More MAVRIC! Today we had another test drive, and got some good footage (some of it is below). We haven’t edited it together or anything yet though. We took the rover out to the Frederiksen Court area north of campus to get some open space. We were able to get up to 0.2 miles (measured with some GPS pins on a phone) with some small buildings in the way before the connection dropped below acceptable levels. We were able to recover the rover from that distance using the antennas, the cameras were just too laggy to drive very well or operate the arm (not currently attached).
As mentioned, we did a range test, with the first sign of degradation at ~0.1 mi, and the rover becoming unusable at ~0.2 mi. This is a little concerning, but workable for most events at competition. We also did some testing of the suspension’s ability to handle rough surfaces, large bumps and hills. The rover was able to climb over curbs (with a little practice) and remained stable over washboard-type terrain (the 6 wheels help out there). The rover was also able to maneuver on uneven ground at significant angles, though it could not climb steep hills. When driving, the camera mast shakes back and forth, even without the main camera mount attached and may need reinforcement. See the videos below for examples (links because I can’t host videos here, sorry).
Washboard: https://iastate.box.com/s/u1s6bgy23gspb59n9qvf1u7amnplxku7
Bigger Bumps: https://iastate.box.com/s/9hk372vl0fm39629aco75z09jwiqpm0d
Angled Terrain: https://iastate.box.com/s/jbldn017uwto6jfl4lh8ngg4cs5f3dxi
Parking Lot Driving (curb at the end): https://iastate.box.com/s/5h1jv6h9ey0yxjjingovo30o6t4byfnu