Progress

So, once again, it's been about a week since I posted, and plenty has happened for me to comment on!  I've spent a fair amount of time mentally arguing with myself about various things, but I've actually done some work, too.

Catch-up: Software and PCB Production

I must apologise to any readers I may have, as well as myself, for letting the blog slip for two weeks.  I've mostly been working on software, but have been doing some PCB-related stuff too, and I didn't think there was much worthy of commenting on for now.  Anyway, here's what's been going on for the past two weeks...

Finalising the Hardware and Designing a PCB

I've been working towards the inevitable PCB production stage, making decisions and testing designs to allow a PCB to be designed sensibly.  Designing a PCB takes quite a lot of time to do properly, and learning to use the software effectively can take a little time.

A Lazy Friday

Some days feel a bit slow, and you don't get much work done.  The work you do get done, though, feels well worth it.  Today I tested out the serial interface, and produced a test pattern which should be useful for testing the floor sensors.

Motor Feedback and Hardware Design

Today I tested whether low-pass filtering of the current sense signals from the motors was of any use, and investigated some methods of getting motor speed feedback.  I also considered the use of the AVR's pins, and looked into obstacle detection and mapping hardware.

Considering Requirements

I started the day by researching more about FreeRTOS, specifically the differences between tasks and coroutines.  I then went on to explore whether FreeRTOS would be the best option for the robot, or whether I could make do with a simpler multi-tasking system.

Getting a Grip

Today began by investigating how to improve the wheels - this involved researching different tyre materials.  I also prototyped the serial level converter circuit, and looked into the use of FreeRTOS on the AVR.