RoboSavvy Forum

Wireless Control

2008-11-05T15:15:43+01:00

This morning the PSX controller boards arrived from the manufacturer.

We're going to attempt to build a couple tomorrow evening and then spend the next week ironing out any bugs in the software. We hope to have some pre-production boards ready for the meet at the end of this month. Fingers crossed!

Statistics: Posted by StuartL — Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:15 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-30T17:40:53+01:00

Gort wrote:
I have seen six Robonova-1s using zigbee at the same time with out a problem. They where at Robogames and there was also other robots beginning operated at the same time too. David Calkins used Zigbee at the first Hitec Cup with out a problem. He was able to control his robot from over 50 yards away with out any problems. He was so far away from his robot that he could not see it! It was also a RC car, plane, boat and helicopter trade show.

Maybe it's the Robotis ZigBee implementation that's the problem, then? Perhaps something with the antenna design?

I'm really excited about the PS2 stuff, as srobot has pointed it should resolve all of our interference issues and we should be able to get some interactive control of our bots without carrying the laptops around

Statistics: Posted by StuartL — Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:40 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-30T17:08:01+01:00

I have seen six Robonova-1s using zigbee at the same time with out a problem. They where at Robogames and there was also other robots beginning operated at the same time too. David Calkins used Zigbee at the first Hitec Cup with out a problem. He was able to control his robot from over 50 yards away with out any problems. He was so far away from his robot that he could not see it! It was also a RC car, plane, boat and helicopter trade show.

Statistics: Posted by Gort — Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:08 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-30T14:59:24+01:00

StuartL wrote:
4) The wireless controllers are specifically intended to be used in groups so have inherent anti-interference characteristics.

Don't they have group playing events for PS2s (much like a LAN party)? A lot of robots at RoboGames use the PS2 and I have not heard of this as a problem (correct me if I'm wrong).

StuartL wrote:
Point '4' is a big issue for us. The Zigbee units do see to work wonderfully when they're the only 2.4GHz unit around but as soon as you have other kit using the same channels the antenna/amplifier combination just doesn't seem to be reliable and you lose a lot of packets. The data rates are an issue for many-channel-control too.

At iHobby/Fall Chibotica 2008 I was having minor troubles with the Zig100. It should be noted this *was* a hobby show with thousands of channels used.

Statistics: Posted by srobot — Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:59 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-30T13:41:09+01:00

In which case it's PS1/PS2 controllers only for now. If, for any reason, we find this inappropriate we will probably investigate alternative controllers.

There were four reasons we targeted PS1/2 controllers:

1) They're cheaply available in most countries.

2) The interface is not 'complicated' like a USB HID interface.

3) They're available with a variety of digital and analogue control configurations and layouts to suit the user.

4) The wireless controllers are specifically intended to be used in groups so have inherent anti-interference characteristics.

Point '4' is a big issue for us. The Zigbee units do see to work wonderfully when they're the only 2.4GHz unit around but as soon as you have other kit using the same channels the antenna/amplifier combination just doesn't seem to be reliable and you lose a lot of packets. The data rates are an issue for many-channel-control too.

Statistics: Posted by StuartL — Thu Oct 30, 2008 1:41 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-29T11:07:12+01:00

i-Bot wrote:
My understanding is that PS3 controllers tend to have USB interface and are then HID over Bluetooth.

This stack is supported on linux devices such as Gumstix. I don't know of an embedded solution for PS3. Most embedded bluetooth solutions do not support HID.

I've looked around for this. contacted manufacturers etc. couldn't find a supplier of an embedded bluetooth module that will talk to HID devices and allow a microprocessor to talk with these devices.

Statistics: Posted by limor — Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:07 am

Wireless Control

2008-10-28T23:14:07+01:00

My understanding is that PS3 controllers tend to have USB interface and are then HID over Bluetooth.

This stack is supported on linux devices such as Gumstix. I don't know of an embedded solution for PS3. Most embedded bluetooth solutions do not support HID.

Statistics: Posted by i-Bot — Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:14 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-28T20:04:35+01:00

I believe PS3 controllers use Bluetooth.

Statistics: Posted by Tyberius — Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:04 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-28T16:13:51+01:00

srobot wrote:
Stuart - Will the board have support for PS3 controllers?

From what I hear, the PS2 is not protected against interference.

Thanks!

I believe the controller protocol is the same for all the Playstation controllers. As far as I know if the controller works on an original Playstation it'll work on our board. We don't have any PS3 controllers to test, though. Any donations will be gratefully received for testing

Statistics: Posted by StuartL — Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:13 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-27T16:02:50+01:00

The device is now available at http://RoboSavvy.com/store

with and without the zigbee module pair (zig-100):

http://robosavvy.com/store/product_info ... cts_id/503

http://robosavvy.com/store/product_info ... cts_id/504

Statistics: Posted by limor — Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:02 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-25T17:29:55+01:00

Stuart - Will the board have support for PS3 controllers?

From what I hear, the PS2 is not protected against interference.

Thanks!

Statistics: Posted by srobot — Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:29 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-24T22:19:30+01:00

i-Bot wrote:
Stuart, I think you mentioned somewhere earlier you might use double PS2 clicks for some functions. Did you implement this ?

Matt has been working hard on the hardware and rebuilding his (removed by spam filter), I've been distracted with my own house move and car troubles so I've left most of it to him.

I've no doubt that as soon as the PCBs turn up there will be a flurry of coding and testing including implementing any features people are after.

So, I guess, this is your chance to give input. We cannot and will not commit to implementing anything until we've actually done so, in case it's impractical, but we can certainly try.

If you do have a feature/suggestion please let me know. PM on here isn't a bad choice.

Statistics: Posted by StuartL — Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:19 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-24T16:39:49+01:00

Stuart, I think you mentioned somewhere earlier you might use double PS2 clicks for some functions. Did you implement this ?

I could steal the idea for my Robonova and Robobuilder controllers if it is good. At the moment I use one key as a shift. What timing parameters did you use for double click ?

Statistics: Posted by i-Bot — Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:39 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-24T16:05:47+01:00

StuartL wrote:
FYI:

Our Playstation interface for the Bioloid bus is through home-prototyping and is currently in the first small-quantity production-style-prototyping phase.

We're hoping to have demo units out to the resellers in the next month or two.

I think I will hold out on the Boomerang and wait for your boards!

Statistics: Posted by srobot — Fri Oct 24, 2008 4:05 pm

Wireless Control

2008-10-24T14:59:45+01:00

FYI:

Our Playstation interface for the Bioloid bus is through home-prototyping and is currently in the first small-quantity production-style-prototyping phase.

We're hoping to have demo units out to the resellers in the next month or two.

Statistics: Posted by StuartL — Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:59 pm