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Project Log 23: I actually don't need the VR software.

A project log for DIY Mech/Exoskeleton suit.

Mechs are not viable, nor cheap, so I will try to design and build one alone anyway.

fulanodetailFulanoDetail 01/23/2023 at 17:531 Comment
Monday, 14:46, 23/01/2023

Well, I'm creating this other project log because my mind is a weird as ever.

Every time I hit a wall, I feel like I didn't look up all the ways in this labyrinth of headaches that I call "project".

So, I will try to look up how to configure the weight sensor, then I will try to check if there is a way of connecting the weight sensor to a PC, and then I will try to convert these digital numbers to a program.

Then I will really start hitting my head to find how to transform these signals/numbers into a input for a suit.

There must be a better way.


I Just woke up and I feel like crap.

I can't make heads of anything that I'm reading.

All my motivation is gone.


Off-topic:

Can someone please make a flying warship game?

The closest thing I can think of is World of Warships (that doesn't have flying warships) and Nebulous: Fleet command, which I can't buy because I'm broke, but I'm not sure if I will like, because it feels more like a super hardcore RTS game rather than a warship game.

And also Highfleet, but that doens't have multiplayer.

Yes, I do like flying ships, how could you tell?

Definitely not because of my 300 pages worth of off-topics throughout all these project logs, isn't it?

Artist is Jakub Rozalski on Artstation.


Funnyly enough, I did asked around some discord servers I'm in, and I did find someone interested on making a game like this.

Although both of us can't make heads of advanced game development, I think that making a warship game is more manageable, since the gameplay is really slow and weighty.

Unfortunately, no one wants to make a game.

It is like inviting people to make an expensive and difficult endeavor on the development of a game that will take (at best) half a decade without offering them money isn't that attractive, huh?

Who would guess? hmmm


Oh well, my classic smooth brain: deciding to make a lot of different projects all at once because I got bored.

Now I need to manage my time making a f*cking mech, a VR suit (for the mech), an animation for a little animation challange, maybe a game and finding a part-time job to build the mech.

plz help


The program:

To be honest, do I really need a VR suit taken from a VR haptic suit?

I mean, I can literally connect the weight sensors directly to the progressive hydraulics valves, so the force the pilot applies to the sensors is the amount of fluid that is allowed to flow.

Literally, I don't need the entire VR suit, programming, arduino, blah blah blah.

But...

I feel like it is not that simple.


No, no, let's talk about this for a second.

For some reason, I thought that "virtual reality = better mech control", which doesn't make much sense.

I was thinking on some kind of robot simulation.

But again, what kind of gain I would get out of this kind of simulation?
By somehow sending the body movements, to a simulation like that, and then to the mech's body?

Now that I analyse it, I can't see any benefit from that.

The only thing I can possibly think is that it could be a way of dealing with sensory noise, but I could just use a simply program to use the average value (or common denominator) of the data it receives.

However, I don't know how to do any of these things. :/


I mean, I can totally think on some kind of programming logic, but I have absolutely no idea how to write the commands, how the programms interact with each other and so on.

For example:

-> Electromagnetic progressive valve avoids the magnetic fluid from flowing by keeping an electric current on it of "X value of voltage amperage" all the time.

-> Sensor outputs "Y" value under input (the pilot is pressing it).

-> The range of values the sensor outputs goes from "0% A value" to "100% A value", so "x% A value".

-> The "X voltage amperage value" is decreased proportionally to the output percentage of the "A Value".
And so, the more output there is in the load cell, the less electric current goes through the electromagnetic valves, the more fluid goes through it, and thus, the artificial muscle contracts.
So, the percentage of "X voltage amperage value" = the inverse of "x% A value"

-> But the value of the load cell variates too much during loads, so it needs to find the average value during a "B" amount of time, it could be during 1 second, 3 seconds or whatever.

And the formula for the average value is:

This sh*t here.

-> Therefore, "The inverse of (average value formula result of [x% A value] during "B" seconds") = the percentage of "X voltage amperage value".

-> The secondary valve that avoids the fluid from escaping the artificial muscle is also constantly activated using "C amperage voltage value".

-> The secondary valve of one muscle, in this case "muscle 1" is proportionally reduced to the value of the disactivation of the primary valve of the opposite muscle, in this case, "muscle 2".
So, if the biceps (muscle 1) inflates, the triceps (muscle 2) deflates.

-> Therefore, the percentage "C amperage value" of "muscle 1" secondary valve = percentage "D voltage amperage value" of "muscle 2" primary valve.


Bruh, programming is really not for me...

I feel like a knot was made with the gelatinous neurons of my brain and that I made an impossible program.

I really can't make progress with this project without dealing with this.


I will keep looking for ways of applying that for my VR suit, but I don't think it will be useful for the mech.

Besides, I need to find a way to connect the output of the weight sensor to the solenoid valves and the progressive valves somehow.

And like I said in previous Project Logs, the hydraulic accumulators will be useful for jumping or running, so I need some kind of simple program to deal with temporary higher demands.

Let's begin with tutorials and see what I can take from them.


Well, I did found this website where it teaches step by step on how to make a scale.

Well, since the tutorial already comes explaining everything step by step instead of saying "connect this here, here and here and you're good to go", maybe I can finally learn what the heck I need to do.

I just need my ADHD brain to f*cking work.

(Unfortunately, the medicines that normally work on other ADHD people doesn't work on me; Ritalin, for example, only makes me 200% anxious and incapable of focusing on the simplest of tasks, but it does give me the zoomies tho)



As you can expect, I didn't do anything in these past 6 days.


I don't know how to do any of these programming things, and I feel like I wouldn't be able to make a system/program without having something in hands.

But I feel like I'm just giving excuses.

Programming became the most difficult subject I faced upon now, and even though physics could "defeat" my Mech's project, I feel like basic programming will be the one able to kill it.


Discussions

dekutree64 wrote 01/29/2023 at 19:37 point

A low-pass filter would probably be better than averaging. It can either be done in programming, or using analog circuitry. Either way it's hard to understand exactly how it works, but not too hard to understand the result and how to use it. The motor control firmware SimpleFOC that I'm using has a nice C++ class for it https://github.com/simplefoc/Arduino-FOC/blob/master/src/common/lowpass_filter.cpp

Programming is indeed hard, but also a lot of fun. Game development is a great way to learn because you're literally creating something from nothing. No tools and materials to buy like when building robots, and no repairs to make when you screw up. And you can make it as simple or complicated as you like, whereas robotic systems have to interact with real physics which is very complicated. And there are tons of resources available these days. Back in 2000 when I was starting out everything was either "Hello world" or academic papers on specific advanced topics.

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