Rogue

Part 1: The chassis

Here, we'll be documenting the progress with Rogue.   So far, we've used it as a project so we can learn the ins-and-outs of Fusion 360.  I've done a lot of 3D CAD professionally and for my own projects, and am very interested in getting up to speed on Fusion 360.  Thanks AutoDesk for creating a really solid product for geeks like us!

We plan to use Rogue as a Sherpa, to carry stuff to and from our booth at events we attend.  The only problem is that it's pretty boring.  We want it to do more.  We just need to evaluate our options.

The main frame is completely modeled, to a precision necessary for just about any mechanical parts we'll need to make.  We got a couple of 80 Amp-Hour AGM batteries which do a good job of almost completely filling the battery area.  That's a nice 50% increase in lifespan over the 55 Amp-Hour dead bricks that came with the chair.

Being monsoon season here in Washington, it has taken us a few days to get him outside to open up the throttle.  With flat drive tires, the 60-pound seat platform and a 160 pound passenger, he runs at about 7 MPH.

• We're still evaluating whether we'll hack the joystick and the onboard control unit or use a controller like the Sabertooth 2x25.  The Sabertooth will cost more money, but the onboard controller will cost more space and will require us to reverse engineer the joystick control.  The Sabertooth is a lot easier to interface with using almost any kind of control we want.  hmmmm....
• We like the idea of using a Pixy CMUCam to give it some vision
• We're thinking about adding voice recognition using Jasper on a Raspberry Pi.
• It'll be a fun reason to start working with accelerometers so it can better keep track of its real-world location.

Part 2: Basic Control
Part 3: Starting with the Sabertooth 2x25
Part 4: Hacking the nunchuck