Re: Installed B9 Arm - Robot Gone Wild!!
Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 9:56 pm
I can't wait until you get both arms installed, and get him waving them shouting DANGER! DANGER!!! WARNING!!!
Simply amazing.
Simply amazing.
Wilsons Sandbox
http://www.frenchandlogan.com/phpBB3/
http://www.frenchandlogan.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=115565
***DC motors like I have mounted at the elbow and radar section need some type of feedback device like a pot or encoder added. You can sometimes buy a motor from a Robot supply vendor with an encoder already installed. However most of the time you need to come up with some way to mount one either on the shaft of the DC motor or the pivot point of the joint you're moving. This can be challenging and requires ingenuity. ***Whether you use a pot or encoder depends on your application and motor controller. I like to use Sabertooth motor controllers with a Kangaroo X2 daughterboard attached that is in turn controlled by the EZ Robot's platform. The Kangaroo adds position and speed control to the Sabertooth (or SyRen controller). In my application the Roo works better, smoother and more precise if using a encoder. Seems to be easier to set up and tune also. I am using a virtually flat Softpot po tentiometer at the elbow joint because of lack of space and struggle with accuracy when the arm retracts into the torso. I wish I could somehow find the room to mount a high resolution encoder on that joint. I could park the arm inside the torso with 100% certainty that it would be centered each time. Voice communication to the laptop : Right now I'm using the Blue Snowball desktop mic you see in the vid sitting next to my laptop. It's pretty good with picking up conversations or commands from all over a average sized room. However when there is a lot of background noise or other people talking it's very hard to get the robot to hear and understand me. Part of the problem is Windows Voice Recognition itself. In my experience it's weak and problematic and only works well with lots of training and a headset. If I wear a headset the accuracy goes way up and I hardly ever get false responses or have to repeat myself like you see in my vid. Dragon Naturally has a fantastic VR program that works way better than Windows but at this time I can't integrate it into my EZ Builder software. Control and response: My laptop is running the control software called EZ Builder. It's wirelessly connected over my home's WiFi network to three EZB's mounted in my robot. Two EZB's are mounted on top of the CSS about 6 inches from each other and the third is mounted in the leg section to control everything down there. I have nothing except a power cord between the torso and leg section. As long as my laptop can connect to my home router (even remotely from the other side of the world) and the EZB onboard the robot can connect, I can control the robot. The EZ Robot platform (EZ Builder) gets it's computing power from my laptop. The EZB's mounted on the robot has no computing power or ability to hold a program like an Arduino. All that is done on the laptop which is why EZ Robot has so much power and speed. The pre written code that runs in the background of EZ Builder is very complex and optimized that's it's lighting fast.That is what is really doing all the work. It's really only limited by your laptop and Wifi connection and other devices attached to it. Usually I have no lag what so ever. When a command is issued in EZ Builder the robot responds without hesitation. The only lag I've ever had is when something in the background is bogging down my laptop like a virus software scan or other heave processing computer functions. You may want to have a dedicated, lightly loaded laptop if you're going to use EZ Robot if you want problem free control. Not necessary, just me recommendation. The other thing that is mandatory is a strong and uncrowded WiFi signal. A new modern router set to a clean channel with the IP numbers of your EZB's and control computer reserved in the DCHP section is highly recommended by my own experience.***Servo's like are in the wrist and claws of my arm have their own pots along with a small circuit board mounted inside the servo case. Common servos like mine done report back the controller where the little DC motor it uses is and how fast it's going. These servos just receive info and use it's pot to move to a point requested at the wanted speed.
On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 12:29 PM, Bob Ross robertr609@yahoo.com [B9Builders] wrote:
Dave,
Thanks as always for the great videos.
There's nothing like electro-mechanical development coupled with software control. Its always "exciting" !!
As your B9 gets more animated, there's more risk to people and anything else in its surroundings. Also to itself.
Not 100% sure what your overall control is. I know you use the EZ Robot controller with voice recognition. As you've found out, VR doesn't always decode as you expect or even decode at all.
If you don't already have one, for safety and liability reasons, I would highly recommend an Emergency Stop/Off button you can press to kill the robot's movements. If you don't have an actual remote control that you can add one to, you could use a keyfob / receiver to cut power or signal the controller to stop all motion.
There's lots of RF on/off controls out there. Saw this on a quick eBay check.
DC 12V Wireless Remote Control Transmitter + Receiver Module Switch Control
DC 12V Wireless Remote Control Transmitter + Receiver...US $5.51 New in Consumer Electronics, Home Automation, Controls & TouchscreensView on www.ebay.comPreview by Yahoo
Just a suggestion,
Bob Ross
From: "dschulpius@gmail.com [B9Builders]"
To: B9Builders@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2015 2:04 AM
Subject: [B9Builders] Installed B9 Arm - Robot Gone Wild!!
Robot Gone Wild!!
LOL. Here's my latest video I tried to take of my newly installed B9 arm I've designed. However while filming B9 took over the show and wouldn't let me properly show off his new appendage.
Bottom line is that the new arm pulls a lot of power and it's thrown off my ADC readings on the EZB. Scripts I've written to trigger movements and voice response get triggered randomly now. I'll have to find a way to smooth out my ADC ports and rewrite some scripts so this won't keep happening.
In the meantime enjoy the show and have a peel at the new arm installed on B9:https://youtu.be/JHJgW0soosU
Dave,
Thanks as always for the great videos.
There's nothing like electro-mechanical development coupled with software control. Its always "exciting" !!
As your B9 gets more animated, there's more risk to people and anything else in its surroundings. Also to itself.
Not 100% sure what your overall control is. I know you use the EZ Robot controller with voice recognition. As you've found out, VR doesn't always decode as you expect or even decode at all.
If you don't already have one, for safety and liability reasons, I would highly recommend an Emergency Stop/Off button you can press to kill the robot's movements. If you don't have an actual remote control that you can add one to, you could use a keyfob / receiver to cut power or signal the controller to stop all motion. There's lots of RF on/off controls out there. Saw this on a quick eBay check. DC 12V Wireless Remote Control Transmitter + Receiver Module Switch Control
DC 12V Wireless Remote Control Transmitter + Receiver... US $5.51 New in Consumer Electronics, Home Automation, Controls & Touchscreens View on www.ebay.com Preview by Yahoo Just a suggestion,
Bob Ross From: "dschulpius@gmail.com [B9Builders]"
To: B9Builders@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2015 2:04 AM
Subject: [B9Builders] Installed B9 Arm - Robot Gone Wild!!
Robot Gone Wild!! LOL. Here's my latest video I tried to take of my newly installed B9 arm I've designed. However while filming B9 took over the show and wouldn't let me properly show off his new appendage. Bottom line is that the new arm pulls a lot of power and it's thrown off my ADC readings on the EZB. Scripts I've written to trigger movements and voice response get triggered randomly now. I'll have to find a way to smooth out my ADC ports and rewrite some scripts so this won't keep happening. In the meantime enjoy the show and have a peel at the new arm installed on B9: https://youtu.be/JHJgW0soosU
You need to use pullup or pull down resistors on analog inputs. You can't leave them floating if you want to rely on them.On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 1:43 PM, David Schulpius dschulpius@wi.rr.com [B9Builders] wrote:
Once again thanks everyone for the interest, praise and intelligent, helpful suggestions. They really help to keep going and to see other methods I can do things and overcome problems. I'll try to address a few suggestions I think I missed;
Jim E, I love the look of the International Precision thing-a-ma-bob you linked to. I looks like it has feedback for Lateral movements? It's really inexpensive also. I may just have to get on and play around with it to see what I can all do with it. I'm not real happy with the rotary softpot potem in have in my arm elbow or the cheap multi turn potentiometer I have mounted in the radar. I love the high resolution encoders mounted on my arm retraction system and waist rotation motor. They give very smooth and precise feedback.
Bob R, You're absolutely right, I need a full system shutdown method. At present I have a script that when the power pack is pulled operates relays that cuts power to most everything except the high logic controllers needed to awake him. I could ass to that script to include servo release and motor power down along with other systems controlled by the EZ Robot platform. However I agree I should also have a panic master AC power shutdown switch that will completely and quickly turn him off. It's sometimes hard to get behind him and flip his off switch on the rear of the tread section.
I've been working on the problems that were happening in that video I just posted the other day. There seemed to be two issues here. One was the robot was responding to things he think he heard. I had lowered the Confidence setting in the VR control just before I filmed. This allowed him to respond to things faster but with less accuracy. I raised it again to what it was and his response rate seems back to where it was with less false responses or events. The other problem was a wavering ADC port problem on the EZB and have it fixed also. I failed to mention that that these ports are connected to open switches mounted under B9's chest buttons. You saw me push on in the vid trying to shut down a process. The idea is to have this always open momentary switches attached to the ADC ports on the EZB. When I push one of the chest buttons, it closes the switch behind it and the ADC port on the EZB will see the voltage difference and trigger scripts in EZ Builder. These scripts I've written loop and monitor these ports and trigger events when it sees the change.. This way I can have the robot do things by pushing the chest buttons like a soil sample or turn things on and off like the personality generator or voice recognition. Anyway, it turns out that the problem was that static was building up and causing the voltage to float well above zero. It would get as high as 3 volts and trigger the scripts. To add insult, whenever an event would happen all the ports would flux and trigger other scripts. I added pull down resistors (10k ohm) between the signal wire and ground on each ADC port I'm using on the EZB and that did the trick. All ports are now holding at 0 volts till a switch is closed and then goes right to top voltage of 3.3 vdc. Best part is when that port goes high the rest stay stable at 0 volts. Yes!