Enertionboards.com | Eboard Hand Controller Design Challange

[Bob K]

Here is a picture of my experimental $20 HK based controller. I gutted a HK 2.4 ghz car controller and made up
an armband of wet suit material. I hand carved ( with a Dremel) the 3/8" thick grey PVC
plastic to fit my hand and the trigger assembly. It fits my thumb and fore fingers so well that
I do not have to hold on to it at all. Is it the ultimate answer to hand controllers?
With out trying everything else out there it is hard to tell. Wiiremote looks pretty nice and small.
Maybe a fusion of the two? Hmmm.. I'm going to look into that.
It IS better than holding onto a pistol grip though.
As far as sliding with sliding gloves, one would probably have to go with a pressure sensing
mouth piece type of thing. Or maybe a head microphone and hook it to your smart phone
Siri! FASTER!!!
Siri! Slower
Siri! OH SHeet! ( I mean , Brake! )

 

[onloop]

DUDE! that is awesome, i really love how your thinking outside the box.

 

[torqueboards]

That is a pretty neat setup. Awesome idea.

 

[beetbocks]

a mate of mine has done something similar but incorporated into a wrist guard..which i though was a good idea...

 

[Drevious]

I really like that idea. Unfortunately, I damaged a LiPo this weekend and it was a nasty experience. With that said, I would never ever want a LiPo or LiFe strapped to me during a crash.

 

[beetbocks]

Yes ..That is a consideration. I hadn't thought of that. Although they are a very small lipo. .

 

[r3volved]

What about a glove or brass knuckle style with pressure sensors for your thumb, located along the outside edge of the forefinger.
Or pressure or strain sensors to signal when you curl a finger.
A glove does allow plenty of mounting space on the back for PCB. Add a Velcro Palm for slide pucks

 

[Bob K]

Brass knuckles....
You are inspired my friend!
In conjunction with pressure ( or displacement) sensors that sense the spread ( brake) of your fingers,
or the pulling together of your fingers ( accelerate). wow.
You could potentially put down your controlling hand in a sliding situation, fingers and thumb flat against the asphalt,
and still control the motor intuitively.
Hmm....

 

[viper]

if you want to use the glove idea, I think I saw an arduino implementation.. can look for that.
but just Google flex sensor glove...
its a great idea.just need to figure out how to use it without getting the palm sweaty on a hot summer day... also extra button for a horn is a very importent option - can be used with a thumb flex sensor

[/IMG] http://www.g9toengineering.com/MechatronicsStudio/Wirele7.jpg [/IMG]

 

[BShady]

You guys get to the bottom line features.

Ya the glove ideas and wrist ideas are really cool and smart but it's not so practical. You wana jump on your board and go, not strap on a wrist guard or glove. They can also limit things you do with your hands. A controller is fast, grap and go and when your done just put it down no undoing Straps. ( I have made stun gloves before and no matter how much Cooler they are than a regular stun gun they are just annoying to put on and off.)

Features: I think we covered almost all of it but this is my favorite:

Trigger control (like RC remotes)
Cruise button
Lights button
Battery voltage read out
Remote voltage read out
Amps read out
Throttle limit
Speed read out
Distance traveled
(Fan for ESC button)

I defenitly think the cruise on the remote should be like a car. Tap up and down to increase or decrease speed and brake to remove cruise mode. Now I was thinking of maybe added a small turn wheel next to the cruise button and use that to controll speed while in cruise not the actual trigger. The actual trigger will stop cruise when moved either way not only when you brake. But I'm not sure if that's needed.

The flysky GT3C controller is amazing. It looks really nice and the screen on top of the controller can be used to set all these features. It doesn't have to be this controller but useing a screen can be nice. It is a little big but there is ways to make it smaller.

 

[beetbocks]

yeah i fully agree- although i have put posts for the glove and wrist guard..it is far easier to just grab the remote and go..and in a fall you can just let go of it...
i mean this is what I use everyday on my boards and we based our remote around that really..

 

[Magnus_Volk]

I much prefer the glove idea. I'm thinking of building something myself actually to work with my own build.

I'd love to hack the Nintendo Power Glove to work with my board. It just looks so cool (well, maybe not)

Alternatively, to build your own you'd only need one of these: http://proto-pic.co.uk/flex-sensor-2-2/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwvqWgBRChnMjQ7u7UzOUBEiQAooXvYX3hFXNeeTbP75OtZHaDuMzfDE1ckbrIxL6OFIbkW70aApHn8P8HAQ

 

[beetbocks]

yes i looked at them ages ago..you would need two one for acceleration and one for brake..??maybe?

 

[made_in_the_alps_legacy]

I defenitly think the cruise on the remote should be like a car. Tap up and down to increase or decrease speed and brake to remove cruise mode. Now I was thinking of maybe added a small turn wheel next to the cruise button and use that to controll speed while in cruise not the actual trigger. The actual trigger will stop cruise when moved either way not only when you brake. But I'm not sure if that's needed.

You should really try the Wii Nunchuck kit from austindavid and torqueboard then :
it's very close to your description as far as cruise control is concerned :wink:

 

[austindavid]

I defenitly think the cruise on the remote should be like a car. Tap up and down to increase or decrease speed and brake to remove cruise mode. Now I was thinking of maybe added a small turn wheel next to the cruise button and use that to controll speed while in cruise not the actual trigger. The actual trigger will stop cruise when moved either way not only when you brake. But I'm not sure if that's needed.

You should really try the Wii Nunchuck kit from austindavid and torqueboard then :
it's very close to your description as far as cruise control is concerned :wink:

Yeah, I use this for ~15 miles/day and I love it. The ergo is excellent and functionality is good with the buttons + stick. I actually use the cruise button pretty much always, it's basically a dead-man switch, and I use Z to toggle the display. Z is still functional as "sensitivity" (I wonder where Talon Boards got that idea?) but I just don't use it like that.

AAA batteries are 2.4v/700mAh (1680mWh), compared to the LiPo at 150mAh (555mWh) -- heavier, but field-replaceable and I just never recharge them.

Best part about the nunchuck: I have 3 more replacement controllers in my garage for $cheap. The part I can drop is also the cheapest part of the setup. I even carry a spare in my backpack, "just in case."

Downside of using "Standard" RC gear for the receiver is that you have to put more brains in the handheld, which makes it bigger.

Having used a few control systems (including Boosted), the thing the nunchuck is missing is feedback on the stick itself. It would be nice if the stick were a little more resistant / higher K spring. Boosted's wheel is so close to the body that your thumb actually creates the resistance, sliding on the body. You can just press harder to hold a throttle position. Nunchuck & trigger both have very free-moving sticks, so easy to accidentally provide lots of input. My cruise button makes that less likely, since I don't rely on holding a stick position, but a mechanically dampened stick would be cool.

The other big gap with a nunchuck is the amount of throw in the stick itself -- it just doesn't move much. Boosted and an RC trigger both have a lot more throw, so it's easier to hit a specific throttle point. Longer throw == less "twitchy."

Discussion about the guts is a little premature, but FWIW the 2.4GHz modules appear to be the smallest / cheapest option for something that has to fit in a remote. AFAIK, bluetooth is basically a low-power 2.4GHz with a protocol stack, and mostly just adds cost. I also considered the PICAXE line of MCUs which can do a form of wired RF, but they aren't powerful enough processors to handle the actual control stuff I use in the receiver.

$0.02.

 

[Magnus_Volk]

yes i looked at them ages ago..you would need two one for acceleration and one for brake..??maybe?

Yes. I was thinking index finger for accelerator, middle finger for break.

 

[LostMD]

[youtube]oWu9TFJjHaM[/youtube]

It's still up for pre-order, I'm getting one to play around with. Not very experienced with Bluetooth but I'm a quick learner

 

[r3volved]

https://www.thalmic.com/en/myo/
These guys are a local start up and doing a workshop at work next week. I'm going to check it out...ev in mind

 

[BShady]

That's Amazing!!! But....still not practical for e-board. Imagine if your falling your hand does all sorts of weird things!!!

I still think it's amazing and I'll look into gettin one!!!

Btw what goggles was the skier wearing? It looks amazing as well.

 

[r3volved]

I think the goggles are just a concept but there are snowboard goggles with huds

 

[onloop]

THATS COOL

 

[made_in_the_alps_legacy]

Onloop, where r u ?

I got a small remote control car recently (1/32) and though the controller deserved to be mentionned here :
- it's 2.4GHz
- it's small
- the "steering" is NOT analog, just binary, switch/switch, the throttle is analog
- there is a little "accel" button which activates a "full power" mode
- there is a trimpot to tune the neutral ( would be usefull if applied to e-skate in case of downhill parts)
...ok, the colors are "girly" :lol:
...maybe I should try to bind it to a normal receiver

 

[torqueboards]

I think those the RC Transmitter Receiver is built into the RC PCB. I've always wondered about those smaller RC cars because the handheld controllers are always pretty small.

Are you able to find a standalone RC receiver in the car? Let us know if you can get it working. Would be awesome to be able to use the smaller RC car handheld controllers.

 

[addicted2climbing]

[youtube]oWu9TFJjHaM[/youtube]

It's still up for pre-order, I'm getting one to play around with. Not very experienced with Bluetooth but I'm a quick learner

I work for a company developing VR equipment and games and we have a Myo and it does not work all that well. There are better alternatives than the Myo out there, but none will work for our Skate application. Its hard to beat a bluetooth handheld controller. I really like the Uneec controller, but wish it had a proper HID light. Something along those lines would do the trick. A smaller version of what I am working on at work would be perfect, but I cant show that here... :wink:

Are you developing your own PCB for TX & RX for this? If so how far along are you as I may be interested.

Marc

 

[kevinlee]

Here's my answer to replacing Enertion's terrible remote.
It supports both forwards and backwards & breaking. The response is good.
I've modded it by removing the wheel and added an extra spring to the acceleration to make the finger press firmer.