Hello,
I need some help on a project i have. First excuse my bad english because i’m french. It would be very nice if you can help me.
I need a pan system wich can turn on 360°, with precise movement, the rotation angle being sent by a computer program.
Mounted on the pan system, i would like a range finder measurement system (ultrasonic first, just to make tests, later i would use a laser one, but for the moment it’s too expensive) wich can be controlled by the same computer program (possible to send a command to launch the measure, and get sent back the measurement).
I usually program with Visual Basic 6. Is it ok with this hardware ? The programming part won’t be a problem as soon as the range finder could be adressed by Visual Basic instructions.
I’ve choose these parts a little bit randomly, don’t hesitate to tell me what you think of it, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks to everyone ! ;)
In VB, or almost all languages out there, you can communicate via your COM port. This will allow you to communicate with an interface module or with an RS-232 serial device from a physical COM port (if you have a DB9 connector) or via a logical COM port (USB).
If you decide to use a sensor that has analog output then you would need an interface device that converts the analog voltage to a digital representation (Analog to digital) and then send this serially to the PC. Phidgets is a good option for interfacing analog and digitial sensors via your USB port and offers a powerful API:
Bienvenue and welcome to the RobotShop Forum. Notre forum est bilingue (FR et EN), mais, vous verrez avec un poste en Angalis, vous aurez plus de reponses.
There are very few servos that can rotate more than 180 degrees. The Hitec winch servo is a quarter scale servo that can rotate 3.5 turns (1260 degrees). Although it can provide a lot more torque than your application requires, it will work out of the box. The accuracy is reduced, but is still less than 1 degree. Bioloid servos can rotate 300 degrees and the control is less straightforward than a standard servo.
The ServoCity power gearboxes can certainly do 360 degrees, but the reason I did not recommend them was the torque seemed excessive for rotating an ultrasonic sensor.
You can use many ultrasonic sensors with VB, but using an intermediate controller or interface is recommended. If the sensor is I2C or TTL serial, you can use an interface module designed for the specific communication method. If the sensor offers a native RS-232 serial interface, you can potentially connect it to your COM port directly (be sure to follow any documentation provided).
je ne crois pas que tu sois nono…hehe. As-tu l’intention de contrôler tout ça en utilisant le sans fil ou avec fil ? Sans fil, même en VB, ça va être vraiment dure. J’ai réussit à le faire avec Delphi et je peux te dire que c’est tout une affaire.
Avec Phidget, c’est intéressant parce que ce fabricant offre des API simples et efficaces avec leur senseurs. API qui semblent compatibles avec de nombreux langages, dont Delphi et VB. Aussi, Phidget offre des produits relativement abordables et plutôt simples à utiliser et comprendre. Par contre, pour les rotations continues (un moteur qui tourne à plus de 360), c’est pas fameux… Arduino serait un bon choix si tu peux coder en C++.
Donne-moi plus de détails sur ton projet, je vais essayer de t’aider. Tu peux parler en français, ça fait changement un peu .
;)
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