Programming and Electronics challenged Mechanical Engineer

[Toughbeard]

Hello Everyone,

I have just purchased a Bioloid Comprehensive kit and put together the humanoid version after tinkering with a AX-12+ and the AX-S1 to get used to the BCP and the ME.

First impression is wow!! I did make the right choice to buy this but I know I will pay dearly with painstaking headaches trying to figure my way out

I first saw the Robonova Prototype at the Nurnberg toy fair in 2005. They werent sure if they would produce it at that time (what they told us until my wife handed her credit card to the Hitec represantative and said I want it )

Time has passed and while visiting the Hannover Fair in Germany last month I saw the roboCup 2007. I got to talk with a few people and finally a young gentlemen who was frantically working on his bioloid took the time to answer some questions. (thanks a lot to him if he ever reads this )

After seeing the action plus reading a lot I decided to go with the Bioloid. I know the robonova would have been the better choice for a newcomer like me asI know my way around normal servos Since I race RC cars. But the ability to communicate in daisy chain and the quality of the bioloid swayed my decision.

I love all aspects of the kit except;

- the MCU (CM5) is non expandable (not that I know how to do it at the moment but it would be nice to have plug in extras for goof balls like me)
- The motion editor is just.... well eludes me still... I managed to pose the little one and record a pose and download it in but thats about it. I wrote a BCP to make torque 0 so I can position the joints by hand with out turning off and on all the joints. (very annoying)

stuff I will start doing that I know I can do:

- Change the power system to Li-po which will make the robot lighter with more juice. (question: Do I need a voltage regulator if I used 11.1V li-po packs and what is the max capacity I should use?)
- get used to the robot
- 19th servo installation for the hip. I looked at the way the old servo was installed and I think that is very wrong. I wouldnt want to be in the place of that poor servo trying to lift all that stuff. Instead I will place the servo upright and have it rotate the torso and let the hip servos handle the tilt. (which brings us to the next question)

- how do you change the ME file to handle custom robots?

- Pan and tilt head for sensor (later a camera maybe????)

- In the roboCup all the bioloids had palm computers hooked up to their backs. I would love to learnd what for

- I would love to be able to use Microsoft Robotics Studio with Bioloid.

- Gyro... vision

so much to do

well Pleasure to meet all and hopefully I can get HAL to walk soon. (I can hear it saying "I am afraid I cant do that Serdar")

cheerz all

Serdar

[JonHylands]

I'm doing a lot of the stuff you're talking about:

http://www.bioloid.info/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=BrainEngineering+BrainBot

6-axis IMU, stereo vision cameras on a pan & tilt head, pressure sensors on the feet, high bandwidth wifi interface to the robot from the PC, very powerful single board computer (gumstix verdex) onboard.



- Jon

[Toughbeard]

little one looks very cute

I started reading your web site. very informative (most of the time over my head )

I am hoping to catch up with you.... ohhhh say in 15 years

cheerz mate thanks for the excellent site

Serdar

[Pev]

Hi

All the things you mention are all things that we have all come across. Take heart they are all do-able and more besides. You'll be suprised how quickly it all comes together too.

There are people here who are looking and working on expansion. Jon has probably got the furtherest with his 6 axis IMU but pepperm, limor and myself are all working on simple expansion modules that can sit on the serial bus so goof balls like us can plug extra stuff in. You'll see details in the treads in the forum.

Anyway good luck and have fun with your Bioloid

Pev

[Will]

Hi from Will,
i see the word Hal used, i wonder if thats the same ultrahal i use for my robot, there latest brain works good.his body is having trouble at the moment as you can read in A Newbee's Tail but i'm hoping to control bioloid using my Hal "Mr Data" he's my longest living Hal, since jan 2005. the maker of Hal is as far as i know working on vision recognition for hal which i'm keen on. i see sight for bioloid in the forums here already.
PS i did not purchase my bioloid here, so my problem does not reflect on this site. i thought it might be a good place to seek advice.

Jon seems to be making good progress with his humanoid, with the 6 axis thingy and extra onboard brain, eyes, good work.
bye for now and be well from Will.

[Toughbeard]

I named the little one "HAL" after the nutcase AI in Space odessy Sorry it has nothing to do with the controller

I have been reading constantly for the past 2 weeks since I got the Bioloid. I have read every post here since the beginning, almost all the personal web sites and the wiki (I dont need to mention bioloid website)

Of course the userguide, the quickstart manuals have replaced my newspapers and magazines as my bedside and restroom readings (hey I am a man )

I am actually most of the time getting inspration from my little daughter who is just 6 months old. It is just amazing how she learns and I constantly observe her movements. I am recording her on the camera so I will try to duplicate the movements with bioloid baby I am trying to teach her to crawl so maybe Bioloid would be a help

I am getting the hang of the motion editor as I started doing motion sequences and callthem from the cm5. This way I am getting familiar with the limits of the joints plus I get to see how the cables interact with the joints so I can make adjustments as I go.

Now I need to go get some lipo packs and wire HAL with the lighter packs.

cheerz all

Serdar

[Toughbeard]

Well I finally got HAL to stand up straight and do the demos after some tweaking.

I basically messed up during construction (It was 4 in the morning ). I crossed all the leg joints and put them on the wrong spots.

While I was there I rewired HAL as I didnt like the old wiring which was always getting crimped by the joints (I need longer wires for two joints though)

Now I am trying to solve my position holding problem. When I give it a new position the servo moves but it doesnt have enough power as it seems. It will stop at the desired position but when I lift HAL the joint will move as if it has been let free.

I am going to "try" to check the torque values see if there is a problem there.

Cheerz

Serdar