Compact, modular smart actuators which were designed to be an evolution of the standard RC servo for use in multi degree-of-freedom robots, animatronics, custom RC projects and more.
Hardware Info
Source CodeHow to add the Lynxmotion Smart Servos robot skill
- Load the most recent release of ARC (Get ARC).
- Press the Project tab from the top menu bar in ARC.
- Press Add Robot Skill from the button ribbon bar in ARC.
- Choose the Servo category tab.
- Press the Lynxmotion Smart Servos icon to add the robot skill to your project.
Don't have a robot yet?
Follow the Getting Started Guide to build a robot and use the Lynxmotion Smart Servos robot skill.
How to use the Lynxmotion Smart Servos robot skill
The Lynxmotion Smart Servos (LSS) are compact, modular actuators which were designed to be an evolution of the standard servo for use in multi degree-of-freedom robots, animatronics, custom robot projects and more.
The servos form the core modules of the next generation Lynxmotion servo Erector Set (S.E.S.) and a wide variety of modular brackets, mechanics and electronics have been designed around them. "Smart" means there is sensor feedback for Position, built-in safety features.
The LSS (LynxMotion Smart Servos) include a servo cable that supports TX and RX which connects directly to an Arduino or EZ-B v4 with Hardware UARTs. This means you can read servo positions in the Auto Position control or through script. The simplicity of the cable and servos makes it very easy to connect and begin using right away.
EZ-Script Commands There are a number of EZ-Script commands added with this control. The commands are as follows...
Quote:
GetLSSTemp(ServoPort) Returns the temp of the specified servoGetLSSLoadDir(ServoPort) Returns the direction of load on the specified servo
GetLSSLoad(ServoPort) Returns the load of the specified servo
GetLSSPing(ServoPort) Returns a ping response if the servo exists. Otherwise, returns false
I was going to ask support for these but you beat me to it! Thanks!
I just saw an article on these and was wondering what it would take to get them working in EZ-B.
Alan
We’re talking with lynxmotion about doing a live hack video to demonstrate these servos. Do you have suggestions of what you’d like to see in the hack?
Any chance of seeing this come to fruition (hack)?
I asked Alan what’s up with this - stay tuned
Sounds good. They have alot of interesting add ons for their servo like a torque tripler with gearing.
...any news on this?
Not yet! RobotShop has been developing and deploying a new website so they've been incredibly busy with that. I've been requesting calls for months and they keep getting pushed back. They told me that once they get the bugs sorted out they will have resources available to work with us on this. Stay tuned!
Is there anything in particular you want to see in the hack?
...just a general hack...like you guys have done in the past. I love the videos. I am a visual learner...and I'd like to see how they stack up in torque and how the commands can monitor position and loads, etc. Totally understand they are busy. They really are putting alot effort into the software and hardware...
@fxrtst Sorry we're late to the party here. If you want an idea of what's actually inside the servos, pause at ~0:11 here: https://youtu.be/pMNxJWB93ac?t=11 We've done extensive static and dynamic torque tests of the three servos to ensure the specs we provide are accurate (in the same tests we discovered that the many RC servos don't meet the specs provided by the manufacturer). You can take a look at the communication protocol here: https://www.robotshop.com/info/wiki/lynxmotion/view/lynxmotion-smart-servo/lss-communication-protocol/ it's split into "actions", "queries" and "configurations". Want to query the temperature of servo #4? Send the command #4QT<cr>. Want to configure servo #6's maximum speed to 15 rpm? Send #6CR15<cr>. We are certainly looking forward to seeing Synthiam grow, and our next push for the LSS is ROS compatibility (a different beast entirely).
@Cbenson,
Thank you very much for the info! Very impressive!
Thanks for chiming in cbenson! Great to hear from you.
actually, with synthiam there’s never a need for a user to type any of the commands you listed. The lynx motion servo plugin registers itself as a standard servo in the ARC software.
Users of our software never actually use a protocol for any hardware. The driver takes care of that. Similar to how your sound card of any model and make works with any software. It just magically happens.
with the ARC software, any servo works like any other servo because of the servo driver. So no need to mention the protocol or any technical details because it’s taken care of in the back end
. Similarly to how you use windows or macos and don’t need to program your sound card, we provide users with the same experience. It’s plugnplay to get users programming robots quicker