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ARC is a free-to-use robot programming software that makes servo automation, computer vision, autonomous navigation, and artificial intelligence easy.
@JetPilot96 - very nice build, congrats! Looks like you are using the standard meccanoid 6.7V power supply, can I ask what sort of battery life are you getting between charges?
@DJ - I haven't had a chance to glance through the code yet, but a few questions if I may:-
1) is it possible to read the current servo position? And if so based upon the discussion above would pull up resistors be required for that? (And thirdly would the inbuilt pull-up resistors of the arduino be sufficient if so?)
2) the meccanoid 'eyes' use an rgb led as one of the "servo's" on the neck chain with 256 values per Color. There is no servo mechanism attached to this but is addressable the same way a servo is. Is there a way for EZ-B to set the Color of the eyes? (The neck chain consists of 2 servo's (1 for Lan, 1 for tilt) with servo led's which can be set to 8 intensities of red OR blue OR green, whereas the eyes led has no servo but is an led which can mix up to 256 shades of red AND blue AND green)
3) is it possible to include a ramp time parameter to assist in servo speed? The default snap speed is pretty fast. (I know could be done within EZ-Script with a looping function, but would be a nice addition to the library)
Prior to converting to EZ-B I was using the firmware for arduino provided at meccontrol.com - the addition of these 3 items would replicate the functionality of that firmware providing full access to meccanoids hardware. Then with all the other wonderful features of EZ-B and ARC this will finally be a robot instead of a toy
Sorry for all the questions/feature requests, but I'm really excited about this (and wanting to make sure I order all the right gear in one go to minimise shipping costs).
for the once thinking about converting it to EZB - the original servos are to weak (hardly can lift straight arm) and not accurate - if you intend to use the feedback of the servos, it will take seconds to read all back - the wheel motors are not turning with same speed, also too weak
It is challenging the get it working, but if you like to use the robot, you better convert it to normal, stronger servos.
@ Aceboss 1, see above 2, Eye colour can be changed (via arduino, see video) 3, via Arduino limited possibilities as the communication is the bottleneck, if you send too many commands/ too fast, "smart?" servos behave strange
I have tried to communicate directly EZB to "smart" servos, but coould not establish reliable communication
Jetpilot, do you need assistance on a script to use the ARCservo controls? So you can take advantage of the camera tracking or auto positioner or wiimote or joystick etc...?
This is really cool as we also have a meccanoid and would like to convert also. Are you willing to share more as to how you did this? We'd really appreciate it.
Any more updates on this? I ask because we finally were able to get a Arduino Mega board and want proceed with doing some converting and see what all we can do with meccanoid. As for EZ Online apps that you alread did...Do you have the link as I did not see it (maybe going about it the wrong way) . Also, do you have the connections setup and such. We now have two Meccanoid's (2ft and 4ft) as my son got another one from a friend for his birthday (that they found really cheap on sale). Also, the above video again is broken...you mind posting it on youtube or vimeo as unlisted or even public would be great.
did not work on this project since then............ but here new link to the "old" video. these original servos do not work reliable.......changed all to 996 and therefore do not need the Arduino anymore, connected direct to EZB
Changed all to 996? yah we are already looking into changing the servo's as the servo's that come with the meccanoid robot are rather crappy (to keep it politely) and so I'd love if you could cloud your ez-b project if possible to share. This could be a huge gain in the meccanoid community to share and possibly expand the robot more.
Quote:
did not work on this project since then............ but here new link to the "old" video. these original servos do not work reliable.......changed all to 996 and therefore do not need the Arduino anymore, connected direct to EZB
@DJ - I haven't had a chance to glance through the code yet, but a few questions if I may:-
1) is it possible to read the current servo position? And if so based upon the discussion above would pull up resistors be required for that? (And thirdly would the inbuilt pull-up resistors of the arduino be sufficient if so?)
2) the meccanoid 'eyes' use an rgb led as one of the "servo's" on the neck chain with 256 values per Color. There is no servo mechanism attached to this but is addressable the same way a servo is. Is there a way for EZ-B to set the Color of the eyes? (The neck chain consists of 2 servo's (1 for Lan, 1 for tilt) with servo led's which can be set to 8 intensities of red OR blue OR green, whereas the eyes led has no servo but is an led which can mix up to 256 shades of red AND blue AND green)
3) is it possible to include a ramp time parameter to assist in servo speed? The default snap speed is pretty fast. (I know could be done within EZ-Script with a looping function, but would be a nice addition to the library)
Prior to converting to EZ-B I was using the firmware for arduino provided at meccontrol.com - the addition of these 3 items would replicate the functionality of that firmware providing full access to meccanoids hardware. Then with all the other wonderful features of EZ-B and ARC this will finally be a robot instead of a toy
Sorry for all the questions/feature requests, but I'm really excited about this (and wanting to make sure I order all the right gear in one go to minimise shipping costs).
Thanks!
you can set the speed of your motion slower,standard is speed 25
if you go higher excample 35 or 40 the motion get more smoother.
- the original servos are to weak (hardly can lift straight arm) and not accurate
- if you intend to use the feedback of the servos, it will take seconds to read all back
- the wheel motors are not turning with same speed, also too weak
It is challenging the get it working, but if you like to use the robot, you better convert it to normal, stronger servos.
@ Aceboss
1, see above
2, Eye colour can be changed (via arduino, see video)
3, via Arduino limited possibilities as the communication is the bottleneck, if you send too many commands/ too fast, "smart?" servos behave strange
I have tried to communicate directly EZB to "smart" servos, but coould not establish reliable communication
Thanks!
(Meccano MeccaNoid)
there you will find all the code to communicate from EZB to arduino.
or, what exactly would u like to know?
@jetpilot96
Thanks a bunch. You have him talking yet? If not, as you progress please keep us posted and I'll check back here from time 2 time.
Thanks!
@jetpilot96
but here new link to the "old" video.
these original servos do not work reliable.......changed all to 996 and therefore do not need the Arduino anymore, connected direct to EZB
Changed all to 996? yah we are already looking into changing the servo's as the servo's that come with the meccanoid robot are rather crappy (to keep it politely) and so I'd love if you could cloud your ez-b project if possible to share. This could be a huge gain in the meccanoid community to share and possibly expand the robot more.
Thanks a bunch.. We get more into this ez-robot we might have to stop by your office as we are just over here in Montana, USA ...