MCU Communicator and Axon II vs. My Nerves (SOLVED-ish)

[CalamariDudeMan]

Hi all,

I have Roborealm and an Axon II that I am trying to get to communicate via the new module in Roborealm, the MCU Communicator.  I have previously successfully programed my Axon using the test program generated in the Webbot Project Designer (at least, I think I have.  The modified servos I am using all began turning and reversed directions at slightly different times, causing my bot to waltz around instead of move in a straight line.  They are had been using separate timers, is that the problem? or is this just the program?), but none of the programs from the Roborealm site work properly.

The servo controller made my servos freak out, which, I quickly realized, was because their center was actually at value 114 rather than 128.  Also strange, changing values on one servo made all the other servos on the same timer move oppositely.  I am using the 16-bit clocks, so it seems like the pulses came slightly out of sync for those servos on the same clock.  I don't need that program to work, however, because I'm having the laptop do the image manipulation and pass simple commands while the Axon does the direction figuring.  The MCU Communicator is perfect for this, because I can send simple string commands to the Axon to tell it where to go.

I have tried several times to upload the .hex file given in the MCU Comm Axon folder, and have had the same results.  My Roborealm Watch Variables module does not report the existence of any of the variables in the Communicator module, and shows them as blank if I define them further up the processing pipeline.  The LED on the Axon that is supposed to switch state every four frames does not, and there is no indication that anything is happening at all, except for the ~.2 secs it takes Roborealm to complete the Comm module.

I have come to the conclusion that I have either done something terribly wrong, or the given .hex is for the original Axon.  Very frustrating for me is that I have been unable to compile a new .hex, because AVR Studio tells me there are no build tools defined.  Also, the Roborealm projects are not using WebbotLib, so I am at a loss as to what directories and files I need to include in any project I make off of these.  I am new at this and have been having tremendous amounts of fun so far; however, these problems surpass my ability.  Please help!

[CalamariDudeMan]

Well, I've cleared something up a bit more.  I didn't realize that there seem to be two movements of software for the Axon, one through WebbotLib and one through the SOR_Utils files.  That would explain why the Roborealm programs weren't written with WebbotLib.  Can the two be merged, or must they and all programs written with them stay separate?

[Admin]

The SoR_utils software is old, and is no longer supported. I abandoned it two years ago to fully support WebbotLib, which is much better software than anything I could write myself

It won't take you long to rewrite code and convert, probably just a few hours to be honest. It's definitely worth the transition.

Keep in mind that the pinouts on the Axon and Axon II are different, meaning that things like the LED won't work. So if you use the original Axon hex on the Axon II, expect things not to work

Also, the RoboRealm Axon module was written by RoboRealm. It's possibly using the old Axon software, but I never asked Steven how he did it.

hope that clears up some of the confusion . . .

[CalamariDudeMan]

Thanks Admin!

I'm a long way from being able to write anything like these libraries  O.o  They make life so much easier though, excellent job to both you and Webbot.  I'll ask the forum to see if anyone has already made these modifications, no sense in reinventing the wheel, especially since it will take me more than a few hours in my green stage of programming     Thanks again!

P.S.  the Axon is a pretty awesome thing, could definitely call it more than just a motor controller even if it is geared towards that in its pin setup.  I'm sure glad the manufacturer thing worked out!