Bluetooth and MR-C3024

[dshinsel]

Hi
I just received my RoboNova this weekend, and got it put together.

I also got a BlueSmurf module, and I have it working in the RoboNova. It works great!

I can transmit and receive.

Here's a couple of notes:
1. You do NOT need a MAX232. The out puts of the controller are 5v, and the BlueSmirf is also TTL (5v).

2. Make sure you power the BlueSmirf off of 5v, not the Servo power. The pins at the top of the controller (including the ETX, EAX and all the A/D pins) have 5v.

3. Connect as follows:
' Bluetooth (BlueSmirf) Setup:
' BS_TX <--> ETX
' BS_RX <--> ERX

4. If you get the a "Smirf Extended" version (with RTS/CTS control), short the RTS/CTS together. I just put a jumper between the pins.

5. Bluetooth can be weird on some computers. My laptop reports COM18 Input Port, and COM19 Output Port. The IN/OUT threw me at first. It really means who established the communication, the PC or remote module. In the case of BlueSmirf, it seems to always use the IN Port. If you only get one COM port, don't worry about it.

6. Here's some code I wrote to test this out. Use Hyperterm to test. I set everything at 9600 baud for testing.

DIM TxOut AS BYTE ' RS-232 output on ETX
DIM RxIn AS BYTE 'RS-232 input on ERX

--> this part should look familiar:
'================================================
MAIN:
'GOSUB robot_voltage
'GOSUB robot_tilt


--> Add this:
' ===============================================================
' Bluetooth I/O with PC

TxOut = "T"
ETX 9600, TxOut
TxOut = "e"
ETX 9600, TxOut
TxOut = "s"
ETX 9600, TxOut
TxOut = "t"
ETX 9600, TxOut
TxOut = " "
ETX 9600, TxOut

FOR RxCount = 0 TO 4

TxOut = 48 + RxCount 'ASCII 0=48, A=65, a=97
ETX 9600, TxOut

NEXT


TxOut = "["
ETX 9600, TxOut

FOR RxCount = 0 TO 15
ERX 9600, RxIn, NoRetry
ETX 9600, RxIn
NoRetry:

NEXT

TxOut = "]"
ETX 9600, TxOut

[skeeler]

Bauermech and dshinsel,

Thanks for your replies. They should help me get started.

[Chrisbie]

I am wandering, if there are other BRANDS of BLUETOOTH device compatible to ROBONOVA other than BLUESMIRF? I read ion this forum bilionton? CAn I use any type of ESB bluetooth device? PLEASE ADVICE... thanks....

[RubikCube]

Any TTL compatible bluetooth device will work with ROBONOVA. You need to hardwire CTS and RTS line if your bluetooth device has them. BlueSmirf and parallax embedded blue will work.

[Bullit]

I'm using BlueGiga, it works great. Only 3.3V though so unless you want to change the regulator on the MR-C3024 or add a regulator and MAX232 to the BlueGiga go for the SparkFun. I chose BlueGiga because it is BT2 w/100m range and it has Wifi avoidance with frequency hopping which makes it more immune to Wifi.

[DanAlbert]

Hi guys,
I've taken on yet another impossible project with no time to do it.
We are having a humanoid soccer contest at RoboGames in two weeks. I'm in charge of making 8 RoboNova's work remotely with playstation controllers....Say what!

No sweat.
I built the RoboNova (7 long hours). Hacked a playstation controller. Built a pic based playstation 2 controller synchronous to async converter, interfaced it to a Zigbee board(MaxStream)(Retail $20.00). Then designed a few pc boards to handle all this. Thanks expresspcb.

Whew!

Well all the parts work separately and now I'm putting the pieces together.
I'm glad to hear about the 5 volt to 3.3 reg. change out. I screwed up and forgot to shift the 5volt TTL levels to 3.3 on my ZigBee board. It only runs at 3.3. At first I was going to only have the ZigBee 3.3 TX drive the robot. Now I can have data in both directions.

Thanks
Dan

[bauermech]

We are having a humanoid soccer contest at RoboGames in two weeks. I'm in charge of making 8 RoboNova's work remotely with playstation controllers.

That's awesome! I'm the fella doin' the soccer moves

I've taken on yet another impossible project with no time to do it.

Amen! ...so little time!
Good to know you're making head-way though. I'm just finishing wiring up the "test RN-1". Will start coding routines soon.

[DanAlbert]

Very cool,

My pic board is reading the commands from the PS2 controller and I am mapping them to some enumerated byte code. If you have a particular scheme we should use for the specific moves, let me know.

Also, have you run the gyro's at 3.3 volts?
It may be that I might have to level shift the 5volts on the ETX line after all if I want feedback.

8>(

[bauermech]

Each rn-1 will have two GWS PG-03 gyros - operating voltage between 4.8~6v.

[Pev]

Dear All,

Just a thank you to everyone that has posted information and code about Bluetooth. Finally got a BlueSmirf shipped over to England and with the info here now have it all installed and operational. Many Thanks

So now I have RC (4ch), IR Remote and BlueTooth. Time to decide which one I prefer and remove at least one (think that will be the IR somehow)

Cheers

Pev

[H3dude]

Each rn-1 will have two GWS PG-03 gyros - operating voltage between 4.8~6v.

Man I'd love to see the code for this. I haven't figured out how to make the PG-03 work on my RN1.

[Pev]

Each rn-1 will have two GWS PG-03 gyros - operating voltage between 4.8~6v.

Man I'd love to see the code for this. I haven't figured out how to make the PG-03 work on my RN1.

H3dude - this may help with the Gyro stuff..... well I hope so......

http://robosavvy.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=172&start=15&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Pev

[dshinsel]

I think many people have the GWS "sort of" working, but not sure I see anyone that has posted a clean recipe of "follow these steps to a well-balancing robot".

Any experts out there got this working really well?

P.S. unfortunately, lots of "bad data" mixed in with the good.
For example, while the GWS servo is an "Analog" servo, it is NOT possible to modify the gain with an external POT. The "Analog" is Pulse-width modulation, NOT analog voltage.

[bauermech]

This will be my first crack at using the gyros. I'll let you know how it goes... maybe I should say, I'll scream to let you know when I need help

Actually, it shouldn't be too bad. From what I understand, their main purpose will be to act as a tilt sensor. Just something to get them up once they hit the floor.
...Of course I'll mess around w/ 'em a bit more I'm sure.

[Bullit]

Use the accelerometer as a tilt sensor. It can tell which side is up once fallen. The gyro is to stabilize. Its a rate gyro. I have my GWS gyro working. Its definately more stable with the gyro on. I have it switch on on off for different moves. It does get a bit of the shakes when you have the gain high. I can definately get mine to run on the carpet (stock 0 move repeated with small modifications). I'm still working on improving the gait. The stock gait is a little awkward I think. Mine runs better on the carpet then on a smooth surface with the gyro. Every so often it still falls flat on its face and then get convultions due to the gyro. Overall the gyro is definately an improvent. I use it to control 4 servos, ankle and knee both 200 gain. I think I'll add the accelerometer to have mine able to adjust for tilt and walk up or down a small incline also. That would be neat. I was thinkng about adding another gyro to correct for side to side swager when it walks but perhaps the accelerometer would be better for swager, some is necessary.