Hi, I’m from New Micros, Inc., and if any one wants to talk about ServoPod™ support, I’ll be glad to help if I can. Of course, we think the 'Pod’s are about the best way in the world to generate PWM for 20 or more servos, and still have a blazing DSP at your command, but then, we build them, so maybe we are biased. But more than that, we support them. So let us know if you need any help.
I am sorry that I have no idea what a servopod is. So, what is a servopod, how does it work? Tell me ANYTHING about it!
Here’s the product page for the ServoPod. There’s tons of information there… You can also download the user’s manual.
Take a look at the available information, and if you need clarification on anything, let us know. 
Hi,
I’m from Germany and I would like to get a ServoPod for evaluation.
Where can I order it and what are the cost?
Psssst, Untat77…
You might want to try the link above your post.
Out of stock, this one
BTW I ordered a Hexapod3 and Lynx6 via your austrian distri, took a very long time…
I lied…
Sorry for the delay. I have no control over how long it takes to order from a distributor. 
The ServoPods are on order and will be back in stock soon. Thanks, Jim
The Belgian distributor never replied to my email. So i ordered directly from you guys, and received my order yesterday 
Has anyone done any significant development using IsoMax? I’m an applications guy and so this bare-metal stuff is a little new to me. I’ve got a friend who’s been doing embedded stuff for years and says that IsoMax is a good idea that never really gained any ground. I think its got some potential but don’t want to start from ground-zero if I don’t have to.
Any help out there?
The sample code on the Lynxmotion downloads page is a good place to start. There is more sample code available on the NewMicros site.
The stuff is fairly well commented. I’ve been able to adapt chunks of it for my own use.
Thanks. I hadn’t looked hard enough at either of the sites. The code looks fairly straightforward. I’m used to writing structured code in C++ tho and IsoMax looks pretty unstructured 
.
In fact, its sort of a bragging point with the IsoMax camp.
Any tricks or traps I should be aware of using this language, especially with my current development paradigm?
I do mostly C/C++/C# by day also. The way I see it, IsoMax isn’t so much ‘unstructured’ as it is ‘unconstrained’. You still build complex functions on top of simpler functions. However, there is no compiler enforcement for things like syntax, function call signatures and type compatibility.
This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Even with the ‘protection’ of a good compiler, some engineers still manage to write unstructured (or inappropriately structured) code. If you have ever had to struggle with a poorly structured C++ class hierarchy, you will appreciate the flexibility of Forth.
As a functional language, MaxForth is a natural fit for event-driven programming. There is excellent support within IsoMax for setting up state machines for periodic or interrupt driven execution.
The biggest problem I have had is coming up to speed on the Forth language. The syntax is actually pretty trivial, but most of the ‘words’ are pretty terse and cryptic. I’m still looking for a good reference book.
WalkThisWay wrote:
Ack! Yer reading my mind! Finding a command reference was my next question. So, making sure I got this, IsoMax is a runtime environment that uses MaxForth, which is a superset of Forth?
There’s very little that describes the command set (Words) from New Micros. They have a MaxForth Glossary, but its um, well, terse too!
Its flexibility and use of state machines is what appeals to me most. I’d really like to give this a go, but I sure wish there was just a little more reference material. Well, off to Google.
OK, I found this MaxForth reference guide in PDF form, linked from the NewMicros site. Here’s the URL to the reference.
ee.ualberta.ca/~rchapman/MFwebsite/resources/12FORTH.pdf
Also found a couple of well regarded, if old, texts on Forth by Leo Brodie. One is called “Starting Forth” but is out of print. It is available in html format, but its been edited/updated, (apparently not by the original author) so it may not be true to its original form. Just started it so don’t have much comment. Here’s that URL.
amresearch.com/starting_forth/
Second text is called “Thinking Forth” and is available in PDF form. Here’s where you can get the PDF:
home.earthlink.net/~lbrodie/forth.html
Brodie has a great and communicative writing style, clearly mastered before authors were paid by “thump-factor”.
Thanks for the links. I do have a hard-copy of Thinking Forth (Amazon has them). I like Brodies style also.
What do you intend to do with your ServoPod? I am in the early stages of design for an adaptive gait system with ground-contact and possibly other sensors. (That’s another great thing about the ServoPod - plenty of I/O!)
I’ve got the H3R kit but with the original servos (more on that in a minute) and am planning to build an autonomous ‘insectoid’. Basically, making it a roamer but with certain investigative and defensive behaviors, based on auditory and ultrasonic sensing. I figure I can easily approximate primitive behaviors with Forth and IsoMax, and I’m really intrigued with the programming model.
Once I get it able to sense its environs, I’m thinking about some more complex stuff like mapping. At that point I expect that I’ll be needing to think about wireless telemetry to a PC or server to manage positioning and mapping data, which then opens up a huge range of possibilities…
My key challenges are my relative newbiness to embedded development, (I’ve got a pretty good background in networking and system autonomics, but at a few layers above the silicon) and the potential available power budget. I have to believe that with 18 servos and a bunch of sensors, power consumption quickly gets to be an issue.
WRT your work on adaptive gaits, that sounds hugely interesting. Are you using the stock servos? What kind of outputs do you get from them? Can you sense position? That would be very cool for sensing stuff like door threshholds, voids (like stairs) etc.
I am working with an EH3-R with the 645-MG servo upgrade. As stock analog servos, there is no position output. I am experimenting with various ground-contact sensors and back-calculating from the pulse-output. It’s not perfect, but I think it will work well enough, since the system will be continuously re-evaluating the robot stance.
I have been using a 3300MaH NimH pack. Running with just the ServoPod, I get run-times in excess fo 20 minutes. Adding in a CMU-Cam and a wireless link cuts into that somewhat, but the Servos are the biggest draw by far.
A lot of the draw comes from the lower two servos in each leg. I’ve had some success with elastic counterbalancing. Of course all this will change since I am re-designing the legs with sensors.
If you’re really only getting a bit more than 20 mins with 3800 mAh, you might want to check for shorts, or check your charger.
I use 5645’s on my biped with a 1600 mAh, and I get about 40 mins out of them.
It may be that your servos are stalling out and drawing hard on the battery, but I believe that 645’s are what’s recommended for the hexapods, so you shouldn’t be having that issue.
Does anything get hot quickly, during runtime?
Thanks Nick. If I had to guess I’d say it is probably the pack. It is an older pack scrounged from a previous project. Current draw and temperatures for the servos all seem to be within reasonable limits.