RoboPlus - The new software that replaces BCP/Motion Edit,..

[PedroR]

Hi all

I have put together the preliminary compilation of Roboplus bugs and issues you reported here on the forum, to send to Robotis.

For your reference it is available here
http://robosavvy.com/RoboSavvyPages/Rob ... latest.pdf

I would sincerely like your opinion on it, in particular suggestions or fixes you may find necessary.
If you find you're having an issue that is not listed here please let me know so we can make it as complete as possible.

One thing that I forgot to ask you is posting the version of Roboplus where you're seeing the behaviours.

Some of you have posted issues before I made version 1.0.2.8 available (in particular trouble upgrading the CM5 controllers using the Controller Recovery feature) so I am now a bit unsure if those issues were already mitigated or not.

[altwolf]

speaking for myself, all of my issues using the "controller recovery" to upgrade the cm-5 have been resolved by using version 1.0.2.8 of Roboplus.

[trey3670]

well thanks are in order I was useing the wrong cable! works now.

[PedroR]

Great!

Thank you all for the info.

This way I can finalize my report.
Turns out the number of issues is quite reduced. The only thing left now is testing it in Windows 7 but that's not an urgent matter.

As for myself, I'll let you know where I'm going in my projects with Roboplus now:

- I'll be putting together some sample code in Roboplus Task for the PSX board from StuartL and Matt.

- I'll also start playing with the HaViMo vision module for Bioloid using Roboplus Task.
I've gone through the prleiminary testing and everything indicates it is possible (and most likely not hard) to put togetehr a number of functions for Roboplus Task that let you interface with HaViMo.

For all of you who don't know it, HaViMo is a Vision module for Bioloid that has a built in image processor to detect colour BLOBs (such as a ball for autonomous soccer or a can for Autonomous Pick Up). It is fully compatible with the Dynamixel Protocol.
Further info is here http://robosavvy.com/store/product_info ... cts_id/349

[altwolf]

Hi Pedro,

Just checking to see if you had any sample Roboplus Task code you could post. Any thing to do with checking sensor status etc.? Any examples would be awesome and helpful.

[Merlin]

Pedro
Let me join myself to the Altwolf idea, could be great to have a code example with the necessary "tips" of the Roboplus inside.

Thanks in advance


merlin

[PedroR]

Hi guys

Robotis is still working on the sample code (I think that's why they have not yet started broad distribution of the premium kit: documentation and samples are not yet completed).

I can try and put together some sample programs and will post them here.

I do not have a lot of time to test the programs but I hope that you can take the sample programs and enhance them yourselves

I will post back as I have more details.

Regards
Pedro.

[Merlin]

Pedro
You can count on that!
At the moment you post the sample code, hopefully with some sintaxis tips, we will begin to work on our programs, trying to get some bugs and aslo trying to improve what you have done.
We are waiting your first move...


merlin

[PedroR]

Hi Merlin

As some of you may know I was away on holiday and came back today.
I am catching up with work here at Robosavvy so I was unable to put samples together today.

I hope I can do it tomorrow or no later than Wednesday.

This post is just an FYI I will let you know as soon as I have samples ready and posted.

Regards
Pedro.

[sniperscope]

PedroR: Also please post any updates on the upgrade kit, thanks.
sniperscope

[PedroR]

Hi guys

There is not a final schedule for the upgrade kit yet.

They have found an issue with the balance sensor (S20) and they were forced to redesign the whole thing so they are now testing the new components.

They were using a unique chip that offers acceleration sensing as well as a magnetometer.

Pitch, Roll, Yaw were obtained from the data of the Magnetometer. However they have come to the conclusion that there was too much noise around the sensor and therefore they were not getting any usable readings. They are now replacing/adding a gyro to the S20 board.

This was found during their development of the self balancing routine (which is written in Roboplus by the way... I got to see it).

Once they iron out this issue we expect them to advise on the final release schedule.

Limor has full details on the chip they were using. I myself am not too familiar with it.

[Khashi.E]

Hi,
I know that premium kit will arrive at this december.
...but upgrade kit will arrive sooner than original kit.some parts of it (like cm-510-new frames & ...) are arrived in my country .I'd buy them and I will send new information & pictures after a week or 2 from today
regards,
Khashi.E

[PedroR]

Hi Kashi

Those are great news.

However having spoken personally to the Robotis marketing manager when I was at KRGF and also from their email from yesterday, they make a clear statement, at least to us, that no dates are defined yet.

They have supplied many upgrade kits for demo and evaluation to the companies who represent them (including one full kit to us which we have extensively evaluated) but for General Availability the information we have is that dates are not defined.

With regards to the new kit and the upgrade kit, I am quite sure they will be released at the same time. There is no reason not to do so. The only difference between the two is the inclusion of AX-12+ servos and a couple more parts like serial cable, etc. which are parts that are already matured technology.

We obviously hope they release before Christmas which is what makes sense even from a marketing perspective but they are determined to release a full matured product no matter how long it takes and that's why release has been delayed.

[PedroR]

Hi guys

I have finally put some samples together.

They can be found here:
http://robosavvy.com/RoboSavvyPages/Rob ... Servo2.tsk

http://robosavvy.com/RoboSavvyPages/Rob ... sensor.tsk

http://robosavvy.com/RoboSavvyPages/Rob ... gRC100.tsk


They grow in complexity and explore various aspects:
- Reading and setting servo positions.
- Using Conditional loops and endless loops
- Reading button presses on the CM5
- Using IF and ANDs in IFs
- Playing Motions
- Reading the RC100 remote control
- Reading the S1 sensor

TWO important and extremely useful shortcuts to have in mind:
- SPACE will add a blank line
- ENTER on a blank line will bring up the instruction selection
- ENTER on a non-blank line will enter the edit mode for the line where you can then use arrows and ENTER again to adjust the parameters of the instruction.

Otherwise you can use the mouse but it takes significantly longer and you incur in an RSI for too many double clicks

Other topics of interest to be developed in future examples:
- Using the While constructor
- Using the "Conditional Stand". It is basically a Wait While this condition is met, used to halt processing until an event happens.
- Creating functions
- Using the Callback.
- Using the "Joint Offset" parameter for Motions. This is new to Roboplus and is used for Dynamic balancing routines.

I have to get back to business now adding the new Sparkfun items we just received to the online store.

If you have questions please post back.
As I said it will be natural that some bugs exist as I did not have the time to test the programs. However they should be good enough to get you started and give you a good understanding of the base language constructs of Roboplus.

Another challenge for you is decoding the checksum at the last bytes so that we can create .TSK files using a text editor instead of Roboplus.
The Roboplus TASK files are plain text files with a fairly understandable syntax but there is a checksum in the end - I think - which needs to be correct before the file can be opened in Roboplus and downloaded to the Robot.

[Khashi.E]

Hi Pedro,
your guide is very useful.
do you know how to use this functions?

could you please make a guide (like previous) for it?

kind regards,
Khashi.E