he’s got four inputs though on the ssc32, right? Perhaps I missed something any they are slated for something else.
Andy, I had connected that one wire to the ground rail on the servo outputs.
Should I be connecting it to some other ground?
OH, BOY, AM I STUPID!
I forgot the carriage return.
.<
I’ll post back and tell you guys if it works when I get back from babysitting.
Ok… go ahead and laugh.
Yea, I sit on babies.
But I sit on babies for $10 an hour… off the books.
And all that really entails is popping in a DVD, telling the little squirts that I’lle eat them if they blink, and doing my homework in the next room.
Um… slight problem.
I connected the A to + with a jumper and tried "VA " on the LynxTerminal.
There was no output (I recieved “”)
So I then tried connecting the A to -, and put in the same code.
Again, no answer.
I tried the same thing for all four ABCD inputs, to no avail.
I hooked up a servo and I was able to position it properly, so I know that at least most of the SSC-32 is functioning properly.
So… I tried using my meter…
When I stuck the red probe on the + pin and the black probe on the A pin, it showed 0V.
When I stuck the red probe on the A pin and the black probe on the - pin, it showed 5V.
So… it looks like the power’s working how it should.
So… that means that it’s a problem with either the Lynxterm or the stuff that reads the voltage on the SSC-32, right?
Oh, and Andy, four inputs per foot = 8 inputs needed, if I don’t double them up into a voltage divider.
I think I prefer this way simply because I won’t have to adjust for the different N forces that I’ll encounter on different surfaces.
(N is not equal and opposite mg when the surface that mg acts upon yields).
In non-physics terms, I won’t have to recalibrate for harder or squishier (that needs to be a word) floors.
Good news and bad news.
Good news:
I pressed the VA VB VC VD buttons on the LynxTerm, and they show the proper value when I bridge ABCD with the + and -, in the dialogue box next to the buttons.
Bad news:
"VA VB VC VD " and other such commands still don’t return anything in the main screen.
They also don’t return anything in the dialogue boxes next to the respective buttons.
So, it seems like a LynxTerm issue and not a SSC-32 issue.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what I’m doing incorrectly?
Is my syntax wrong?
(sample syntax: "VA ")
Hello NickReiser,
take a look at the SSC-32 card manual 
when using A,B,C or D command, the SSC-32 returns an ASCII “0” or “1”, so it display directly the value.
but : when using VA,VB,VC or VD, it returns a single byte (0 to 255), that’s why i have added 4 buttons to test VA to VD, in order to convert the byte recieved into ASCII characters.
for instance, when you push the ‘VA’ button, SSC-32 returns a byte (say 218) and Lynxterm display the ASCII “2”,“1” and “8”.
when you try to test in ‘direct mode’ :
-with 0V it returns the byte 0 and this ASCII code can’t be displayed (because it’s < 32),
- with 5V it returns the byte 255, and with most of fonts it can’t be displayed too (because it’s > 128)
so, use the VA to VD buttons…
Ahhhh!
Then I didn’t fry anything.
Well, that makes sense.
So, when I write my own program to recieve the values, I’ll be sure to borrow the code from the buttons, and not the code from the VA, VB, VC, VD.
Thanks, Laurent!
seems like there has not been a lot of action on this thread for a while, however just thought I’d add my ideas
I have bought a dual axis accelerometer from Picobotics.com which I’ve mounted on a pan and tilt module which I’m going to use as my robot’s head
Gravity is simply an accelration force, accelrates all objects towards the ground at about 9.8m/s. A static accelerometer will be able to detect this acceleration and output a value dependant upon the accelrometers angle to the ground (thus I can use it to measure the angle of my robot’s head to the ground, and if I know the servo angle on the pan and tilt, then I can know the angle of the robot’s body to the ground)
I’m also planning on using the Force Sensing Resistors on the feet of my robot to measure the relative angle of the robot’s body to the ground, but need to do some more testing first!
jdpuddy
please keep my up to data on that, your use the tilt right? what kind of mircocontroller are you useing
Hi Gundam
First thing is I have a website which I will be using to post all my robotics things on, the URL is www.jdpuddy.me.uk have a look and let me know what you guys think
I have build the Pan adn Tilt module but not powered up the accelerometer yet as I’ve been too busy building my Biped Scout kit (yeah! )
I have just ordered an SSC-32 and plan on using the analog inputs on this board, but at the moment am using a Servio Servo Controller connected to my PC. Servio has 8 Analog ports on so I am reading the ADC via these
Eventually I plan on putting a microcontorller onboard the robot to handle things like sensing and control of teh pan and tilt head. I like Atmel AVR micros which are pretty cheap, have lots of functionality and are wasy to program - you can use a free compiler for these which is available from AVRFreaks.net
The place I buy these micros from is www.Dontronics.com in Australia, the website has a lot of info on it and some really good starter kits if you’ve never used a micro before (the little Raver Kit). My plan is to use a ATmega8535 chip or something similar mounted on a SimmStick which means that all teh hardware for the microcontroller is self contained adn then all I have to do is run wires out to my sensors
I’ll try and post some pictures on my site this weekend or early next week of my pan and tilt, the servo controller, the micro controllers and other bits of hardware I’ll be using
cool stuff,
do me a big favor, then you get your pan and tilt going, make a step by step review, it would be helpful
What are you guys using for the FSR’s? And where did you get them? I’m still doing basic research for my biped (it’s got one leg and a torso 
) I’ll be using a Gumstix and Robostix to control it. I’m trying to use perl for the logic with a little c for critical stuff.
Chuck
I truly recommend phidgetusa.com./
(And that’s not just because they replaced 5 of my super-glue-eaten FSR’s.)
The .2" FSR’s there pass all the tests that I’ve been able to throw at them.
They have no memory that I’ve been able to detect (push down, resistance change is immediate and quite steady, let go, and it’s immediately back to infinite resistance).
At 6 dollars a pop, they’re the cheapest that I’ve seen.
They’re as thin as an index card.
And besides, their customer service is second only to Lynxmotion.
Also, they happen to be a reseller of quite a few Lynxmotion sets and parts, so buying from them helps out Jim.
^.^
Gundam
I’ve posted an update on my website with some pictures of the pan and tilt module with the accelerometer on it. Go to www.jdpuddy.me.uk then click on robotics and then click on the scout link