Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Electronics => Electronics => Topic started by: bitsimo on March 11, 2007, 01:49:00 PM

Title: New Micro's servopod mictrocontroller USB or serial
Post by: bitsimo on March 11, 2007, 01:49:00 PM

hi ,
i have a doubt  ;D!

i am working on a humanoid project , for my microcontroller needs i have finally decided to go ahaed with buying the new micro's Servo pod since ill have to handle about 24 servos at a time , my question is i am confused shold i buy the serial model ($199) or the servopod USB ( $250). the thing is it is not the only usb serial difference , i know i can buy a seperate much cheaper ( than $50 extra ) USB to serial converter , but the comparison  matrix http://www.newmicros.com/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newmicros.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fstore%2Forder.cgi%3Fform%3Dprod_detail%26part%3DServoPod-USB (http://www.newmicros.com/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newmicros.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fstore%2Forder.cgi%3Fform%3Dprod_detail%26part%3DServoPod-USB)
 says there is also a difference in program flash, i am not use to all this specs , and kinda still new at all , this so could some one please suggest if the flash difference mention is actually worth the extra 50 dollars or not ? i want to keep the servo pod for other small robots too , so it is not meant for the humanoid alone.


while giving ur opinion could u also give an example as to how much dos this extra flash mean in terms of program , functionalbity etc?

thanks in advance

Title: Re: New Micro's servopod mictrocontroller USB or serial
Post by: JonHylands on March 12, 2007, 06:13:41 AM

The real question is, do you want this robot to be autonomous? If so, you're going to generally use some kind of micro-controller onboard. Most micro-controllers do not have a USB host port, so you need the serial option in that case.

The USB option is nice if you're trying to control your robot directly from a PC.

- Jon

Title: Re: New Micro's servopod mictrocontroller USB or serial
Post by: bitsimo on March 12, 2007, 08:17:15 AM

ya i want it to be autonomous, so u are saying about the usb aspect ( the servopod has a usb and a serial port ), i am basically confused about is the extra memory worth the money?

Title: Re: New Micro's servopod mictrocontroller USB or serial
Post by: JonHylands on March 12, 2007, 09:00:57 AM

Well, since the USB one can also do RS-232 (or even TTL if its configured), it probably doesn't matter.

The board has a fairly powerful MCU onboard, which may be sufficient to do most of what you are doing without requiring an external MCU.

Personally, I would get the USB version, because it makes it much simpler to connect to modern PCs.

- Jon