RoboSavvy Forum

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Is there anyone still playing with Robonova?

2021-07-25T14:49:55+01:00

It seems not, then.
What I'm really after is some help with RoboBasic and serial communications on the Robonova, if anyone can help.

Statistics: Posted by Kelpy — Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:49 pm

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Is there anyone still playing with Robonova?

2021-07-21T12:11:34+01:00

As the title says, really.

Statistics: Posted by Kelpy — Wed Jul 21, 2021 12:11 pm

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Cannot read Controller Information on RobotBasic v2.8

2017-07-27T11:08:28+01:00

Hi all,

I cannot get roboBasic v2.8 communicates with my Robonova-II robots.

Here is the story:
Recently, I bought 2 robonova-ii robots (Metal Fighter robot) which are used ones with no programming cable.
So I built a custom cable using FT232RL USB to TTL Serial Adapter Module.
My cable connections are described in the attached picture.
When I open RoboBasic v2.8 and hit "Read Controller Information" button, I always got error -4 after the timeout.
Then I use a Serial Sniffer program to check communication lines between FT232 converter and the robot. I see RoboBasic sends 0xF0 but gets no response from the robot.
Then I follow connections on the board from the Host Communication Connector to AT Mega128 and see that there is a IC named U3 in between. So I solder a wire to RXD1 pin (pin 27) of ATMega128 to connect it to RX pin of FT232 converter in order to confirm what data ATMega128 receives and see it is always 0x00

I tried with both 2 robots and got the same result. So I suspect my cable has problem to interface with IC U3

Robot conditions when testing:
- Battery fully charged
- Can stand-up after switching on
- Controller board is MR-C3024FX v2.8

Why ATmega128 always receives 0x00 at RXD1 pin when FT232 Converter sends 0xF0 to IC U3?
Can I use FT232 Converter like the cable I made? Should I miss anything to make the cable works with IC U3?

Thanks

Statistics: Posted by HuyK — Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:08 am

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Catch and play?

2016-03-09T19:28:57+01:00

Im new to the programming side of the robot i have fixed all the wrong ports and stuff on the robot but when i download a program to the robot it doesn't play. Can someone give me tips on how to use it, it would be greatly appreciated

Statistics: Posted by nwemmer — Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:28 pm

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Need HELP: Missing CD for HITEC - ROBONOVA-I

2015-12-10T10:14:16+01:00

Glad it was useful!

I've actually just dusted off my Robonova and started playing with it again. Let me know if you need anything else, though I think I put almost everything I had on github.

Video processing - wow. That's something I dreamed of but never attempted.

Statistics: Posted by ozfiddler — Thu Dec 10, 2015 10:14 am

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Need HELP: Missing CD for HITEC - ROBONOVA-I

2015-12-04T19:32:26+01:00

amazing find on Github!

Statistics: Posted by limor — Fri Dec 04, 2015 7:32 pm

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Need HELP: Missing CD for HITEC - ROBONOVA-I

2015-12-02T03:47:13+01:00

You can get RoboBasic here
https://github.com/ozfiddler/sc-robonova-archive

Statistics: Posted by Bullit — Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:47 am

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Need HELP: Missing CD for HITEC - ROBONOVA-I

2015-11-25T11:48:50+01:00

Looks like a cool project!

I would use an Arduino mini + custom veroboard shield for servos and power + some sensors, communicating with Raspberry PI + camera.

Just watch out, time is short and these kind of projects take lots of time.

Good luck!

Statistics: Posted by vmatos — Wed Nov 25, 2015 11:48 am

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Need HELP: Missing CD for HITEC - ROBONOVA-I

2015-11-24T23:41:51+01:00

Hi, VMatos.
Thanks for your email.
I am taking an Specialty on Embedded Systems, at University. My strongest skills are in C and C++, but at medium-high level programming.
Embedded Systems was always a pending subject for me. I am learning.
Well, my Thesis Director gave me a Robonova I, which is not working (seems some students damaged the motherboard some time ago).
So, I have 2 goals (as per my Thesis Director):
1. Having the Robonova walking again.
2. Having the Robonova processing images and "taking decisions" accordingly.
As I need to use University economic resources (this is a good practice to have students working in order way), I need to provide reasonable arguments before buying hardware, for instance.
1. So, for the first goal, the logical first step is to prove that the original motherboard is working / damaged.
Once proved, I have to suggest alternative motherboards (in case of damage) to replace it.
One alternative is buying the natural replacement for 3024 Mother, which is the 3024FX released by the same Korean manufacturer (HITEC provided the name of the real manufacturer to me; I contacted them, and they told me that 3024 mother and 3000 mother have been discontinued because they caused damages to the servos. Instead, they have release a FIX, the 3024FX, which is used by the Robonova II - Metal Fighter).
I appreciate your suggestion of Arduino-like for 24 servos and Dagu Spider also. Regarding Arduino, I suppose you are talking about some Arduino shield, which I did not know before your mention. I have also checked the Dagu Spider controller and it seems also a very good option.
BUT, look at this: as my Thesis would be related to Embedded Systems (not only Software, but full systems), the mother physical measures are also important. I received the instructions to choose a mother which can in some way "fit" in the robot; which can be physically supported by the Ronobova - I. Of course, I can implement something like a "backpack", so forth. But I cannot go beyond the "physical possibilities" of the humanoid. [This will make you laugh out loud...: as no student had picked up a project with 2 Intel Xeon Phi micros, I have suggested originally to create a centaur (to join the Robonova project with the Xeon Phi one)... whose body would be the Xeon Phi... Of course, I did not know the exactly measures of a Xeon Phi, but I wanted to test the teraflops intercommunication between the Robot (with one Xeon) with another external one..... The Thesis Director said: "the centaur is out of scope of an humanoid which has to walk just as a human..." ]
2. The second goal will be find another mother for video processing. Of course, Atmel 128 would not be possible.
I was suggested to implement one scenario like the following:
- Having a Raspberry Pi as core mother, which will provide the functionality of processing video.
- Also, regarding servos (RPi is not useful to control several servos), there is an external RPi shield capable to control many servos without overloading the RPi and just being commanded by 2 pins of the RPi). Other alternative, should be having the core RPi controlling a dedicated mother for servos like the 3024FX, the Arduino shield you have mentioned, Dagu Spider controller, etc., receiving commands from the RPi to process a direct control the Robot movements. Of course, if they can interact in proper way.
Well, as you can see, I am just "a beginner in the beginnings" but I am very happy with this project and hope to learn a lot from it!!
Any kind of suggestions will be very welcome!!
Thanks and regards.
AC.

Statistics: Posted by alejandrocerrano — Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:41 pm

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Need HELP: Missing CD for HITEC - ROBONOVA-I

2015-11-24T10:45:50+01:00

Hope you find the CD you're looking for. Unfortunately I can't find it too.

What's you goal with Robonova?

I just took a quick look at the Kit. Why don't you get an Arduino-like board for 24+ servos?
For instance Dagu Spider controller?

Statistics: Posted by vmatos — Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:45 am

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Need HELP: Missing CD for HITEC - ROBONOVA-I

2015-11-23T19:28:13+01:00

Hi, All.
I have received a ROBONOVA-I at University to work with it. I need to test it but I was informed that the motherboard is probably damaged (honestly, the information is not very clear and quite contradictory). More over this, the previous students who have worked with this robot have missed the CD and manual. I have found several Internet places with the manual. And I wonder if anyone of you can, please, share with me all the CD content, uploading it to some sharing files place.
Any help you can provide on this will be most appreciated!!
Thanks a lot in advance!!
AC.

Statistics: Posted by alejandrocerrano — Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:28 pm

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: New Hip Joint for RN-1

2015-11-11T08:55:02+01:00

It looks as though you've added a hip rotation to each leg independently?
ทางเข้า gclub

Statistics: Posted by mananaja — Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:55 am

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Robonova and Windows 10

2015-10-19T09:19:43+01:00

So, I was feeling nostalgic and I got out my trusty old Robonova - I thought he was looking a little sad and lonely sitting there on the shelf. The good news is that I could get the Robo program working on Windows 10. I had to use the compatibility option and also run the little fix.bat program, but then it was all good.

I've also finally got the bluetooth module working, and with the LCD screen on his front, I'm now doing a little simple coding to set up some command/response scenarios so I can interact with Robo from my laptop.

I have to say, he's still a great looking robot.

Statistics: Posted by ozfiddler — Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:19 am

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: New Hip Joint for RN-1

2015-05-03T19:32:25+01:00

Great work RNX, but have you found it difficult to get your nova to stand on one leg with the added weight? When trying to get my Robozak to walk I can hear the servos struggle to support the upper body. Eventually I had to settle for a shuffle walk. I would like to see what you managed to do with your Robo and exchange code.

Statistics: Posted by serithseraki — Sun May 03, 2015 7:32 pm

ROBONOVA-I & Hitec • Re: Anyone have the Robozak?

2015-04-23T10:29:25+01:00

I think I have an answer - I do believe the servo rotation is not reversed on the left side as it is on the RN-1, with servo hub mounting offsetting values by 45 degrees in some cases.

Compared to the stock standard pose, the only differences are on the left (aside from additional servos), and only apply to servos not at middle position of throw where middle is same for either rotation direction.

Code:: Srv 0: RN A18: Right Leg, Ankle Left / Right =100 Robozak = 100 OK Srv 1: RN A19: Right Leg, Ankle Fwd / Back = 76 Robozak = 76 OK Srv 2: RN A20: Right Leg, Knee =145 Robozak = 145 OK Srv 3: RN A21: Right Leg, Hip Fwd / Back = 93 Robozak = 93 OK Srv 4: RN A22: Right Leg, Hip Left / Right =100 Robozak = 100 OK Srv 5: RN D0: Left Leg, Ankle Left / Right =100 Robozak = 100 OK Srv 6: RN D1: Left Leg, Ankle Fwd / Back = 76 Robozak = 30 *46 Difference Srv 7: RN D2: Left Leg, Knee =145 Robozak = 80 *65 Difference Srv 8: RN D3: Left Leg, Hip Fwd / Back = 93 Robozak = 100 *7 Difference Srv 9: RN D4: Left Leg, Hip Left / Right =100 Robozak = 100 OK Srv 10: RN B12: Right Arm, Shoulder Rotate =100 Robozak = 100 OK Srv 11: RN B13: Right Arm, Shoulder Swing = 30 Robozak = 30 OK Srv 12: RN B14: Right Arm, Elbow = 80 Robozak = 80 OK Srv 13: RN C6: Left Arm, Shoulder Rotate =100 Robozak = 100 OK Srv 14: RN C7: Left Arm, Shoulder Swing = 30 Robozak = 76 *46 Difference Srv 15: RN C8: Left Arm, Elbow = 80 Robozak = 145 *65 Difference

You can see that the different positions on the left are only where the angle is not "100" (90 of 0 to 180).

As these positions aren't mirrored, one would expect them to be either side of 90 (in MRC-3024, 100 = 90, using an offset of 10 for all servos), but that isn't the case...

46 makes sense, with 8 positions on the hub, each being 45 degrees from each other, the 1 being a rounding error. The 7 difference looks like the servo plugs are switched, as the other 93 on Robozak (3rd from right on your standard pose on Robozak) is on a servo the RN-1 doesn't use, and isn't mirrored left to right on Robozak, which makes me think something is plugged in differently (and the value probably shouldn't match based on what is there thus far - error in Robozak instructions?). The fun one is the 65 difference - I can't quite explain that one, but I still think it's attributable to rotation and hub mounting.

Considering how these were likely kitted, the servos probably showed up in one box (not a left / right box) from Hitec, all with the same rotation, and likely shipped that way.

Personally, I'd check all plugs and make sure everything is where it should be relative to the RN-1. I'd go through every servo and program each's rotation (if I recall, the MRC-3024 can be used to program them, I'd have to dig and / or experiment to give more info) as it is on the RN-1 (reversed on bot's left side, normal on right). I'd do the same for the additional servos. Then, I'd go through every position on the bot and check servo hub mounting position relative to the RN-1 instructions...

Let me know what you find, and please post some video and pics!!

Paul

Statistics: Posted by PaulL — Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:29 am