Beta Testing and Future Work

While the hardware of the arbotiX has been stable and ready to go for months, we've still been working to expand and refine the software suite. Tonight I'm uploading what will probably be the fnal beta release (Beta3b) of the arbotiX/PyPose suite. This latest release features a now fully functional PyPose, with pose and sequence manipulation, the ability to run sequences live in PyPose, and the ability to export the poses and sequences to the AVR. The full download is available on our google code site: http://arbotix.googlecode.com

I'd like to send out a big thanks to all of our beta testers. They've been hard at work testing the heck out of the arbotiX libraries and PyPose. I spent some time the other day working with Seth and Ben to refine the PyPose interface. One of the major changes we've made is to lock the servo position sliders when a pose is not selected for editing, this has made the interface much more intuitive to new users.

This evening I spent a while working with Jodie to get her board working with an STK500. I've been using an AVRISP in house for a while, but one of the things I've been doing is carrying over my heavily modified boards.txt and programmers.txt files from release to release... Apparently, somewhere along the way many things have changed in what the stock file now is, which caused a great deal of confusion tonight. Needless to say, I'll be revisting my boards.txt and programmers.txt files tomorrow, and updating our wiki with a better walk through of setting up programmers.

Anyone who has tested PyPose will notice we have a menu called Tools, which really only has the Pose Editor and the Sequence Editor. Looking towards the future, I'm working on two major tools that will be in future releases of PyPose later this Fall. The first is NUKE, the Nearly Universal Kinematics Engine. NUKE will allow users to setup and export an Arduino project comprised of a complete IK engine, custom tuned for the quad or hex, and a periodic gait engine. The second tool will be a command line style interface within PyPose that will allow you to query and edit anything connected to the Bioloid bus on your arbotiX.

A final note is that we're actually running ahead of schedule here at Vanadium, on both the hardware production and software testing fronts, so you should see the arbotiX on shelves at Trossen by the end of the month!

-Fergs

ArbotiX Beta 3 Released!

It's finally here! PyPose V0.91 is a complete rewrite of the software, using wxPython as the GUI package. It's world's better than the old release.

One of the great new features is that we finally have a sequence engine.

Features coming later this week (hopefully):

• Live sequence playback
• Drop-down selection of serial ports
• Pose & Capture over a USBDynamixel
• Encoders library

All of these features have been in the works for a bit, just need finishing touches. I'll also have a video shortly walking through the whole process of creating poses and sequences to make a little droid walker.

-Fergs

Issy Goes Fire Fighting

I've been talking lately about building a walking fire fighter, but I've now finally started transforming Issy from a mech into a Fire Fighter.

Issy's new body is about 2" shorter in both the width and length direction, a necessary adjustment to get him under the 12"x12" rule (yes, I know the Trinity contest allows walkers to be 12"x18", but I intend to take Issy to CNRG, and possibly RoboGames next year, and neither contest has a walker division, so the 12"x12" rule had to be followed).

Issy has a head similar to what I had on GMR. The head has an IR ranger for 99% of his navigation, a sonar ranger mainly for approaching the candle (since the IR gets wiped out), an IR photodiode for fire detection (similar to Crater's sensory), and a ducted fan for fire extinguishing. Issy is sporting a new arbotiX robocontroller, and power is from an 11.1V 2200mAh LiPO. Early tests with IK have shown quite a bit of promise as far as odometry from walking - I've still got a ways to go as far as implementing a geometrically stable gait.

Issy's code will basically be another rework of Crater's (cause heck, it works).

-Fergs

Bioloid Build Tips, #2

The Bioloid kits from Robotis are amazing. They're an excellent prototyping tool, but there are also a few improvements that could be made. My biggest gripe (and I think most people agree), are the tiny little screws... eesh. 2MM phillips heads are not fun. I've taken to replacing all of my screws with socket head cap screws, this lets me use a hex driver during assembly, and saves a ton of time. Unfortunately, each screw will run you $0.03-0.07, but it's well worth it in the long run. I've been buying my 2mm SHCS in 6mm and 10mm length, and also 3x10mm for the big screws opposite the servo horn, from McMaster-Carr:

M2x6mm: http://www.mcmaster.com/#91292A006 (the most common ones you'll need)
M2x10mm: http://www.mcmaster.com/#91292A011
M3x10mm: http://www.mcmaster.com/#95263A134

These fairly cheap upgrades save a lot of time, I think I've cut the amount of time spent on assembly by at least 50%. Just make sure you have a GOOD set of hex drivers.

-Fergs

Bioloid Build Tips, #1

How to install nuts in the servos:
Line the nut up, use a flathead screwdriver to push the nut into place.

-Fergs

arbotiX Prototypes

The first full batch of arbotiX prototypes is finally done after a summer of development and testing with the 2 original prototypes (1 of which was used in IssyDunnYet, champion at Mech Warfare 2009).

While prototype boards have gone out to early adopters, we're still working on some of the desktop software. A V1.0 release of PyPose is expected around late September, or the same time that boards should be available from Trossen Robotics.

More information can be found here.

-Fergs

Report from Robogames

Robogames 2009 is now over. Both of my bots faired quite well.

IssyDunnYet, my entry into the inaugural Mech Warfare event, won the gold medal. We didn't ever get in a real ladder competition, too many bots had major issues, but Issy really did quite well in all of his matches. I've posted a tutorial on how Issy was built, over at the Trossen Robotics Community.

GMR made another appearance, taking second in the Fire Fighting Competition. I'm not too disappointed about that second, he lost to a team from an Indonesian University. They were greeted at home by the Minister of Education apparently. GMR was using a reworked version of Crater's code, including head panning and all sorts of other audience pleasers....

-Fergs

UPDATE: I've posted a tutorial over on the Trossen Robotics Community, that walks through building IssyDunnYet, and is a fairly good reference on building an AX-12 based mech:
http://forums.trossenrobotics.com/tutorials/build-articles-130/build-your-own-issydunnyet-3257/