User:Garycookejr/wheelchair

Write problem/project Goal
My goal is to make the wheelchair autonomous with the aid of an Arduino.

My First Task
I will talk with a former wheelchair team member to find out what my starting point should be.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
I found out from a former wheelchair team member that the next steps for the wheelchair are charging the batteries and connecting the Arduino to the control switch.

Week1 Narrative
An engineer from the first wheelchair team informed me that he and his team found a complete manual for the wheelchair, which will allow me to identify and document every part of the wheelchair. He told me that the main task is connecting the Arduino to the wires that they cut from the joystick—now destroyed—that formerly controlled the wheelchair. He also said that the biggest problem right now is finding a way to charge the two large batteries that power the wheelchair.

My Second Task
I will scour the internet for information about the wheelchair and work toward documenting all parts of the wheelchair base.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
I unsuccessfully searched the internet for information about the wheelchair but found some useful documentation for the wheelchair in the user manuals provided by the previous wheelchair team.

Week2 Narrative
I first searched specifically for "invacare wheelchairs," but every page I opened was a wheelchair shopping page. I then tried to narrow the results to technical motor shield information by searching "invacare tdx wheelchair * "motor shield."" Google returned only five search results. Each one was another shopping page, some not even relevant to wheelchairs at all. I also searched through the manuals provided by the previous wheelchair team for any useful wheelchair documentation. Under Troubleshooting - Electrical, I found an Information Gauge Display Diagnostics chart, a Service Indicator Light Diagnostics chart, and an MPI+, PSR+, PSF+ Joysticks or Displays chart. These charts may prove useful for producing a diagnosis for why our wheelchair is not working properly.

My Third task
I will gain experience with motor shields by following a Wikiversity tutorial involving the Arduino and Monster Motor Shield.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
I unsuccessfully attempted to follow a Wikiversity tutorial on the Arduino and Monster Motor Shield.

Week3 Narrative
I found this tutorial on Wikiversity and attempted to follow it. I had to add in a breadboard between the motors and the Monster Motor Shield because the wires from the motors are stranded instead of solid, so they could not directly connect into the motor shield ports. After connecting everything up, I turned on the power supply and it showed a number, possibly the voltage or the current, alternating between 0.002 and 0.003. The motors, however, did not turn. I then copied the Arduino sample program and uploaded it to the Arduino. The motors still did not turn. I then looked up how to use a breadboard and found this tutorial on Instructables. I did not have time to follow the tutorial and figure out what was wrong with my setup.

My Fourth task
I will work toward getting the motors running.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
I finally got power into the motors, but was not able to make the stepper motor or servo motor visibly spin.

Week4 Narrative
I noticed that whenever I would upload the sample Arduino program from the Wikiversity tutorial to the Arduino, it would return an error message: "avrdude: stk500_getsync: not in sync: resp=0x00." I figured that may be why the motors were not spinning. I searched the internet for this specific error and found this Instructables page. Following the directions, I went into device manager and updated the Arduino driver, then selected the correct port in the Arduino IDE. The program finally uploaded without errors, but the motors still did not spin. I then searched and found a beginner's tutorial on Instructables for breadboarding and found out that breadboards are not meant to be used with stranded wires because they will crumple in the holes and damage the breadboard. I subsequently removed the breadboard from the circuit and inserted the stranded wires from the motors directly into the motor ports on the Monster Motor Shield. When I turned the power supply on, I could hear a constant high-pitched tone coming from one or both of the motors. Whenever I turned up the voltage, the servo motor's wires made a jolting motion, which showed that they were receiving electricity. However, when I turned up the current, the high-pitched tone stopped, and smoke came out of the positive power input port on the Motor Shield. After that, when I turned up the voltage, the wires did not jolt again. I then looked up the 5-wire stepper motor to find out which wires were hot, what voltage they were, and which were ground. I found from this webpage that there are many possibilities, but all 5 wires would be connected to something in each case. I concluded that the 5-wire stepper motor is most likely not compatible with this type of motor shield.

Complete Team Page
Team Page