Roving the Earth on Two Wheels
Part of the Yak Rover project.
Platform: 2-wheel + Tail, Solar, Eyes (camera), Ears (mic) and Cell-enabled communication.
Mission:
- Launch in desert (tbd).
- Observe wildlife and insects.
- Movement by tele-operation.
- Survive for 4 weeks.
Take some of the parts we've selected and wire together to provide a platform for software work.
Selected Components:
Capabilities:
- Receive commands over cell and wifi (configurable, for development)
- Broadcast telemetry (GPS, battery level, system information) to server (ground station) on a schedule (something on the order of hours)
- Low power mode selection and schedule
- Capture and upload photo
Construct rover that can move but without final PCB and ruggedness.
Construct final rover.
Deploy final rover in desert. Operate for at least 4 weeks.
There is no deadline, but this chart provides general overview of where we think we are.
gantt
dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
title Yakasaur Project
section Brainstorming
Project Selection :done, select, 2023-04-25, 2023-05-09
Block Diagram :done, block, 2023-05-09, 2023-06-06
section Breadboard
Part Selection :active parts, after block, 10w
Prototyping : proto, after parts, 2w
Development Environment :active, 2023-06-13, 2w
Demo : milestone, breadboard_demo, 2024-03-01, 1w
section Prototype
PCB Design :active, pcb, after parts, 6w
Print PCB : print_pcb, after pcb, 2w
Mechanical Design :active, mech, after block, 6w
Plan : plan, after proto, 1w
Integration : build, after print_pcb, 4w
Demo : milestone, prototype_demo, 2024-06-01, 1w
section Production
Build : prod_build, after prototype_demo, 4w
section Launch
Deploy : deploy, after prod_build, 1w
Mission : mission, after deploy, 4w
Current Phase 1 experiment is based on:
- Adafruit Solar Charger
- non-MPPT for more optimal charging
- 3.7V LiPo Battery
- Buck / Boost
- Pair allows to adjust voltage for compute and motor controller
- Solar Panel
- AdaFruit only seems to have the big / expensive ones in stock.