Author Topic: Duplicating the new Futaba robot (hpi)  (Read 3548 times)

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Offline bitsimoTopic starter

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Duplicating the new Futaba robot (hpi)
« on: December 30, 2006, 12:38:21 PM »
hii,

ok firstly i am not a complete new bee, just that i have managed to stay away from micro controllers!
most of my robots till now have been manually controlled ones. ;D

after watching videos of the new futaba robot and many similar ones which dance and are able to roll , i thought its time i started to try to make one!
but after going thru a lot of designs i figured out , firstly its not possible to manually control it!

so i need halp regarding the micro controller selection and all , since i am funded by my university cost is not a major major issue ( a budget betw 0 to 350 $).
 i have been provided with 5 futaba 403PR and 5 of  404PD robot servos for this project, and i have a decant amount of knowledge in C++ and would prefer a USB communication betw the pc and the micro controller.

and could u also help me with any  other majour issues i am over looking.
lastly could u please explain the difference betw normal futaba S3003 servos and these robot servos

Offline Admin

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Re: Duplicating the new Futaba robot (hpi)
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2006, 07:33:21 PM »
there are 3 or 4 people on this forum actively building a biped, just search the forum for 'biped' . . .

i am also planning on building a biped, but i havnt thoroughly looked at commercially available controllers yet for this purpose. generally you want something small and light-weight, with as many digital outputs as you have of servos. im probably going to custom design mine as i havnt been too impressed with what ive seen . . .

Quote
would prefer a USB communication betw the pc and the micro controller
microcontrollers can do both USB and serial, but serial is generally easier. dont sweat this - if the controller uses serial and your laptop only has usb, just buy a usb-to-serial converter for like $15.

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explain the difference betw normal futaba S3003 servos and these robot servos
normal servos just take in an input signal, and then moves according to that signal. robot servos have an additional feature - if you move it to a position, it will output a signal to your controller. why is this useful? it makes programming walking gaits as easy as moving your robot around like a doll, then saving the output signal. the commercially available bipeds such as robonova have this feature.

i have never actually done this before tho . . . so im not entirely sure how you command the servo to output the signal or the best way for a microcontroller to read the signal . . . anyone know?

Offline JonHylands

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Re: Duplicating the new Futaba robot (hpi)
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2006, 08:42:46 PM »
I would recommend you look at this:

http://www.lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=67

You would need to buy 2 more servos, plus something to control them.

Or, you could look at this for something simpler:

http://www.lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=97

- Jon

 


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