Stop that Robot Jeep

Photo by Alicia Gibb, CC-BY-SA

The last thing we needed was a 5,000 lb full size Jeep going out of control at the 2014 Sparkfun AVC. One of our safety features was an on-by-default brake actuator.

The microcontroller deactivates it during a run but if hitting the e-stop, or shutting off the ignition, or arriving at the last waypoint re-activates the actuator and stops the Jeep. During the run I could still press the brake manually. Here's how we built it.

AVC: What About Data Bus?

Though Data Bus made it to the 2014 Sparkfun AVC, it had to sit out again this year. Time ran out to fix the Bus so I focused on the Jeep.

Data Bus makes a cameo (arrow)

You can see Data Bus in the Sparkfun AVC recap video, sitting on the table near Troubled Child and also riding on top of the Jeep on our final run...