Automated

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Automated

Рет қаралды 70,871

4 жыл бұрын

In this video, Derek takes a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, inertial measurement unit, CCD camera, and a beefed-up pan & tilt mechanism to create an automated planet tracker. Everything is orchestrated via a custom arcade-style controller centered around a Raspberry Pi running C++/OpenCV code to run the UI and control positioning: bit.ly/2vGQ6xb
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Пікірлер: 102

@ristomatti 4 жыл бұрын

Awesome project and end result! Oh, and super dad of the year award granted.

@skesinis 4 жыл бұрын

Fantastic idea and very impressive project! I recently made myself an Arduino driven focuser for my 5" Celestron Maksutov-cassegrain telescope (NexStar 127 SLT). I used a small stepper motor with an embedded gearbox which would perform a 360 degrees turn in 4096 steps. This translates to better that 1/10 of a degree accuracy in focusing without touching the telescope at the same time! It allowed me to use even a 5x powermate in front of the DSLR camera for planetary imaging. Previously this was impossible because with a magnification like this, even the slightest touch on the focuser would move the planet out of sight, and it wouldn't even return back in sight after the telescope would stop wobbling.

@sukhoranjanshome4527 3 жыл бұрын

make a video about it man

@P3tr05h 3 жыл бұрын

I second the commenter above! I would love to make this kind of project, with a spare stepper motor in storage :)

@gocar7255 2 жыл бұрын

I just bought a celestron astromaster 130 eq, i was thinking about making an arduino motor but didnt decide wich stepper, nema motor to use. What did u use or would recomend?

@skesinis 2 жыл бұрын

@@gocar7255 I can’t see my reply so, I’ll try again and I hope it doesn’t disappear again. I used an 28BYJ-48 stepper motor with a ULN2003 driver for Arduino. The reasons for this were the following: First of all, it works at 5V DC and it draws so little power to operate that you can even power it from the Arduino 5V power pins without the need for a dedicated power source. It’s easy to program even without a library, by simply sending 1 to each of the 4 phase pins of the driver at a time and 0 to the rest 3 of them. It also doesn’t vibrate almost at all on each step in contrast with a NEMA stepper. It has an embedded 64x gearbox divider, which makes its 64 total steps to 4096 for a full rotation, giving it a great detail in motion. That way you can connect it to do a direct drive on the shaft of the focuser. I have already posted my code as open source, along with photos but I’ll try to do that on a separate response, in case that was the reason for my previous response to disappear.

@gocar7255 2 жыл бұрын

@@skesinis hey i just saw the amswer, luckily i went your way with the stepper, i did the same, didnt use the library cause only has 3 options for speed. So i went your way and used steps, but energizing two at a time for more torque. I'm trying direct coupling vs pulley. Thanks for the idea

@VGPbr Ай бұрын

Interesting project. For the calibration, you could place that little board inside a 3 axis gimbal affixed apart, so you cam tilt it without removing everything.

@scdallav 4 жыл бұрын

A USB port on the front so that the kids can save images to a USB stick.

@AmRadPodcast 4 жыл бұрын

Steven DallaVicenza great idea!!

@Unique_Leak 4 жыл бұрын

Then you have that one kid who inserts a virus 😂

@bugz000 3 жыл бұрын

@@Unique_Leak it's linux, so the majority of kids would be clueless, aside from this you can simply initiate a script when a usb drive is plugged in (or SD/other) to mount the media as write only, nothing can execute and nothing can be read from it, not even the existing data on the drive can be seen which also protects the kids information. that way the drive can be mounted and data written without any fear of data breach i am also aware of those malduinos that pretend to be input devices but you can also simply reject any device that isn't storage media i think it would be amazing to have these on a roof somewhere visible, replacing the joystick with something more robust and leave the control panel somewhere public, perhaps with a 20p coin slot for use, beats any naff "claw machine" you see outside shops these days... it'd probably require observing the system at all times, being present in person to prevent the one moron who wants to ruin things for everyone... but it might just inspire some kids to join the hobby :D i've seen one guy who sat in a carpark with a huge telescope pointed at jupiter just so people can come and take a look, in the daytime, and was repeatedly blowing peoples minds how it was possible :D i think part of why kids aren't so involved is because most astro-hobby is done hidden away at night with crazy expensive equipment... there's not much for kids to get involved with

@kalebclark5826 4 жыл бұрын

Nice build, that turret is awesome!

@jbar6618 3 жыл бұрын

Pretty cool . Any chance of adding target acquisition and tracking for satellite photography?

@DarinRoy 4 жыл бұрын

I have been wanting to do a project like this and now I have a reference point. Though I may need to build my own turret.

@StephenFarthing 4 жыл бұрын

I’m very interested in the design and implementation of the turret as I’m making a similar device to track ham radio satellites. Instead of pointing a telescope I’ll be pointing an antenna. Well done on a very interesting project

@AmRadPodcast 4 жыл бұрын

Stephen Farthing Funny, I had a similar idea ;) I’ll be adding some more info about ham radio stuff on my personal channel - feel free to drop by!

@galaxophone 4 жыл бұрын

Omg all of that and the weather rains on your parade! We want to see it in action! Seeing this make some kids' day would be a big bonus

@tinkmarshino 4 жыл бұрын

sweet.. excellent idea! We need to inspire or kids and expose them to the exciting ideas of life Well done.. you get an A+

@GaryMcKinnonUFO 2 жыл бұрын

Wow! Talk about going the extra mile for your kids :) Really cool project.

@AstroDenny 5 ай бұрын

I haven't really written anything in C in almost 25 years! I'll have to dust off my books and put one of these pi's to good use!

@turpialito 4 жыл бұрын

Okay, one more project on my list now. Just brilliant. Cheers!

@andrewlavey6992 4 жыл бұрын

Way to go, Derek. Brilliant project.

@elbertgante7533 3 жыл бұрын

Wow this is one of the coolest thing I've ever watched

@mathman274 4 жыл бұрын

that is pretty cool, question; where do you get a 'turret' like that?

@XjohnnycolettaX 4 жыл бұрын

Nice work! Can you talk more about the turret. Where did you get it. What it’s made from. Etc. thanks

@21akoirala 2 жыл бұрын

it sparked my interest....

@zombieregime 3 жыл бұрын

Also, "how i built a auto tracker. Step one: buy an expensive pan tilt turret" .... Just, wow ....

@AmRadPodcast 3 жыл бұрын

It was $100

@xtreker15 3 жыл бұрын

@@AmRadPodcast Source?

@james1826 2 жыл бұрын

@@AmRadPodcast Bullshit

@ericwalls7717 3 жыл бұрын

Taking it a bit further, a graphical representation of the earth, sun, zodiac relationship, would be a fun learning moment to how the "behind the scenes" calculations are generated!

@teofilv3982 3 жыл бұрын

Dude! So awesome! Mind blowing what you can do at home!

@yobb89 6 ай бұрын

i had to double check the video, was i looking at a telescope video i swear i didn't click on an diy arcade cab video ahah

@acapulcoastro5967 4 жыл бұрын

Sweet build Thumbs up! Really loved watching this Another approach: Build an open source AstroEQ goto controller Acquire an old EQ5 GEM Attach the AstroEQ controller to the EQ5 GEM 3D print brackets to mount belt drive to EQ5 (search Thingiverse for the stls) Load and start up open source Kstars on a Raspberry Pi Select and goto celestial object Sit back Relax Enjoy ☺️

@AmRadPodcast 4 жыл бұрын

I haven't heard of half of this stuff, but I'm definitely going to check it out. Thanks for filling me in on what's out there.

@mfaison 4 жыл бұрын

Take a look at the pyephem library for getting the celestial coordinates... the data from JPL Horizons (SSP?) will depend on time/location/date/etc.

@jdsgotninelives 4 жыл бұрын

As an amateur astronomer, and part of a club here in Queensland, Australia named SEQAS (South East Queensland Astronomical Society), I am utterly inspired by your project. As a no doubt popular request here, I would also love to know more about the telescope mount you are using. Did you build this yourself? If so, do you have any construction tips and/or resources that you could share, pertaining to its construction? I also use a Celestron CPC 800 SCT with the manufacturer-supplied mount and this is also the set-up I use at our clubs numerous school nights. Your mount seems so agile, ergonomic, robust, and child-safe (you know what I mean!). If you did purchase it from a manufacturer, any information on its supplier, or indeed, it's availability, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you once again for a truly exciting project.

@kpwlek 2 жыл бұрын

awesome project. Im building something like this myself at the moment. I do not have a massive telescope as yours is, mine cost me like 200£ but I hope it will work

@SwampTekGaming 3 жыл бұрын

Very cool project!

@alexm7056 3 жыл бұрын

Fun idea to play around, that's about it! MEMS IMU output data does not have that high resolution to be any applicable for serious astronomy, anything beyond spotting the moon at low magnification will not work well. Magnetometer does not give you very accurate Norths as origin point of your absolute angle measurements, there always will be calibration-related issues which will set it off by few degrees whenever you turn on your system at new location. for telescope GoTo system you need 0.5 arc.sec resoulition. 9-DOF IMU will only give you precision to around of 3 degrees (as absolute global Quaternion). If you have your origin point right (say aligned by a star)- relative rotation measurements by Gyro will give you higher precision, but still far from what is needed for GoTo systems.

@onebeartoe 4 жыл бұрын

Nice work , man!

@AmRadPodcast 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@GaryMcKinnonUFO 2 жыл бұрын

Oh no the bloody weather!

@miketony2069 3 жыл бұрын

big props to the perl book on the bookshelf - oh nice vid too ;)

@yousofebneddin7430 4 жыл бұрын

bno055 IMU saves the calibration values and you can read it when the calibration is done. Then rewrite the next time.

@AmRadPodcast 4 жыл бұрын

Eh? Thanks, I missed that. Definitely will add to the code!!!

@jimsinnovations2737 2 жыл бұрын

wow my man, impressive!!

@DoomWalker42 4 жыл бұрын

I really want to make something like this but on a smaller scale. I have the Sky Watcher Heritage 130p. I got a cheap telescope camera from ebay for like £13. Not sure if it will work or not. Can I hook up a raspberry pi to a 5 inch touch screen display from Amazon and make a type of cyberdeck to attack to the base of my telescope? It has a tabletop wooden mount with enough room for a low profile contraption possibly. Then I could hook up the rasberry pi machine to a portable battery bank and simply charge the battery bank when I'm not using the telescope. Would this be possible?

@DK-df2hi 6 ай бұрын

Is a parts list available for those who want to work on this for year and are mere C students?

@walterhynson2898 3 жыл бұрын

I am doing a goto mount using an old "Meade ETX80" only difference is that I want to use Starillum .

@DeezNutzRHugeous 4 жыл бұрын

I would love to reproduce this.....do you have a product list?

@DiyintheGhetto 3 жыл бұрын

Man that is so awesome. I wish I had a one I would love to look at the sky at night time. But I can only use my phone with a big ohh lens on it. But still this is pretty cool.

@bobmirror7164 4 ай бұрын

Not sue how you got the openCV2 (library?) to work. It is a Raspberry pi type of library software.

@unavailibleshark 2 жыл бұрын

Good vid, I love playing with things like this but not as clever as you. I think an improvment would first be an equatorial mount would be able to follow planets etc better. Also we use IMU's on the drones and they self calibrate must be some software in there somewhere for you.

@rascalwind 3 жыл бұрын

could you use limit switches on each point to "home" the machine and get the turrent back to a known location?

@larsjacobs3050 2 жыл бұрын

how does the arduino know the alt and az position? With potentiometer?

@plefungaprogramming8630 3 жыл бұрын

Have you thought about adding Stellarium (or other similar programs) compatibility? This would just be for personal use, and would mean that you don’t have to update the text files.

@ericwalls7717 3 жыл бұрын

Wow! That is so terrific! I'm wondering, just to compartmentalize the build, can the console be tied into Google earth? I love when it zooms in from outer space on your location! Kids can grab the joystick and zoom around the planet! Maybe buttons for pan, tilt, skew? I'm not at the turret build "caliber" but, if nudged the right way, I think I can tackle the console aspect of the build. Thanks for sharing!

@SpaceFactsWax 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for uploading. I had the chance to see a rocket launch in 2018. Incredible experience. I uploaded a pretty cool video of the trip to my channel.

@christm45 2 жыл бұрын

Hello mate, Thank you for sharing this. I just stoped by and i'am amazed.. I whould like to make this project very soon. I have a dobson 254mm telescope and i want to make my goto pieace of software /hardware. I don't have a motorisez touret, but i would use 1 motorized linear actuator for elevation and 1 step by step motor for azimut with some 3d printed gear By the way... don't see any trace of the arduino code or the programs your using for the raspberry pi. A more detailed explanation for beginers or a how to do guide with accessories that you used will be awsome. Everybody is not a IT programmer even thought we might have some it knowlage. Whats is the magneto compass that you used and how to controll the motors with this programmed buttons. All seems so difficult to me, how do we put all this together please. I've beed on the page in the description of you video but there is no much details about how to....how do we implement the text with the celestial bodys positioning into the stuff...Please help us....cheers for the project. Out standing

@0Logan05 7 ай бұрын

Fun Project, Something I am Very into emulating for my Littles! DIY tracking alone is a bit of a project in itself..But the added Interface is Incredibly cool..🤙🏻 Stronger steppers, Say, Nema 23’s and a Larger gear set up for finer Targeting… ? But that’s Mechanical.. The Programing and “Communication” is the Bulk of the Work.. The Numbers are correct although the Anchored Reasoning of The environment is akin to a fudged, complex Sudoku. Still, Their still Numbers work, I just don’t buy the Attributations..… (I find The Sky to be Moving yet the Ground Fixed, Regardless of the “Sodoku”. Works fine, even using analog computing.)..But what do I know?..I’m just a Duke University, TIP recipient.. Also, NASA,JPL and the Associated mythos is Not actually as it appears… Nothing says Satanism, Pseudo intellectual, CGI and Fraud Like “NASA”. Regardless, Great Project🤙🏻

@wardnb 3 жыл бұрын

For calibration, couldn't you store the values on your sdcard and load then from there after power up?

@sammyboy405 4 жыл бұрын

What PTZ was used? Ive been trying to find a heavy duty one like that, that dont break the bank and i can control with a raspberry pi or ardruino.

@jamesray9009 4 жыл бұрын

this is very cool .. I found this looking for ideas for my project.. 6" 3d printed and salvage pieces.. looking for a good cam for mine

@jamesray9009 4 жыл бұрын

I do have a question would you have any idea where to start, If I wanted to make a head tracking unit for the telescope??..

@zombieregime 3 жыл бұрын

The joystick isnt proportional, just buttons. So 4 buttons for the 'joystick', another 3 for the planet and shutdown buttons, and 2 for the switches. 9 inputs. Why use a USB HID board instead of taking advantage of the GPIO on the RPi itself?

@MrDomenic123 3 жыл бұрын

What a great project

@gfn420 3 жыл бұрын

This is great!

@ilove3288 3 жыл бұрын

can you allow live remote tracking/streaming of your telescope?

@abelrasheed116 4 жыл бұрын

Can we use a wifi controller and control the telescope directly using a laptop software instead of raspberry pi ?

@MicheleVece 4 жыл бұрын

9:10 you can use a servo motor for this.

@franciscojosenogueiradeoli2966 4 жыл бұрын

Genial!

@nanawang9755 3 жыл бұрын

May I know which sensor are you using in the video? I mean that tiny XYZ sensor.

@akhanyaqokweni1903 3 жыл бұрын

Hi, awesome project here. I'm interested in doing this project for my final year project( Mechatronics Student). but before I do I want to make sure I can access all these electronic components as I am in South Africa. if possible could you share a list of the stuff you used. Thank you

@element14presents 3 жыл бұрын

Parts lists and other project resources are all available on element14: www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-94660/l/episode-436-automated-raspberry-pi-planet-tracking-goto-telescope

@yuefei9887 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome

@DavidJapanese 4 жыл бұрын

I want your t-shirt!

@ImRichRu 4 жыл бұрын

On Track is a much easier open source solution then trying to roll your own tracking system software, and it can connect with common astrolab software and large automated databases.

@AmRadPodcast 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing. Do you have a link? I couldn't find with a google search. The reason that I've rolled my own will become more clear in the next video :)

@ImRichRu 4 жыл бұрын

@@AmRadPodcast sry, its "On Step", been a while since i built mine. hjd1964 on github has the setup, but there is a decent amount of info on their forum.

@AshT8524 3 жыл бұрын

He said he didn't buy one because they were expensive. Proceeds to make one for several weeks. Classic dad move 🤣😭🤣🤣

@SterremanWillie 4 жыл бұрын

Awesome project! Pity the event was cancelled due to weather ... well, I guess that's the way things astronomy always go ... the moment you take out a telescope, particularly a new one, it is bound to be cloudy! By the way, you "cheated" a bit at the end for just letting the Moon drift through the field! I would have liked to see how it tracks the Moon. Anyway, this project reminds me of a satellite tracking system I made back in the year 2000 - see wpk.saao.ac.za/CoSaTrak/cosatrak.html This was in the DOS days and I programmed it in Turbo Pascal! Like you, I also fed in pre-calculated satellite positions, although I could calculate celestial positions. Very clever to use an IMU to know where the mount is pointing (pity about the initialization complications) - how fine can that resolve? And what are the angles of movement per (micro)step on the mount? Great project all in all! Wish I could program modern devices like you!

@christopherdeaver5372 4 жыл бұрын

OMG...I might just give you a telescope. I can't even watch this stuff. Can you get this do a 1 minute image with round stars?

@portblock 3 жыл бұрын

turret where can I buy the mount?

@atheermahir8614 Жыл бұрын

links are not working

@christopherdeaver5372 4 жыл бұрын

If you can make an 8' sct scope has its own mirrors ground by hand i will send you 100,000 dollars. You are brilliant and should start your own company.

@Croaker369 4 жыл бұрын

Even I can find the Moon! 🥴

@0meat 4 жыл бұрын

I mean, that's one way to do planet tracking, seems easier just to attach your vive tracker to the ground.

@NETTY436 2 жыл бұрын

silicon based lifeform

@deepbloo580 3 жыл бұрын

Four words: Onstep by Howard Dutton That could have saved you half of the video.

@albj5119 4 жыл бұрын

hi Sir, can i charge 9v battery with laptop charger ?

@Davedarko 4 жыл бұрын

Batteries are not rechargeable, sorry.

@albj5119 4 жыл бұрын

@@Davedarko I agree, But how the companies they made battery charger.

@guibg7657 3 жыл бұрын

So many 'if' use a switch/case instead

@Sarimae23 3 жыл бұрын

"sure there are devices which exactly do that...but they are expensive..." "This camera, which fits into the telescope": Dude...really ? Your "cheap" build costs more then mid-range goto-mounts...