I have an AL5A that works great on LynxTerm and RIOS. When In try to use Dual Arm Config I have problems. I’ve tried 2 versions of the program and they act differently, but still don’t work.
The first version I tried (V311) finds the com port (10 @ 115200). I ran through all the settings, adjusting the servos, and setting a home position for arm 1.
All the work was lost because it did not save my settings. No prompting for name or location, and no message about auto saving. I know the settings weren’t saved because I re-opended the config program and all the defaults were back.
Version 3_0_0 doesn’t find the comport. The pull down text box for com port selection is empty. I went through the setup anyway and the servos did not move during calibration.
Neither version of the Dual Arm Control (ver 1_1_9 or ver 1404) ever found the com port so I don’t know if the program works or not.
I eventually want to drive the SSC-32 / AL5A with an Arduino so whether Dual Arm works or not maybe a moot point. I have an Arduino shield with a second USB port on it that is for controlling keyboards, mice, etc. which is where plan on plugging in the USB/RS232 adapter. I’ve seen example code that sends joint movement text strings (#0P500 etc) from a Basic Stamp to the SSC-32. I’m guessing that I could send a text string such as (A1 x2.0 y3.12 etc.) to the SSC-32 and it would go to where i want. Is there a complete list of all the XYZ mode commands available?
I also need to modify the Arm a bit because I will need the Wrist rotate function as well as the vacuum pickup, as this is for an SMD pick and place machine and the parts will need some axial adjustment.
Why would you want to do that? One can directly connect an arduino serial output directly to the ssc-32 TTL serial input. As to your pc comport issues, have you looked in device manager (if you are using windows) to see if your (assumed) USB to serial adapter is being recognized?
Bummer. I’ve got an Arduino Duemilanove with a w5100 ethernet shield and had the arduino receive servo command positions from a web page and send the positions to my ssc-32 using the Duemilanove hardware serial port. The pc was still connected to the arduino via the USB connection so I could see the commands being sent to the ssc-32 in the arduino serial monitor. For testing, one can probably just write some simple code to echo the servo commands sent from the pc back to the serial monitor and to the ssc-32 If you need a lot of serial ports you should get a mega.
Also, please note that you could use the Software Serial library to use another set of pins as a serial port. This is a very common thing to do and works very well with the SSC-32.
Not at this time. We are working to release a new SSC-32 Servo Sequencer program which will replace most of the free software and give you (almost) complete access to the SSC-32 to calibrate and position servos, create sequences and more.
Don’t have the full details yet, but it will be a stand-alone free program which will allow for (almost) full use of the SSC-32 via PC, including calibration, positioning, sequencing, auto-detect (w/ selectable COM and Baud), Bluetooth connectivity, access to analog pins etc. We’ll release an initial version, get feedback for desired extra functionality or changes and release subsequent versions.
That sounds good.
I would suggest allowing a LOT of com port numbers, as every time one adds a USB-RS-232 device (FTDI chips on boards, too), another com port number gets “used up”.
I recently ran a Stepper driver controller program, and it ran out of numbers! I had to remove some unused port assignments (I work through a lot of FTDI, Arduino and LM boards on projects). I used this paper on the subject:
Not sure what you mean by “schematic” for software? The Dual Arm Controller was created before RobotShop purchased Lynxmotion. It was created using FlowStone as a stand-alone exe file. The individual who created the software is no longer supporting it, and we don’t have any information separate from what there is on the website, which is why we are creating a new software.
