RCCF-PEP25

All code for RCCF's PEP 25 Competition Boat

About:

The boat is be controlled by ArduRover. The onboard flight controller is a CubePilot Orange.

Learn how to install Mission Planner here. When the CubePilot is connected to a computer in Mission Planner, the latest version of ArduRover can be installed. Download the parameters and upload them to the Board in Mission Planner.

ESP32-PWM-to-Stepper is a hack to allow for the rudder to be controlled with a stepper motor rather than a servo.

Installation:

This will install all of the code in a GIT workspace on your computer.

Find instructions on adding an ssh key here.

mkdir "RCCF PEP 2025"
cd "RCCF PEP 2025"
mkdir src
git clone git@github.com:RoboticsClubatUCF/RCCF-PEP25.git src
cd src
git submodule update --init --recursive

In This Repository:

• ArduPilot Stuff:
  • Ardupilot parameter list
  • Lua scripts to allow for arm/disarming of the relay and for a reverse switch on the controller
• ESP32 PWM to Stepper
  • Rudder control
• Electrical
  • Images/guides to electrical systems
  • VESC Guide

Goals:

• Reliable RC Control of Boat
• CAN BUS communication with ESC
• Autonomous waypoint following
  • Looking at connecting a USB GPS to RPi and forwarding that data via MavLink
• WiFi based communications:
  • Camera stream
  • Temperature sensors on high power components
  • Battery voltage and current monitoring
• Later: Telemetry Radio

Issues:

• The stepper motor is a weird hack that introduces an extra point of failure. Ideally, an actual servo would be used.
• This year we struggled with not testing software/electrical sytems sooner. Emphasize testing subsystems as you go but understand there will still be unexpected issues when doing a full systems integration.