Motor stalling and more

My first thought is that the power supply we are using can't source enough current for both motors. (I take it you are not running off the battery?)

What you are describing sounds like the voltage to the micro is getting to low, which causes it to reset.

Get a power supply that is already soldered to a pair of 0.1 inch pins from Ben. Try to find one that will source at least 1 Amp. The little guy I had left there will only provide 0.5 Amps.

I just soldered up a 2 Amp 5.5 Volt supply. This should work.

I received a set of standard RC gear today. The only thing we need to look at is making a plug to power the RC receiver. I need to know if the board has an output to power the RC receiver and if so, what kind of pins does it have so I can make an adapter.

I also dug out a mini camera. It needs about 8 volts to run, so it should work off of the RC battery as long as it is fresh.

Things to work on:

• How is the ultrasound being read? What channel is it on? Read this: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/AnalogRead

Skim this:
http://www.maxbotix.com/MaxSonar-EZ1__FAQ.html

Add to your motor code a bit of code that will read the Sonar Sensor. Set the speed of one of the motors equal to the value of the sonar sensor. (So when the sensor is reading far away the motor will be on high. As the object gets closer the motor will go slower. Now reverse it so that that motor runs high when an object is close and slow when an object is far.

• There are 4 NSEW directional LEDs on the board. Figure out what channels they are on. Write a program that turns them on and off sequentially.

• How are the IR sensors being read? What channel are they on?

Read this:
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/DigitalRead
Skim this:
http://www.vishay.com/docs/81733/tsop382.pdf

• You should be able to read a series of 1s and 0s from each of the IR sensors using the IR beacon as a source. Write a bit of code that reads each IR sensor and then sets the corresponding LED on if it is receiving infrared light.

• If you have time, try to figure out some code to decode a signal from one of the IR sensors. The signal is a set of pulses that repeats about every 20ms and starts with the channel being held low for about 4ms or so. I don't know if the IR beacon is transmitting just straight on off or something more interesting. You can use any standard TV or VCR remote for testing. I will bring in a sony standard remote on Friday.

An intro is at:
http://profmason.com/?p=627
Here is a bit about the beacons:
http://www.robotshop.us/pololu-ir-beacon-development-kit-1.html

There is a detailed description at:
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/AppNotes/00657.pdf