current status of remote control, sensor expansion?

[Joe]

I'm in the position of pondering whether to continue with Lynxmotion SES parts, or switch over to Bioloid. I've browsed the forums and found some answers to things I was wondering about, but I'm probably missing some things too.

1. What's the story on remote-controlling your Bioloid, as you'd need to do (for example) in a Robo-One competition?

2. What is the current status of add-on or replacement modules to provide more sensor inputs? I saw in other threads that pepperm and others were working on a custom board that would sit on the Bioloid bus... how's that coming along, and are there other options I should consider?

Thanks,
— Joe

[Pev]

Hi Joe,

I believe there is no Robotis remote at the moment. However, inaki has developed an IR remote and I have hacked a bluetooth module onto my Bioloid and use that with a PPC application as a remote control. Here is the link to the bluetooth hack.......

http://robosavvy.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=551

Hope this helps

Pev

[Joe]

Thanks, Pev, that's pretty interesting. However, if I understood it correctly, it plugs a Bluetooth link in place of what would normally be a Zigbee link. That implies that one could, if feeling nutty, use a Zigbee link instead. I actually rather like Zigbee (haven't used it myself, but a friend has with great success on his own homebrew bots).

So, has anybody made use of the Zigbee link to control a Bioloid robot?

Thanks,
— Joe

[Pev]

You're dead right Joe. I went bluetooth so I could use PPCs and Tablet PCs as the controller (plus phones) where Zigbee control can be more erm challenging (well for me with my limited electronics background). The use of Zigbee is definately popular and Dan Albert used it to create a PS2 style controller for a whole robo soccer team of RN-1s!!!!!!

Pev