FlyPT 6DOF/Stewart/Hexapod Interface for linear and rotating actuators

YES it works This seems to of fixed it no random movement all stable at middle position and moves as it should with all forces

Great!
Hope it corresponds to your expectations.

Now give me some days and I will add rotating actuators.

It works fine however it seems very slow in the way it moves, I dont get the gear change spikes from the surge and I am not getting much feeling of road surface through heave. Im sure it just needs setting up right with tuning centre as I've literally had 20 minutes going on RaceRoom.

Is there anything special I should be doing with the values in tuning centre to make it more fast and pick up the finer bumps and humps ?

Here is a video, Heave and Yaw was setup up wrong way I've reversed them now

It's hard to see on the video, but you have a low pass filter applied to the actuators movement.
Maybe try to remove it, since it makes it smoother.

EDIT: What axis assignment do you have in Simtools?

Ahh yes the filter was turned on I have turned it off will test again in a minute.

Heres my axis settings


And my hexpod settings

9º on rotations seems low. But I still have to try it on RaceRoom.
I'm still a bit lost on setting the values.
Maybe add some Yaw with washout on Axis4a.

Would be a good idea to compare the movements you have on the rig with what you have on the interface.
For example, you have 100mm range on yaw. If you move it 50mm in the slider, how much does it moves on the rig?
You could adjust the steps per rotation value until the values match. >>> Ignore this, it's wrong!
Then compare degrees of rotation also.
If you can do that, I can verify if the conversion is being well done or if it needs some change on the code.

But before that, be sure you have the correct dimensions of your rig.

I think your right my measurements are probably all wrong as I set it to 9º as thats just before it hits my limits switches . I was too keen to get it moving rather than setting it up properly first

New version 1.4:

Added another way of setting dimensions.
Now we can use angle and radius like before or distance between joints.


Please insert correct dimensions to get a corresponding movement between the interface and the rig (if sway is 100 mm in interface, it should be 100 mm in the rig).
Be careful inserting values, not all situations are well handled and division by zero might happen. Sorry, I will correct that in a new update.

@SilentChill , hope you don't mind me posting your new video here (to show others, thank's for testing).

First test was too soft since the actuators had a low pass filter applied.
Without filter the results are different:

Awesome work I will give it a try later

@pmvcda I would try it, but my platform made with wormgear motors. Don't you plan to develope for servo motors too?

Edit: I noticed in the first post you are planning to add compatibility with "rotating" actuators in the future. So I would be the happiest

Yes, I'm working on rotating actuators.
I will release a new version, maybe today, with scale adjustment. To adjust values from the program with values on the rig (100 mm in interface = 100 mm in rig).
I was a bit confused, mixing my rig with usual serial output and was missing this to "properly" calibrate the rigs.
Meanwhile, I'm adding the rotating functionality in the background.
But it's not so simple, it must take into account the direction of motors/levers.
We can have many variations, and the program should be made to handle them all.
Follow this thread, for the update. Would love you to try and make some tests, since I don't have a rotating servo rig to test.

@pmvcda very good job mate...ill test it on my mini 6DOF rig and give feedback,
thank you.

New version 1.5:

Look at first post of this thread for the download.
New update with a new scale feature.
Now it's possible to adjust the travel of the rig with the travel on the interface.
If you have 50mm sway on the interface that generate 70mm on the rig, the scale is 50/70=0,714.
(I need to test this, I had no chance to connect the rig and make the tests. So I think it's working...)

Still no rotating actuators... Needs more work.
Also some updates needed in the first posts, since the instructions relate to the version 1.0.
And bugs in the interface, allowing the introduction of some values that can crash the application... sorry.

Next version is going to take some more time, I want it to have the rotating actuators, unless there's a severe bug.

Just an heads up on using traction loss with this interface.
I don't know how Simtools obtains traction loss. For me it should be reproduced naturally from the physics obtained in the games.

Even so, we can use the following setup:

To make the rig rotate around an axis at the front, reproducing a rear traction loss.
And if it was a front traction loss? Well, how Simtools calculates traction loss? Have no idea. I thought it would come naturally from the games pose. I'm confused.
I have to make a game plugin to understand it better.

To me it just another sway, that you set higher so that it take move sway to get a noticeable output. Maybe it's the best that can be done with the available data?

I have to take a look at the LFS plugin to see what is being used for traction loss.
I don't know if it's calculated/estimated by simtools or a parameter received from the game.
I doubt the game would output such data, at least for a sim.
If it's calculated, might be sway affected by speed, the same value of sway from the game at low speed might have a gain to increase it's effect and is treated as rotation. I don't know really.
But I'm really curious and I will know.

Like I said above, if someone wants that effect on the hexapod, mixing Extra1 in sway is currently the only option for my interface.
Using 50% Yaw(extra1 as traction loss) in Sway results in rotation around the front of the hexapod:

Very good job. For sure my pleasure to test with servos, when its done.

Its calculated. It uses the vehicles orientation vs global orientation or something like that. When they aren't the same the vehicle is experiencing traction loss.

And thank you for sharing this buddy . Some members have been waiting for this for years now after another member promised something similar then never delivered .

Ok so heres my latest test with 1.5 , its all looking good no problems at all. Need to sort tuning centre out but other than that , happy days

Thanks @pmvcda its an awesome interface you've made and thanks for helping me out



excuse me rambling i've had a couple of beers