After wanting to have/build a Hexapod for quite some time now I more or less decided on The BH3-R with the Boarduino.
Now I still have some questions:
Does the Botboarduino have any limitations considering computation power compared to the Bot Board II (or are those differences not really noticable?)
I plan on adding sensors to the feet some time in the future. Does the BotBoarduino have enough power for that? or would I have to switch to another controller then too?
I plan on writing my own software from scratch. As a learning thing. (Don’t worry, I already have a few years of programming experience, just haven’t done anything with robots yet.) Now I’m wondering: Could it easily happen that I damage the servos by making mistakes at p.e. the walking? (like accidentally only standing on three legs for too long or something like that) or should the servos be able to handle that?
I will take a stab at some of this. Although Not sure what 6. was?
Botboarduino is the same as a standard Arduino, with some extra hardware on it, that makes it easier to hook up things. Arduinos run at 16mhz as does the BB2 with a Bap28 in it. The Bap however has native 32 bit math, but is interpreted. Botboarduino is 8 bit but is compiled… Both are rather limited on memory.
Depends. What sensors… Also I assume you are using an SSC-32 for the servos?
Damaging servos - Always possible, but I have not killed that many. What sometimes happen is you run them too hard into a place that can not go. I have probably only damaged maybe 5-6 HS-645mgs in several years of abuse.
I believe most kits come with one connector/switch. I often run these with at least 2. One for Logic, the second for Servos
Does not need to be nimH. Many use Lipos. However there are no 6v Lipos that I know of. The 2s versions are more like 7.2v and when fully charged maybe up to 8+v, which many servos can not handle. You will see where several members are using voltage regulators off of their Lipo to bring them back down to 6v. Alternatively you can purchase servos that can handle this voltage. Also you might be able to use LifePO4 batteries without regulators as they are something like 6.6v with the full high end of 7.2, which I think many of servos can handle. I have a couple here that I keep meaning to swap one into my Quad to see how it works. I need to update the battery switches plug to match…
Sorry Kurte - seems like we were answering at the same time. Here it is anyway:
When programming a hexapod, the code comes clothes (but does not surpass) the limits of either processor, but you should offload the servo control to the SSC-32. Both are good for hobby-style robots and the specs are similar, so you should choose the controller based on the programming language you prefer.
Yes - you can always power that line of IO pins separately if needed.
Yes, that could happen if you force a servo to try to go beyond its design specs.
It depends which “kit” you are referring to. Both the BotBoarduino and Bot Board only include basic cables - no battery connector cable. That is the battery we suggest for almost all of the robots we offer.
Also considering the battery: does it have to be nimH for some reason? Or could I also use 6v LiPos?
LiPos are usually 3.7V and 7.4V. Most servos are rated to handle up to 6V, so a 7.4V battery operating a 6V servo is not ideal. However if you are designing your own hexapod, there are 7.4 servos (we don’t carry the selection on Lynxmotion.com, so here they are on RobotShop: robotshop.com/hitec-servo-en.html
It would say “high voltage” or “HV”. This way you can use a 7.4V LiPo.
