that looks good. Will this be available to the LM community?
The graphics look interesting but I’d work on a simple page first. You would probably want to have a frame from which control commands would be issued, and one or more frames which would be updated with changing data from the robot system if desired. When the hardware and control setups are working well, then I would intergrate it into an image map.
A “blank version” will be available for users to use the images and setup they desire. So, yes, I will post the code and information about it once it’s finished. I would imagine many people would like to have access to an interface like this for their projects. And I have always believed software should be open source. I just can’t post exact copies of my finished program.
Zoomkat, how do I link my data from the robot to the frames? For instance, I’m using a Power Meter that has a USB cord and an onboard LCD. It reads current voltage, max/min voltage, mAh discharged, min/max mAh discharged, Watts, etc. If you plug it intot he computer, it runs a little program that displays the information in a window so you can keep records of motor testing and such.
How do I get these numbers from the program on the computer (or from the UBS output) to the frames in my XHTML?
I understand I need to grab the input data from the Power meter and reroute or direct it to my frames. I just don’t know how to do that.
Do I need to hack the Power Meter Program?
You will need to determine the I/O capabilitys of your power monitor and its drivers to see if you will be able to get useable data from it in any other form beyond the display program sent with it. Did it come with any info on developing your own software applications to use with it?
That’s what I thought. I don’t know if I’m experienced enough to figure that out.
This is the Power Meter I’m using. It’s a Medusa Power Analyzer Pro (Deluxe):
medusaproducts.com/Power-Ana … htm#Deluxe
The softare is more of a logger than anything. It displays a GUI that really is just graphs and numbers. It also logs to a Text file in realtime as it’s running.
This one is looking more promising.
I also have a Hyperion Emeter:
aircraft-world.com/prod_data … emeter.htm
This is a much better PC interface with real time logging, storing sessions graphing and min/max records.
Here is the software I’m using for it:
aircraft-world.com/prod_data … erface.htm
I communicates through the Serial Port or USB. I use this one for programming ESC’s and monitoring or checking Lipo battery pack conditions. It has alot of integrated programming features:
aircraft-world.com/prod_data … anprog.htm
I don’t even know where I would start to look for I/O information coming from the program or the Meter. If I hook it to my serial port, if there a program I can run to scan the port and collect/display any signals or communication coming through? Not that I would know how to do that, so I probably don’t want to know. 
sorry if Im hijacking your thread, but you mentioned that a wireless PC camera will be viewed on your program or through the internet? If through the internet (lets say on a webpage) how do you plan to do this?
I wish I was doing that. Webcam2000, as well as other programs, will display streaming video online. To use when not online, you could link the feed to a local source (on the computer harddrive or from a capture device) instead of a root folder on a host server.
I’m not using wireless cameras though, or webcams.
ahhh, sorry for the lame post then 
Must have missed something at the top 
LOL, that’s ok. I tend to leave a tsunami of rambling everywhere I go.
Sometimes I just type too much.
hey evolution
i am making software just like that
so if you realy want it to look like that
than i can ad the texture graghics to it
to make it look like that.
how does that sound 
The power monitors appear to be in the relm of data loggers. You still could run their applications on the laptop and keep them minimized until needed. Just what will be carried on the robot and need remote monitoring and what will be at the control station? What will be the mode of connection between the rov and the control station (besides a thin high strength cable in case it gets stuck)?
There is Custom made DB25 High-Resolution, double insulated, 200 foot cable reel. The jacket is an impenetrable Kevlar-Poly composite. The cable itself is also the recovery tether. It’s almost as flexible as coax cable but many times stronger. I believe the max load capacity on a linear pull is 1,000 pounds.
The 25 pins carry the 8 signal lines for the CCD Omni cams, 9 pins for the DB9 RS232 link to the SSC-32, 3 pins for the Power Analyzer Outputs, and 6 pins for the motors temperature sensors.
On board is a 4DOF aluminum arm with Highly modified HS-5995TG servos carrying a 5000 RPM tool driver with a quick-attach for various cutting tools and cleaning components, which piggyback on the top of the rover so they can be changed as the situation calls for it. There are 6 GHM-04 motors running on 10 Volts powered by 2 Modified Novak High-Res Car controllers hardwired together with a V-tail mixer and add-on servo reverser for one side.
The Chassis has 4 Linear Stabilizers mounted to extend out and press the rover down to hold it firmly in place while cutting. The leverage is setup with a spring tension near the end to account for variations in distance and the full extension positions the servo horn at the center of the fulcrum to avoid having constant pressure on it.
I’m hoping to control the entire thing with RIOS until I can get my own software figured out. Rios will run Shoulder/Base/Elbow/Wrist on the first 4 channels. Channel 5 and 6 (wrist rotate and gripper) will run the forward/backwards driving and right/left trim(since little, if any, steering is needing in a pipe). Then I’ll use Channel 7 to turn on and off the ECS for the cutting tool. Channel 8 will be used to extend or retract the linear stabilizers.
This about covers it. Depending on the button assignment of the PS2 with rios, I may have to ask Laurent to make me a new EXE for RIOS with reassigned buttons. Hope he will.
I would like everything on one screen. Rather than a bunch of programs running at once. Rios can run in the background while the monitoring and video display are used.
I think a GUI interface is way beyond what I have time to learn this soon. I just simply haven’t been programming for long enough. I can only catch up so fast, to people who have been taught this stuff. So I’m going to try and use RIOS in anyway possible until I can make my own control panel.
I’m skeptical that the program you are writing will function anything like the one I’m talking about or look like it. But if you could actually make a GUI that was interactive and could collect the data from my sensors and video, I would gladly pay you for it. Seriously.
You might want to know what cameras I’m using and how the computer is capturing the NTFS_M signals from the quad processor’s component outputs, right?
I’m serious too guys. If any of you think you can do this and have the time, name your price. If you send me a copy of the program and it works and looks like I described, I’ll send you the money. I want to buy your brains. lol
That’s a lot of wires that might have better use supplying some backup power to the rov. RS232 shouldn’t take more than three wires (tx, rx, gnd) to do the control and data gathering to/from the rov. Switch the video from the cams on the rov so you only need two wires there (video and ground) comming back to the control station (assuming it is analog). I’ve tinkered with a free basic programming application called just basic that does serial I/O and is easy to make a gui. The video display box would have to be in a stand alone box. Not a magic bullet, but you could get started quickly to find out what works and what doesn’t in the real world.
Hold on a second. Are you telling me all the pins aren’t using ont he RS232 by the SSC-32? If I could ditch a few lines, that would be awesome. Do you know for sure which are used and not used for the SSC-32?
The video feeds have to be used alone. I can’t parallel them together. The omnicam sensor boards I got put out some wierd signal that hooks into a 4-camera board that translates the signal into NTFS_M. Then the lines are run to the control station where a Quad processor manipulates the signals into different display arrangements.
And I don’t want to run any power through the Tethering cable. Running power next to that many signal lines at 200’ would be begging for interference or noise. The rover carries a 15,000 mAh lipo pack and a 2000mAh redundancy pack incase the main power fails. It’s tether though so it can always be pulled out.
I’ll try Just basic for now to play around with the I/O’s. The more I try, the better of an idea I’ll have of what direction to go.
I looked at the ssc-32 schematic and only see tx, rx, and ground being used. With a little clever tinkering and using cheap analog cams (your cams must not be the standard NTSC type), you could probably operate your rov just using a single run of cat3 four conductor phone wire. The ssc-32 apparently has four digital and four analog inputs that can be querried as needed, which could be used to monitor voltage, temperatures, and such on the rov. I like keeping things simple and cheap. I made a simple video/audio switcher just using a couple of transistors and resistors. Below shows the simple setup.
Thanks for your help guys. I just thought I’d update. I have convinced a programmer I know to build the GUI just like I started in HTML. He’s using C++ and then skinning the frames or something. I don’t know, but it means I don’t have to spend anymore time on it so that’s good.
Thanks alot for all your help.