I’ve begun to notice people asking a lot of the same questions about the BotBoarduino. I’m going to use this thread to record many of the questions that I see all the time.
First off, Did you read the manual? I can personally say that 99% of questions are answered in the user manual found here: lynxmotion.com/images/html/build185.htm
I’m confident in the user manual’s accuracy and completeness because well, I wrote it…
If you believe that I’ve left something important out please let me know.
Now for the questions.
Q: Can I program the BotBoarduino in the Arduino language and can I use the Arduino IDE?
A: Absolutely. Our BotBoarduino is based on the Arduino Duemilanove with AtMega328.
Q: How can I connect an SSC-32 to the Botboarduino?
A: Hardware connections are covered in the User manual. As for controlling the SSC-32 with the BotBoarduino you need to print ASCII commands to the serial line. For more information on SSC-32 commands please look here. For more information on using the BotBoarduino’s Serial port look here
Q: Can the Botboarduino run a hexapod like the Phoenix?
A: Sort-of. The BotBoarduino simply does not have enough outputs for all of those servos and a controller. It just can’t. However we are working on tutorials that use the SSC-32 and the Botboarduino together to control our advanced hexapods. Please be patient.
Q:What’s so great about the BotBoarduino compared to a standard Arduino?
A:A lot of things. For everything please read the user manual. The biggest difference is that the BotBoarduino has our standard 3" x 2.3" board size so you can easily add it to any of our robot kits without any kind of modifications. The second big advantage is that we’ve broken out all of the I/O pins to standard three pins servo/sensor connections, this means no breadboarding is needed to connect your bot’s servos and sensors.
Q: How do I connect servos to the BotBoarduino?
A few things need to be done to ensure top performance.
The servos must be connected such that the signal wire (often the yellow wire) near the center of the board. That means the Ground wire would be near the edge of
the board and the power pin is in the middle.
You must use a separate power supply for the VS input to drive the servos. The 5 volt regulator on board just doesn’t have the muscle to power more than one or two servos.
Be sure to move the input select jumper (It’s the one closest to the pin bank you’re using) from 5v to VS.
Q: Does Lynxmotion sell any shields for the Botboarduino?
A: At this time we do not sell any shields; however, I hear rumors that our robot minions are working on something cool. While we do not offer any shields please remember that the BotBoarduino is 100% pin compatible with all shields that support the standard Arduino shield format.
Therefore for your AL5D, if you already have an SSC-32, you don’t need anything new except the software. For the 2WD rover and BRAT, you’d only need the SSC-32 and the accessories above.
@llnacio Welcome to the RobotShop Community. Yes, you can certainly use the BotBoarduino to control the AL5D (there is an AL5D + BotBoarduino kit available for sale after all). You can find all information here:
Thank you. Would you have code without using the PS2 controller? I am looking to do image acquisition and automate the arm to perform a certain action with intelligent planning.
The bootloader on the BotBoarduino is intended for Arduino rather than C, though like most Arduino-based microcontrollers, the bootloader can be overwritten (though not many people do this) to accept C. Since not many people take that route, not aware of any IK sample code for the AL5D in C (Google is your friend).
You’ll need to follow the code. The first step is selecting the appropriate arm type. You’ll then need to ensure the pins you selected on the BotBoarduino are the correct ones according to the sample program. The section “int Arm” includes the inverse kinematics code which was your initial request.
Good morning, I am having a problem while executing my code. The handler makes only two movements and then it locks, no longer accepts data and does not display anything else. I thought it was the memory but I put variables that consume less but it was for only one movement, that is, it got worse. I do not know what else to do.
@llnacio For troubleshooting custom Arduino code, it’s best to post on the Arduino forum directly: https://forum.arduino.cc/
You might want to also provide a link to the original sample code so people can easily see the differences. Be sure to explain (in relative detail and/or pseudo code) exactly what you’d like to accomplish. After you post there, feel free to provide the link to the thread / topic here so others can take a look.
Hi,
I am trying to set up my 4WD1 rover and I have a trouble with BotBoarduino. When I connect the BotBoarduino to my computer through a USB port, I cant choose any port in the Arduino software (the port is greyed out) ( I am using the latest Arduino version 1.8.15). Also under the “tools” section in Arduino, I chose the board as “Arduino Duemilanove or Diecimilia” and the correct processor “ATmega328P”.
Lastly, when I check the BoatBoarduino in my device manager , it seems there is no suitable USB driver in my computer to access the board. But I updated all my USB drivers and the problem still persists ( Ps. I am using Windows 10).
Can you check jumper 17 in the manual above (first image at the top)? This determines how the locig is powered. If it’s set to EXT, it needs an appropriate source of power connected to VL. When set to USB, it’s powered by USB. Normally Windows recognizes the chip and takes care of the drivers but if you need to download and install the drivers, choose your operating system below: https://ftdichip.com/drivers/vcp-drivers/
Hi,
Thank you for your reply. The problem was about the drivers. I have installed the required driver and it worked fine now.
But now I have some questions about the motors. I have connected the motors as shown in the guide (left and right motors ) to the sabertooth motor driver but the each pair seems to be rotating opposite to each other. This means I need to connect red and yellow wires of right and left motors into the same port rather than connecting yellows and reds into the same port. Should this work or not ?
Good to hear. Be sure to power off the robot, and swap the two wires (red and yellow) to have the motor rotate in the opposite direction. Do not have two red connected to the same motor.
