Coming Soon, Accelerometer/gyro/temperature Sensor

You owe me a coffee!.. I spilled it when I fell off my chair

That's awesome. I love how it fits so nicely in to the spare EZ-Bit connectors.

@Rich... If you had the ezbit accelerometer taped to your butt, you would know how to get up then....

The accelerometer and gyro will be really useful in so many of my projects.... Nice work you guys....

I am never going to save any money because I am spending it all with you :-)

Alan

great item.

ha ha lovin' where the light shines out of great add ons. "More, I want more"

@Alan.... Savings? LOL... I think I may have to sign over the deed to my house if DJ keeps creating this kind of stuff....

I see its a 4 wire connection, Is this going to be communicating through the I2C?

@orwnic82

He did say in the video it was plugging into the I2C port, so yes. (which is good because I am out of digital ports in my Roli (extended the arm length and added a headlight and laser).

Alan

@thetechguru

I don't have the ability to listen to the video, just watch. So I was just checking.

@Alan, answer more questions, I've spent surprisingly little with EZ-Robot (I feel a bit guilty about that but it goes away when JD dances...) but then in 4 questions time I will have "earned" over $1,000

I2C is the best connection method for numerous reasons. Plus since it's EZ-Robot made it'll be natively supported by ARC so should be super easy to add, install and use.

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@Alan, answer more questions

Heh.... I try, but you usually beat me to it

Seriously though, I have earned and spent a good bit of store credit, and have some stocked up since there were hints these devices were coming soon.

Alan

@Rich, I am just beginning to seriously understand I2C... So pardon a possible stupid question... Can I assume values from the gyro and accelerometer can be accessed/read via script commands?.... I have an Idea about using the gyro in my inMoov and I will need to use the gyro information in a script or two...

Well the MPU-6050 outputs through I2C, so to keep it a simple sensor.

Here's the documentation for the device: MPU-6050

Your get raw values for the x, y and z-axis so you'd have to do some math to get degrees and angles.

@Richard, they probably can be read through script commands. It depends on the device to be honest. If EZ-Robot make the device I am sure DJ will either make it easy to get values with scripts or have the controls store values in variables.

@Rich.... Well, we know with the demo DJ posted the gyro/accelerometer control must be able to read values in order to use ControlCommand() or the auto positioner..... So you're probably right about being able to read the x,y and z axis values into variables.... I guess we'll have to wait for the next ARC update to find out...

This is cool. Something else to add to an ever growing shopping list. I'm also quite excited about the new RGB display and compass module that has been mentioned.

I'll publish the new ARC today with the new control for this bit. It simply sets the sensor values to variables.

So if you want to know what position your robot is in, it's simple as an IF condition

Wow , I lost it when I saw him get up using one arm of his back. Good job !

wow i cannot wait for this!

You guys will love it! I can't wait to see what you can all do with a few of these in your hands.

whits new bits will come out?

I now have things to add to my shopping list. These will come in handy. Do you plan on releasing a GPS one? I have been heads down coding and have just come up for air so please forgive me if this has already been answered.

@d.cochran.

I know you've been a very busy boy my friend. I believe there are plans on releasing a GPS sensor on the cards. DJ made a comment about it an another post.

synthiam.com/Community/Questions/7342&page=2

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Let's see... a gps module, an accelerometer, a gyro, a compass... maybe a few others.

Good to know. I have plans for this with ez-ai and the Google maps interface I have. I can use Google maps in walking mode with the gps and compass to direct a robot to a certain point using Google maps to set way points.

Also it would be able to be used with the driving directions to go from current location to an address.

in all seriousness, this is nice. Now all we need is that dynamixel update

GPS does not work well indoors - the signals from the satellites are attenuated and scattered by roofs, walls and other objects. If its an outdoor robot then it could be useful, I think this is what David is referring to and linking it Google maps would be very cool.

Tony

Ok, this seems exciting. Does anyone have ideas or examples of what could be done with this device installed in a robot other then detecting him falling over? I can see some of the uses with a bot walking or rolling around but what about one that is just static and twists and turns like a robot arm or a waist joint?.

It'll be useful for balancing and weight shifting (two things which are key to large bipeds), balance bots which use a single wheel to move and remain upright may also be possible.

@Tony, you get me. Yes, it would be used outdoors. I am posting a video showing integration of EZ-AI with Google Maps right now. Walking directions is a simple switch in the URI using the Google Maps API.

Way back in the day I wrote some software for the Basic Atom Pro micro that would navigate a bot from waypoint to waypoint.... It's not too difficult you just have to find a way to parse the NMEA 0183 sentences that some gps output (usually at 4800baud)...

Yea. The good thing is that the solution that I am going to use will pass the information back to me in Lat Long coords. I will store this route in the database. This will allow the robot to mark these points on the route as achieved and move on to the next one.

At a past job, I worked as a Geographic Information Systems Administrator. We used GPS in vehicles to track oil and gas trucks as they went through their route along with all of the well locations in the United States. It was always interesting to see a truck at the dudes favorite fishing hole instead of on the route. We had to parse out the NMEA to do this. It wasn't bad at all and now there are some C# classes that will do this. Dropping these into my project wont be hard at all (famous last words).

With a GPS module and a tethered cell phone for an internet connection, the robot would be able to get the route back to follow very quickly. Here is an example of EZ-AI getting the directions back from Google in under a second using a cell phone connection for its internet connection. This is fast enough for it to check periodically to make sure that it is still on route by making another call to Google Maps at each of its waypoints and checking that against what it has in its route table to make sure that it hasn't done something stupid.

[EDIT] In thinking about this some more, my next build will have an onboard computer, so I could just as easily put a GPS unit in the robot which would be tied to the computer. It would then be able to go into outdoor navigation mode which would then be able to use the GPS tied to the computer to get immediate data from it as needed. The antenna's on these GPS units would be stronger and more accurate. The cost would be higher though. I will make the module in EZ-AI be able to accept parameters thus allowing the EZ-Robot version to pass the coords into EZ-AI from ARC so that the EZ-Robot GPS can be used also. [/EDIT]

I hate to be "one of those guys", but...

Any update on when the new sensor(s) will be in the shop? I have some cash and store credit burning a hole in my wallet since you announced them.

Alan

@Alan... me too... little bit of a store credit that I have....

lol - I don't know the answer to that either, at the moment. I am working (when I have time) to identify how to get a smoother process with launching new products. There's currently a pile waiting to add to the store, but they're all 90% complete.

I'll give you a better update when I know. Sorry to have given you an incorrect expected date last week - same applies for adventure bot

@DJ... Ok, but it's not my fault if all my money earmarked for new ez robot stuff gets mysteriously spent on beer...

No worries, were just greedy consumers...

Kidding, we do understand that you are doing what you can...

Cheers

Hi DJ

Just adding to the pressure.... LOL..... ( My Tax Return just came in ).. Will you be able to meet the demand for the Adventure Bot once you release it to the store? I'm ready to order one once you post them.

Thanks

Ron

PS I'm really enjoying my developer kit. Once Alan and Rich sorted out my communication issue all is well. (Thanks again Guys) A photo of my test bed will becoming soon.

I'm also going to be a purchaser and am looking forward to making an order!

This is very cool! This was, yet again, a feature request I didn't have to make. The thread title includes "gyro" but does this package include one?

Thanks much,

Bill

Yes. There is a video in the first post. And there is also a manual page under the learn section. And the title includes the word gyro because it includes a gyro

Learn link: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=209