Popular Post Inductores Posted January 18, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Hi all, I was wondering if some of you would be interested in developing an open-source EUC motherboard to substitute some of the current motherboards provided by the manufacturers. The advantage of this? Completely custom design and free for the community! I'm able to design the board related to the hardware (from schematics, to layout, manufacturing and assembling), but I'm definitely NOT good at firmware in any of the cases (uC, FPGA, SoC...). That's why I would like to know if there is some interested person to collaborate with the SW/FW part in this project. I would like to make the design for my current EUC (Rockwheel GT16), but I don't mind to make the layout for any other EUC (the schematics would be 99% the same). If there is a REALLY interested person to help me, I offer myself to give away a custom motherboard(s) for free to test and develop the FW (and SW if possible, but I guess Wheellog would be a good start). Any interested to collaborate? Edited January 18, 2019 by sifou 3 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardmech Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 I tried a few years ago, had plenty of prototype hardware running but I could never find anyone who could code in C that was willing to work on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Someone posted a link to this project in another topic about control boards maybe about a week ago: https://github.com/blezalex/WheelBoardMain Maybe that could be used as a base, it's for STM32F103 (Cortex-M3) and contains the library for using the MPU6050 -IMU, although there are probably other similar projects floating around. I might have a try myself at some point, currently I'm crash-coursing myself through ARM Cortex-M's datasheets and literature (and specifically Cortex-M3/STM32F103, because it's the only chip I have at hand at the moment), as I'm supposed to start a new job as an embedded developer next month, but haven't used anything other than Atmel AVR for hobby stuff and in school over a decade ago 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardmech Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 That looks pretty decent, the drone board is only $15, I'm going to make a new VESC board using the DRV8350RH it has a 100V limit and eliminates the need for gate resistors and diodes, it should be easy to make an extremely compact PCB. It would probably be easier to control the VESC over UART than PPM. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuphJr Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 I would love to be part of this project! I know C! Hit me up! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 On 1/20/2019 at 10:41 AM, lizardmech said: I tried a few years ago, had plenty of prototype hardware running but I could never find anyone who could code in C that was willing to work on it. Exact quote of mine from the 2018 thread: "I have decent ability in firmware (and hardware) but unfortunately not a lot of spare time due to work. Still, if you have a good understanding, let me know and maybe I can help." So, anytime people are ready to get something together, let me know. I am a little lean on the control theory but my degree is in SW, and I've spent several years building "embedded stuff" (SW and basic HW) for various employers. No matter who does what, like I said in @KuphJr 's recent post, I would really suggest coming up with a well-documented design which is hardware-agnostic first. And that certainly does not require C knowledge. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inductores Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 Cool! I thought nobody would be interested By the way, I found some interesting info in this repository: https://github.com/EGG-electric-unicycle Two weeks ago I started to remove components from my old Rockwheel board. I will continue with the process this weekend and I will start doing the GT16 schematics from the original layout. Once I had the schematic finished, I think I will need only another weekend to finish the layout (it's a simple 2-layer board, nothing complicated), however I think some components can be replaced or some modules improved (I'll take a look to the DC/DC module). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inductores Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) Just like I promised, I started with the layout. First I need to import the original layout to my CAD tool in order to trace the copper planes and traces. At this moment, I finished to import the BOTTOM layer: Next step is to import the TOP layer and add different names to all the nets. Edited March 6, 2019 by Inductores 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 Is that a GT16 control board? The problem with a generic control board is it will only physically fit one wheel. Was that your intention? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inductores Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 1 minute ago, Smoother said: Is that a GT16 control board? The problem with a generic control board is it will only physically fit one wheel. Was that your intention? Yes, it's a GT16 control board. However, once I got the schematics done, I can modify the design and the layout to fit to any EUC, I just need the measurements to fit the components in the board. However, first I need to test it on my EUC and then I need help to develop the firmware. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 1 hour ago, Inductores said: Yes, it's a GT16 control board. However, once I got the schematics done, I can modify the design and the layout to fit to any EUC, I just need the measurements to fit the components in the board. However, first I need to test it on my EUC and then I need help to develop the firmware. Sounds promising. I'd love to be able to modify King Song's Tilt Back algorithm. I wish you luck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travsformation Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) On 1/18/2019 at 4:49 PM, Inductores said: Hi all, I was wondering if some of you would be interested in developing an open-source EUC motherboard to substitute some of the current motherboards provided by the manufacturers. The advantage of this? Completely custom design and free for the community! I'm able to design the board related to the hardware (from schematics, to layout, manufacturing and assembling), but I'm definitely NOT good at firmware in any of the cases (uC, FPGA, SoC...). That's why I would like to know if there is some interested person to collaborate with the SW/FW part in this project. I would like to make the design for my current EUC (Rockwheel GT16), but I don't mind to make the layout for any other EUC (the schematics would be 99% the same). If there is a REALLY interested person to help me, I offer myself to give away a custom motherboard(s) for free to test and develop the FW (and SW if possible, but I guess Wheellog would be a good start). Any interested to collaborate? Wish I could help, but have no skills in that area. But thumbs up for the initiative! Would love to see it come to life! I remember years ago, when my 4Gb mp3 player only accepted 4Gb Sd cards, and after I replaced the manufacturer's firmware with open-source Rockbox, I could instantly use 32Gb memory cards. Not to mention.. The customization options were endless. Power to the users! (comment written on a laptop running Linux KDE Neon) Edited March 3, 2019 by travsformation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 I'm happy to see the initiative/progress too, but not quite clear if this is mean as an open source project, or a "backwards engineering for personal use" activity? Or maybe a little of both? (Fact finding to inform a future open design?) I'm not sure many people in the open source community will have access to Mentor Graphics, for example - usually they'd use KiCAD or Eagle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inductores Posted March 6, 2019 Author Share Posted March 6, 2019 On 3/5/2019 at 3:25 AM, pst said: I'm happy to see the initiative/progress too, but not quite clear if this is mean as an open source project, or a "backwards engineering for personal use" activity? Or maybe a little of both? (Fact finding to inform a future open design?) I'm not sure many people in the open source community will have access to Mentor Graphics, for example - usually they'd use KiCAD or Eagle. A little bit of both, I need a new working board hahaha I use Mentor Graphics because it's the tool I most know to use, but it could be migrated in a future to KiCAD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, Inductores said: A little bit of both, I need a new working board hahaha I use Mentor Graphics because it's the tool I most know to use, but it could be migrated in a future to KiCAD. If you can provide the BOM with footprints, schematic as a picture (or PDF or some format I can open) and at least a picture of a layout with most important measurements shown for component placement, I could migrate it into a KICAD project. Edited March 6, 2019 by esaj 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inductores Posted March 6, 2019 Author Share Posted March 6, 2019 1 minute ago, esaj said: If you can provide the BOM with footprints, schematic and at least a picture of a layout with most important measurements shown for component placement, I could migrate it into a KICAD project. Great to know, but I still need some time to make the schematics! According to some electronic components for a (possible) improved board: uC: Yes, most of our EUC's have a STM32F103 uC on it (which is actually great according to performance/cost). But I was thinking about using Arduino because of the large amount of available libraries. Definitely not a 8-bit uC but I was thinking about the ATSAMD21G18: https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/ATsamd21g18 I know the Arduino DUE is more "powerful", but I guess a ARM Cortex-M0+ based uC should be good enough for our purpose. And it could be easily FW-upgraded by USB and Bluetooth. And about the Gyro+Accelerometer... even though the MPU-6050 is the one use in our EUC's... https://www.invensense.com/products/motion-tracking/6-axis/mpu-6050/ ...is sadly going to be retired (NRND part, Not Recommended for New Designs), but there are some new devices by the same company, and I found this one: https://www.invensense.com/products/motion-tracking/6-axis/icm-20601/ Not really sure about the performance, but at least as good as the previous one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 6 minutes ago, Inductores said: Great to know, but I still need some time to make the schematics! No rush, even if you had them available right now, I probably wouldn't get around to it immediately 6 minutes ago, Inductores said: According to some electronic components for a (possible) improved board: uC: Yes, most of our EUC's have a STM32F103 uC on it (which is actually great according to performance/cost). But I was thinking about using Arduino because of the large amount of available libraries. Definitely not a 8-bit uC but I was thinking about the ATSAMD21G18: https://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/en/ATsamd21g18 I know the Arduino DUE is more "powerful", but I guess a ARM Cortex-M0+ based uC should be good enough for our purpose. And it could be easily FW-upgraded by USB and Bluetooth. If you want to stick to Arduino, there's also https://www.stm32duino.com/ , never tried it though, but supposedly it should bring the entire Arduino core (+ IDE support etc) to STM32's (on a quick glance, at least F103 and some F4's in more limited form). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmt30897 Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 (edited) On 1/18/2019 at 4:49 PM, Inductores said: Hi all, I was wondering if some of you would be interested in developing an open-source EUC motherboard to substitute some of the current motherboards provided by the manufacturers. The advantage of this? Completely custom design and free for the community! I'm able to design the board related to the hardware (from schematics, to layout, manufacturing and assembling), but I'm definitely NOT good at firmware in any of the cases (uC, FPGA, SoC...). That's why I would like to know if there is some interested person to collaborate with the SW/FW part in this project. I would like to make the design for my current EUC (Rockwheel GT16), but I don't mind to make the layout for any other EUC (the schematics would be 99% the same). If there is a REALLY interested person to help me, I offer myself to give away a custom motherboard(s) for free to test and develop the FW (and SW if possible, but I guess Wheellog would be a good start). Any interested to collaborate? Hello! I am from India, and I am already working on this project. I'd be happy and interested to collaborate! ... Edited March 9, 2019 by Chriull Deleted ?advertising? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inductores Posted March 8, 2019 Author Share Posted March 8, 2019 TOP layer is ready too So let's start to place footprints! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inductores Posted March 8, 2019 Author Share Posted March 8, 2019 Enough for today... But as you can see, the idea to import the copper planes seems to work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 On 3/6/2019 at 11:10 AM, Inductores said: I was thinking about using Arduino because of the large amount of available libraries. Definitely not a 8-bit uC but I was thinking about the ATSAMD21G18: Hopefully some of those available libraries include motion control such as we're talking about in this application? :) I know in the other thread there was discussion of using a TI chip with a built-in peripheral for, well, more or less exactly what we're looking to do here. On the other hand, while I'm no fan of Arduino, a more practical benefit is that more people probably have the ability to program it at home, especially if you put a proper bootloader in the image... rather than buying a new IDE and programmer to support another platform. One thing I'm hoping that will come out of this thread as it evolves is some kind of discussion of the algorithms for such control, and some notion of how to make a "good" motor controller... don't know if anyone has references to such things to start thinking about it now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriull Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 On 3/7/2019 at 9:15 AM, jmt30897 said: Hello! Welcome! On 3/7/2019 at 9:15 AM, jmt30897 said: I am from India, and I am already working on this project. I'd be happy and interested to collaborate! Great - every input is welcome On 3/7/2019 at 9:15 AM, jmt30897 said: ... Deleted your link, etc for now - would make the impression of inappropriate advertising otherwise... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueblade Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 On 3/6/2019 at 8:10 AM, Inductores said: But I was thinking about using Arduino because of the large amount of available libraries. I have often wondered if something like an esp8266 based chip for example something like the wemos D1 mini which is not much bigger than a postage stamp, very cheap and you can program it with the Arduino IDE and use many of the available libraries. Unfortunately I've only managed to make mine blink LEDs and measure temperature/ humidity with a DHT11, I've got a lot to learn still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mono Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Chriull said: Deleted your link, etc for now - would make the impression of inappropriate advertising otherwise... I think you are way too tight with your editing oversight (OK, I don't know why you call the link "inappropriate"). Advertisement is not even prohibitive, it's just to be done in a different subforum. InMotion was repeated posting full advertisement 2-wheels-for-the-price-of-1 topics and none of the moderators cared to move them to the advertisement section. Edited March 9, 2019 by Mono Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriull Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 1 hour ago, Mono said: I think you are way too tight with your editing oversight (OK, I don't know why you call the link "inappropriate"). Advertisement is not even prohibitive, it's just to be done in a different subforum. InMotion was repeated posting full advertisement 2-wheels-for-the-price-of-1 topics and none of the moderators cared to move them to the advertisement section Yes - inappropriate is the wrong word i used. Advertising restriction are not 100% strictly enforced. This one was reported. Once he shows his EUC project and coloaborates, as written with the EUC open source motherboard project there won't be problems anymore. First time posts with conpany introduction and offering ones services can be too easily understood as just advertising/spamming. @jmt30897 Sorry if this was just a wrong decision and made a bad impression to start here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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