This build was in two parts. The original build was hacked live at Comic Expo in Calgary Alberta with an EZ-B v3 in 2012. It was a fun hack, because I performed the hack live, where people could watch on a stage. The second hack was in 2017, where we replaced the EZ-B v3 with an IoTiny.
The recent hack now has the following...
- Powered by an EZ-B IoTiny
- Video and vision recognition with a EZ-B v4 Camera
- Extended the camera cable with a EZ-B v4 Camera Extension Cable (60cm)
- LED animation using a 18 RGB LED PCB
- Reusing the existing motors with a 2.5 Amp Motor Controller
- Powered by a LiPo Robot Battery 7.4v 1300mAh and a LiPo Battery Harness
- Servos for the camera and dome are HDD Servo
Here's the video of the original hack from 2012 with the EZ-B v3 at Comic Expo...
By DJ Sures
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Naw, just the digital input skill
@Jeremie is any way you can share you project for r2d2?
Thank you man
My project isn't 100% complete. I did have some issues with moving the head and stopping it with the encoders, it's not perfect but anyway, here it is:
R2D2 Test.EZB
Here's my App from the video above: synthiam.com/Community/Apps/r2d2-12049
Thank you guys
Maybe that's why people go servo for head to ditch motor and encoder.
A servo is a motor with a built in decoder
the standard shell of the r2d2 doesn’t have a decoder in the head. It has a limit switch which says "this is the end" so it just guesses at positions based on motor timing.
The R2D2 does have an encoder within the head, the challenge is reading it when the motor spins the head quickly. If the head moves slower with a lower PWM it’s easier to read the encoder pulses.
You can see the encoder at 14:30 here
Ah, so it does! My memory was incorrect - but either way, it is only an encoder, and there's no way to know the absolute position. With an encoder, you only know the relative position. You'd need to turn for some time and "assume" the head has reached zero to use it. At that point, you could use an interrupt on an Arduino to count the ticks. The Wheel Encoder robot skill would be the robot skill; it could return the tick count and give you an idea of the position.
Interesting fact... The Apple ][ disk drive also did not have a limit switch, which is why they made that noise. The stepper motor would move the head for a period of time until it bounced off the stopper at zero. It would make an awful racket while it bounced. But that assured the stepper would be at zero. From that point, the stepper counts would determine the head position. So, in a way, it would operate similarly.
So yeah, if you want to use it, use the Wheel Encoder robot skill.