Documentation on the various "flight" modes for Rover

ArduRover Miscellaneous
1

I am very new to Ardupilot and want to start by messing with a Rover.

Can someone point me to a place to find documentation on the various “flight” modes used with ArduRover?

I have tried looking at rover.ardupilot.com/wiki/table-of-contents/ but don’t seem to be able to find what I am looking for.

Best regards,
Lars

2

@Lars Holst Hansen,
There are basically three “Flight” Modes of operation for the Rover:

  1. Manual - the operator controls the steering and the throttle
  2. Learrning - the operator controls the steering and the throttle while recording waypoints with the set waypoint switch.
  3. Auto - where the rover autonomously navigates a mission consisting of prerecorded waypoints.

The Learning mode can be changed to the Steering mode where the operator controls the steering and throttle, but the APM essentially provides steering and throttle correction as if in the Auto mode.

Your Flight Modes should be setup initially (from the top) as: Auto, Auto, Learning, Learning, Manual, Manual. When I need the Steering mode, I change one of the Learning modes to Steering and change it back when I am done.

Regards,
TCIII Developer

1 Like
3

Thanks a lot for you advice!
I am using the new AP Planner 2 and noticed options for

LEARNING
RTL (Return To Launch)
HOLD
AUTO
STEERING
MANUAL
GUIDED

I there somewhere this list of modes is documented?

I figured out what some of them was but was not sure about STEERING and HOLD and GUIDED.
Is HOLD simply used as a way to pause AUTO mode?

I am still playing with the PIXHAWK and have not yet connected an actual vehicle. I plan to use my Traxxas Summit but may face problems with the speed controller and will probably need a reversing Y-harness for the two opposite steering servos.

Best regards,
Lars

4

@Lars Holst Hansen,
I do not know if Guided and RTL have been implemented in the present firmware.

Hold will appear in the HUD window when the receiver is not connected to the R/C transmitter.

Since APM Planner 2 is still in flux, I would recommend that you start out with the MP. I have been evaluating the APM Planner 2 for rover use and I am not happy with some of the function pages. The Flight Planner screen is extremely slow to load. The developers still have a way to go for a useable APM Planner 2 in my opinion.

This list of user modifiable parameters may help: http://rover.ardupilot.com/wiki/apmrover2-parameters/#Mode1_APMrover2MODE1

I have a Traxxas E-Maxx that has two steering servos and all I use is a “Y” cable to send the steering signal to the servos. Why is it necessary to use a reversing Y cable?
I have both a PX4 and a Pixhawk working with Traxxas ESCs and have had not problems.
Regards,
TCIII Developer

5

The reason I am looking at AP Planner 2 is that I am on Mac OSX.

It seems like RTL and Guided are supported. At least, they are options in the “flight mode” page.

Can you explain “Guided”?

Thanks for the pointer to the parameter list.

I did check the 2 steering servos and they are also running same direction on the Traxxas Summit!
I will therefore simply get a y-harness.

To repeat my question above; is there anywhere, the “flight” modes are described?

Thanks,
Lars.

6

@Lars Holst Hansen,

I have never had a need to use the Guided mode so I cannot provide any guidance for you concerning that mode.

This Wiki link describes the three commonly used modes: http://rover.ardupilot.com/wiki/apmrover-loading-the-code-and-setup/ As far as I can tell these three modes along with the Steering mode, which applies PID steering and throttle control to manual steering and throttle inputs, and RTL, which is initiated with the CLEAR_WP / SAVE_WP / RTL momentary toggle switch, are the only modes that are implemented at this time.

Regards,
TCIII GM