In need of assistance please

41 views? and not one person has responded?

I am, by NO MEANS, any type of authority, but the servos that you mention above are analog. If you switch to digital servos, I believe your problem will be solved. Digital servos will continue to hold position even when their pulses go missing. That’s what they are intended to do.

Like I said, I'm no authority, so maybe someone can back me up on this.

Hello Tony.

I am not sure, but isn't the z-axis on the ps2 controller an integrated switch that closes when the joy stick control is pressed in?  What do you want to use it for?

RE the fritzing pic: why is there an extra wire going up to the left of the joy stick?

Okay, so we are all on the same page:  After the itty bitty "weather" cam is mounted pointing to the center of the field of view,  imagine a sheet of graph paper placed in front of it with the Origin (0,0)  in the middle of the page and in line with the center axis of the "weather" cam.  Both servos would be at 90 degrees to allow a panning movement to the left and right and also to allow a tilt movement up and down.

To make your sketch a little easier to follow, understand, and maintain; I want to suggest the following changes.

Instead of

Servo myservo1;  // create servo object to control a servo

Servo myservo2;  // create servo object to control a servo

Servo myservo3;  // create servo object to control a servo

Servo myservo4;  // create servo object to control a servo

you could use

Servo cam1pan;   // create object to control cam1 panning  (x-axis)

Servo cam1tilt;     // create object to control cam1 tilt   (y-axis)

Servo cam2pan;   // create object to control cam2 panning  (x-axis)

Servo cam2tilt;      // create object to control cam2 tilt   (y-axis)

-Billabott, aka Viewer44 

If I'm reading this correctly, the problem you are having is that the servos jump back to zero (or 90 or the start position or the default position, whatever you wish to call it.) when you release the joystick. This is a fairly simple problem in the code and rather easy to fix. With any problem like this, let's make it as simple as possible and work from there (Fewer parts can after all be a bit less of a headache). We can start out with one axis and one servo.

Currently in your program, whenever you read from the joystick, you are moving the servo. To avoid the problem you are having, you need a way to remember where the servo should be, check if you do need to move (i.e. not at the start position on the joystick) and handle the change from there. To do this, you will need a variable to hold the current position, and another to hold the new reading from the joystick. You can then check the conditions of these, such as if they match, using an if statement.

One way to make the solution simpler while you start out is to interpret zero as "do not move" rather than a position and to instead use a button (such as depressing the joystick) to mean "return to start position". This may require additional buttons as you start introducing the other axis, but that is a concern for later. To some extent, you need to understand how the joysticks work. Inside the stick is a potentiometer, setup in a way that means the start position (zero) is actually a value such as 5k ohms (This will vary depending on the part, refer to the datasheet or measure it with your multimeter). When this is read by your arduino, it will be around 512 (Extreme left being zero, extreme right being 1024, you will need to check those). One way your program could work is to look at the value, if it is not "zero" and is different to the current value, move to it. If it is "zero", or the same as the current value, do nothing. This would look something like the code below. This is by no means the best solution, and may not work exactly as it should, it may however give you an idea of what you are aiming for. This example will produce a lot of jitter when you run it and the reset button requires debouncing for it to work correctly.

#include <Servo.h>

const int cam1panPin = 3; //Cam 1, Pan servo pin

const int joyH = 3;      // L/R Parallax Thumbstick Pin

Servo cam1pan;           // create servo object to control a servo

int c1Pan_OldVal = 512;  //Old value for comparison

int c1Pan_Pos = 512;     //Current position

int resetButtonPin = 5; 

void setup()
{
  // Servo 
  cam1pan.attach(cam1panPin);  // attaches the servo
  
  // initialize the pushbutton pin as an input:
  pinMode(resetButtonPin, INPUT);   

  // Inizialize Serial
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
  // Display Joystick values using the serial monitor
  outputJoystick();

  int c1Pan_temp = analogRead(joyH);
  
  if(c1Pan_temp == 512) //If in start position. May need to be a range of values
  {
    //Do nothing
  }
  else if(c1Pan_temp != c1Pan_OldVal)
  {
    //If different to old value, move
    c1Pan_Pos = map(c1Pan_temp, 0, 1023, 0, 179);
    cam1pan.write(c1Pan_Pos);
    
    //Save current reading as old
    c1Pan_OldVal = c1Pan_temp;
  }
  
  //Read reset button
  //Requires debouncing
  int buttonState = 0;
  
  //If button is pressed, go back to middle
  buttonState = digitalRead(resetButtonPin);
  if(buttonState = HIGH)
  {
    c1Pan_Pos = map(512, 0, 1023, 0, 179);
    cam1pan.write(c1Pan_Pos);
    
    //Save current reading as old
    c1Pan_OldVal = 512;
  }
  else
  {
    //Do nothing
  }

  delay(15);                                       // waits for the servo to get there
}

/**
 * 
 * Display joystick values
 * 
 */

void outputJoystick()
{
  Serial.print(analogRead(joyH));
  Serial.print ("---");
}

The short (and probably much less confusing) version of this is that you need to look into using if statements, and use them to make sure the position only changes when you want it to. With any luck this should help you solve your problem!

Tony Randazzo wrote:

 

41 views? and not one person has responded?

Tony

Your title didn't really give many clues as to the nature or complexity of your problem.

There are a very large number of members, some of whom are checking if they are having the same problem.

Not everyone is confident enough to offer advice on what is a resonably complex issue, so yes 43 views without a reply isn't unreasonable.

On the flip side, I note two very good suggestions have been made, without reply.

Johns reply looks very useful for a number of people, and easy to follow.

I need to keep that one somewhere to implement in the future, so thanks John you've saved me some work.

Mark

Thanks Mark, I appreciate your response...sorry took so long, been away from the computer

Tony

Hi Bill sorry it took so long to respond back, have been away from the computer.  I appreciate your input and have taken your advise on naming the parts  

Tony

P.S. the aka 44 too funny

Hi Mark, thanks for your input..I did actually take into account what you said...I guess from what I have heard about element14.com forums, response are quick...but really how quick is quick, you know .  I do apologize to all for my statement.  I also would again like to thank everyone that is assisting me on this...It is very much appreciated, I have been away from the PC for a few.

Respectfully,

Tony