How do I interface RoboRealm to send packets to the COM Port of which The XBee is located to send to the second XBee connected to the UART of an ATMega8 chip, connected to maybe a Sabertooth 2x25 Regenerative Drive Motor Controller.
Sample code, pervious projects involving the same thing, anything would help. Thanks![/img]
for starters, forget the XBees and get it working with a hard wired serial cable. Then, once your sure thats working, replace the cable with the two XBee modules. this will help minimise troubles along the way.
But the thing is I already have gotten it working, but not with these motors/sabertooth motor controller. Say the Sabertooth Regen drive was not high enough Amps, what am I to do, find a better driver?
What are the first steps to making the wireless change?
Say the Sabertooth Regen drive was not high enough Amps, what am I to do, find a better driver?
Back in the day when I did combat robotics, the Victor 883 by IFI Roobitics was pretty popular. Its still made (see ifirobotics.com). 60A continuous at up to 24V and will easily handle those wheelchair motors. (Thought you need one per motor @ $150/ea.)
Biggest issue is that the Victors are setup for PPM servo outputs (meant to driven by a convention FM PPM remote control). However, its pretty easy to provide that signal from any modern microcontroller. If you are hoping to do it directly from the XBee, then it wont work. But if you are using a microcontroller between the XBee and motor controllers, then you can do it via software.
Per the earlier suggestion, I would get everything working with a long serial cable before adding the XBee’s. That is just one more complication to what will be a difficult build.
