Now why would you do THAT?

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. This post is an update to the build and testing article , rather than a brand new chapter.  Because I learned a whole load of things during early testing I think it's worth sharing at this point: New Camera Mounting I was never happy with the way that the camera was literally stuck onto the car, because it just looked, well, wrong .  In the end, I cut a slot into the bonnet (hood) just big enough to clear the camera down to the lens body.  Still not perfect because I need to mould a cover, but better than blu-tak New camera mount and an access port  Access

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. The theory is done.  How does it all come together?  If you have been reading from the beginning you will see that lots of details have changed as the project has progressed.  More often than not this was because either something didn't work out as expected or I figured a better way of doing things. One thing which may surprise you is just how much wiring there actually is.  To make the process less frightening, I will break it down into tasks. Power Distribution I noted earlier that the car has two distinct battery supplies.  The "main" battery

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. Until now this project has dealt with the mechanical and electrical components.  I have been putting off the software for a while, because many of the ideas are still forming in my mind.  But with everything else having reached a functional state, it is time to consider the overall software environment. Software Goals The overall goal is very simple.  To control the steering and acceleration of the car in such a way that it follow the road in front of it without impacting with other objects. Vision I think most will agree this is the most exciting part of the proje

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. For navigation, here are two sensor types in the car at this stage, a video camera and ultrasonic.  The video camera is the heart of the control and navigation and will be covered in detail in the software article.  The ultrasonics are used to augment the data from the camera. While the camera feeds a live stream into a Raspberry Pi which runs an OpenCV application to detect the road as well as obstacles, I have not (yet anyway) worked out how to judge distance from this information.  This is where the ultrasonics come in.  I have used these devices (HC-SR01) in pre

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. Here is where we get into the mechanical complexities of our project.  If you don't understand how motor car steering works, I would suggest Allan Staniforth's " Competition Car Suspension " and Tony Pashley's " How to build Motorcycle-Engined Racing Cars " but suffice to say my car has a very simplified design which approximates a steering rack in that it translates the rotary movement of the steering column into a linear movement which pushes/pulls the steered wheels about their pivot points. Instead of a pinion gear driving the rack mo