control

[trey3670]

I am considering buying one but wanna know about the control. the only way you control this badboy is by d-loading to the bot then by pressing buttons on the module? no infrared remote?

[Pev]

Hi,

There is no IR remote in the comprehensive kit although I believe there may be one in the expert. A few of us tried to get one to work to no avail, although I think Inaki may have built a custom one. The control issue bugged me too but I managed to sort it by attaching a BlueSmirf bluetooth module to the CM-5. Robosavvy sell them and the code for the control program is on my website (all free) with a free pocket PC and Windows interface. Oh and the hack document is in the wiki here or on my site (link in my signature)

The other approach (which wasn't available when I did my bluetooth hack) is to use the Zig 100 interface. This is the Robotis supplied wireless link. Again Robosavvy have them in the shop.

Hope that helps

Pev

[trey3670]

it does,thank you. so if I understand by looking at the zig boards,I can program and control the bot from pc wirelessly,right?

[Pev]

I have not used the ZIG100 interface myself but I believe that you can both control and program the robot over the link. May be worth getting Limor or someone who uses it to confirm this though.

Pev

[siempre.aprendiendo]

Hi,

There is no IR remote in the comprehensive kit although I believe there may be one in the expert.

Pev

I think there isn't any IR remote in the expert kit. Some time ago I downloaded this pdf.

[Dewey]

The Zig100 Bioloid boards are sold as a pair (2). They basic idea is if you have two CM5s you solder one in each CM5. You can now make two biolod robots talk to each other (via their BCP programs).

If you buy the robotis Zig2Serial interface and add to it one of the Zig100 boards (but you must wrire your own PC program in C or whatever) talk between the CM5 and PC wirelessly.

The Robotis User Guide (which you can download via this site) gives some gen on all this.

I and others have posted on this and the 'more advanced' use of a CM5 C program to do it..

Dewey

[Pev]

Hi Dewey,

Does the Zig interface appear as a COM port at the PC end? I am intrigued as I haven't used them but if it does I think the PC based control app I developed for the Bluetooth interface should work. (its on my website as a free download btw)

Pev

[Dewey]

Hi Pev

Yes you just connect the Zig2Serial interface to a PC serial port or a USB to Serial interface if you have a Laptop without a port (you have to address the issue of powering the Zig2Serial interface and I have posted about this).

To use it, to interact with your robot/CM5 you have to write your own PC software there is no robotis software, I use Delphi but anything that can i/o the serial port will do. The simple way is then to write PC software that makes the CM5 think its talking to another CM5 via the Zig100 in a BCP program.

More advanced is to do it in C and download to the CM5. This is my preferred method as I find BCP programs too limiting.

Would have thought your software could easily be made to work with Zig100 interface.

Dewey

[trey3670]

wow doesnt sound like something a novice could acomplish,dang and I was really looking hard at this bot

[Pev]

Dewey,

thanks. That is really useful. I think BioBlue PC (the thingy I wrote for laptops and tanlet PC's under XP) should work straight out of the box as it just uses a COM port. I have only tried it under bluetooth but the code is no different for bluetooth or any other type of serial port.

Trey,

If you do decide to go with a bioloid and the ZIG interface the software I wrote is on my website in the downloads section. The address is in my signature. Would be happy to help you get it going if there are any issues. It also comes with the BCP program that is needed for the Bioloid and the motion file too.

Pev

[trey3670]

might take you up on that

[srobot]

Dewey,

thanks. That is really useful. I think BioBlue PC (the thingy I wrote for laptops and tanlet PC's under XP) should work straight out of the box as it just uses a COM port. I have only tried it under bluetooth but the code is no different for bluetooth or any other type of serial port.

If USB to COM does not work (and you don't want to rewrite the software) you could use a virtual COM port.

Pev,
How do you program the Bioloid in C or VB? Do you use a USB board like the ones at HUV Robotics? I would think MS VB would talk too slowly for full control?

--Scotty

[Pev]

Hi Scotty,

I am not programming the CM-5 in Vb or C I am using BCP at that end. What I have done at the CM-5 end is add the bluetooth interface (Zig wasn't available when I got mine - yep it had was one of the first kits) and then use the BCP program to recieve data from the bluetooth and action using it.

At the other end of the bluetooth link is a Windows or Windows PocketPC app that I have developed in VB. I am using Visual Stuio 2005 and the .Net framework 2.0 so it is certainly adequate for the serial comms and basic processing required. Its not pumping all the data to the CM-5 just control codes that trigger motions. Kind of like a glorified Bluetooth remote at the moment, although I am planning to hook it up with additional feedback and offl oad the processing from the CM-5 to the laptop or IPAQ.

Hope that explains a bit more, feel free to grab the software off my site if you want to take a look at it its in the download section and should work on any bluetooth enabled PC running 2000/XP - I haven't tested it at all on Vista as I have an aversion to Windows OS's less than 3 year old lol

Pev

[srobot]

Hi Scotty,

I am not programming the CM-5 in Vb or C I am using BCP at that end. What I have done at the CM-5 end is add the bluetooth interface (Zig wasn't available when I got mine - yep it had was one of the first kits) and then use the BCP program to recieve data from the bluetooth and action using it.

At the other end of the bluetooth link is a Windows or Windows PocketPC app that I have developed in VB. I am using Visual Stuio 2005 and the .Net framework 2.0 so it is certainly adequate for the serial comms and basic processing required. Its not pumping all the data to the CM-5 just control codes that trigger motions. Kind of like a glorified Bluetooth remote at the moment, although I am planning to hook it up with additional feedback and offl oad the processing from the CM-5 to the laptop or IPAQ.

Hope that explains a bit more, feel free to grab the software off my site if you want to take a look at it its in the download section and should work on any bluetooth enabled PC running 2000/XP - I haven't tested it at all on Vista as I have an aversion to Windows OS's less than 3 year old lol

Pev

Hi Pev,

I was just testing (aka. playing) around with BioBlue, it's nice!

Can you upload the program (I have both Visual Basic 2005 and 2008)?

--Scotty

[Dewey]

Pev

Doing off CM5 processing on a PC is fine. I think problems may arise if you require short latency across the link. Although you have a 57K serial comm speed and hence quite a reasonable bandwidth the Windows driver for the comm port can introduce unacceptable latency times, presumably due to multitasking priorities within windows. It might be worth timing some round loop transmissions where the CM5 program just send back what it receives.

Dewey