The Rover Moves…
As promised we achieved several successful Rover tests today. (You can also view the video of our first test in this earlier blog post.)
Before I get to the videos, I have a couple of observations.
Wiring up the Rover to the Motor Control Board
Motors mounted on opposite sides should rotate in different directions
It turns out that when you have motors mounted on either side of the device, you need to spin the motors on one side clockwise and the ones on the other side counterclockwise in order to move forward. We immediately noticed this in our bench test and solved the issue by reversing the polarity of the wiring for one side of the device. Now the move forward command actually goes forward instead of sending the rover in circles.
This is also why bench tests are a good thing. 
Note the reversed polarity for motors 2 and 4.
Current Spike associated with the Motors
Looking at the readout on our bench power supply the motors can pull up to 1 amp when kicking on initially before stabilizing at a lower current draw. That is not completely unexpected since the coils inside a motor don’t like voltage changes, but it is something you have to account for.
That’s awesome! I so wish I could come have coffee with you and listen to you enthuse.
It has been an interesting project to be certain and at this point my vacuum cleaner is looking at me nervously as I speculate what kind of motors it has inside it.
