Hercule X 602 Servos

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

Hi There

I am in the process of building a quadruped robot for a client.
I need 16 powerful servos, plus 4 spares, and i have been looking at the Hercule X 602’s.

I have built a successful quadruped prototype based on RC robot servos and while it works great, i need more accuracy and more power.
I have also been asked to increase the size of the bot, and more powerful servos will obviously help with this.

Here is a video of a previous Iteration of my Quadruped.
youtube.com/watch?v=jWKsVjQuVpQ

Up until now i have programmed everything on an Arduino Mega.

I have used an SSC32-U to communicate with and distribute power to all the rc servos.
I recognise this will not work the HerculeX 602 servos.

So my questions are as follows.

1.) How do I connect 16 Hercule X 602 servos to an Arduino, so that i can send them simultaneous movement commands.
I understand that I can connect the servos together, i was thinking in chains of 4.
Is there some kind of board to allow me to connect each of the 4 chains of 4 servos to the Arduino?

2.) How would i go about powering 16 of these servos. Up until now I have been using a 3 Cell Lipo with a 10-20Amp BEC.
Can anyone suggest a 12V regulator that would provide enough amps to power 16 of these 602’s?

3.) Is there some kind of Arduino library that will allow me to address and control each servo individually?
I have seen this, but I do not know if it will work with the 602’s. robottini.altervista.org/dongbu- … -library-2
Every library i have seen mentioning the Hercule X servos seems to be only for the smaller 101 /102 versions.
Obviously, this is a deal breaker…

I have tried to get in touch with Dongbu Robot the manufacturer, but i have not heard back from them.
I also tried contacting them via phone, but the phone number didn’t work, and today their website is down.
Does not inspire much confidence to be honest.

Any help much appreciated.
Thank you

2

Hi Martin,

Here is the reply we sent you via our Support Center :

  1. Unfortunately, we don’t offer a board/shield to connect the HerkuleX DRS-0602 servo to an Arduino board.
    The HerkuleX DRS-0602 has a full duplex serial TTL interface, therefore it can be connected directly to an Arduino board through TX/RX.
    It can be daisy chained and you can control each servo separately through serial commands from the Arduino.

  2. The HerkuleX DRS-0602’s operating voltage is 9.5V to 14.8V. The recommended voltage is 12V.
    For powering the quadruped, you can use a LiPo battery as they are lighter than other types of batteries and provide relatively high capacity at a high discharge current.
    You can use for example a 11.1V or 14.8V LiPo Battery with a high capacity (4000mAh or 5000mAh) and high discharge current (for example 5C). For example, you might be interested in the Hyperion batteries :

]Hyperion G5 50C 3S 4000mAh LiPo Battery/:m]
]Hyperion G5 50C 4S 5000mAh LiPo Battery/:m]
Please note that LiPo batteries should never be over-discharged as this will significantly damage them.
Therefore, you can use this LiPo Battery Voltage Monitor / Alarm to monitor with your LiPo batteries.

  1. The manufacturer doesn’t provide an official Arduino Library for the HerkuleX DRS-0602 servo.
    This Arduino library should work with the HerkuleX DRS-0602 servo :
  1. The HerkuleX servos are in general good servos and are pretty popular in the makers community. The HerkuleX DRS-0602 servo provides a stall torque of 77Kg-cm at 14.8V which is relatively high compared to other smart servos on the market.
    It is easy to control and it has a detailed user manual (with all the commands well explained).
    This forum post will provide you further information on Dynamixel vs Herkulex Servos.
    The HerkuleX DRS-0602 is comparable to the Dynamixel MX-64T Smart Serial Servo which has a stall torque of 61Kg-cm.
    The benefit of using a Dynamixel MX-64T would be the ability to use this Smart Servo Controller for Arduino which directly stacks on an Arduino board to control the Dynamixel AX/MX servos.
    It has also an Arduino library.
    The MX-64T working voltage is 11.1 V to 14.8 V, therefore, you can always use the LiPo batteries we suggested.

Regards,