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Ufff… the most critical part of your robot project is done. Now it is time to do basic tests and assemble whatever you have done. Here’s is hwo you do that…
It is a good idea to test your work before you assemble your router back to its original form. The tests are pretty basic and listed below. The numbers in parenthesis refer to the SSC-32 manual whcih comes with the controller. You can also downlaod that manual from lynxmotion website.
- Attach continuous rotation of servos to connectors number 0 and 1 and regular servos to connectors 4 and 5 on your SSC-32 servo controller
- On the controller 1b connect jumpers VS1=VS2 (#3) and VL=VS (#5) as it is described in the manual that comes with SSC-32.
- Connect the 3-pin header that comes from the router to TTL serial port (#13) on the controller. Make sure you’re connecting black wire to the ground.
- Connect the battery 1i to servo controller 1b terminal VL (#4) using wires 1o soldered to battery quick connect cable 1l.
- telnet or ssh to the routerbot
- cd /routerbot
- ./test.sh
When you run the test script the servos should start moving somehow. To stop them just run “./stop.sh”.
If servos are moving then you can start assembling your router - this is very easy comparing to taking it apart. You will also need to make a hole in the router enclosure to pass the wires from serial connector. You can do this where it is shown on this picture:
or you can chose your own design for the parts layout.
If servos are not moving then something went wrong. Check the SSC-32 manual for possible mistakes you made (especially the way you connected the servos to the controller, black wire should go to the ground pin). Check that the cable that comes from the router is connected correctly. Finally check that your wires are connected as it is shown on this picture and that all jumpers are set the same way:
Once you assembled the router invent the layout for overall system or use mine which is shown in the project outline post. Here are couple of notes:
- I used two-sided adhesive tape + plastic straps to attach the continuos rotation servos.
- The CD disks are connected to the servos using disks which you will get installed on the servos if you order them from Lynxmotion + two-sided tape + two screws. Make sure that the disks are well aligned and if not then adjust them byt unscrewing the screws a little bit.
- The controller, the battery and the wires are secured primarily with the rubber bands which are strong enough for the task
- To attach the coaster wheel I used some piece of foam plastic I found in some packaging. But it doesn’t hold the wheel well, so in addition to that I used plastic bottle cup (see the picture)
- The CD disks used as wheels have really bad traction, especially on carpet. To improve it put small dots of glue around the disk (see picture).
This is basically it. Here are a few more picture that might help:
This post is published in Hardware, How To, Linux, Other, Robotics.
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February 24th, 2008 at 1:42 am
[...] Comments How to build an inexpensive powerful robot / Test basics and assemble your robot | Andrey Mikhalchuk… on How to build an inexpensive yet powerful robot (How to turn your router into a routerbot)How to [...]
November 6th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
how do you power the router with the battery because the transformer on the plug says it outputs 12 vdc and if it can take 9 volts how do you connect it to the router?
November 6th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Joseph,
The router has voltage regulator inside. It can work from anything in at least 5-12V range (the range could be larger, but I didn’t check that yet). SSC-32 servo controller also has regulator on input. So both 7.2 and 9.6 battery packs should be fine.
Andrey