Poll: Best Servos & Controller for Homebuilt??

[se7en]

I want to start a debate on what people think are the BEST servos and controller to use for a new homebuilt humanoid.

I know we have lots of smart people in these forums who keep up to date on the good, the bad, and the ugly in components. I have spent considerable time designing a new robot around my KHR-1 parts, but I have decided to use something different. I would rather use parts that are more readily available in the US and have documentation I can read. I would like a board that is easily made Bluetooth also.

Please give me your 2 cents; I would really appreciate some opinions here.

Thanks Savvy Roboteers!

[inaki]

Hi se7en.

I would use DX servos from Robotis.
With regards to controller I would recommend you make your own controller. Once you make your own robot there is no point to use a standard controller.

[se7en]

Thanks Inaki. Those robotis servos are shaped weird and really will not work with my system as I have it designed. I need standard rectangular servos for now. I will look into it more however. About the controller, I really don't have the knowledge to do such a thing, nor do I have the time to focus on that. I really do spend tons of time on the 3D design and mechanics since this is where I excel. I would love to collaborate with somebody that has such electronics expertise (hint). I appreciate your ideas, keep the recommendations coming!

[HarryBotter]

I want to start a debate on what people think are the BEST servos and controller to use for a new homebuilt humanoid.

I spoke with people at our local university a while ago and the point was made that servos should have at least 10Kg/cm torque if you want to go autonomous. Less torque will have trouble carrying the extra weight of sensors. They also liked the megarobotics AI 1001 servos the best.

I've used Hitec 5645 digital servos on a 6 servo biped and found them to be more than adequate. I suspect that they would handle the weight of a larger robot well. Right now I'm looking at expanding the capabilities of this robot with more DOF or just getting a kit, probably the megarobotics one.

On controllers, I'd look into getting something that uses the ATmega128 since a number of the robo-one manufactures are basing their board on it. I'm just learning to program that chip just for that reason.

Harry

[TinMan]

I'm not sure about the servos, being a newbie, but i highly reccomend the robostix controller from Gumstix. You can order a Gumstix motherboard with bluetooth and add the modules you require. one of these modules is a Robostix adapter that can control 14 servo outputs and six sensor inputs.

I'm eagerly awaitng my newly ordered KHR-2HV model, in which i intend to install my gumstix with a 802.11g wifi card. i will also be able to interface with the controller via the usb interface on the gumstix.

I intend to document building and upgrading the KHR-2HV and post regular updates on the forum.

[rockweasel]

Being fairly new to robotics, I only have experience of the one I opted for: an OOPic R. The board was designed specifically for robotics and has everything on it, you just have to plug in your servos/sensors/whatever and program it. I was familiar with the programming language which made it an attractive option. £25GBP bought me an unused one off ebay. Support is easy to find on Yahoos OOPic forum. The author that wrote the book on OOPic (literally) has been quick to personally answer any queries I've had (thanks Dennis). It doesn't have Bluetooth built into it so I added a BlueSMiRF modem which was as simple as soldering a couple of wires onto the board. Whether I experiment with other microcontrollers remains to be seen, but this one is more than adequate for now.

[Robo1]

hello,

I like the megarobotics AI 1001 but I would say the haven't got the power if you going to spend money on new servos for a home build I how think 20kg/cm2 is a most. I've got a khr-2 and the servos do the job but on my new bot that I'm biulding I'm going to opt for much getter power 30-60kg/cm2.

I really like the DX series and might even go for the new rx64 (if I can rob a bank in time) . One thing I would say, try and get the new standard of rs232,rs484 or can. This would give the ability to daisy chain the servos and run it of a contol board with on of these protocals. If you use the example of my khr-2 most of the space is taken up with 20+ pins for each servo making the board very cluttered.

I would also opt for a servo that gave live feed back, with at least position, current, temp.

hope this helps bren