FYI, Steering Mode - Turn Radius is TURN_RADIUS in parameter list. Mine is 0.53
I tried driving in ACRO mode and it drives fine, just seems like the stick setting hold for a second or so after releasing. There is also a little shaking for a couple seconds when entering ACRO mode, then it settles down.
Don’t really understand what ACRO mode is. The guide says “In Acro mode the user’s steering stick controls the vehicle’s turn rate and the throttle stick controls the vehicle’s speed.” but then contradictorily a couple sentences later it says “Once the input returns to neutral, the vehicle will attempt to hold heading, compensating for external influences, ie. “heading hold”.”
Well my rover does the first, it does what the sticks say, and doesn’t seem to do any heading hold. It seems like ACRO mode has the additional restriction of requiring GPS lock with the only benefit being Object Avoidance.
For a skid-steering rover it won’t matter what you put into the Turn Radius parameter (aka TURN_RADIUS), it won’t be used on a skid-steering vehicle.
If Acro mode doesn’t work then I would expect more complex modes (like Auto) also won’t work well. If you post a log file of the vehicle executing an auto mode of a square missing with sides at least 5m long then I’m happy to have a peek and give advice.
In Acro mode the pilot controls the turn rate with the steering stick. So with the stick centered it should not turn at all (aka “heading hold”). The difference here vs manual mode is that in Manual mode, if the pilot attempts to drive in a straight line, it may not accomplish that. For example if the vehicle is driving on a slope it will very likely turn slightly down the slope. Or if the steering mechanism is not perfectly straight it will slowly turn left or right. In Acro mode the turn rate controller is active so the vehicle should drive nearly perfectly straight (when the pilot leaves the steering input in the center).
Acro mode will use the GPS (or more accurately the EKF’s velocity estimate) in order to control the speed of the vehicle (using the pilot’s throttle input as the desired speed). So you should find that if the pilot holds the throttle stick above zero and doesn’t move it around that the vehicle maintains a steady ground speed. It should do this regardless of the surface (e.g asphalt vs ground) or ground slope (e.g. uphill, downhill).
This mode should feel similar to Manual mode but a little less responsive but also require fewer corrections from the pilot.
It does, but the “somehow” is that it follows RC throttle. Like Randy said, a stable RC throttle should produce a constant velocity (vs manual mode where it would just be a constant, fixed output).
Ok, to clarify further, where it says “Once the input returns to neutral, the vehicle will attempt to hold heading, compensating for external influences, ie. “heading hold”." I took it to mean that with both steering AND throttle at neutral that the rover would continue moving.
