by PedroR » Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:04 pm
by PedroR
Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:04 pm
Hi Unclebob
From experience with the BT module from Robobuilder, this module should be a pretty standard BT module (from the pictures it seems base don the Winbond chipset).
In practice this module exposes Vdd, GND, TX and RX.
TX and RX are TTL 3.3V (I know this because this is teh signal level on the CM-510).
Vdd should also be 3.3V I believe.
If you connect RX and TX to any other Robot you should also be able to comunicate easily.
These modules are used to create a Transparent Serial cable between the PC and the Target device.
Once you connect the PC to them, a Serial COMM port is created on the PC and you can send data just as if the devices were connected by an actual Pjhysical Cable.
The only things you need to pay attention to are the following:
1) The baud rate and comm settings (Parity, Data bits, stop bits) are pre configured.
When connect to device from the PC you should always use the settings that are configured on the device (in this case I believe it is 57600, 8N1).
The target device should also be set to this setting.
It should be possible to reprogram the Speed Settings but I don't know how it is done on this module. The specs from Robotis say it can go up to 250kbps.
2) Check if there is any byte sequence that could trigger a reprogramming of the module.
This type of Modules can usually operate in 2 modes: they respond to AT commands or have "command response off" and simply pass the data from the PC to the device (and back) without caring about what's being passed. (bridge mode)
I trust this module is in Bridge mode so no additional precaution should be needed.
This is a very similar approach to the one used in Robobuilder. Robobuilder uses a Parani ESD200 chip (the RObotis one seems to be from Winbond).
I am more familiar with the Parani as we've reused it on other Robots but the principle should be exactly the same.
I personally find the Parani very flexible and easy to use (it's also cheaper). It has a free tool that you can use to reprogram it to your exact settings: speed, comm settings, pairing mode, security key (if you want one) etc.
See my post here
http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7803
To summarize and to answer your question: yes I believe it should be possible to reuse this module in other devices.
Regards
Pedro
Hi Unclebob
From experience with the BT module from Robobuilder, this module should be a pretty standard BT module (from the pictures it seems base don the Winbond chipset).
In practice this module exposes Vdd, GND, TX and RX.
TX and RX are TTL 3.3V (I know this because this is teh signal level on the CM-510).
Vdd should also be 3.3V I believe.
If you connect RX and TX to any other Robot you should also be able to comunicate easily.
These modules are used to create a Transparent Serial cable between the PC and the Target device.
Once you connect the PC to them, a Serial COMM port is created on the PC and you can send data just as if the devices were connected by an actual Pjhysical Cable.
The only things you need to pay attention to are the following:
1) The baud rate and comm settings (Parity, Data bits, stop bits) are pre configured.
When connect to device from the PC you should always use the settings that are configured on the device (in this case I believe it is 57600, 8N1).
The target device should also be set to this setting.
It should be possible to reprogram the Speed Settings but I don't know how it is done on this module. The specs from Robotis say it can go up to 250kbps.
2) Check if there is any byte sequence that could trigger a reprogramming of the module.
This type of Modules can usually operate in 2 modes: they respond to AT commands or have "command response off" and simply pass the data from the PC to the device (and back) without caring about what's being passed. (bridge mode)
I trust this module is in Bridge mode so no additional precaution should be needed.
This is a very similar approach to the one used in Robobuilder. Robobuilder uses a Parani ESD200 chip (the RObotis one seems to be from Winbond).
I am more familiar with the Parani as we've reused it on other Robots but the principle should be exactly the same.
I personally find the Parani very flexible and easy to use (it's also cheaper). It has a free tool that you can use to reprogram it to your exact settings: speed, comm settings, pairing mode, security key (if you want one) etc.
See my post here
http://robosavvy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7803
To summarize and to answer your question: yes I believe it should be possible to reuse this module in other devices.
Regards
Pedro