CE432 Robotics II
HW5: Joystick Tutorial
Name: Audra Benally
Email: albenally1@fortlewis.edu

1. Title: Joystick Tutorial

2. Introduction: For this homework assignment I followed a tutorial to test a joystick (task 1), to send and receive a signal using the Open-Spart 2.4 GHz transciever (task 2), and to use the joystick to send a signal through the transciever to control the NEMA17  stepper motor (task 3).

3. Materials and Methods:
        Materials:
                     - Arduino
                 - Open-Smart 2.4 GHz transciever
                 - NEMA17 stepper motor
                 - Computer
                 - Joystick
                 - various lengths of wire
                 - Tutorial References
                 - breadboard
        Methods:
             Use tutorial to connect joystick to the Arduino. Read through then copy/paste the code to Arduino. Test the joystick by moving it around and watching the numbers change on the serial port. Rewire the components to include the sender and receiver parts. Read and retype the code to send a simple code through the transcievers before sending the joystick values. When the transcievers are working properly, retype the code to send the joystick y value. Finally, rewire the components to include the stepper motor. Recopy and retype the code to provide a signal to the transcievers to control the stepper motor. When that is successful, retype the code to let the signal from the joystick control the stepper motor.

4. Results:

        Task 1: Test Joystick
   
             Figure 1. Joystick test

        Task 2: Send and Receive Joystick Signal
   
             Figure 2. Test signal sent through Open-Smart transcievers.

   
             Figure 3. Joystick signal read from Arduino #1, then sent through the transcievers to be received and printed by Arduino #2.

       Task 3: Use transceivers to use joystick to command the stepper motor.
   
             Figure 4. Wiring for the last task.

    Video Link: https://youtu.be/knuUG67kjGU
             Video 1. Demonstration video of the joystick controlling the stepper motor using the circuit in figure 4.

5. Discussion
    For this lab the joystick was used to send signals through the Open-Smart transcievers. The tutorial was easy to comprehend and follow. The code was comprehensible as well. No big issues were found in this lab. There was a moment in the last task where I thought the stepper wasn't moving but then realized it was moving only one step. A quick change of the code rectified the situation. Overall, this was a very fascinating lab.