Manual

Speed Control
If the Kangaroo is set up for speed control, it will command the device to move at a specific
speed. Speed control works like the cruise control in a car: if the device encounters resistance such as
going up a hill, it will apply more power to keep the speed to exactly the commanded speed. If it
encounters less resistance than it is expecting, it will apply well power, or even apply braking, to keep
the speed to what is commanded.
Examples of devices that are speed controlled include
Cruise control in a car
Wood routers
Spindles in CNC machines
Mobile robots
By using speed control rather than just controlling the output power directly, like you would
with a standard Sabertooth, you can often control to much lower speeds with good results. This is
because at low speeds without speed control it does not take much force to stop the device. However,
with speed control the Kangaroo can command up to full motor power even at very low speeds. This
makes it nearly impossible for a disturbance to stop the device.
If DIP switch 3 is set to OFF, Kangaroo x2 is in speed control mode. You can use analog voltages, R/C
servo type signals or serial commands to set the speed. You can change freely from position to speed
control at any time. It does not require a re-tune or a reboot.
Speed Limit
During tuning, the Kangaroo determines the maximum speed the system
can go. The onboard speed limit potentiometer can be used to set a
slower range. By default, the kangaroo is set to 75% of the maximum
speed the system can go. 75% is used as the default in order to give the
system some headroom. For example, with a mobile robot, if the
maximum speed was determined by tuning on flat ground, it would not
be able to hold 100% speed up a hill. This is because the system wouldn’t
have any extra power available to climb. The user can adjust the
potentiometer to make the input range from 1% to 150% of the detected
speed. This is primarily useful because, even though a motor may be able to go 10,000 rpm, the designer
might want to limit it to 1000 rpm or some other value to make the system work properly. Rotating the
potentiometer towards the Limit Switch inputs corresponds to slower speed.
Mixed Mode
Setting DIP switch 4 to OFF selects Mixed mode. This is for differential drive mobile robots, or any other
system that utilizes tank style steering. You can command Drive and Turn speeds. For example, you
could tell the robot to drive forward at 5 mph or turn at 20 rpm.
Speed Limit Potentiometer