I’m back with another update on my project: mapping transform data to physical motion.
My first update involved sending a live signal between Unity and my Arduino using three channels of colour data. This time, I’m mapping positional and rotational data from Unity to the Arduino.
As a fun aside, I recreated my physical two-servo setup in Unity as closely as I could. The digital rig uses IK (inverse kinematics) to calculate pitch and yaw, which Unity sends to the Arduino to drive the two physical servos. This makes the rig easy to aim, and it’s really fun!
Some other technical details…
I ran into a wrinkle where the communication library I was using, Ardity, was processing a queue of older messages rather than prioritizing the newest state. I forked it to change that behaviour and plan to submit a pull request in the near future.
The Arduino now parses six values: px, py, pz, pitch, roll, and yaw. This will support future testing with all six channels on a physical setup.
The servos have their own regulated 5 V power supply, while the Arduino and LCD remain USB-powered. They all share a common ground so the control signals have the same electrical reference.
This is still a small validation rig, not a full Stewart motion platform yet, but it confirms that I can successfully communicate two channels of data from Unity to controlled hardware movement.
My next experiment will involve communicating simulation data, such as fluid dynamics representing water and ocean motion.
Stay tuned for more!