Miabot PRO BT v2 User Manual
Contents
1. eese eere 10 Bluetooth Lanse elite teet eret e rhe erae ro rere coerente cerea nh 10 Standard Command Protocol cece eeceeeceeseceneceseecceceeceaceesceesceesaeeseeseeesaeesaeeeseeeeeees 11 Bistrack Simulator Ete petentes ote ode odor Het tpa 16 Joystick Controls ipine iere tet te Hate cte tit teet e PIER ERR ee cele ids 17 Installation ettet tette de tee tte tete tested 17 Operat Onis RE M 17 In Use Control sssesetesseiicesest ettet t ert Pee siepe eden Eaa ERE set 18 Robot Firmware Development eese nennen eterne nennen eterne 19 ONE a dea de e ld 19 Compiler Installation s rresia Ee nennen enne ttes eese ten tenens 19 PrOPFAIIWDE crece torpe e besiegt ipee tps 19 Alternative Programming Methods eese 22 Writing Robot Programs 5i tede tee eee et ie ttg eed es 23 Appendix A Schematic Diagram eseeeseeeeeeeeeeeeee eren 24 Appendix B Expansion Port Signals eese rennen 25 Appendix C Io Processor Control Protocol eese 26 Introduction The MIABOT Pro is a fully autonomous miniature mobile robot The latest BT version features bi directional Bluetooth communications which provides a robust frequency hopping wireless communications protocol at 2 4GHz MIABOT Pros are ideal robots for use as part of technology class tutorials for research and development and for high sp2. Merlin Systems Corp Ltd Miabot PRO BT v2 User Manual Rev 1 3 Revision History V1 0 24 08 04 pp first version Via 25 10 04 pp update for v2 robot V1 2 03 12 04 pp renamed UM added appendices A B C V1 3 01 03 05 pp added TOC uprated apps and dev sections Merlin Systems Corp Ltd 2002 2004 Merlin Systems Corp Ltd assumes no responsibility for any errors which may appear in this manual reserves the right to alter the devices software or specifications detailed herein at any time without notice and does not make any commitment to update the information contained herein Merlin Systems Corp Ltd s products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems 11 Introd ction czas ssc ies A oii cen ca Sa EE eB nen 4 QUICK MM daa 4 Specification eer RARE e teet RARE ENDE Eoo eea EE aE 5 Tour OF Hardware rere tee Rete re repro rette Pee ee e aeree re inh 6 Rear VIC Wish onis lio o diuitias ai oia 6 Internal NIC Wes entintado ete eae des 7 Drive Ch in sanoina oe ii ise a 8 Position Enicodets ea eR en Ae ten cete e EREE E E ia a E Ei 8 Batteries Loses ipto tede lan Mie ans Nome c E EAS EEEa EE aia EA 8 Communications Board siiis sesent heii ee i R e iee e EE E 8 Expansion Portia erei e epe eer eet stro AEE E oper e epe a 8 Bluetooth Communications ooocccocccocccooncnonanonanonncnnncnnannnnnno nono nono ncnn narra enn etes eterne 9 Verifying Robot Communication
3. GCC C compiler amp linker Simulator FIRA Simulation Engine Tour of Hardware Rear View All connections and controls are at the rear Active LED Charge socket Power switch Comms LED OFF lt gt ON The switch and LEDs are accessed via the machined slot The two LEDs are under software control with 3300hm inline resistors provided With the standard software the active LED flashes constantly while the robot is running and the comms LED lights up each time a command is received The charge socket takes a 2 5mm DC plug with positive inner connection This connects direct to the battery so charging can be carried out with the robot either on or off Internal View The case lid simply pulls off and refits on rubber friction stops The inside looks like this 6 way header Programming expansion Programming Jumper DIP switches Robot id The programming cable provided can be plugged into the expansion port connecting the robot to a PC parallel port for rewriting the robot firmware When programming the 2 pin jumper should be removed NOTE removing the jumper avoids possible damage to the radio board during programming It is important to be careful about this as programming usually still works with the jumper fitted The 4 way DIL switch is connected to micro pins and can be read under software control This can be used to distinguish individual robots
4. clock may fail making it impossible to program the robot any more If you are unable to read the fuse settings some common causes of failure are 1 Cable is not plugged in 11 Robot is not turned on 111 Calibration timing is not correct run calibration from the setup menu 1v Some PC s are not always compatible try downloading an older version of PonyProg and retry Another simple way of verifying the basic connection is to select Command Reset The LEDs should flash as the robot reboots 21 Once communication is established you can try reprogramming the example program First save a copy of the existing contents Select Command Read Program FLASH The main window should fill up with code read from the robot Select File Save Program FLASH File as and save the result as a HEX file e g Miabot Original hex Now load program the new file Select Command Erase This wipes the whole chip You can confirm that the light no longer flash when the robot is turned off and on Now select File Open Program FLASH File and load the example code PROBOT HEX Select Command Write Program FLASH and PonyProg will reprogram the chip and verify the data The robot should work normally again Alternative Programming Methods PonyProg limitations Current versions of PonyProg have some known problems 1 For reliable results it may be necessary to always
5. in a small group Drive Chain The motors are driven by 6 x 1 2v AA cells through a low resistance driver LC with a slow acting current limit at about 5A Maximum speed of an unloaded motor is in the region of 6 8000 rpm Position Encoders The motor shafts drive the wheels through an 8 1 gearing The motors incorporate quadrature encoders giving 512 position pulses per rotation The wheels are 52mm in diameter so one encoder pulse corresponds to just under 0 04mm of movement Batteries Each robot contains two 3xAA cell battery packs nominal 1 2v per cell 1300mAh The robot is supplied with a NIMH fast charger that can charge these completely in about 1 2hrs Batteries will last about Ihr typical continuous use much more if not moving Higher capacity batteries are also available in the same physical size Communications Board A Bluetooth communications card is incorporated within each robot This enables the host PC to communicate with the robot by converting the Bluetooth link to logic level serial signals connecting to the main board processor A PC Bluetooth dongle is supplied that plugs into the USB port on the PC This can support wireless links with up to 7 robots at once Expansion Port This is used for development programming and for connecting to external devices such as sensors The connector takes a 16 way IDC plug or board stacking connector Details are given in Appendix B Bluetooth Communications Fo
6. to O STOP set wheel drive levels to zero QUERY read wheel positions SET set wheel drive levels The wheel position counts are 16 bit values which wraparound on overflow Motor drive levels are 8 bit signed values i e 127 127 and 128 same as 0 Operation of the RESET and STOP commands is immediate but the other two commands use extra handshaking bytes to synchronise the exchange of multiple databytes as discussed below QUERY command This samples both current wheel positions and responds with a four byte sequence containing the wheel positions The io processor waits to receive a confirm character after sending each data byte before it can send the next The master therefore sends a confirm character after receiving each data byte send gt io outputs first byte left wheel HIGH send iooutputs second byte left wheel LOW send gt io outputs third byte right wheel HIGH send gt io outputs fourth byte right wheel LOW begin next command If anything other than a hex 2E confirm character is sent the command aborts prematurely SET command This accepts two new drive level data bytes and then updates the output drive levels The io processor sends a confirm character after receiving each command byte The master waits for the confirm characters before sending the next data byte send io outputs confirm byte send right hand drive level byte io outpu
7. DO 40k E PEG ST BT_TX IP El 2 ATMEGAS4 aa ZO M EE BT RX OP GND POWER SUPPLY SMD SWITCH swo switcH T 2 SW DEIN 39 xe om 3 Q xs X5 4 GND GND NB also bat mon te 22uF 16V BATTERIES c1 1u ceramic GND RADIO BOARD MOTORS DRIVE CONTROL 8 Z 1 A 3 4 GND 5 E Svi z 9 O XC SA oe Os SB SS a8 59 I 4 2 T2 z 3 4 g 5 6 e rj SV2 29 and Ss 73 3 RS PF 2 3 9 E DIL switches o m5 E S SMD DIP sz sz xO ED 68 8 s E g LEFT REV LEFT_FWD x L BlaHT REV 3 L BIGHIL EWD _ _RIGHILA pp EE IETA m EA SA MEGAS Adela sl sl s ATMEL INT1 PD3 j T PCAT ADC1 4 5585825888 bs g XCK TO PD4 E x 3 El E 3 ee i eno 86 8 8 8 8 ae c4 ESS E ba a vec ST m GND3 rs E S a on 4 ena Em aer Po 4 2h Bes sz s vec2 22885 3 35 ance RIGHT_MON 1i E 2 z cu 55 B XCLK omaimoscnpase g 2 5 B Y 9 3 Avec XTAL2ITOSC2 PB7 pesisck Z GND iso osi RIGHT PWM LEET PWM IO PROGRAMMING N F 3 4 CLIX MISO CLIX MOSI 5 E CLIX RST GND SVE FS INT vast Ve52 0151 0152 Post PGs2 IS le foo i e n o je TAB GND GND ias le l n oo ro a z 5 GND GND t
8. Port Right click on the icon once more and select Connect to Bluetooth Serial Port or similar and the robot is connected to a virtual COM port The identity of the COM port now appears in the status bar at the bottom of the explorer window or can be found from right click Properties on the icon The device icon is highlighted usually green when connected N B The actual COMport number will depend on the order of connecting and other devices in your system NOTE this is a safe connection method The process can be made simpler once you are confident of the details Unfortunately the precise operation depends on the version of the Bluetooth tray software and the operating system in use Verifying Robot Communication It is a good idea to confirm that communications have been established by using a terminal program such as Hyperterminal Set up a new connection to connect to the appropriate COM port e g COM4 Most of the ordinary serial settings have no effect but ensure that no handshaking is selected Within the Hyperterminal Settings tab ASCII setup page it is best to set Send line ends with line feeds and Echo typed characters locally Connect and type a command like t and the robot should then respond with e g lt test 00 gt This command response contains the robot ID set by the switches at the back of the robot You can try various other commands by refe
9. ansion port This is important to protect the radio board from the programming process see Internal View page 7 Connect the programming cable between the robot and the PC parallel port and turn the robot ON Now run up PonyProg PonyProg2000 Serial Device Programmer E loj xl File Edit Device Command Script Utility Setup Window emm aaa ciue e Mane clem giae am eamevi n5 No Name zm ioj x i M 120 port setup C Serial Parallel si Prog API z AvrisP 1 0 y C COM COM3 PTI LPT3 CUMZ COMA LPT2 Select Polarity of the Control lines Invert Reset Invert DIN Invert SCKL Invert D OUT Cancel ok Probe PonyProg2000 ATmega8 Size 8704 Bytes CRC 0000h The first time you use PonyProg you will need to configure it selecting the setup options shown above First select Interface Setup from the Setup menu Select Parallel for the programming port LPT1 button for the port or whichever parallel programming port you wish to use and AVR ISP I O the hardware interface type from the dropdown Next run Calibration from the Setup menu Follow the instructions to calibrate PonyProg for the machine speed N B this requires the robot to be connected On the main toolbar select AVRMicro as the processor family and ATmega64 as the processor type PonyProg should now be set up correctly 20 To che
10. by the standard robot control software from v2 1 All commands begin with the command start character and end with the command end character The first character after identifies the command after that bytes are free format determined by the specific command used Extra characters after command arguments and before are ignored and extra characters between commands after and before are also ignored When the processor starts up or reboots the robot emits the sign on message e g Merlin Systems Corp Ltd Miabot Pro OS 2 1 gt Simple commands s stop sets both wheel speeds to 0 t test test communications Returns a string containing the robot id e g lt test 03 gt for robot 3 The i d is set from 0 15 using the 4 DIL switches If id 15 the robot runs the default test sequence on powerup version Returns the powerup message including the firmware version e g lt Merlin Systems Corp Ltd Miabot Pro OS 2 1 gt Parameter control Various control functions use stored parameter values All values are integers with a potential range of 2 31 1 billion They are accessed via the command which has a number of different forms lt name gt read param E G xM which might return xM 200000007 lt name gt lt value gt write param E G xT 503 might return xT 00000503 reset params All
11. ck correct communication with the programmer you can now read back some information from the robot Select Command Security and configuration bits which brings up the control pane for the Mega64 fuse and lock bit settings Turn all the check boxes off then hit the Read button to refresh the settings from the robot It should look like this PonyProg2000 Serial Device Programmer i E inl x File Edit Device Command Script Utility Setup Window a dea GOO aula ars me ima 3 i ons I 7 6 F Bootlock12 BootLock11 BootLock02 BootLock01 Lock2 Lock1 fay fe ees 5 sole Ss E22T Mose T WDTON QOCDEN JTAGEN v SPIEN v CKOPT EESAVE Y BOOTSZI V BOOTSZOf BOOTRST BODLEVELT BODEN SUTI SUTO CKSEL3 CKSEL2 CKSEL1 CKSELO Iv Gheckedlitems means programmed bit 0 UnChecked items means unproarammed bit 1 Refer to device datasheet please Cancel ok Clear Al Set All Wiite Read PonyProg2000 ATmegab4 Size 67584 Bytes CRC 9831h The robots are shipped with these Fuse settings already configured Do not change anything or hit Write unless you are quite sure N B The processor clock controls CKSELO 3 are set for the high speed external crystal which is 1111 Refer to Atmel datasheet and note that these bits read in reverse logic in PonyProg With this setting it is very important that the CKOPT fuse is also enabled or the
12. e see GCC documentation and the example MAKEFILE provided NOTE WinAVR can also interface to Atmel s AvrStudio free development environment In particular you can simulate code in AvrStudio by exporting it as a ELF file With suitable hardware you can also use an in circuit emulator A good starting point is to visit the WinAVR homepage at winavr sourceforge net In the Documentation section you can find the file install config WinAVR pdf which gives a concise and readable introduction 23 Appendix A Schematic Diagram MAIN PROCESSOR PRG RST R4 t AVE MEGA 64 TOFP1 AD7 PA7 AD6 PA6 ac XTAL2 ADS PAS qp 14 7456 MHz AD4 PAS jp eae 24 taut AD3 PAS ct TL Jon 62 AD2 PA2 AREF AD1 PAt GND2 m 0c2 PB7 E OC1B PB6 vec OC1A PBS i jL pee EE Troon MISO PB3 100n 100 muscle Tosc2 SCK PB1 SS PEO TOSCt 415 PC7 ALE A14 PCG RD A13 PCS WR A12 PC4 PEN A11 PC3 A10 PC2 Ag PC1 amp PCO T2 PD7 TPDS XCK1 PD5 L D IC1 PD4 E NT3 PD3 S INT2 PD2 E M CLIX pires NB also SDA NTO PDO NB also SCL AL 95 PET ADCT NB also 1C3 INT7 PE7 Ai 5 prance INTGPEG NB also T3 AS 5 PFS ADOS INT5 PES NB also OC3C A4 ST PP ADC4 INT4 PE4 NB also OC3B 4a NB also OC3A 8 PF3 ADC3 AINT PES E A2 B 5 pezapca AINO PE2 E M7 prtapci TXDO PE1 E PRO PFO ADCO RX
13. ee above by multiplying by 8 The actual multiplier is a parameter bV which can be changed Stepwise movement turn left gt turn right step forward v step backward rotate or move forward backward by set distances As for speed commands the wheels are controlled independently The movement speeds and distances are fixed values set by separate commands see below d lt gt lt gt set step distance Control step distance to move forward backward or turn left right for all step commands 12 lt gt is a movement type character lt or gt to set turn distance or v to set movement distance lt gt is a decimal number setting the number of encoder steps This has a range of up to 2431 N B this should always be positive In addition a 0 means forever E G dv1730 set linear movement distance to 1730 The move v or setting is stored independently of the turn lt or gt setting Standard reboot settings are 4000 for movement and 667 for turn x lt gt lt gt set movement rate Control set speed for all movement or turn operations lt gt is a movement type character lt or gt to set turn rate or v to set movement rate lt gt is a decimal number read as a speed setting E G x lt 110 set turn rate to 110 The move v or 4 setting is stored independently of the
14. eed and agility requirements such as robot competitive events Universities already use MIABOTS worldwide for a wide variety of applications including FIRA robot soccer competitions intelligent behaviours robot swarming experiments and mobile robot navigation experiments Miabots can also be employed as super mice for line maze following experiments etc Quick Start Each robot is supplied with a built in demonstration program Turn off remove the lid and set all the DIPswitches at the back of the robot to the ON position Then make sure robot has plenty of space and turn it on The robot performs a programmed test sequence of movements Remember to reset the switches so the robot does not start the test sequence next time it is turned on You can also drive the robot directly using the command protocol see later section or one of the supplied example programs such as Bigtrack BT Specification Processor Atmel ATMega64 Speed 14 5 MIPS RISC Program Memory 64Kb Flash Data Memory 4Kb SRAM Non volatile storage 2Kb EEPROM Features In System Programmable Self Programming Feature useful for adaptive learning Hardware Multiply JTAG ICE port Expansion Port 8 User I O or 10 Bit A D Drive Train Two wheel Optical encoder resolution of 0 04mm Speed 3 5m s Communications Bluetooth 11 5Kb sec Batteries 6 x 1 2V NiMH rechargeable Development Standard toolset includes
15. eens EXPANSION CONNECTOR o a case REV EN IN2 Di CCP Visa 0252 0251 D2 PG 4 PG 3 PWM GND vec _FWD REV PWM GND NL 2 15 BL PRO RST 3 2 AS 3 n PRG SCK 5 6 Ad T n PRG_MISO 3 18 Aa 3 12 PRG MOSI 13 4 A 18 16 vec 45V A SVa SW DCIN switched power m VBAT raw batterylde jack MIABOT PRO v2 TITLE pro2x0 Document Number Date 02 12 2004 REU 1 0a 16 14 02 Sheet 1 1 Appendix B Expansion Port Signals These are the connections on the main 16 way IDC header ARESET RESET a low reset PB 1 sck sck PDO MISO PEI PDI MOSI PEO SW DCIN switched charge battery voltage unswitched charge battery voltage The signal names relate to the system schematic see Appendix A The main expansion signals A0 7 are carried down one side of the 16 way connector odd numbered pins All eight of these signals can be configured to provide a simple digital input or output or analogue input capability Each pin also has a built in programmable pull up resistor Various special uses of the expansion connected signals are also shown as follows an dig normal digital i o or analogue adc input PORTF ints interrupt capable inputs i2c two wire serial interface suitable for rc bus spi synchronous serial interface spi microwire etc pwm pulsewidth modulated outpu
16. ettings are rT 10 rI 10 xS distance speed scaling xT distance threshold These two control the deceleration to stop at a fixed position for a distance based command Speed during a distance command is limited to xS times SQRT distance Speed is O and distance operation terminates when position error lt xT Standard reboot settings are xS 5 xT 10 E G at 100 encoder pulses distance about 4cm max speed will be 5 sqrt 100 50 movement will stop within 10 steps about 0 4mm of required endpoint Sequence controls The robot has a current test sequence of stored commands that can be rewritten or executed When executing The two LEDs flash alternately at a rapid rate Commands from the stored sequence are executed in turn Execution stops at the sequence end or when a new serial command is received The robot is stopped when the sequence ends or is aborted When performing movement commands the sequence waits for any set distances to be completed before executing the next command The wait time command see below can also be used to pause the sequence for a fixed time while robot runs on at a set speed The sequence is also run on reboot if the robot id is set to 15 all switches ON do sequence Perform the current stored command sequence N B itself can be added at the end of a sequence to make it repeat forever clear sequence Erase the stored sequence l
17. ith standard software already installed The c source code for the example software is supplied in the files PROBOT C PROBOT H VARDEFS H and MAKEFILE on the Development Kit disk As supplied these are configured for the WinAVR development system When correctly programmed the example software will flash the LEDs when the robot is turned on It also implements the demo sequence and most of the standard commands detailed above Compiler Installation WinAVR is a freeware development environment containing a port of the well known GCC compiler WinAVR is supplied as a self extracting installer Run this to install the software Programming The robot is in system programmable and new firmware can be downloaded into the robot via the programming lead We supply a freeware development environment called WinAVR This includes the GCC c compiler for Atmel AVR micros a full c library a programmer s editor and download and debugging utilities At present we recommend starting with the PonyProg programmer instead of the download tool supplied as part of WinAVR PonyProg is a freeware utility supplied by www lancos com which can be used to take an Intel format hex file output from GCC and download it into the robot We have supplied the latest version of PonyProg as a zipped file Please unzip the setup exe and run 19 At this point remove the two pin jumper on the top of the robot PCB beside the exp
18. llow the manufacturers instructions included to install the PC dongle Once installed double click on the Bluetooth icon bottom right hand corner This will bring up an explorer window showing My Bluetooth Places Make the folders view visible and click on Entire Bluetooth Neighbourhood Then select Bluetooth Search for Devices and wait while the machine scans for available contacts If the robot is turned on and in range you should get a window looking somewhat like this BY My Bluetooth Places Entire Bluetooth Neighborhood TOX A ar File Edit View Bluetooth Favorites Tools Help E Y ALPHA ANDROMEDA mid100 a Lj My Documents a Y My Computer x My Network Places g Recycle Bin 3 My Bluetooth Places 9 Entire Bluetooth Neighborhood amp ALPHA amp fd ANDROMEDA E 2 midi100 My Device The robot is the device called mid100 MIABOT communications modules are all identified as mid lt X gt where X is a serial number N B The mid number of each robot is shown on the underside To link to the robot first right click on the icon and select Pair Device At this point you will be prompted to enter a password by clicking on the blue tray icon bottom right Key in the pass code 1234 Right click again and select Discover Available Services which should after a short wait come back with something like SPP slave or Bluetooth Serial
19. manually erase the device Command Erase prior to programming PonyProg has a configurable automated programming sequence which can do this for you automatically but we have found that using this causes the verify cycle after programming to fail intermittently 2 Reading Oscillator Calibration bytes sometimes seems to corrupt the program window data leading to bad program data So always re load after using these functions 3 Fuse settings cannot be saved verified or programmed from a file WinAVR AvrDude For more advanced use we recommend the AvrDude programmer application that comes with WinAVR This is a command line utility rather than GUI based but can prove more reliable than PonyProg and can also solve some PC compatibility problems The programming lead provided can be used by selecting the stk200 parallel programmer type for AvrDude operations For example the command avrdude pm64 cstk200 Plpt1 verifies the programmer connection reporting either the device signature or an error See AvrDude documentation for full details Atmel AVR Studio Unfortunately it is not currently possible to program from AVR Studio via a parallel lead Instead you must buy a serially controlled programmer such as Atmel s AvrISP See Atmel website for details 22 Writing Robot Programs You can now modify the example program as you like or write your own code The output from the GCC compiler should be a HEX fil
20. movement and the pause box adjusts the delay given between successive movements As each movement is selected it is written to the listbox below The whole sequence can then be repeated by hitting the GO button 16 Joystick Control The joystick control software is an interactive application which allows robots to be controlled by joypads attached to a PC It can drive up to three robots at once This can be used for simple robot testing demonstrations and interactive robot football competitions Installation Run the program Miabot Joystick Driver SETUP EXE from the installation disk This installs the program you can then run it from your Programs menu Operation First connect all the robots to virtual COM ports via the bluetooth link as described above in the Bluetooth Communications section Now run the application which presents a single control window 3 Miabot Driver V1 2 Jak Settings Iv Joyi IV Pot p M Joy2 Eads y M Joy3 gi fo ae c Joystick Controls The tick boxes at top left show which joysticks have been found in the example shown just one All available joysticks are ticked enabled but you can disable unwanted ones The tick boxes in the centre and the adjacent Port boxes control which COM ports will be used to control a robot from each joystick If any of these are un ticked the program will not connect to this COM port i e robot This can be u
21. parameter values are reset to the factory defaults list params This lists all params in order e g rT 0000010 rI 0000010 11 After each line the list all command waits to receive a confirmation character before showing the next parameter setting If a character is sent the rest of the params are shown at once If a character is sent the rest of the params are skipped If anything else the next param is shown NOTE the speed control code does not operate while a list all command is in progress so this should not be used when the robot is moving Speed control Wheel speeds are specified as a number with a fixed scaling from 0 to approximately 2000 maximum positive or negative The actual rate in terms of pulses per second is speed 50 so that a speed of 1000 is actually 50 000 pulses per second i e a linear speed of approximately 2 0m sec In practice speeds of up to 1000 are readily achieved even when batteries are running low lt 1 gt lt r gt set speed decimal Set wheel speed decimal lt 1 gt is decimal number controlling the left wheel set speed lt r gt is decimal number controlling the right wheel set speed lt 1 gt lt r gt set speed byte Set wheel speed binary itl is a single binary byte controlling left wheel set speed lt r gt is a single binary byte controlling right wheel set speed These values are scaled to actual wheel speeds s
22. rring to the available commands listed in the Example Code Command Protocol section below Bluetooth Links Each Bluetooth link is a dedicated secure two way channel established exclusively between the two devices the pairing It appears to PC applications programs as a virtual COMport which can be connected to much like an ordinary serial port At the robot end it appears as logic level serial signals The PC dongle acts a Bluetooth master device which can establish links while each robot is a separate slave device A slave device can only be paired with one master at any one time If radio contact is lost the link will be automatically restored when it is regained However whenever the robot or computer is powered off the link must generally be re established including re typing the password Note on Multiple Links To connect to more than one robot you may need to configure extra virtual serial ports The steps required vary depending upon the Bluetooth host software installed but here is an example Right click on the Bluetooth tray icon select setup configuration Select Client Applications At the bottom of the panel should be a button Add COM port After selecting this enter a name for the connection e g MIABOT1 and select an available COM port Repeat this for each additional COM port required 10 Standard Command Protocol These are the commands supported
23. sed for testing joysticks Hit the Start button to start control over the enabled COM ports When activated the grey connected boxes will show ticks for ports that have been successfully connected 17 The Joystick Controls panel below shows the movement of the left right analogue joysticks in different colours Green Red Blue for each of three possible devices NOTE The program only works with dual analogue joypads which must be installed and calibrated using the standard Windows facilities before use In Use Controls Robot speed is controlled by forward and backward movement of the left hand stick Steering is controlled by left and right movement of the right hand stick The Stop button stops all the robots and disconnects from the COM ports Pressing the Speed Settings button brings up a control panel 3 Miabot Driver V1 2 Jak Settings Speed Control Settings Max Speed 4 I xe Max Turn DIE Speed Accel 4 olf Turn Accel E OK Cancel These sliders control the maximum speed and rate of turn applied to the robot for full stick deflections while the accel sliders adjust the speed of response The default values are set for reasonable performance in robot soccer type demonstrations They can usefully be reduced for smoother movements in other applications e g maze tracking 18 Robot Firmware Development Overview MIABOTs are supplied w
24. t See processor datasheet for details of i o pins capabilities SPECIAL WARNING NOTE signal A7 Signal A7 is also connected to a potential divider 33k 10k to monitor the robot battery voltage This can still be used as a general purpose adc digital io line as long as the connected signal has a low enough source impedance However this will prevent battery monitoring so in practice it is usually better to avoid using this signal 25 processor pins an dig ints i2c spi pwm other PF7 PB3 miso a7 i miso battery PF6 PB2 mosi a6 A mosi A PF5 PE5 int5 0c3c a5 int5 n oc3c PF4 PE4 int4 0c3b a4 int4 a oc3b A PF3 PE7 int7 ic3 a3 int i ocla ic3 PF2 PE6 int6 t3 a2 int6 oclb t3 PF1 PD1 intl sda al intl sda oc3a PFO PDO int0 scl a0 intO scl 5V rail Appendix C Io Processor Control Protocol The Miabot Pro uses a subsidiary io processor Atmel Mega8 to handle the wheels The io processor counts the motor encoder pulses and generates PWM signals to drive the motors Both processors run off the same 14 7456MHz crystal clock and communicate via an asynchronous serial protocol running at 14 7456Mhz 32 460kBits sec i e UART UBRR value 1 The protocol is a simple master slave command set where each command starts with a single distinguishing character sent by the master At present v2 0 there are only four commands command character description RESET 0 set current position counters
25. t command gt add sequence command Add a command to the stored sequence command is any other ordinary command minus the usual square brackets w lt gt wait time Used only within sequences to pause sequence operation for a set time lt gt is a decimal number specifying the number of milliseconds to pause sequence execution 14 E G the following commands establish a new sequence of movements w1000 v w1000 20 20 w2000 s This will cause the robot to move forward pause 1 sec move back pause again spin slowly for 2 secs then repeat The sequence is run by issuing the command 15 Bigtrack Simulator Bigtrack simulator is a simple VB application that can be used to drive the Miabot through a series of movements The program is found on the installation disk in BigtrackBT bigtrackBT exe First connect to the robot over the Bluetooth link as described above in the Bluetooth Communications section Now run the program which puts up a single control window vw BigTrack lol xj COM Port Number 9 id pause 10 distance lt 255 100 THE rotatedistance lt 255 100 Delete Type the number of your virtual COM port into the COM Port Number box You can now use the red arrow keys to make a series of required movements The edit boxes on the top right can be used to alter the distance associated with each
26. ts confirm byte send left hand drive level byte io outputs confirm byte begin next command 26
27. turn lt or gt setting Standard reboot settings are 100 for move and 50 for turn Distance controlled commands Turn at set turn rate or move forward backward at set movement rate see x command below for a specified distance m lt gt left by n lt gt right by it is a single binary byte 0 255 controlling the distance 0 means forever The speed is the turn rate x lt or x gt command setting described above The actual distance is the byte value multiplied by 25 for a maximum of a somewhat more than a whole turn The actual multiplier is a parameter b lt which can be changed o lt gt forward by p lt gt backward by it is a single binary byte 0 255 controlling the distance O means forever The speed is the movement rate xv or x command setting described above The actual distance is the byte value multiplied by 25 for a maximum of a somewhat more than a whole turn The actual multiplier is a parameter b which can be changed Acceleration and Deceleration controls These are controlled by special parameter settings rT ramp time period rI ramp increment rate 13 These two control maximum acceleration rates by limiting the rate of change of the programmed speed to rl speed units per rT milliseconds This applies to both acceleration and deceleration Standard reboot s
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search