Controlling 4 stepper motors independently with 2 joysticks (for V&H movements) on UNO

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
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Honestly I'm new to Arduino.
I am currently working on a cable suspended parallel robot, and I have the kinematic equation of rope speed for each winch based on robot's speed, direction of movement & current position.
I want to control 4 stepper motors independently based on the mathematical equation, I want to control the robot via remote control ( using 2 joysticks; 1 for horizontal movement, 1 for vertical movement).

Can Arduino UNO control 4 stepper motors independently (using mathematical equation for speed) via joysticks also connected to it?

I was thinking to use CNC Shield over the Arduino UNO board to connect 4 stepper motors, but will I be able to connect Remote control to it then?

Really need help, please guide me with the hardware I should buy (in INDIA) and how to connect 4 stepper motors + RC receiver (or 2 joy stick for vertical and horizontal).

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Before going any farther, will your formulas ALWAYS return an integer, since stepper motors can only move in steps, not fractions of steps?

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When you say joysticks can I assume that they are analog joysticks with 2 potentiometers for each joystick?

The CNC shield V3 for the Uno can independently control 4 stepper motors. Use pins 2 & 5 for #1, 3 & 6 for #2, 4 & 7 for #3 and 12 & 13 for #4 (step & direction). See below for setting for the 4th motor (A axis).

clone A axis
clone A axis850×600 122 KB

To connect joysticks, the Uno analog inputs are connected to the Abort, Hold, Resume and Coolant Enable pins on the CNC shield. Those pins could be used for the analog joysticks.

cnc shield pot
cnc shield pot722×421 91.7 KB

And here is the pin mapping from the Uno to the CNC shield.
cnc shield Uno pins

Also, be aware that the stepper enable pin is pulled high on the CNC shield so the motors are disabled by default. Enable them in software by making pin 8 an OUTPUT and setting it LOW or by jumpering the enable header (to ground) on the shield.

cnc shield ENABLE HEADER
cnc shield ENABLE HEADER800×500 90.9 KB

For an RC receiver, pins 9, 10, 11 and A4, A5 are free for RC inputs if you don't use them for limit switches. A4 and A5 are available on the header on the upper right (SDA and SCL).

How will you "home" the motors at the start?

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I understand, my formulas can give integer value by neglecting digits after decimal

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That is good. Do your formulas give the number of steps to move the motors or do they give the final destination step number?

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no it gives angular velocity of motors

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That doesn't represent anything that stepper motors do, does it?

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by angular velocity, we can calculate steps/second for motor

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thankyou so much, i will ask you all my doubts when i start working :smiley:

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You are welcome and I will be glad to help.

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If you can accelerate and decelerate and still count the steps so you know where you are.

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YES, I only want people to give me a whole idea on how to start building my project

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@sameerjeet_singh_chhabra
You have flagged 2 of the replies you got to the moderators for no reason I can see. The people replying are trying to help you, if a reply isn't quite what you were hoping for then engage in discussion to clarify your requirements, don't just report things to the moderators because the answer isn't quite what you wanted.

Please read How to get the best out of this forum

Thank you

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Okay, thanks, those were off the topic, so I flagged them, i thought the person was just increasing his engagements on topics

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The person is a well respected and regular contributor to this forum who gives a lot of good advice. You would be well advised to take note of what he says, he's very helpful.

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