Sparkfun website

[jesse brockmann]

I wrote a blog for Sparkfun with details about my rover.    If you have any questions feel free to ask here or on the blog. I'll reply. ;)

https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2719

Jesse

[David Wheeler]

Jesse,

I saw the blog post on Sparkfun, then joined the group here.  The AVC is something I've been interested in but haven't participated in before.  Maybe reading this group will motivate me to come up with an entry one of these days.

Perhaps I can help you and the other members here a bit, too.  I work as a software engineer for Hillcrest Labs.  The BNO080 IMU you mentioned in the article is our product.  So it will be interesting to hear how those developments go.

Dave Wheeler

[ryan.jac...@gmail.com]

Sweet!  I've been using the BNO055 for several years, and is what I currently have on my Rover.  What's the difference between the BNO055 and the BNO080?

[David Wheeler]

Both are based on the same hardware: a Bosch System In a Package (SIP) that includes 9 DOF sensors and an ARM M0 processor.  But the BNO055 has firmware developed by Bosch whereas the BNO080's firmware is entirely written by Hillcrest Labs.  With the different firmware comes different sensor fusion algorithms, different power performance, different interface protocols, support for additional sensors outside the SIP, etc.  In short, everything is different except the silicon.  :-)

The BNO080 supports a very rich set of sensor reports, to read both the raw sensors and the various fused data products.  One thing our chip excels at, that is probably of interest here, is providing accurate heading (and, more generally, 3D attitude).

There are two interface modes: one is super simple (RVC mode) and the other is fairly complex (SHTP).  In RVC mode, the BNO080 simply transmits a data report every 10ms (100Hz) that contains roll, pitch, yaw and accel values.  (Based on Accel and Gyro sensors, not Mag).  Just power it up and start reading the data with a UART.

SHTP was designed for low latency and high data rates (think VR) as well as low power wake-on-event functionality (think cell phones).  It runs over a UART, I2C or SPI interface and supports interrupts and sleep capabilities.  Hillcrest publishes an interface library with example code on github: https://github.com/hcrest to help people interface with our chips using SHTP.

Dave

[ryan.jac...@gmail.com]

Interesting, thanks for the info.

I like the "it just works" RVC mode (which I just read is Robot Vacuum Cleaner mode), but UARTs can sometimes be hard to come by.  In my current design, I luckily have a couple to spare.

I might pick up one to play with, but will probably stick to the BNO055 for this round.