Accomplished Tasks
This week was a week of intense progress. Early into the week, I realized that hacking the web application was not a suitable approach, due to the fact that the web app was hosted on the rover’s own wifi. As such, it would not be possible, or at least, rather inconvenient to try and mesh this rover wifi together with school wifi. Thus, I went with the backup plan, which was to communicate with the rover through the onboard Raspberry Pi, and then send the JSON commands through UART communication. This required reading Python documentation on how UART communication worked, and how to send the appropriate JSON commands. The code for this has been flushed out nearly entirely; the only main confusing part is the exact JSON command that should be serialized. The documentation is somewhat confusing and inconsistent, and trying to sort out exactly what is required is where I am currently at. I am also helping with my teammates in working out the camera, which has hit some difficulties in setting up. There appears to be issues involving the OS version of the RPi causing inconsistencies in downloaded packages.
As a side note, the rover works! It can be controlled with the web app, albeit the batteries we purchased were too large. I ordered smaller replacement batteries to resolve this issue.
Progress
My progress is now much more on track. Working out this control code, and having functioning hardware was a huge success. I am concerned about the camera’s status, which is falling behind, so I will devote efforts to making that work as well.
Next Week’s Deliverables
Next week, I plan to have the rover be successfully controlled using programming; in other words, sort out the exact JSON commands needed to move the rover. I also want to have an end-to-end version of the rover running, which, at this point in time, means getting the camera to work properly. This is highest priority, and I plan to help to make sure the camera can function. This could mean working out the bugs, installing a new OS, getting a new camera, etc.