Capt. Flatus O'Flaherty ☠-
Testing the Module
05/02/2018 at 17:32 • 0 commentsWe've already done a number of tests of this module over on the WEEDINATOR project, including navigation by object recognition and navigation by GNSS via waypoints downloaded from an online database through a cell phone GPRS connection.
The next test is to manually operate the actual weeding mechanism and for this we've had to plant up some test beds with actual live vegetable seedlings:
![]()
Soon the CNC mechanism will be automatic with movement of a rotating claw hard coded into the TC275. Hopefully, damage to the vegetables will be minimised by using some kind of object recognition to map out the grid of plants as a 2 dimensional array. If the Pixie is not up to the job, a NVidia Jetson TX2 will do the job. -
Data Flow
05/01/2018 at 08:54 • 0 commentsWe've been doing a lot of work on this project behind the scenes on GitHub - upgrading the code with better parsing routines that no longer use strings. One of the aims is to reduce the complexity of the control system and as a result, increase it's reliability.
Very soon, the Nano MCU that receives the FONA data will be removed and data will be collected by the Mega instead. It may be that the machine needs to physically stop to avoid interrupting the GNSS data stream but probably not! Worst case scenario is that the machine stops and downloads the next 10 or 20 waypoints.
![]()
-
PCB Design
03/16/2018 at 09:23 • 0 comments![]()
The design is 2 layer, with top layer tracks in red and bottom layer in blue. Board outline is green and copper pour is red. At the bottom is mounting for 2 MCUs with the same footprint as an Arduino Mega / Due. At present, bottom right is inhabited by a TC275 - a 3 core MCU which runs at 200 MHz - perfect for controlling a relatively large number of motors.Top left is a weird looking shape that houses the GPS module - a Ublox C94 Rover, which bolts onto the under side of the PCB. Bolting onto the top side is the SIM800 cellular module, a digital compass (bottom left) and some TFT screens (middle). There's also mountings for a couple of Arduino Nanos, a text to speech module and a 35W audio amplifier.
Autonomous Agri-robot Control System
Controlling autonomous robots the size of a small tractor for planting, weeding and harvesting
Soon the CNC mechanism will be automatic with movement of a rotating claw hard coded into the TC275. Hopefully, damage to the vegetables will be minimised by using some kind of object recognition to map out the grid of plants as a 2 dimensional array. If the Pixie is not up to the job, a NVidia Jetson TX2 will do the job.
The design is 2 layer, with top layer tracks in red and bottom layer in blue. Board outline is green and copper pour is red. At the bottom is mounting for 2 MCUs with the same footprint as an Arduino Mega / Due. At present, bottom right is inhabited by a TC275 - a 3 core MCU which runs at 200 MHz - perfect for controlling a relatively large number of motors.