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How do I use a Wireless PS2 controller to control my robot?
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Can you use a wireless PS2 controller to control a robot?
Yes
50%
 50%  [ 1 ]
No
50%
 50%  [ 1 ]
Total Votes : 2

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Damien (not Damian)



Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Posts: 327
Location: The other side of The Wall...Melbourne


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How do I use a Wireless PS2 controller to control my robot?

On the old Sozbots shop (it's closed now) it said some thing about using wireless PS2 controllers to control your robot. Just one problem... how do you see where to to assign your speed controllers to the right chanels and where do you but the Rx battery or BEC?
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It seemed like a good idea on paper...

Post Sat Dec 24, 2005 6:23 am 
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dyrodium
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Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Posts: 6476
Location: Sydney


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I think i speak for everyone by saying.. why bother? Confused
It would be fiddly, you'd need to know electronics inside out and it would cost more than a radio set... $200 for a Tx, Rx and three servos is all you need to get started, and thats 4ch...Why did you do a poll?
EDIT: though jake and russel are working on a very interesting wireless robot controler using laptops which is very cool, but only worthwhile because it allows them to relay info back from the robot and basicaly eliminate interference.. i think. Smile
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Post Sat Dec 24, 2005 12:41 pm 
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Damien (not Damian)



Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Posts: 327
Location: The other side of The Wall...Melbourne


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I put up the poll to see what some experts say.
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Post Sun Dec 25, 2005 1:57 pm 
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ffej
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Joined: 22 Jun 2004
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Kind of a useless poll, of course you can, you can use pretty much anything if you want to put the work into it, its just not worth it.

Google turned up this info on the Playstation 2's interface:
http://www.emulatronia.com/reportajes/directpad/psxeng/index.htm
http://www.ntpad.com.ar/index.php

The pads output data in a digital parallel fashion, there is no simple on / off or variable resistance that there may have been in the very old (Commodore days) console pads.

There is no easy way to control your bot using a PS2 controller, except maybe using Jakes new 900Mhz + laptop setup, since I believe it uses DirectX for input, and there are PC drivers written for the PS2 gamepads.
.
I still dont really see any point in using a PS2 pad though, except maybe for wank factor, as its designed for belting out moves in Tekken, where you need a whole stack of on / off channels, not RC, where you need fewer, but proportional channels.
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Last edited by ffej on Sun Dec 25, 2005 3:13 pm; edited 1 time in total

Post Sun Dec 25, 2005 2:46 pm 
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Valen
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Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Posts: 4436
Location: Sydney


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PS2 contoller, yes
digital wireless, yes
wireless PS2, no

range 1-2m no signal indicators or anything nifty.

angus, Ours could be driven by another PIC and a PS2 or some other form of controller, we want the PC because it means we get the 2 way and we can do any kind of funky controll we want.
(ie say a 10 point variablle controll scheme, you get a screen like an equaliser and that lets you tweak your controll inputs over that range.)

One other thing we are looking at doing is a kind of "electronically locked diff"
basically you say forwards, and the speed controller will act to make the wheels turn at the same speed, rather than giving them both the same power (roughly) and steering just gives you a ratio of speeds.
should make 2wd bots much more controllablle i thinks
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Post Sun Dec 25, 2005 3:03 pm 
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ffej
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Joined: 22 Jun 2004
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Location: Kurrajong, NSW


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Oh, PS/2 . . . right, lol, well, heres some info, but yeah, theres still no point http://www.altium.com/files/learningguides/CR0109%20PS2%20Controller.pdf
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Post Sun Dec 25, 2005 3:16 pm 
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Valen
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Joined: 07 Jul 2004
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Location: Sydney


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PS/2 is analouge out
that whole "dual shock" thing
though brett said the resolution and accuracy were shit.
our radio is going to use 1024 counts for its "precision" but only 256 of that is in the valid range.
i'm tempted to map the 65536 counts from the joystick pureley for the wank factor but the clock speed isnt high enough to bother ;->

perhaps when i just do a "brain transplant" on the IBC, i think the PWM outputs on the PIC are 10 bit.... hmmmmm ;->
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Post Sun Dec 25, 2005 3:23 pm 
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wilko



Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 133
Location: Ballina N.S.W


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if your skilled enough all you need is a multimeter and maybe an old playstation
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Post Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:46 pm 
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ffej
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Joined: 22 Jun 2004
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Location: Kurrajong, NSW


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quote:
Originally posted by wilko:
if your skilled enough all you need is a multimeter and maybe an old playstation


Oh really . . . .
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Post Wed Jan 04, 2006 12:35 am 
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Glen
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Joined: 16 Jun 2004
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not to worry jeff, he sounds like mcguiver, with this here paperclip.... and this bottlecap he'll make that playstation controller eh eh eh
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Post Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:03 am 
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wilko



Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 133
Location: Ballina N.S.W


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you'll need to program a chip cause each pin (in the plug) emits a crtain voltage most of them about 1.45 dc but the first and sixth are 5.4 and second and sixth are 3.45 and the controler lowers the voltage certain amounts. might take ya a while to figure out exactly how to do it but i hope this helps
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Post Sat Jan 14, 2006 12:38 pm 
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wilko



Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 133
Location: Ballina N.S.W


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hey what if u used a wireless xbox controller as a remote cause all they are is a usb controller. couldnt u just program a picaxe to support this cause can get wireless controllers from the warehouse for bout $30-40 ea
its just an idea i had last night
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Post Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:44 pm 
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Spockie-Tech
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Joined: 31 May 2004
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Location: Melbourne, Australia


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As Jeff said earlier, anything can be done with enough work. Whether it is worth it or not is another thing that is up to you.

You need to look up some introductory information on serial data transmission - try here for starters and explore some of the links to introductory guides at the bottom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232

Your multi-meter is not telling you the whole story - It can only measure constant or slowly-changing electrical pressure (volts).

Electronic data signals (like the ones used for most game-controller interfaces) can change state millions of times a second, and all your multimeter can tell you is the *average* voltage over about 1 second time period. It is the precise timing and pattern of these microsecond electrical pulses that convey the information, not the average voltage.

To "see" these millions of rapid signals, you need a much faster (and more expensive) instrument like an oscilloscope or a logic-analyzer and an understanding of what the signals represent. Trying to decode a RS232 data stream from what may actually be a PWM stream (both are different forms of serial data information) will drive you batty.

Think of a multi-meter like a magnifying glass. The information you seek requires a *microscope* to see properly (and an understanding of what you are looking at)

It can be done, but then again, you could also translate all the length measurements in your robot into furlongs, stadia and parsecs.. but why would you ?

There is a perfectly controllable, well developed standard interface for radio-controlled devices that is used by millions around the world and works very well. Its the joysticks on the radios we all use.

Playstation (and other) Controllers look like a good cheaper option, but they dont really work that well for precise control (we have tried it), and unless you are the Hacker sort of electronics guru with a lot of skills and time to develop the software and chippery needed, it is far easier to just buy what works.
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Post Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:43 pm 
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wilko



Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 133
Location: Ballina N.S.W


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yeah i understand what ur gettin at but the xbox thing and the playstation thing werent ment to be related i just posted here cause i didnt want to start a new thread and it seemed apropreate. also i thaught it would have been easier to use xbox because its the same a usb controller and would be easier to program
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Post Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:03 pm 
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Spockie-Tech
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Joined: 31 May 2004
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Location: Melbourne, Australia


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USB is even more difficult to do than RS232 is.

It is a much faster, more complicated protocol (language) that is used, requiring a lot of processing power on the device you want it to talk to. (A PicAxe wont cut it).

There are special USB Interface chips available to use in Microcontroller applications that do most of the hard work for you, but they arent cheap.

Assuming you do get the USB signal from the controller decoded, you then need to get it through the airwaves and into your robot, and then turned into a signal suitable for controlling motors without interference.

Either you hack into a standard RC radio, and simulate the standard joystick inputs with your decoder, or

A Laptop-computer-controlled 2.4Ghz Wireless radio link with custom software to handle the controller encoding and transmission error correction would do the trick.. Talk to Jake (Valen), but bring your chequebook if you dont want to learn how to do it all yourself - about 5 or more years of electronics education and then a about the same in practical experience should get you close Wink

Sorry. I dont mean to discourage you.. its a fun idea, but its probably a bit of an over-ambitious project when all the electronics gear you have is a multimeter.
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Post Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:37 pm 
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