Connecting Bioloid to PC

[Andi]

Hi All,

I know this is maybe the 10.000th thread regarding this topic, but I would like to know, what is the best way to connect a PC with the Bioloid?

I would like to pass variables from a normal terminal application like Hyperterminal to the Bioloid behaviour control program.

I have tried this in many ways, but I was failing. I was successful in connection both PC and the Bioloid via COM1 with 56700 bps. When launching hyperterminal and connecting PC and Bioloid I see the Bioloid saying that the PC is there, that there are all the AXs found. So the connection is running. But how to proceed from there?

I tried everything in the behaviour control program, reading data from the RX in the AX-S1, reading data from RX from the CM-5. I tried also the put the "once data arrived", but it doesnt work.

Also, I put the BlueSmirf onto the CM-5. The hpyerterminal gets tons of numbers running sent by the CM-5 like 248 or 250 or something, but no watter what I try to send to the CM-5 the numbers all stay the same.

Also, somewhere I was reading that TX and RX on the BlueSmirf should be shorten, but I also read that this could destroy the BlueSmirf...

Any help is very much appreciated.

Best wishes

Andi

[Pev]

Andi,

You won't be able to send variables from a PC to the BCP prog with something like hyperterm. The protocol between the PC and the CM-5 is a packet based protocol and expects a packet of bytes for each value you send. The details of the protocol for the ZIG interface (as used with a BlueSmirf too) is here : http://www.bipedrobots.co.uk/blindex.aspx?id=328

So basically you will need some sort of application to create the packet at the PC end and then send it over the link. (which is what BioBluePC does) - there is also some basic VB code for sending a packet in the BlueSmirf Hack pdf doc here : http://www.bipedrobots.co.uk/uploadedFiles/BipedRobots/Bioloid/Bioloid_Mods/Bioloid-Bluetooth-Modification.pdf

Any data sent by the CM-5 is also in the packetised format and will require decoding at the PC end.

Hope this helps

Pev

[Dewey]

Andi

Just to add to what Pev has said.

The serial Bioloid cable, as used for down loading BCPs from PC to CM5, can receive data from a BCP running on the CM5. Unfortunately Robotis must have decided that no one would want to send data from the PC to a running BCP program, there is no facility in BCP to do it! If you program your CM5 using C then you can do it and I have posted on this forum how to achieve this with demo software.

Now if you are running a CM5 BCP program you can send and receive to another BCP program on another CM5 wirelessly if you have installed Zig100s in each CM5. The protocol Pev talks about is that used by this link when you use this facility.

If you connect to your PC serial port a Serial2Zig board and plug into that board a Zig100 you can talk wirelessly to a CM5 by using the PC to 'fake' the protocol so it thinks its talking to another CM5.

Complicated? Well its not actually as difficult as it sounds, and it does mean that you are now wireless without a constraining cable. Again I have posted on how to implement this protocol.

Pev has developed a means to use Bluetooth instead of Zig100 as the wireless method.

Dewey

[Andi]

Hi Dewey,

many thanks for your reply and for the information provided.

I am currently working on it and will post an update once its working...

Cheers

Andi