Bioloid Premium Kit - first videos

[limor]

In preparation for participating at a big national robot competition in Korea, we received one of the first Bioloid Premium Kit boxes to have ever been shipped out of Robotis.

While the construction blog is in preparation, here is a video and more to follow once uploaded to youtube

Just finished assembling the new Bioloid Premium humanoid (this is the type B - second of 3 - documented humanoid configurations). The robot comes pre-programmed with some motion sequences. We are not sure the ones seen here were designed for the 16DOF (type B in the documentation) version of the humanoid or the 18DOF version (type A).

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The zigbee zig100 module were installed into the RC100 remote control and head of the robot replacing infrared in both. We didn't know if it was assembled right. also didn't know if the servos were rightly aligned or if there were any pre-programmed moves in the new CM510 controller. Surprisingly all seems to work.

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The light in the head is zig100. The servos seem to move much faster, and dont make any noise. We think this is due to the new LiPo battery with higher voltage and current since the servos are exactly the same AX12+ models as in the Bioloid Comprehensive. The new look is great! (wire routing, transparent head and chest cover, controler and battery cases.

[BillB]

Limor wrote:

The servos seem to move much faster, and dont make any noise. We think this is due to the new LiPo battery with higher voltage and current since the servos are exactly the same AX12+ models as in the Bioloid Comprehensive.

Assuming that the internal components of the AX12+ are the same (i.e. motor, gear ratios), the reduction in sound is probably due to new firmware.

Looks like the AX-S1 has been removed. Are there any sensors available that replace the AX-S1? Like Light Sensors, sound sensors? For that matter how about other needed sensors like an IMU or I2C compatibility?

[limor]

Assuming that the internal components of the AX12+ are the same (i.e. motor, gear ratios), the reduction in sound is probably due to new firmware.

Good point, I will check with Robotis. If that's the case, the new firmware should be available to everyone.

Looks like the AX-S1 has been removed. Are there any sensors available that replace the AX-S1? Like Light Sensors, sound sensors? For that matter how about other needed sensors like an IMU or I2C compatibility?

There's a new IMU module called AX-S20 (i'll quote some info about it below from the upcoming construction blog). The new controller (CM-510) is based on ATMega2561 and the controller pack exposes what seem to be 6 i/o ports. I don't know yet if the I2C pins are among them.
AX-S1 is not included but instead they include 3 directional analog distance sensors that can be mounted on different parts of the robot (using Ollo parts) and also a Sharp distance sensor that can be mounted on the chest. Don't think there's sound and light (although the infrared distance sensors may double as light sensors). making a list of questions to Robotis as i'm writing this. The documentation we received was minimalistic. This is the only reason we were told why the kit is still not available for sale.

The AS-S20 is a Bioloid compliant IMU (Intertial Moment Unit) module that incorporates 3 accelertion and 3 magnetic sensors in one chip. It is an unconventional solution to robotic IMU (we are used to gyros) but the result is impressive and surely will become a standard given its overall excellent value. The board is Bioloid Dynamixel compliant meaning that it has one MCU chip of type ATMega8 that implements the Dynamixel protocol over its UART link and talks to the sensor chip over SPI. The sensor chip AMS0805WAH from Amosense (Korean company) is composed of 3-Axis Magnetic sensor, 3-Axis Acceleration sensor, and a custom ASIC that provides sophisticated data calibration and facilitates a high-level communications protocol over SPI. It allows highly accurate motion detection with geomagnetic direction and tilting data. The biggest advantage of AMS0805WAH is the exclusive embedded calibration algorithm called iRAC(Intelligent Real Time Automatic Calibration) which eliminates the need for initial calibrations and supports precise calculation of motion data under all environments. It is widely used and applied in handheld devices such as cellular phones (orientation), navigation applications (“dead reckoning” where gps is not enough or doesn't work), 3-D pointing device, game controllers and even Calorie counters.
Some of the chip's features:
- Wide Magnetic Measurable Range: +/- 10Gauss
- Minimum Measurable Magnetic field: 10nT (0.1mGuass)
- Maximum sampling rate: 30Hz
- Azimuth & Roll/Pitch Resolution: 1 degree
- Wide Interface Voltage: 1.6Volt ∼5.0Volt
- Low power: 6.5mA in active mode
The new software that comes with the Premium Kit allows to monitor the signal coming from the sensor and it seems to be pretty stable, reactive and with almost no noise. Because it measures the magnetic field in 3 axis, it is able to precisely provide 3D rotation speed tensor as do the more expensive solid state 3-axis gyros, but in addition it can also provide the absolute angle relative to Earth's magnetic North without accumulative error. The resolution of the chip is 1 degree, which is fine for robotic applications. The sampling rate is 30Hz which is fast enough for navigation and probably also for stabilization [[ to be confirmed with Robotis ]].

[limor]

Here's another (a bit embarrassing) clip showing our first play with the new software replacing the Behavior Control. Big improvement in usability. Feels like a very protective sort of IDE with code-completion.
This little code reacts to the new 6DOF IMU.
BTW: the new software is compatible with CM5. You can download the latest Beta and use it with your existing Bioloid kit (see this thread for download info http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3764 ).

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[siempre.aprendiendo]

Assuming that the internal components of the AX12+ are the same (i.e. motor, gear ratios), the reduction in sound is probably due to new firmware.

Good point, I will check with Robotis. If that's the case, the new firmware should be available to everyone.

Of course! It can save my marriage!

Edited: By the way, Limor, youtube says it's a private video...

[BillB]

Limor wrote:

Good point, I will check with Robotis.

Could you also ask Robotis whether there are any plans for a metal gear upgrade kit for the AX12's (similar to the Robobuilder upgrade kit)