thehellhound

I'm trying to build an interface for a ROVsub and everyone just uses I-pads with digital displays, which lead me to KSP for ideas on physical hardware. I had a thought, it really doesn't need to be a real nav-ball, just walk like one and talk like one right? turn this upside down and you have a three axis high speed nav-ball. If you used motors with encoders, or stepper motors you could position the ball with very high accuracy and calibrate to a home position. A small spring mounted ball on the top would hold the "nav-ball" against the drive wheels without needing to fear the ball jumping. Being as the drive wheels have one drive axis and one free wheel axis, your ball wouldn't suffer from skidding on the drive.