First Real Look At My Ez-b Controlled Full Size Lis B9 Robot

Dave that is is looking great. How many EZ-b's are you using to control him?

Thanks again! I'm very proud of the paint job and finish. I live in fear that I'm going to drag a screwdriver over it while I'm working on him. eek

When finished I'll have 3 ez-b's. One the leg section, One in the torso and one up in the bubble. I could get away barely with one but the way he turns, leans and bobs on three levels I thought it would be less wires using three.

I'm having some problems right now with the large Bubble Lifter Servo. I'm getting a nasty jump and it locks on for a few seconds when I power it up. It has a different 12vdc power supply along with the 5v and signal from EZ-B's Digital port. When I apply main 12v power to it at robot power up or when a script starts the servo will jump almost all the way to the end of it's rotation very quickly and lock on for a few seconds. The only way I've been able to quiet it down was to run the main 12vdc power through a transistor switch circuit and have EZ-B turn it on AFTER I send an enable signal in a script. I also have to send servo Release and sleep Commands. Even after all this I still get a quick little bump. I guess I can live with that but I'd like to find a way to get rid if it completely.

Anyone have any ideas? Here is a sample script that I wrote that takes away most of the jump and lock up:

Edit : Please see the next couple posts for the solution and new script that seems to fix this problem.

OK, I've done a lot of thinking and searching the WWW. I found a lot of info on the RC fly boys forums. I think my problem is that I didn't find the center position of the servo before I installed the horn where I wanted it. Here's one post I found:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Take the screws out of the servo arms, power up the system, pop off the servo arms and put them on again as close to center as possible, put the screws back in again.

The servos will always correct themselves to what they consider their default position. No matter how much you move them when there is no battery in. unfortunately the only way to fix this is to (while the batery is plugged in) unscrew the screw and take of the servo horn and install it to correct trim. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Makes sense and sounds like good advice. I'll give it a try tomorrow if I have time.

It's been a busy week with snow removal, family issues and daytime job bleeding into the evening (overtime). Too bad real life gets in the way of personal fun. However I guess it's important to have all that other stuff so I can have a balanced life and money for the fun.

Anyway, I was able to get my servo jumping problem worked out. What worked best was a combination of the points I mentioned in the above posts:

First : making sure the servo was centered (poison 50) when it was at rest and attaching the horn so it was also positioned at rest. Second : making sure I powered up the servo after the signal was sent for servo speed and position from EZ-B. I found it was very important to have the script "Sleep()" at least one second after I send the servo speed and position and before I sent the power up command that closed the transistor to let the 12vdc power flow to the servo.

Here's the script I wrote that I found works best to move the servo smoothly up and then back down:

ServoSpeed(D1,1)
Servo(D1, 33)
Sleep(1000)
# D10 is the digital port I have the Transistor switch circut attached to that turns on main 12vdc power
Set(D10,on)

Sleep(2000)

ServoSpeed(D1,2)
Servo(D1, 49)
Sleep(1000)
#D10, servo power needs to be turned off before servo is released or servo could jump
Set(D10,off)
Sleep(100)
Release(D1)

Now I need to make a video of everything working to post and show off!

SNOW that must be fun,i love the swiss alps,when i was there skiing and having fun in the snow,

DAVE cant wait to see your video,your design is really great,hope soon to start on my B9 robot,but so many other projects first,but i am getting there,i be glad in about a month,more time then i ever will need to work on robots full time

The script looks good will have to try your idea on my designs ,thanks

That's excellent information Dave. Thanks for troubleshooting for the rest of us haha. Can't wait to see some video. hint hint

Thanks for the nice words Bret & Robotmaker. I'll get some video up soon.

Actually snow truly sucks. I've lived in it most of my life. It's cold, wet and I have no time to shovel it and keep the sidewalks clear of ice. In fact my mother-in-law just slipped on it last week and broke her hip.

Mentioning time, if you plan to do a full sized B9 you had better put aside about 1 -2 years of your life with no other robot projects. Also as others have said; a B9 robot project is never really done.

YES i can see its big big project,but i have more then 20 years or more to work on robots since no more work.

And i love my job free travel and work on designs all day,but i need to retire early and still have more money i need at the same time,i keep me from building robots a major passion for me.

I can see snow is not fun when you leave there day after day,mm idea maybe a have a robot do the snow plowing

SORRY to hear about your mother in-law hope she does better,i know how it feels if happen to me while back