Assembling my MANOI...

[slashsplat]

I will post comments on my experience in assembling my Manoi here. I learned a LOT. Primarily, that I do *NOT* follow directions near as well as I thought!

ONE MAJOR KEY is to zero the servos **BEFORE** you assemble. This is the only way they rotate to the center position for you to attach all the horns and stuff. Be sure NOT to rotate the armature of the servos until the horn is IN place. Using the calibration labels is useless unless you do this.

AND, the calibration labels stick on, PLUS have a clear protective plastic sheet over the TOP as well as the adhesive white sheet on the bottom. Remove BOTH.

1. Install the USB serial port driver. Just put the CD in, connect the cable (the LOOONNGG servo cable) to the PC. When prompted, tell Windoze to Search the CD drives for the drivers. It goes through the process twice in a row, I don't know why, but it works. Mine was COM3:.

2. Start the H2H english version. Check SYNC set the COM port. Mine was 3. Click the POS and then click in the canvas to make a POS1. Double click the POS1, and right click CH1. When you select SERVO, the servo connected to the Controller on CH01 should move. The slider should make it spin. If it does not, power down the RCB and back up, and right click, select NONE, then right click and select SERVO.

This took me 20 minutes to get it to work. I had to change servo cables and servos on that channel, and eventually, for no reason, it started to work.

3. Then go through every servo hooking them to that CH1 and set them to 0. Some will spin a bit, some will just stutter a bit, but that will center them. These servos only move a limited amount, so you MUST put the horns on while they are centered, or you will lose range of motion.

I zero'd and all looks good.

Once the Bot is assembled, you want to go BACK and use the TRIM to save a trim value for all the servos to get the horn exactly centered.

The biggest issue I had is that H2H3 software locks up when I am trimming to get them centered. The program uses 99% of the CPU and has done this several times. I set the trim offsets for the first 7 servos, and saved them to a file, but opening the file does not recall those trim settings...

This software is not exactly commercial quality, not that I expected better. It also cannot remember the serial port from invoke to invoke.

All the servos are operational and I am trying to trim then, then install the gyro. That is the next challenge.

I suggest anyone consider getting the three additional degrees of freedom. Two for the arms and one for the waist. I would like to do that before I get too far, and I see they are documented (so to speak) in the docs.

Showed me that I do not follow directions as well as I thought I did. The first horn construction episodes were horrible, as I missed a few LITTLE details. After re-doing that *twice*, I got the hang of double-checking everything. The MOST aggravating thing is that the stupid diagrams do not consistently refer to the parts by servo number, but refer to them by L and R. I needed to mark them L and R as they were constructed. Overall, the physical construction was probably about 8 hours.

Overall, decent experience.

I got the Hozun Japanese JIS standard screwdrivers and they REALLY helped. Go to eBay and look for the Store of IKASINC
http://stores.ebay.com/Ikasinc The four drivers are $16.50. I used to #0 for everything except the 3- screws where I used the #1. A motor driver to EXTRACT screws is OK, but DO NOT USE ONE TO tighten!! The screws into the servos are VERY suceptible to stripping the plastic. The screws into the resin parts work real well. It is VERY easy to strip the heads of the 2x15 screws, so press hard straight down while tightening.

I think I will make a CARE PKG zip file of ALL the files I have collected as a one-stop collection for anyone stupid enough to try this!

It was REALLY fun and challenging - so far a GREAT experience. I am VERY excited to see it do more than twitch...

More to come...

[slashsplat]

BTW, where I messed up the MOST was the resin parts in the first steps. MAKE sure you know the difference between the parts in bag one and bag two. The parts for the initial pieces are the "L" shaped pieces with BIG holes, (parts bag #2) while the ones used later have the smaller holes that fit the servo armatures (bag #1). This is regarding STEP 01 of the instructions.

Make sure you get step 02 correct, it is the EASIEST to mess up!!!

ALSO, make really sure that you assemble them in the right orientation. I had to do this three times, twice wrong on a few pieces.

One BIG tip is whenever you see that they strart referring to assemblies as Left and Right (L, R) LABEL the assemblies at that time, as they will NOT use the servo numbers again.

I waited to put the black ovel labels on the servos as I did not know where to put them at first. Once done, I put them all on the BACK of the bot so I could see the numbers.

BEWARE that some of the references to the length of the servo cables is WRONG - the heading of the Instruction will conflict with the diagram. The diagram seemed to always be correct. (like Step 15)

If you do see a servo cable in a diagram, pay strict attention to why it is there. They MUST be routed exactly as shown, and it requires a magnifying glass sometimes. If you are real careful, you can get all the cables to lay against each other with the colors the same way, which makes it look good. I ran the cables carefully around the screwdriver shaft to straighten them.

Make SURE to put the cable number labels about 1" from the far end away from the servo. They are critical. Make sure the stick real good by lining them up. They will peel over time and you do NOT want to lose one.

The NUMBERS of the parts as they come in the bags DOES NOT MATTER, as they do not seem to EVER use them. I wasted a lot of time putting all the parts in individual little ocntaineres with the original labels - that was no help.

It DID help to do that with the screws, however. They are referred to by their SIZE in the instructions.

Study stpe 17 because you will assemble THEN REMOVE a plate. So do NOT tighten it! Same thing in 18. READ the whole step before beginning it.

Remember at Step 23, you have not attached the head, so you might not have CH01 to attach! Now is the time...

Page 14 has a good diagram of the pars with their katakana names that they will use through the book. The kana are the simpler characters, while the kanji are the complex, Chinese-like characters that are indecipherable to mere mortals. At least katakana and hiragama are simple enough to distinguish. Japanese is a totally cool language with at least three sets of characters and two pronunciations. They have a whole character set for words that came to the language from other languages!

[tempusmaster]

The biggest issue I had is that H2H3 software locks up when I am trimming to get them centered. The program uses 99% of the CPU and has done this several times. I set the trim offsets for the first 7 servos, and saved them to a file, but opening the file does not recall those trim settings...

This software is not exactly commercial quality, not that I expected better. It also cannot remember the serial port from invoke to invoke.

Sounds like you're having a lot of fun.

On the software issues, I'm curious about your PC configuration. I've been running H2H3 on a Windows 2000 desktop and a XP laptop since late August and haven't run across similar problems - at least not yet.

On the Japanese blogs I remember reading about one case where the poster was having those types of problems because he had very limited memory in the PC he was using.

Also, Kyosho just posted a revised version of the manual on the AT01 website earlier today. I haven't had a chance to scan through it yet.

[slashsplat]

The PC is major PHAT, so that is not an issue.

Seems like the problem was...
The stupid battery was running low. DUUUUHHHH! Who woulda thunk that?

I will go get the new docs. I am having a bit better luck and am now going to walk thru the KHR2hv Eng. docs for the setup, instead of trying to be a MACHO programmer and not RTFM. (read the manual)...

I have all of the posted RCB files with Eng names and am even using a RegExp to change the name= files in them so they display Eng. for the screen objects. I will post all rcbs once I sort them out as to what the heck they be do.

[srobot]

Seems like the problem was...
The stupid battery was running low. DUUUUHHHH! Who woulda thunk that?

Hay it not that bad! Whats worse is when your on robosavvy and you know that the battery in your pc has 30 min left and you think "oh I'll plug it in soon" and then 20 min latter you see that you have 10 min left and your in the middle of a inportent robosavvy post, but you still rilly don't wont to get up and plug it in, (by the way the outlet is only 3 feet away, just beyond reach) but just then the power goes out to your house and your on a wire-less connetion you lose internet and just then you computer goes out, and you lose all that work! Yes this is a real story about me! So don't feel bad about your battery running low, at least its not dead (or flat as you may call it over thare)! Oh, and then the same thing hapens the next day... How embarrassing!!!!

--srobot

[slashsplat]

srobot, I feel better. Actually since it was the battery on the MANOI, I had no way to know, other than he was acting more stupid than ever. Or was that me??

I am getting together an AC power supply for testing...

[srobot]

Hi,

NOTE: I COULD BE WRONG ON THE FOLLOWING, WHICH COULD CAUSE HARM TO SOME BODY OR SOME THING IF YOU DO IT! SO READ ON ONLY IF YOU TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY! AND DO NOT COME BACK TO ME IF SOME THING GOES WRONG!


Well with that being said, and you still reading this you took full responsibility, congratulations!!

I am getting together an AC power supply for testing...

You might alredy have plans how to make that, but you can most likely have the volts a little bit higher then manoi's batterys have writen on them, because when you charge batterys the volts are higher and as you use them thay get lower and lower, and then starts over again as soon as you charge the batterys. You can also use a standerd house hold AC to DC converter, that has the output DC at what you want, most conveters have the input AC (120 in the USA) and output DC writen on them so you don't have to test them. (altho you whould probly want to test it before you plug it in to a $1,000 USD robot)

Luck man,
--srobot

[slashsplat]

The MANOI battery says 10.8 and measures 11.3 at no load. I am thinking of using a PC ATX power supply - 12V at 1amp. They are EXTREMELY clean and stable, and would be operating at well below capacity, I would think. It measures exactly 12.0 at no load. Seems like that is a reasonable range. I have asked my hardware contact at Trossen to see what he thinks.

ZZZZZZ POOOOOFFFFFF! (maybe?)

[srobot]

Hi,

The MANOI battery says 10.8 and measures 11.3 at no load.

Do you mean volts (V)?
How many amps?

ZZZZZZ POOOOOFFFFFF! (maybe?)

I hope not!!!!!

thanks
--srobot



<<<****EDIT****>>>

I'd like to say sorry to Trossen Robotics for posting content that offended them. I removed it so there will hopefuly be no more problems. Trossen Robotics has been very nice to me, so I'd like to say, take some time out of your day to visit there very nice site.

[slashsplat]

The MANOI battery says 10.8 and measures 11.3 at no load.

Do you mean volts (V)?
How many amps?
--srobot

Batt is 10.8VDC rated for 300MAh and the AC supply is +12.0VDC at 1Amp rated for 123,000,000,000 mAh, or until the power goes down. And the UPS dies. And the propane generator runs out of fuel.

UPDATE: found an OLD power supply +12V@1A, -12V@.6A, +5V@4A, and opened it - adjusted the little pot and juiced it right down to 10.8. Will try when I configure a connector...

[srobot]

Yha I think 12VDC should be fine it only .7VDC off. But like I said don't come back to me when some thing goes wrong. (nothing should go wrong thow)

the AC supply is +12.0VDC at 1Amp rated for 123,000,000,000 mAh, or until the power goes down. And the UPS dies. And the propane generator runs out of fuel...

WOW! Lets hope that DOES NOT HAPPEN!!

--srobot

[rep001]

splashsplat have you started putting any moves together.I am working on (when i get chance) various walks,fast slow.shuffle and lifting legs and shifting weight etc.i have not fitted any options yet but will follow your path i guess with torso dof and extras on the arms.Next will then be to play with the gyros..

[srobot]

Sounds fun rep001! Now I rilly want one sooooo bad!!!!

--srobot

[tempusmaster]

splashsplat have you started putting any moves together.I am working on (when i get chance) various walks,fast slow.shuffle and lifting legs and shifting weight etc.i have not fitted any options yet but will follow your path i guess with torso dof and extras on the arms.Next will then be to play with the gyros..

There are a lot of motion files created by Shiroma, Dr. GIY, and Kyosho on this page:

http://www.kyosho.com/jpn/products/robot/motion/motion-at01-02.html

A couple words of warning - some of them are quite long and take up more than one M-slot in the RCB3 memory so be careful not to overwrite other motions in memory you want to keep active. Also, some of the movements can be pretty sudden - like when the AT01 whips its arms around to hoist itself up in one of the motion sequences. Watch your fingers.

Needless to say, if you create any neat new motions, let me know. I'm always looking for more good content for Robots Dreams.

[slashsplat]

Ha! I am just now starting to work the darned lousy software. I am following the manual for the KHR-2HV and having only moderate luck in the coupla hours I have beat on it. I have never done this before, so the steps in the manual are oblique. For instance, the "Home" position on page 48 has his legs folded back, but the picture on 49 shows him standing. I took your Start RCB that you posted and even though I think I have trimmed him, I am getting some weird stuff. The TRIM seems to get set IN the robot when you do it. If I start the software and connect, the trim settings are there. Since I cannot find them in the INI file, I assume they MAY be stored in the Bot. Now I am trying to get a HOME position stored. I am getting all the docs and posts and working through them...