{"id":1260,"date":"2015-11-07T20:22:48","date_gmt":"2015-11-07T20:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2016-12-11T23:21:23","modified_gmt":"2016-12-11T23:21:23","slug":"my-robot-blimp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/my-robot-blimp\/","title":{"rendered":"My Robot Blimp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780204950.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a> The robot blimp is a project that I am currently working on as part of a weekly visit by a Seattle high school.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/80hxmRtYcdA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1273 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780194153-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"wpid-wp-1446780194153.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780194153-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780194153-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The group wanted to come up with some ideas that could help firefighters while they fight forest fires. While many of the ideas were good, they all had one thing in common. They needed something high over the fire to help relay radio transmission, get a better image of what is going on with the fire, and to provide real time data to the ground crew. We thought that a robot blimp could do all of that rather well and set out to see if it was possible.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1272 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780172633-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"wpid-wp-1446780172633.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780172633-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780172633-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The video is of version 1 of the blimp. I tried placing the horizontal thrusters on the sides of the balloon. Version 2 moved the horizontal thrusters to the gondola to ensure that they were evenly spaced. That worked much better. For now it flies with no sensor feedback, we just wanted to see if it could fly according to it&#8217;s program. Next we will start adding sensors and trying to reduce as much weight as possible.<\/p>\n<p>The balloon is a 32&#8243; helium filled latex monster and that is just enough to lift all of the hardware that is needed, plus a few extra Grams. We will likely add an gyroscope\/accelerometer and Sonar sensor to help with some basic nav.<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1274 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780204950-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"wpid-wp-1446780204950.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780204950-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wpid-wp-1446780204950-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Adafruit ProTrinket connects to a dual H-bridge that control the horizontal thrusters. One more motor will be added for vertical control later.<\/p>\n<p>The thrusters are basically just replacement motors from a mini quad copter that I found on Amazon. They were cheap and they already come on counter spinning sets.<\/p>\n<h3>3D Files:<\/h3>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thingiverse.com\/thing:1117536\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.thingiverse.com\/thing:1117536<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Wiring:<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Blimp_bb.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1261 size-large aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Blimp_bb-931x1024.png\" alt=\"Blimp_bb\" width=\"660\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Blimp_bb-931x1024.png 931w, https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Blimp_bb-273x300.png 273w, https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Blimp_bb.png 1866w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Arduino Code:<\/h3>\n<pre class=\"lang:arduino decode:true \">\/*\r\n Blink\r\n Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.\r\n \r\n Most Arduinos have an on-board LED you can control. On the Uno and\r\n Leonardo, it is attached to digital pin 13. If you're unsure what\r\n pin the on-board LED is connected to on your Arduino model, check\r\n the documentation at http:\/\/arduino.cc\r\n \r\n This example code is in the public domain.\r\n \r\n modified 8 May 2014\r\n by Scott Fitzgerald\r\n *\/\r\n \r\nconst int Lblack = 4; \/\/ Right motor - Blue wire\r\nconst int Lred = 3; \/\/ Right motor - Orange wire\r\nconst int Loffset = 130;\r\nconst int Rblack = 11; \/\/ Right motor - Green wire\r\nconst int Rred = 12; \/\/ Right motor - Yellow wire\r\nconst int Roffset = 250;\r\nconst int MotorSpeed = 8; \/\/ Overall motor speed using PWM\r\n \r\n\/\/ the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the board\r\nvoid setup() {\r\n \/\/ initialize digital pin 13 as an output.\r\n pinMode(Rblack, OUTPUT);\r\n pinMode(Rred, OUTPUT);\r\n pinMode(Lblack, OUTPUT);\r\n pinMode(Lred, OUTPUT);\r\n analogWrite(MotorSpeed, 255);\r\n}\r\n \r\n\/\/ the loop function runs over and over again forever\r\nvoid loop() {\r\n MoveF(3000);\r\n TurnL(1000);\r\n\/\/ MoveF(1000);\r\n\/\/ TurnR(500);\r\n\/\/ MoveF(1000);\r\n\/\/ MoveB(2000);\r\n}\r\n \r\n\/* The Hack-E-Bot can now be programmed to move by giving it instructions like:\r\nMoveStop(stopTime); -- to stop moving\r\nMoveF(moveSpeed, moveTime); -- to drive forward\r\nMoveB(moveSpeed, moveTime); -- to drive backward\r\nTurnR(moveSpeed, moveTime); -- to turn right\r\nTurnL(moveSpeed, moveTime); -- to turn left\r\n \r\nstopTime and moveTime are mesured in miliseconds.\r\nmoveSpeed is a number between 0 to 90 with 0 being no movment and 90 being full speed.\r\n*\/\r\n \r\nvoid MoveStop(int T){ \/\/ Stop moving, T = stopTime.\r\n digitalWrite(Lblack, LOW);\r\n digitalWrite(Lred, LOW);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, ! Roffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rred, ! Roffset);\r\n delay(T);\r\n}\r\n \r\nvoid MoveF(int T){ \/\/ Move forward, S = moveSpeed, T = moveTime.\r\n analogWrite(Lblack, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Lred, ! Loffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rblack, Roffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rred, ! Roffset);\r\n delay(1000);\r\n MoveStop(1);\r\n delay(T);\r\n digitalWrite(Lblack, ! Loffset);\r\n analogWrite(Lred, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, ! Roffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rred, Roffset);\r\n delay(500);\r\n MoveStop(1);\r\n}\r\n \r\nvoid MoveB(int T){ \/\/ Move backward, S = moveSpeed, T = moveTime.\r\n digitalWrite(Lblack, ! Loffset);\r\n analogWrite(Lred, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, ! Roffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rred, Roffset);\r\n delay(1000);\r\n MoveStop(1);\r\n delay(T);\r\n digitalWrite(Lblack, ! Loffset);\r\n analogWrite(Lred, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, ! Roffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rred, Roffset);\r\n delay(500);\r\n MoveStop(1);\r\n}\r\n \r\nvoid TurnL(int T){ \/\/ Turn Left, S = moveSpeed, T = moveTime.\r\n digitalWrite(Lblack, ! Loffset);\r\n analogWrite(Lred, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, Roffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rred, ! Roffset);\r\n delay(T);\r\n analogWrite(Lblack, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Lred, ! Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, ! Roffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rred, Roffset);\r\n delay(500);\r\n MoveStop(1);\r\n}\r\n \r\nvoid TurnR(int T){ \/\/ Turn Right, S = moveSpeed, T = moveTime.\r\n analogWrite(Lblack, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Lred, ! Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, ! Roffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rred, Roffset);\r\n delay(T);\r\n analogWrite(Lblack, Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Lred, ! Loffset);\r\n digitalWrite(Rblack, ! Roffset);\r\n analogWrite(Rred, Roffset);\r\n delay(500);\r\n MoveStop(1);\r\n}<\/pre>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/my-robot-blimp\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.richa1.com\/RichardAlbritton\/my-robot-blimp\/?share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1260\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button 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