Welcome to the forum. I too started out with MRL - wasn't for me. EZ-Robot definitely is/was a game changer. You will be able to make your InMoov come alive with EZ-Robot hardware and software and this forum. I have my InMoov running on 2 EZBv4's, some people are using one EZBv4 and a SSC-32 and others are using multiple EZB's. What ever works for you. Post any questions you might have and I'm sure someone will help you out.

@bhouston is correct... I am one who uses the ssc-32 and one EZB4. You're good either way..... I started my inMoov project after seeing what @Bob had done with his. I was blown away needless to say... @mayaway as Bob mentioned you stick with ez robot your inMoov will do things that arduino and MRL users wish theirs could do....

Stay on the forum and ask away... we'll help you.... :)

I'm honored to meet you both! Thanks for your input and encouragement! I will go ahead and order two EZB4s. My wife says if I can teach 'maya' to do floors or dust, I can keep her...

I am thinking I may be in the same boat. I have an inmoov statue as well. Having a bit more luck than you but man it is hard to do anything with an undocumented software package.

So I have some research to do here. Need to understand power distribution and all the other stuff. Shame to pull all that out and have to replace it all.

When I switched my InMoov over to EZ Robot from MRL, all I had to do was connect the servo signal wires to the EZB. All of the power leads were already combined on a main bus. Then of course the programming had to be done - which was EZ.

@Perry_S... To further what @Bob said... If you use more than 1 ezb4 you can probably get way with just plugging all your servos into the ezb4 ports directly... The only other hardware is a 6V 12A SLA battery or a 6V 50A power supply... Ooops and a Camera. I use the ezb4 camera because it plugs directly into the ezb which is so convienent. However you can use any camera that windows recognizes (plugged into you PC or laptop or uses bluetooth).... then programming... That's it... The only reason you should use more than one ezb is to split up the current requirements for inMoov.... As fantastic as the ezb4 is, one ezb really can't handle the current requirements of a complete inMoov.... Still my first inMoov as mentioned used an SSC-32 board and 1 ezb4... My second inMoov I used a couple of these to help with power distribution... Just for safe measure. Servo Power board

Hey I know it's a real pain to switch over like this mid build but I promise you, once you get rolling you'll be seriously glad you did...

@mayaway Nice build man... Love the all white scheme... The EZB4 will fit right in with your inMoov :)

I bought one with the camera last night so I am starting the cross over. I am leery about running all that current through it so I will most likely make a power distribution system. We will see but the transition is started. Looks like your community is growing.

@Mayaway & Perry_S

I too was using arduino H/W, until I found EZ-robots and have never looked back, from a programming and h/w perspective it so much better! You won't regard it, and it's a great fun learning. Also this forum is fantastic and I've learnt so much more from the great folks here!

Well, in prep for running the InMoov on two EZBv4s I've stripped out the Arduino Megas, and a few of the InMoov breakout boards. I uploaded the script I found at https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/6767&page=7 to the Arduino Nano to drive the Neopixel Ring (I wonder if I will need to hook up Rx0 and Tx1 to digital ports 19 and 18 ?)

I modified the breakout boards for each hand/wrist (6 servos each) by running direct 6VDC power lines to the breakout board and soldering then in place. I cut a short length out of wires #2, #4 and #6 on the ribbon cable at the elbow end. (Those three normally deliver +6VDC)

I modified the other end of the ribbon cable's breakout boards to hold just the 6 header pins on the signal points.

This arrangement offloads the power needs of 6 servos from each EZBv4 so they should easily be able to drive those remaining: 4 Giant Scale (each shoulder), 2 Giant Scale (top & mid stomach), 3 Standard (neck rot, neck elev, jaw), 2 9gm (eyes)

I can't relocate the instructions for powering with a SLA 6VDC Bat off the red power pins on the EZBv4. I think there was there something to do to isolate that power source?

I want to get Speech Recognition (dev a verbal command set for gestures and cycles), and the mouth moving with speech...

My stuff arrived today. Didn't realize it had to come from China but it is here none the less. That power connector looks tiny. Going to have to make a power hugs and bunnies for the servos.

Time to start playing

My stuff seems to have had an attempted delivery in Boston, and I am in South Portland, ME. I got an automated DHL call late last night. I've written DHL and EZ Support. They said we weren't home and we were home. I hope there is a way to have them deliver with no sig. though this is $200 worth of stuff... We'll see...

Good luck. That frustrates the hell out of me when I am waiting for something and the delivery is screwed up. Our local UPS just kind of deposits them on the block and I have to walk to neighbors to find my package. This time my stuff made it up here to Vermont OK. Maybe I got yours :-)

@Guys I am a long time ez robot user... Still I am in the same boat as you guys... My package got stuck in Canada customs and I am still waiting (2 days) for it to be released.... sigh... :(

I asked could there be more options for delivery? There's only DHL and $18 for an ounce of stuff. Ouch. EZ needs to get a handle on this for the long run. I get stuff from China via Amazon and there's never a problem, and shipping based on the weight...

DHL has just contacted me and verified I want my stuff delivered, and to the correct address...

Let's hope.

I've watched a whole bunch of James Bruton's vids on Robot X, and the android with parallelogram legs. I made a miniature to get my head around the design. Ordered lead screws, extra nuts, four 12v cordless drills. Designed and printing a piece to connect to TStoLowLeftV1.stl and TStoLowRightV1.stl along with a cap to lock it in place with a 7mm stainless counter sunk hex bolt. Have rc gyros, and gyro/accelerometer/compass on the way. We'll see. I'm a retired Physical Therapist and know quite a bit about gait in humans... We'll start with standing > weight shifting > maintaining balance if you get a gentle push > single limb support > baby steps...!

@mayaway James... that guy rocks I also watch his videos religiously... ;)

Hi All,

I am also building my INMOOV. Tried MRL for nearly 2 months and finally gave up. Bought an EZB and it was not easy but easier than MRL. Slowly getting the hang of it, then BOOM, EZB died on me. Bought a new EZB and gonna try it again. So far, I have completed both arms, and is now printing the torso.

Lets hope my new EZB doesn't blow again.

@jimbo - there may be a return policy if the failure was not yours... Be careful about overloading the ECBv4 which is rated at 5 amps continuous, 20 amp spike. I provide direct power to the hands and wrists so 6 servos are NOT drawing power through each two ECBv4s.

I know. I am powering the servos separately. Not through the board. Only the signal cables and ground goes to the board

Also, apparently there is no return policy from the authorised re seller that I bought the EZB from

@jimbo. Be sure to share the ground between your EZ-B power source and your servo power source. Probably not related to the blowout of your first EZ-B, but needed for signal reference.

Might want to add a 20 amp fuse to the EZ-B power source as well since you don't know what caused the failure.

Alan

Tech Guru,

Hows that?I am currently using 6xAA battery for EZB power source and 4xAA battery for Servo. Loop the ground? Already looped. Doesn't the EZB already have a fuse?

I hope its not because of the ground looping that caused the card to be damaged.

There is a 20 amp fuse in the bodies of the robots and in the power base. If you are using one of these, you have a fuse. If not, you should add a fuse. The EZ-B does have a polyfuse also on the bottom board of the V4, but if you are not using one of the robot bodies or in the power base, you should add one inline between the power source and the EZ-B.

On the ground, all of your devices (servos, sensors and EZ-B) need to share a common ground. Having a ground for the servos that is not the same for the EZ-B will cause devices not to communicate with the EZ-B.

All-righty then... I've added external speaker wires and power lines to my two ECBv4's, set each one to client mode, turned off the bat warning since I power with 6V SLA, started a test project, added a vertical servo control, set min/max, (and the servo didn't do anything when changing the value with the mouse), scripted so I could manipulate the (hacked for 180) test servo via the external pot -- got it spinning L, R, and Stop.

What to do next? I'm a coder. @bhouston I think I dowloaded a big xml file from you - not sure what that is or where it goes... I've printed the EZ-Script Function Set

What are the big steps to bring my InMoov back to life? servo Movements, Speech Recognition, Scripted Gestures, Camera Stuff once it comes, Neopixel Ring (have a nano loaded with code I found on these boards -- how to command it?)

Thanks in advance! S~

On the neopixel, you can connect to the serial port on the EZ-B (or technically any digital port), and send serial commands to the arduino controlling the neopixel ring. This can be scripted.

Looks like you are making great progress!

I saw that ini the original script they were connecting UART1 pins 18 and 19, but now there is a dedicated UART0 wouldn't it be fine to use that?

You sure can.

There are 3 UARTs on the EZ-B V4. 2 of them are through digital pins and the other is through the UART port. Technically, any digital pin can send serial commands, but if you are not using the UART port for anything, just connect to it. It will keep the digital pins free for other things :)

@mayaway I usually use UART0 so I don't have to use up a digital pin... As David mentioned any digital port can send serial data but only the 3 uart ports can receive it as well...

https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/UserTutorials/150/1

Just in case you haven't found it yet, here is a tutorial on the neo-pixel connecting to the EZ-B through an arduino.

I think that you already found it though.

@mayaway - We used to offer slower, more cost effective shipping options from China but it ended up being a disaster. The delivery times are significantly longer and often without proper tracking. Packages with valuable EZ-B's would go missing too frequently with no recourse. EZ-Robot actually subsidizes part of the shipping costs from China through DHL to make it a bit more affordable today.

We have been working on building out a strong reseller network to provide products and support closer to customers locations. If your local reseller doesn't carry what you're looking for, you can always ask them to bring it in and notify us as well. We will try and get them to carry the products so they are available closer to home.

And who knows... we might even have products available through Amazon Prime one of these days ;)

Alan, Amazon Prime is everybody's local supplier! We can get it shipped for free and you can stop subsidizing Chinese shipping and make more money.

@ezrobot - Thanks for chiming in. Why is it so different when I order through Amazon? I expect $ is the answer. (I never have to pay $18 for a few ounces...) Where can I find a local distributor of EZ products? Thanks! S~

Guys Robotshop.com sells ez robot stuff maybe purchase from them as they have free shipping over a certain dollar value...

@mayaway We use DHL Express 2-3 day, tracked service. The smallest weight category for that service is .5kg. If you'd like to see what it costs to ship from China (origin zip 518000) to your destination, use the DHL Rate Calculator and fill in the information. We obviously get a good volume discount off those rates, but it is still quite costly to ship. I'm guessing items you buy from Amazon that don't cost as much to ship are not shipped with a 2-3 day, tracked service.

You can Find a retailer near you by clicking that link, or select the Find a retailer near you button from the shop page. There are a handful around the USA!

@Perry_S I can definitely vouch for Prime. I think I've placed 72 orders in the past 6 months :D!

Thank you. Informative and helpful. Perhaps you could offer cheaper shipping for those not in a hurry. I'd rather have a choice than be forced into 3 day select...

Quote:

Thank you. Informative and helpful. Perhaps you could offer cheaper shipping for those not in a hurry. I'd rather have a choice than be forced into 3 day select...

There are several choices on checkout, but the difference in cost is not too significant until you start getting into the larger packages.

Another point that Alan didn't mention but that DJ did earlier, is that they selected DHL due to their global reach. They serve every country, and handle the VAT and/or duty collection. A small company trying to have that kind of distribution network using different carriers for each country becomes very difficult logistically. When EZR grows they may be able to do that (probably by outsourcing a lot of the delivery to Amazon, although that doesn't solve the every country issue).

For US small packets, China Post transferred to USPS is pretty reliable and offers tracking, although it can take weeks to get a delivery, but not every country will accept China Post package exchange.

We have talked before about doing group orders, but never managed to coordinate it.

Alan