YDLIDAR and gopigo3

I’ve been experimenting with getting a GoPiGo3 robot to be set up with Ros. Based on what I’ve seen I am attaching a YDLIDAR to it:

The lidar works fine when attached to my computer but gives errors when running off the Pi: “Error initializing YDLIDAR scanner. Because the motor falied to start”

Have you done this successfully? Is this a power problem? Or something else? Thanks!

1 Like

How are you powering it?

What else are you doing?

I solved it I think. The lidar has two usb connectors, one “data” and one “power”. By connecting the data to the raspi and the power to a separate power supply plugged into the wall, it works correctly. So I will need to add a second battery or a bigger single battery to the gopigo3. Unfortunate. Have you had other experiences?

2 Likes

I had exactly the same issue. There are a number of blog posts and Hands on ROS book that suggest the YDLIDAR should run off of the USB drive. I also got my YDLIDAR via Amazon. Maybe it’s a slightly different version with higher power requirements?
I did try plugging a second cable into another USB port on the Raspberry Pi - that didn’t work either.
I did get mine to work with a small “phone charger” that I’d gotten as a giveaway. We’ll see how long that battery lasts.
/K

1 Like