Hello,
My daughter and I are relatively new to robot building and we purchased the AL5D Robot Arm kit with BotBoarduino. We’ve done the build but are having trouble connecting it to the FlowArm PLTW software to control it. When we plug it in to power and the USB the lights on the board light up yellow, green and red and the arm moves in short jerking motions, but the FlowArm software cannot “find” the robot.
Any help on trouble shooting or fixing would be greatly appreciated.
I realized that I’m using the BotBoarduino which I don’t believe connects directly with FlowArm PLTW. If anyone could confirm this, that would be helpful.
Hi @hmars79,
Welcome to the RobotShop community!
As you mentioned, the BotBoarduino is not (directly) compatible with the FlowArm PLTW software. That software is meant to control an AL5D that is connected through an SSC-32U board.
What I recommend in this case is to use the Arduino IDE, which you can find here. Here’s a direct link to their setup for Windows.
As for example code, you can find five examples here. The first four examples in that list work without a PS2 controller.
Typically, customers use the BotBoarduino because they want the AL5D to work autonomously, either playing through a fix sequence or doing so through external stimuli (such as by using robotic sensors).
I hope this information helps! Feel free to post more questions as needed.
Sincerely,
