: Task 5: Modify the MPU's code to display the raw acceleration data of the X axis.

Part 1: Task 6: Use the code to report the averaged 'gyro_pitch_calibration_value' to the serial monitor.

       Part 1: Task 7: Use the loop_timer technique to blink an LED at 1Hz.
    Video Link: https://youtu.be/J2AzntNGqdk
    Embedded Video:


       Part 1: Task 8: Mount the MPU6050 sensor/breadboard on the top of the car. Gently lean the car from 0 degrees to 90 degrees and -90 degrees.

    Video link: https://youtu.be/jM7T6h6P6Mk
    Embedde video:


       Part 2: Task 8 Repeat: Use only the accelerometer's data to calculate the angles and repeat Task 8 using the new sketch.

    Video link: https://youtu.be/jM7T6h6P6Mk
    Embedded video:


       Part 2: Task 1: Complete the simplified version of the project shown in the video demonstration above.

    I tried recording this a couple times and these were my best attempts. The videos are a little long so I'll just provide the links.
    Video 1 link: https://youtu.be/t6VZp57hRMs
    Video 2 link: https://youtu.be/Nlh7UP9Vi2g
    Video 3 link: https://youtu.be/98uSden207E

5. Discussion
    For this lab the tasks were very helpful in understanding the components of the self-balancing car. I had trouble getting through task 8 and I later found that this may be my issue in getting the balancing car to work. The range of the angle for the gyroscope is supposed to be -90 to +90 but as you can see in the video for task 8 my angle was outputting -13 to +14.5. I do not know what is causing my angle data to be incorrect and I went through all the calculations a few times and still cannot find the issue with my calculations.

    For the balancing car I had a lot of trouble for a long time. It took a few tries to get the car to attempt to balance, and even then it only balanced for about a second. The accelerometer calibration value changed often while I was trying to find the actual value so I put a piece of code to calibrate the accelerometer every time, just like the gyroscope. I had switched the stepper motor step size a couple times with no positive results before realizing the issue with my angle data. I finally realized the angle data issue after restarting to retrace my steps. I tried once again to find the calculation error but eventually gave up after spending too much time on it. So, for testing I inserted a correction factor to try to get the car to work. I found this value by taking expected range/actual range = 90/13 ~ 7. After this correction I was able to change the stepper motor to a quarter step and finally got the car to balance for about 4 seconds before it fell over.

    For the PCB portions, I agreed to put together the joystick while my partner put together the car PCB. I had incorrectly thought there were female-to-female header connectors available when I implemented an idea for the joystick PCB. I later found that they were wire housings and much too large to reliably fit and connect two wire connections. I overcame this issue by soldering loose blue wires to the PCB and sticking the blue wires into the wire housings. I added extra solder to the end of the wire so that the joystick pins would dependably connect to the blue wiring. I checked the connections often and found that the joystick connections were stable. I then started programming the joystick controller to connect to my car but found that the controller was having trouble transmitting the joystick information. While troubleshooting I verified the VCC and GND connections for all of my components and found no issues. Using the multimeter I also found that the joystick pins were also responding appropriately. I switched to transmitting a set value and then the transmitter began blinking. I found that the receiving code never went into the "while(BlueSerial.available())" loop.