Makeblock-Tank-Kit-Manual_V1.0

#1

Finally had a chance to try out my Kickstarter Makeblock kit this weekend. Overall it went pretty well but I had a few problems with the manual and some performance problems with the finished product.

Firstly, while the manual is a decent starting point, all of the parts indications are too vague to know precisely which parts are required for each step. The illustrations sometimes don’t give clear enough indications so some trial and error was necessary. I would recommend using an iso view angle to provide better reference images.

I assembled the treads using the 20-link count for each one. This proved to be too loose for the build so I took them down to 19 links and they now fit perfectly.

The finished product looks great and it moves forwards and backwards fine. When I try to turn in either direction it shudders in the appropriate way and then stalls. It feels like either the motors are undersized or need more power.

Any suggestions??

#2

Bumping up the speed of the motors seems to supply more power and it turns better. So in the code you replace the following lines:

int leftSpeed = 64;
int rightSpeed = 64;

with something like:

int leftSpeed = 150;
int rightSpeed = 150;

Of course this makes it go faster in a straight line too (a little too fast for me). So change the code again like so:

int leftSpeed = 64;
int rightSpeed = 64;
int turnSpeed = 150;

The rest is left as an exercise for the reader…

Andrew

#3

I was wondering if anyone has found a solution to this yet. I built the 2 DOF robot today, and I’m trying to get the locomotion working using the above code, but the motors aren’t powerful enough to make a turn even if I use runMotors(255, -255) which is the maximum value.

Does anyone have a fix for this? It seems pretty bad that the motors used in the design don’t even have enough power to make a turn.

#4

Hi, @asher, I think you could try this one：
http://www.makeblock.cc/dc-motor-37-12v-50rpm/

It’s more powerfyl than DC motor 25mm.

We are planning to list more powerful DC motors.

#5