Hi everyone.
An idea:
I would like to propose some additions to the project.
As we each have our own ideas about what our robots should be/do; I propose some additions that should be of common interest to all.
First, a drawing:
The outline of my robot platform is in blue; the front of the robot is facing the top of the drawing. Dimension lines are shown in red. Keys and visual aids are in black.
I propose adding some data to the config file, they are:
TrackWidth – Marked as A in the drawing, the distance between drive wheel centerlines.
WheelCircum (L,R) – Marked as B in the drawing, the circumference of the wheel.
TicPerRev (L,R) Number of encoder ticks per revolution of the wheel.
Before anyone says anything – I realize B is diameter, however the actual circumference should be measured. I recommend that measurements are taken as millimeters and stored as integers.
With these three measurements a great deal of kinematics information can be derived, for example: Wheel Diameter (WheelCircum / PI), Distance per Tick (WheelCircum / TicPerRev), etc.
Some additional useful information can be derived from measurement C, which is the measurement from the center between drive wheels to the outermost point on the base. This is the radius of a circle (E) that describes the “swept area” or “apparent diameter” of the robot – how wide it will swing while turning in place, or perhaps a minimum width requirement for obstacle avoidance.
Measurement D is the diameter of the circular path that the wheels should take if driven with equal power in opposite directions – turning in place. This information is necessary to determine how to rotate to a given angle.