Lynxmotion Tech Support

I have made the following changes to the faceplate for you.

Enlarged the size of the four push buttons to 0.266" (17/64").

Enlarged the LCD hole to 34mm wide by 35mm high.

Added four 0.125" PC board mounting holes.

Enlarged the circles for the joysticks from 1.5" to 1.6".

Moved the sliders so they are take up 0.125" less width.

Do you need me to drill the countersunk holes for the sliders, or do you have a drill press?

_________________
Jim Frye, the Robot Guy
http://www.lynxmotion.com
I've always tried to do my best...

Thanks Jim,

Nope don't have a drill press, unless you count the Dermal thingy... On the current plate I just used a larger drill bit and hand turned it. Not perfect but did get the job sort-of done... Some day I should probably set my self up with a few more tools

Kurt

Tools I have... A workshop not so much... But that's going to change. I will drill them for ya buddy!

_________________
Jim Frye, the Robot Guy
http://www.lynxmotion.com
I've always tried to do my best...

Thanks, I believe the new plate will arrive on Tuesday

I have been playing around with the code and setup and I know for sure that these 4 function joysticks do not do as good of a job of going back to their center point, like the Hitec ones do. Maybe at some point I will have to do version 3 and get some of the new Hitec joysticks and try it out again! I will wait for the new plate, before I try to fit everything into the case. I still need to drill a hole into the outside of the case to hold the USB extension cable. I will probably also add an additional hole for a pushbutton for doing a reset. On the other remote, I did not need this as I would simply turn the power off, but with this Arduino Mega, it stays powered up when it is plugged into USB...

I have been playing around with the code for both the Arduino remote as well as the DIY T-Hex code running on Bap28. I believe I sped up response time for the Arduino remote code by checking to see if the robot as asked for data more often. Also I changed the OLED code to instead of waiting for a command like draw text/react to complete before continuing, I instead check to see if the previous command completed before I issue the next one. More like changes may be needed.

I changed the BAP code to not be so hard coded for the size of the DIY remote message coming in. In particular, it now can handle between a minimum size of packet and a maximum size of packet. I then exact to make changes in the UI depending on which remote control is being used. For example if I use the Original DIY remote with two extra knobs and both joysticks are self centering, than the current code uses one of the knobs for the height of the robot, but with the new remote, these are self centering, which does not work very well for this, so I case this in the code for the larger packets to use the middle slider instead. Now I just need to figure out the best use of the self centering knobs on the joysticks for... Zenta or Xan have any suggestion on how you would map these controls?

Kurt

Hi Kurt,

The self centering 3. axis on the joysticks is a nice feature for some applications. Using the extra slider for body height is a very good idea.

An example of control with three new modes:

Walk/Rot mode:
Left joystick: Gait and gait rotate (3.axis)
Right joystick: All 3 body rotations

Walk/Trans mode:
Left joystick: Gait and gait rotate (3.axis)
Right joystick: Body translation + body yaw rotation (3.axis)

Trans/Rot mode:
Left joystick: Body translation 2 axis, the 3. axis vacant? Maybe gait rotate or body height (not directly though).
Right joystick: All 3 body rotations

I like the ability to perform walking, rotation and translation at the same time.

The 3. axis on left joystick could be used to control body height, not directly though but still possible. Similar to how Jeroen did on the single leg control (leg lift height).

_________________
[b]Kåre Halvorsen, Zenta[/b]
-----------------------------------------
Zenta's blog
http://zentasrobots.com/
Zenta's YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/ZentaOlbaid
-----------------------------------------

Thanks Zenta,

I will try out these out and see how well it works. May do this more with the Arc32-phoenix.

Thanks again!

Kurt

I received the updated face plate , which brings me to good news and not so good news...

Good news, it is looking better!



I used a palm sander this time to rough up the cover. I also did drill 1 extra hole for a reset button. Turns out I need another button as these pushbuttons turn out to be normally closed (push to open), which causes my jumper to go between reset/ground to be set... Need to see if I have a different button.

Also I need to switch around some of my wires or update the code such that when I pull the joystick down, the value is zero (not 255)... Not a big deal. Could simply swap the Red/Black wires in the 3 pin connectors to do this, or could simply have the code handle it...

The not so good news. There is a thin ribbon cable on the bottom of the OLED that connects to the controller board, which is now acting flaky. Not sure if it did not like being bent, where it is slightly going through the hole, or because I have moved it around several times. At best I have a few horizontal pixel lines not drawing... Which you may be able to pick up in the photo above. If I press on the back of the cable I can sometimes make it better, other times worse... Will contact 4Dsystems for advice. Probably good enough to play with for now, but may order a second one. May order a second one to make it better...

Kurt

Hey there. Looking nice.

The thing on those switches is the red and the black work differently. Can't remember for sure but I think it's black is NO and red is NC?

If you need another panel for any reason it's no trouble. Just let me know.

_________________
Jim Frye, the Robot Guy
http://www.lynxmotion.com
I've always tried to do my best...

Thanks Jim,

If I need to get a new OLED, Sparkfun is out of them, but robotshop has them. Their prices for the
128x128 is about $50 and their 160x128 is about $60 versus about $80 at sparkfun... So for the extra $10 it might be nice to have the extra 32 bits per row... So I may take you up on it.

Kurt

Hi Kurt,

Can you tell me something about the overall quality of the 4 function joysticks you are using. I'm looking for a way to get the extra DOF on the joystick like you and Zenta got. Shipping to the netherlands add an additional $40 for 2 joysticks. So I want to make sure that the $120 are worth it.

Thanks, Xan

_________________
[b]Share, Use and Improve![/b]
Digging trough: [i]Theory of Applied Robotics: Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control[/i]
Xan's YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/xanore

Hi Xan,

Yes, the extra DOF is nice, especially true for people who probably have a lot more dexterity than I do . But I do find that they do not self center as well as the Hitec ones I have. That is, with the Hitec ones, after we go through the startup calibration, it always goes back to the center value (128) and for the most part never off by more than 1 usually 0... With the new ones, I am often seeing it off by 3 or 4, which is enough to have the robot continue to walk or the like. Note this is more when you are slowly moving the stick and then stop, versus when you are off center quite a ways and release... Sometime I would like to try the new ones that Lynxmotion Carries and see how well they work. With those you can also choose if you wish for them to self-center or can also be used for things like body height...

Kurt

I would be happy to provide a set to you both. I also still hope to make a 3rd pot adapter like Kåre did.

_________________
Jim Frye, the Robot Guy
http://www.lynxmotion.com
I've always tried to do my best...

That would be great!

Kurt

But then I would probably have to change Face plates again

Kurt

P.S. - new OLED (same size as previous one as they don't have the 1.7" one yet)shipped from Robotshop...

That would be great! Kåre managed to get 3 tiny wires through the stick using a lathe. I don't have the tools to do that Do you have the tools to do that with the new aurora gimballs? Or isn't that even possible with this model?

I also googled for some 3-axis joysticks and found a website that has many different ones. Sadly enough they don't provide any prices on there website. I think they have the same as you have Kurt. But they also have some expensive looking ones.

Maybe they also have a good price/quality version for robot hobbyist? Maybe something for in LM's product list? What do you think?

Xan

_________________
[b]Share, Use and Improve![/b]
Digging trough: [i]Theory of Applied Robotics: Kinematics, Dynamics, and Control[/i]
Xan's YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/xanore

Gimme the link.

_________________
Jim Frye, the Robot Guy
http://www.lynxmotion.com
I've always tried to do my best...