Bioloid Please Advise - AX-12

[1ctoolfool]

Hi,

Have built my own cnc type equipment and have a basic understanding of steppers/servos (non RC type) digital step/dir controlls and can handle out-of-the-box stuff most of the time.

However I'm thinking of taking a leap of faith and trying to understand the electronics and communications used in the Bioloid robot kit, in order to customize it.

I want to build a pick and place robot arm and am thinking of using this kit however the microcontroller that comes with the kit doesn't offer much in the way of external I/O. I need to interface many digital signals and logic into the motion control.

I like these servos because they don't have angular displacement limitations, supposedly offer torque feedback and position signals, and can be wired in series. Also the software that comes with the kit makes it look really easy to make complicated, fluid motion possible.

Has anyone played with this toy/machine?
What are some good sites for hobby robotics hardware/software?
What I want to build is not really a toy and not really an industrial robot. What's a good in-between?
You can see it at www.crustcrawler.com if you've never seen one.

[daedalus]

Hi,

These robot toys arent really suitable for such development, the servos they use are quite limited, and the boards arent great either.

what are you picking and placing? if its light then you can get away with quite simple structure / drive mechanics.

i would suggest that if this is a hobby project you save yourself a headache, and go for a timing belt driven system based on steppers or servos, and just scrounge some off ebay.

second hand steppers and picstep drives would be far superior to a hacked up robot toy, and probably cost a similar amount.

[Sputnik]

Thats no toy!! It is a quite sophisticated Robot!! The servos provided with the kit have more torque than probably 99% of the steppers used on home built CNC machines. The electronics should be able to be programmed to do just about anything you wish, although it may have limited input capacity.

You can always learn PIC programming, you can program them in BASIC with PicBASIC or Mikrobasic. Or you could get some PicAXES, very easy to program in a BASIC like language and very cheap!!!

There are people that have built pick and place and sorting machines out of Lego's and the Lego robotics controller!!

You could also go for the Vexx robotics system, or the Lynxmotion arm systems!!

Your idea is very doable with that system, or a million other ways!!

[daedalus]

ok, have taken a careful look at the specs of this particular biped, and yes it does have a pretty good torque output listed. That said this is done by a high ratio gearbox, so max rotational speed will be very limited. A cheap stepper will have the same torque output without a gearbox.

picstep boards cost around the $40 mark to make, and you can get pretty good steppers on ebay for next to nothing, if the robot is vastly cheaper it might be worth trying, but the stepper option is pretty much guaranteed to work.

Could you post what you are moving, what speeds you plan to achieve, payload mass, positioning and rigidity requirements, etc.