Arduino Nano -- controlling things using a RC controllers - Servos

10 May 2020

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This blog post will show you how you can use a FLYSKY RC controller with an Arduino. As part of this demo project I am using the RC controller to control a couple of servos, this concept can be used to control animatronic projects which need DC motors and servos or any other kind of lighting setup. Basically, this project is just a demo and could have achieved by connecting the servo's directly to the receiver, but my plan as part of a couple of future projects is to drive DC motors/steppers and servos to build battle bots..

Circuit

The RC controller receiver FLYSKY AFHDS 6 channel is connected to the Arduino Nano PWM pins, the receiver pins are meant to connect servos

Any middle pin on the receiver is connected to 5V pin on the Arduino Nano
and the outermost pin is connected to the GND pin
CH1 is connected to PWM pin#6 on the Nano, which corresponds to roll on the plane
CH2 is connected to PWM pin#10 on the Nano, which corresponds to pitch on the plane

And the servos are connect to

Servo for the base of the 3D printed arm is connected to PWM pin#3
And the Arm is connected to PWM pin#5

Arduino Code

Here is the Arduino Code used to print the RC controller inputs to Serial monitor of the Arduino IDE, and control the two servos

//Created for Project14 using Arduino Nano , Flysky RC(AFHDS) controller and Servos.


#include <Servo.h>


int ch1=6; //roll on the RC controller 
int ch3=10;//pitch on the RC controller 
const int servoBasePin = 3;   //Servo connected to the top base of the 3D printed part  
const int servoTeaArmPin = 5; //Servo connected to the Tea bag holder arm of the 3D printed part  
Servo servoBase;  
Servo servoTeaArm;  
int servoValRoll, servoValPitch;
   
void setup() {
   Serial.begin(9600);
   pinMode(ch1, INPUT);
   pinMode(ch3, INPUT);
   servoBase.attach(servoBasePin);  
   servoTeaArm.attach(servoTeaArmPin);

}


void loop() {
  int ch3Pitch = pulseIn(ch3,HIGH,25000);
  int ch1Roll = pulseIn(ch1,HIGH,25000);
  Serial.print("ch3_pitch : ");
  Serial.println(ch3Pitch);
  Serial.print("ch1_roll: ");
  Serial.println(ch1Roll);


  //Mapping the postions to the servos  
  servoValPitch = map(ch3Pitch, 1000, 2000, 0, 180);//values from pitch from 900 to 2000
  servoBase.write(servoValPitch);    
  servoValRoll = map(ch1Roll, 1000, 2000, 0, 180);//values for roll from 1000 to 2000
  servoTeaArm.write(servoValRoll); 


  delay(50);// increase/decrease the delay to match the movement on the gimbal of the RC controller.
}

3D printed parts

For the 3D printed parts i used the STL files from the Automated Tea Dunker , to print all the 3D printed parts I used Hatchbox 1.75mm PLA and a Flashforge creator pro.