trouble hacking the CM5 Atmega

[Paras]

Hi,

I wanted to use some of the unused pins of the Atmega controller of the CM5. However, I don't want to program in C. How can I use the Behaviour Control Programmer to take a value from an input pin of the Atmega or output a value to a pin ? Is it possible using the BCP ?

ChEERs
Paras

[Zypkin]

Eh eh eh... dont U think U ask too much to the little CM5? LOL
Using external inputs is simply not foreseen in the firmware... so, if U wanna do it, U have to rewrite a custom one.
They wrote in the user guide that to make robots U dont have to be a programmer... well... IMO that's a bullshit

[cdraptor]

Robotis seems to have put out the Bioloid for casual robot user. They do not seem to be behind extending and supporting the Bioloid that much. Responses back from e-mail and posts indicate they are not planning any extending or building off the Bioloid. There is no way to get access to even what is in the Expert kit as any type of added on purchase if you bought the Comprehensive kit. The Expert kit being targeted to the classroom, with more examples and details on doing the C development, the ZigBee included and a vid cam. I think without robosavvy, crustcrawler and tribotix

For the Bioloid your looking at a good amount of hacking to extend it beyond what it can do. I'm messing with different microprocessor board on a couple projects which I hope to take some of that experience over to hacking around with the Bioloid or other Robotic work.

[Paras]

well ... what if I use a different MCU to add on some features (eg: sensors, etc.) ... would it be really difficult to somehow interface that MCU with the CM5 ... if so how do you guys possibly add sensors to the Bioloid !!

ChEERs
Paras

[JonHylands]

The Bioloid is the easiest thing in the world to add sensors to. Since you have a real serial bus, the sensor is just another device on the bus, like a servo.

Here's a couple of examples of sensors I have built:

http://www.bioloid.info/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=6-Axis+Bus+IMU
http://www.bioloid.info/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=Foot+Pressure+Sensors

I have another more generic sensor board I've put together, although its kind of big since I didn't use surface mount:

http://www.huv.com/blog/2007/07/catching-up.html

- Jon

[Paras]

thats really cool work there !! You said that sensors added would just behave like a servo. Does that mean I can use the BCP and control the sensor like a servo ?? Also, if you did fool the CM5 into thinking it is a servo how did you do it without following the communication protocol for the data pin of the 3 pin connector (in the circuit diagrams you mentioned that you only use the 3 pin connector for getting the power supply for the sensors from the CM5)

ChEERs
Paras

[cdraptor]

John, you are a crazy electronics wizard, so for you that is easy, I was checking out your IMU - are you selling any 6-axis ones? Now going up to the initial starting question - can you use BCP with it? Which is going back to the starting post about not having to use C.

BTW you may know the answer to this since I see your name all over the gumstix docwiki (sorry to side track a bit). I'm trying to make a new image to flash my gumstix which adds in nmap, jamvm and some other tools, was wondering if there's anyone documented out what default packages gumstix puts in the factory flash. I have the netstix 400xm-cf computer which only has the ethernet port. I just need to makesure I setup all the packages that will support the ethernet/dhcp, if I mess up the networking when I flash I'm kinda screwed for connecting back to it. I am going to order one of the serial expansions and the cable as a backup.

[cdraptor]

Oh hey, I think I messed that up is see dhylands on the gumstix wiki, is that your brother?

[JonHylands]

Yes, you can use my sensors with the CM-5. The note about only getting power and ground was for a much earlier version of the IMU board, in prototype form.

I'm basically ready to start selling the 6-axis IMU board - I just need to build a few more. I have a couple built now that I can sell.

Yes, Dave Hylands is my brother, and he is the dhylands on the gumstix list.

- Jon

[Zypkin]

Yes, you can use my sensors with the CM-5

...let me get this straight....
U mean U can connect the sensors on the very same bus of the CM5... but U have anyway to rewrite the firmware... which is what Paras didnt want to do in the first place. He just want to access the sensor from the Behavior Control Program as U do for the Bioloid sensor module.
I dont think that is possible.


Zyp

[JonHylands]

No, I mean you can plug my 6-axis IMU into a stock CM-5, on the same bus the servos are all plugged into. Its just another device on the bus, with its own ID. You can send messages to the IMU the same way you do a servo (in the BCP), and you can retrieve all six pieces of sensor data as often as you want (they are updated 100x per second internally).

That is the beauty of the Bioloid bus.

You do not need to do anything to the CM-5 - you don't even need to open the cover.

Here's a picture of my IMU mounted in a completely bone-stock Bioloid:



- Jon

[Zypkin]

Ok, now I get it
Well, remarkable work... U should sell it to robotics instead producing it yourself

[cdraptor]

John

I think I would like to get one, I am not in a super rush since I just got the RBT-1 today, but if you can PM me how much your selling them for I will help sponsor your early work.

Now I was messing with the BCP, I am assuming you can do somethigs like

LOAD (Custom ID - ID (value) and Address - I guess you probably have some address or block of addresses for flags (0,1) to turn on or off

or we can IF (Custom ID - ID (value) and Address - some address or addresses on the device would return values to compare against


Chuck Durham
"cdraptor"

[JonHylands]

The control table for the IMU is documented here:

http://www.bioloid.info/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=6-Axis+Bus+IMU+Documentation

- Jon