I am starting on my rover journey but coming at it from a different angle. I have actually built a very large autonomous rover (truck sized) that was all electric and now I want to build one using the ArduPilot platform. I have no problem with ROS, etc but getting into ArduPilot Rover is a little more complicated due to the acceptable hardware. Therefore let me tell you what my goal is, and what my question is…
Goal: To build a small (under 40 lbs or near there) autonomous unit that I can map out and will follow a course via gps and sensor data. I want it to be able to take in sensor data and relay that information via an IoT gateway.
Problem: The sensor hardware and IoT gateway portion is a dropkick for me so I’m not worried about that. What board should I be using and what firmware version?
It seems simple but as I look into it more and more it seems more complicated and I am not entirely sure that the ardupilot rover info page is current as far as hardware compatibility goes. I do have a Piksi that I may incorporate but I also like the MarvelMind indoor system and may try that out as well.
WHAT I NEED: What board should I buy to build all of this off of?
At the moment I don’t have a price target.