Hello, I was looking to reach out to someone at Robotshop, or to talk to someone in sales, and it pointed me here on “ask and expert”
I’m looking to build a full Lynx motion J5, it does indicate it does not come with batteries/eyes but i also didn’t see the tracks motors listed either.
I’m looking at buying
and then of course batteries
6v-2800mah-nimh-battery
120v-2800mah-rechargeable-nimh-battery-pack
But i’m not sure this is the entire list of items i should be purchasing. Is there a fully loaded list/package that can be bought with all motors/batteries?
Or is this really the only list i need?
Just trying to sort out my cart before i buy to make sure i have everything… and feel like something aint right
i’m also curious on the ID/OD to see if these two units could fit, to make a kind of upgrade for J5, if the rotating base would fit on the rugged-mecanum rover.
You’d need a 6V pack for the servos, and a 12V pack for the main drive motors. What you propose seems fine, though the 2800mAh pack won’t fit inside the chassis - you might have to use the 1600mAh. Also, be sure to get an appropriate battery charger like:
There’s no code for the “eyes”, which are not included
The description gives a range of sensors which that bracket is compatible with, and you’ll need the corresponding wiring from the sensor to the board. Note that if you’re planning to use a sensor or more, you’ll need a programmable microcontroller like:
Finally, how do you want to control it? One option (if you are up to programming) is the PS2 connected to the BotBoarduino suggested above.
i’m also curious on the ID/OD to see if these two units could fit, to make a kind of upgrade for J5, if the rotating base would fit on the rugged-mecanum rover
You’d need to have the hatch on the bottom and drill four holes, but indeed the A4WD3 is much larger than the Tri-Track base. You’d need to really watch out for the arms and hands getting in the way of the wheels though, and think about control.
Well i bit the bullet, i bought the entire package, so i have full Lynxmotion kit + Servos, i have the SSC-32 board, the Sabertooth motor controller. When hooking everything up everything works fine.
So now i’m looking at “controls” so at the moment, when the SSC-32 is USB into my PC i can run the Flowbotics and control the servo’s which is great, i can use the Radiolink/Sabertooth to run the motors.
What i’m looking at trying to do is make him completely standalone and wireless.
So what i’m considering is the Jetson board to try to install linux, and just run python scripts to control him. Anyone have any experience with Jetson board?
What i’m looking to do at the end of the project is have a wireless robot, that can run some small LLM/python scripts/learning like a Roomba or something, I was also considering some dual optic like
I would also like to “charge” via USB-C when it comes to the batteries, so i can install “wireless” charging pads so he can drive over a charging station and self charge without being plugged in.
If you have an AL5 series arm, 11.1V 3-cell pack of 18650s would burn an AL5 without a voltage regulator to drop it to 6V. Even two charged 3.7V cells would be problematic.
As for the Jetson, you’d connect it to the SSC-32U via USB and all would be good. Although we have sample Python code for the Lynxmotion Smart Servos, we don’t have anything official for the SSC-32U. Given the simplicity of the communication protocol, you should be OK creating your own, and you can always adapt one from Arduino:
@cbenson Thanks for the response! Yea i was thinking the 18650 (3S2P) would be for the base motor drivers, and doing a 18650 (2S4P) 7.2V-7.4V for the Servo’s.
Would that work for power??
Yea i was testing python direct with the SSC-32 already while connected to my PC. I’m able to do it pretty easily.
Do you know how i would convert the “Charging”? I would need a BMS i’m sure , maybe Robotshop has something that will allow changing from plugging in a battery to a power supply to a USB-C type charger? I have some USB-C charging receivers, and USB-C wireless charging transmitters spare laying around.
7.4V on 6V (max) servos is not a good idea and although you’ll find some customers who indicate there was no issue, it would be considered “operating the servos outside of their limits”. It would be best to have a simple voltage regulator between the battery and the servos.
As for charging the 18650s, you have two options:
a) Charge them separartely
b) Charge them when connected to the robot
The second is much more complex, so because 18650s are easy to manipulate, it might be easiest to just use a separate charger like:
For the second option, although 5V is not the best, and 2.5A might not be sufficient, something like this:
I would like to attempt for charging pass-through charging, kind of like a roomba or other items that are powered but charging at the same time.
So lets say the robot goes into a charging location, and reduces to a “sleep” mode it’s still active but the output is less than the input.
So i am going with the Jetson Super board, that should be sufficient to run linux/python.
eyes i’m going with
or
for charging i’m thinking something like, i don’t know that this module is the specific one i’m after, since i’ll want the transmitter(input) to be DC power supply possible within the “charging” base.
