Additional Resources

PID Controllers

Another sticking point for me was PID control. The term is used everywhere but seldom explained.

Brian Douglas does a great job introducing the topic at

with a good example at

If you find this topic interesting, Brian has a useful series of lectures at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq0imsn84ShAe9PBOFnoIrg

I noticed the same thing a few years ago even about the basic things like PWM. There were few good in-depth explanations of how something like motor control with PWM worked an it was quite frustrating. It's great to see the recent explosion of resources like the Dronebot Workshop that can help people of varying skill levels so well.

I noticed the same thing a few years ago even about the basic things like PWM. There were few good in-depth explanations of how something like motor control with PWM worked an it was quite frustrating. It's great to see the recent explosion of resources like the Dronebot Workshop that can help people of varying skill levels so well.

I noticed the same thing a few years ago even about the basic things like PWM. There were few good, in-depth explanations of how something like motor control with PWM worked and it was quite frustrating. It's great to see the recent explosion of resources like the Dronebot Workshop that can help people of varying skill levels so well.

A good intro to basic mechatronics can be found at 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmkP178NasnhR3TWQyyP4Gw

The videos are not quite as complete as Bill's general videos. They are a great complement to the DB1 series.

Check out the Robojax channel he does some excellent work as well.

BTW thanks for the link.

Thanks

I added a little clicky link for robojax https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkcBSig_Iu4ZnAIeCeG1TVg

Thanks, I forgot!

On a less serious note....
James Bruton does some really interesting work on his site at https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbruton/videos

Jame's channel is very project based. He tends to do long term projects which take 10 to 30 episodes to complete. The thing I like best is that he open sources both the design files and software for all of his recent projects.

If you find something interesting you can dig into the code.

My personal favorite project is:

An amazing guy!!  And I am still trying to figure out what is wrong with some simple Arduino code I wrote for motor position control using the hall effect encoders on a pair of iRobot motors.

Posted by: twobits

As a hobbyist I found that there is kind of a missing gap in available information. There is a lot of beginner information about how to build a kit and drive it around. There is even more expert information. But, it often assumes more background knowledge than I have.

I have to agree about the missing information and I believe it is hidden by the search engines algorithm.  I was looking for a way to read a camera sensor data into an array,  the most popular sites come up first with "Load this library, plug it into your PC and you get a JPG!"  I don't want a library, I don't want to plug it into my PC and I don't want a JPG but as that is the most "clicked" it swamps the other search results.

ME: "Google, tell me how to access the camera sensor?"

GOOGLE: "I'm sorry Mandy, I'm afraid can't do that."

Posted by: twobits

PID Controllers

Yes, they took me a while too.  Now I'm intending to let Eric set his own PID controller based on the inputs from the camera sensor.

That is if I can get Google to tell me how to access the camera sensor.

GOOGLE: "Mandy, this conversation can serve no purpose any more, goodbye."

Posted by: Mandy

I was looking for a way to read a camera sensor data into an array,

Do you mean grab an image from the camera into an array for processing by a computer language?