Raspberry Pi 3 + Dynamixel + PiCam

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

I’m thinking about buying some Dynamixel XL-320 servos to a robotarm. Together with the servos I must buy the USB2Dynamixel adapter and the SMPS2Dynamixel adapter. But the main problem I’m having is how to communicate with the servos trough the USB adapter. Do anyone know this? Some explanation and some simple code with this setup just to make the servos run would be very much appreciated!

Another question; On the robotarm I’m hoping I can mount a PiCamera. With this I hope I can find objects (with OpenCV) and send the coordinates to the servos. How can I do this? Also here is some explanation and some simple code much appreciated!

2

Hi,

Here are answers to your questions/comments (in-line):

We recommend that you check the manufacturer’s page for the Dynamixel SDK. It is full of information about how to use the protocol and the USB adapter. You may also be interested in the Robotis OpenCM IDE, the RobotPlus software and the XL-Series details & XL-320 manual.

Concerning using OpenCV to get the position of objects, we recommend searching online for examples and tutorials as there are plenty. Here are some examples:
Basic motion detection and tracking with Python and OpenCV
Object Tracking on the Raspberry Pi with C++, OpenCV, and cvBlob

Normally, for good depth perception, most systems use 2 cameras (just like mammals have 2 eyes). You will need to research this a bit more, too, as none of this is trivial and requires a lot of understanding of how to process images and how OpenCV works.

Good luck with your project.

Sincerely,