mod-Actuator

The mod-Actuator translates calculated steering data and acceleration controls to hardware signals using the PCA9685 I2C PWM board.

Runs on Rover1 Debix

Precompiled binary available here

Adheres to Makefile spec

Source code is confidentially available using your Github token

Uses service.yaml

Registers with SystemManager

Functionalities

• Based on Controller output, actuate motors, servo and lights
• Safety kill switch in case any module in the pipeline crashes

Running this module

Using the rover.yaml

1. Download the latest version of this module using the rover utility.

sudo rover update

2. Enable this module in your /home/debix/rover.yaml file by (re)adding the following lines:

...
- name: mod-Actuator
  cmd: mod-Actuator -service-yaml /home/debix/mods/mod-Actuator/service.yaml -debug
...

3. Start with the rover utility

sudo rover start

Precompiled

1. Download this module from the ASE Download Manager to your current working directory using curl

curl https://downloads.ase.vu.nl/api/mod-Actuator/latest -JL -o mod-Actuator.zip

2. Unzip the downloaded zip file. This will deflate the precompiled binary and its service yaml

unzip mod-Actuator.zip

3. Execute the binary

./mod-Actuator

From source

1. Clone the source code using your private ASE token. Make sure to replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with the token you received by email.

git clone https://<YOUR-TOKEN>@github.com/VU-ASE/mod-Actuator.git
git pull

2. Enter the source code directory

cd mod-Actuator

3. Build and start from source

make start

Using this module

Dependencies

This module uses ControllerOutput messages outputted by mod-Controller to actuate.

Startup latency

Due to the initialization of the PCA board, this module takes about ~5 seconds after startup before it starts processing ControllerOutputs. If you need to do any important actuating at the start of your module, consider adding a delay to the module that outputs ControllerOutput to start sending when mod-Actuator is initialized.

Outputs

This module does not output anything but instead controls the PCA9685 I2C PWM board.