RoboBrakes v0.4 - Now with Thrust Reverser Support!

[wrcsubers]

Introducing RoboBrakes!

RoboBrakes allows for better braking control by automating braking systems during Landing and offering more intuitive control during Flight. You can chose which parts you want to act as brakes, including Landing Gear, Aero Surfaces and Parachutes. This allows any Aero part to become an Airbrake. Brakes can be manually over-ridden using a 'Press and Hold' type of action or a 'Toggle' type of action. There are a number of settings you can adjust to fine tune RoboBrakes.

This Plugin is under continuous development so check back regularly for updates and changes.

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Updates in v0.4

* Added Support for Thrust Reversers on new Jet Engines!

* Engines are activated by right clicking and enabling RoboBrakes. Only two engines are supported at this time: 'J-33 Wheesley' and 'J-90 Goliath'

* Thrust Reversers automatically activate throttle when enabled and disable at the appropriate time.

* UI Enchancements

* Each Part Type has it's own counter, and displays individual status per part type.

* Added different color schemes to indicators to help determine which mode controls are in.

* Fixed some minor activation bugs.

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Basic Instructions

Startup and Settings

• Part are Enabled/Disabled by right clicking on them in the editor or during flight. RoboBrakes does obey symmetry for any parts.
  
  • **NOTE** If you change the braking torque in the editor it will obey symmetry, however, if you change braking torque during flight you must change it on both wheels or you will have disastrous results.
    

  [*]Once you are ready to fly hit the RoboBrakes icon in the KSP toolbar to open the control window. Once confiugred you do not need to keep the window open, close by pressing the icon in the toolbar once again. The icon will change to solid green when armed for automatiic landing mode, or will blink green when actively braking.

  [*]You can adjust the settings by clicking on the settings button at the bottom of the main window.

  [*]

  [*]Deactivation Speed determines what speed RoboBrakes will automatically deactivate after landing. This can be set between 'Full Stop' and 30m/s.

  [*]Activation Delay determines how long after touchdown RoboBrakes will start braking. This can be set between 'Immediate' and 5 seconds.

  [*]Brake Override allows you to use the regular KSP brake button with RoboBrakes. Off means it will not work, Hold means you must hold B down for brakes to activate and Toggle means the brakes are turned on by pressing B and then turned off on the next key press.

  [*]Throttle Zeroing allows RoboBrakes to set your throttle to 0% upon activation of the other brakes. This can be turned Off, On or to Delay. Delay waits for the activation Timer to complete to cut the throttle.

  [*]Delay Throttle 0 toggles whether you want Throttle Zeroing to activate immediately upon touchdown, or when the activation delay has passed.

  [*]Delay Thrust Reverser toggles whether you want the Thrust Reverser to engage immediately upon landing, or wait for the activation delay to pass.

  • When Thrust Reversers are enabled, Throttle Zeroing is turned off automatically. Thrust Reverser mode manages the throttle automatically.
    

  [*]Delay Parachute toggles whether you want Parachutes to deploy immediately upon touchdown, or when the activation delay has passed.

  [*]The settings grid works as follows:

  • Automatic - Select each class of parts you want to activate automatically upon landing.
    
  • Override - Select each class of parts you want to activate manually. This is triggered by pressing the B button and obeys the mode you have set (Hold/Toggle). This action works while landed and during flight.
    

Displays and Use

• The Arm/Disarm button toggles RoboBrakes' ability to activate automatically for you upon landing and obeys the settings above.
  
• The 'Armed' Display, while green tells you that RoboBrakes will activate automatically next time you land.
  
• The 'Active' Display shows green while RoboBrakes is actively braking whether manually or automatically.
  
• The 'Enabled Parts' display shows how many parts you have activated by using the right click menu on each part. Each type is Green when Braking, White when enabled but not braking, or grey when disabled or no parts are found of that type.
  
• 'Override' displays the following:
  
  • Grey when 'Brake Override' setting is set to 'Off'.
    
  • Orange when set to 'Hold' (Default KSP Style).
    
  • Green when set to 'Toggle'.
    

  [*]'Throttle 0' or 'Thrust Rev' displays the following:

  • Grey when off.
    
  • Orange when delay is on.
    
  • Green when on without delay.
    

  [*]Parachutes get cut and repacked automatically once the vessel reaches the set deactivation speed.

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Next Update

- Support to fire action groups upon landing

- Suggestions?

Future Plans

- Multiple modes (Rover, Rejected Take Off).

- Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS) or a similar implementation.

Download

You can download RoboBrakes from Kerbal Stuff here

or

You can download RoboBrakes from Curse here

Source

Source code can be found here

License

RoboBrakes is covered under the MIT License

Robo Brakes is made possible by using sarbian & ialdabaoth's ModuleManager plugin.

Special thanks to all the devleopers whos code I read to help me understand how to make plugins =)

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If you have any questions, comments or suggestions; I am wide open =) I appreciate any help with my code and ideas for improvement.

Thanks for Looking!

Edited November 24, 2015 by wrcsubers
v0.4 Release

[Beetlecat]

Cool idea! I rather like it. This would go great with something like the parachute deploy on ground contact such as with drag chutes.

[wrcsubers]

Cool idea! I rather like it. This would go great with something like the parachute deploy on ground contact such as with drag chutes.

That's actually a very good thought Beetlecat. I'll add it to my to-do list, shouldn't be too difficult to implement =)

Thanks!

[Gaalidas]

Now we just need some sort of ABS system integrated into this (pulsing the brakes, or slow application of the braking force) to help with those cases where the rover is going too fast and the brakes are too strong, and physics is being a ... donkey? Yeah, that's the word.

[wrcsubers]

This would go great with something like the parachute deploy on ground contact such as with drag chutes.

Here is the initial implementation...

- Chutes are enabled by right clicking on them in the editor or during flight.

- Chutes deploy after the Activation Timer passes (just like the regular brakes).

- Counter goes by regular parts (Flaps/Airbrakes/Etc) + Parachutes (In the photo there is 1 chute enabled).

- When the Deactivation Speed is reached the Chute(s) are cut automatically and instantly repacked ready for the next landing.

Edited July 28, 2015 by wrcsubers

[wrcsubers]

Now we just need some sort of ABS system integrated into this (pulsing the brakes, or slow application of the braking force) to help with those cases where the rover is going too fast and the brakes are too strong, and physics is being a ... donkey? Yeah, that's the word.

I have an idea for this already. I was originally going to slowly bring up braking pressure after activation, but never got around to getting in there. I might wait until the KSP devs are finished playing with the new wheels they keep talking about to do this and an ABS system. I'm not sure that the way a typical ABS system works could be implemented currently, although I do have another idea which has something to do with the overall stability of the vehicle. We'll see...

[meyerweb]

I’ll make the ObCKANrequest. Also, it would be extra-fabulous if you could implicitly simulate thrust reversers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_reversal) during braking. I mean, if you wanted to add some kind of overlays to the engine models to make it look like thrust-reversal ports were opening, that would be fantastic, but I think just allowing for thrust redirection without the visual froofraw would be dandy.

Edited December 12, 2015 by meyerweb
Cleaned up forum migration errors (Unicode and hyperlinking were both botched—sigh)

[wrcsubers]

I’ll make the ObCKANrequest. Also, it would be extra-fabulous if you could implicitly simulate thrust reversers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_reversal) during braking. I mean, if you wanted to add some kind of overlays to the engine models to make it look like thrust-reversal ports were opening, that would be fantastic, but I think just allowing for thrust redirection without the visual froofraw would be dandy.

ObCKANrequest?

I'll look into the thrust reversal action. I don't think it would actually apply to the current stock engines, as I believe thrust reversal is only done on High-Bypass jet engines, but I could be wrong =)

[meyerweb]

wrcsubers said:

ObCKANrequest?

Sorry, I meant the obligatory request to make the add-on available via CKAN. I searched for it but didn’t find it.

Edited December 12, 2015 by meyerweb
Cleaned up forum migration errors (Unicode and hyperlinking were both botched—sigh)

[Gaalidas]

I have an idea for this already. I was originally going to slowly bring up braking pressure after activation, but never got around to getting in there. I might wait until the KSP devs are finished playing with the new wheels they keep talking about to do this and an ABS system. I'm not sure that the way a typical ABS system works could be implemented currently, although I do have another idea which has something to do with the overall stability of the vehicle. We'll see...

Of course we can't do a real ABS system. All we really need is a really good fake-ABS really. The currently available ABS mod simply pulses the brakes until the rolling craft comes to a complete stop, then disables itself. Implementing the pulse method would actually be more compatible with mods that change the way the wheels work (such as Kerbal Foundries).

[Beetlecat]

That's actually a very good thought Beetlecat. I'll add it to my to-do list, shouldn't be too difficult to implement =)

Thanks!

Ha! Awesome!

I should certainly add that I was thinking about this feature in RealChutes (I meant to mention it), but I'm looking forward to seeing how it works here. Very cool!

[wrcsubers]

I've been working away on this, here is the change log so far for the next release =) Hopefully I can get it out in the next few days.

- Added configuration file for saving information

- All User Settings are now saved globally, including Window positions.

- All User Settings are Loaded/Saved at the Beginning/End of each flight.

- Moved Settings to it's own window. This gives more room to work with in the future and is cleaner looking.

- Removed Warning for un-deployed gear(I found it somewhat annoying, do you agree?).

- Added Parachute functionality.

- Parachutes deploy with Gear/Aero brakes upon landing.

- Once Deactivation Speed is reached Parachutes are Cut & Repacked Automatically.

- Updated GUI to reflect changes.

- Added ability in settings to select which class of part (Gear/Aero/Chute) you want to activate with which type of activation. (This will be easier to understand once you see it)

- Automatic (Deployed with Activation Timer on Landing).

- Override (Deployed while pressing the 'B' Key).

- You can have one or both of the selections activated.

- Organized Code so that Variables and functions have better readability.

- Moved GUI Display updates to 'Update' method so they are updated before the settings window is opened and more often.

Edited July 29, 2015 by wrcsubers

[DeepSlayLP]

Hey,

I don't know how to activate the Robobrakes but I can't seem to activate the gear brakes and the aerobrakes.

Is there a way?

DeepSlay

Edited July 31, 2015 by DeepSlayLP

[wrcsubers]

Hey,

I don't know how to activate the Robobrakes but I can't seem to activate the gear brakes and the aerobrakes.

Is there a way?

DeepSlay

I've added instructions to the Original Post, hopefully these help. If you have any more questions please let me know =)

[Azimech]

I see some great possibilities for this! You're able to bypass Squad's code ...

Ever thought about hydraulics?

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/78561-77-Industries-Hydraulics-0-11

[wrcsubers]

Bump for v0.2 Release

[amorymeltzer]

0.2 looks pretty sweet!

[minepagan]

Any chance of making this compatible with FAR? Specifically, spoilers. And how about options to fire AGs or Stage on landing?

[wrcsubers]

Any chance of making this compatible with FAR? Specifically, spoilers. And how about options to fire AGs or Stage on landing?

I think that FAR compatibility would be the next logical step for this mod. I'm going to do some actual playing of KSP and I'll test the functionality with FAR and other mods and report my findings, or if you do, please report your findings.

I can certainly integrate the ability to fire Action Groups or Stage on landing... What are you thinking you would do with this ability?

[minepagan]

I think that FAR compatibility would be the next logical step for this mod. I'm going to do some actual playing of KSP and I'll test the functionality with FAR and other mods and report my findings, or if you do, please report your findings.

I can certainly integrate the ability to fire Action Groups or Stage on landing... What are you thinking you would do with this ability?

Just a thought I had. I know some mod engines have thrust reversers, so.....

[wrcsubers]

Just a thought I had. I know some mod engines have thrust reversers, so.....

I do indeed plan to integrate thrust reversal into RoboBrakes, I haven't really looked into it at this point... It may end up just being a toggle in the settings or it might be an action group trigger, it just depends on how everyone is implementing the thrust reversal into their engines.

[wrcsubers]

FAR Compatibility will be coming soon! I've been working on it today, and it's coming along rather nicely. I'm going to try and add another few features as well before the next release. =)

[meyerweb]

Thanks for adding it to CKAN! Much appreciated.

[wrcsubers]

Bump for v0.3 Update and FAR Compatibility!!

[wrcsubers]

I'm aware that RoboBrakes is not working when NOT using FAR. I am working on the solution and will post an update ASAP. For now you can use the v0.2 =) Sorry!