New vendors recommendation required for Masterboard, Microdriver - UK

General
1

Hi,

I contacted Betalayout and they are unable to commit to getting the components anytime soon - no assurances. I live in the UK and are there any other recommendations?

I already have the TI Evaluation Board and Booster pack, which I think is the replacement for the Microdriver. If I have those, do I still need the Microdriver?

Could someone provide the latest links to the software and some guidance? could this be done on Wondows or is Linux required?

Vijay

2

Hi Vijay,

we have the same problem - it seems that the chips required for the Micro Driver boards are currently unavailable.

Yes - you can use the TI Evaluation Boards and the Booster Packs to control your brushless motors. We have used those boards in the past for the leg test stand, the first 8dof quadruped robot and for the 3dof finger. For communication you’ll need a PCI CAN Card - one channel for each pair of motors.

However the TI Evaluation boards are too large for the 12dof quadruped robot and for the biped robot.
So if you want to replicate one of those robots you have to use the MicroDriver boards.

Best wishes. Felix

3

Thanks Felix. I am assembling the solo8 not Solo12, so hopefully this should work.

Meanwhile, to add to my misery, the PEAK CAN cards are out of stock. is thetre any alternative manufacturer?

Also, the TI boards do not mention any use if CAN cards, it is directly through USB. can we do without them?

Thanks,

Vijay

4

Hey, perhaps we can assist you. We are launching manufacturing of a batch of the Solo12 robots, so we can arrange additional components for you to finish your assembly. Please contact us at info@osbots.co

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5

Hi Vijay,

o.k. - for the Solo8 v1 robot the TI Evaluation Boards are fine.
I think that the USB communication it too slow to control the robot - @felixwidmaier would know better.

No - so far we have only used the PEAK CAN cards - we haven’t tried any alternative manufacturers.

The faster PEAK FD CAN cards don’t seem to be a good option - they don’t seem to work reliably with the TI motor driver cards.
FD CAN Card Issue

Best, Felix

6

Hello,

The USB communication goes through an integrated XDS100v2 JTAG debug probe which is meant for flashing and debugging. We only use it via Code Composer Studio (CCS), i.e. when debugging we manually set values (e.g. torque commands) through the CCS interface.

We never tried using the USB connection in any other way, so I don’t know if it would be practically possible to interface it with some custom software and use it to programmatically control the robot in a reliable way (or how it should be done, in case it is possible).

Best,
Felix W.

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7

When are you going to launch? Can you give a time frame?

8

We’re planning to start within the next several weeks

9

Hi - could you email me privately with the price? I can be reached ion ld19487@bristol.ac.uk. Also would you be able to provide Masterboard and BLMC? urgent reply appreciated.

10

I have managed to test the single motor using the Dual Motor Controller and it works. will post video later, i also managed to run the simple open loop controller using CCS project lab 1c.

However, I am struggling to move forward and need guidance:

  • Solo 8 version 1: If i have to use this, i will need 4 dual channel PEAK CAN cards, which means i will need a PC with 4 PCI interfaces, is that right? Each card is 300 Euros, and we will need 4 of them, which makes it expensive and unwieldy. Is there any other option?
  • Could you provide me with the current link to the software that I will need to use to control these 4 CAN interfaces?
  • Solo 8 version 2: the Masterboard and BLMC cards are still not available from the supplier. Have you come across any other option?

Thanks,

Vijay

11

Hi Vijay,

great! Looking forward to see your video.

  • For controlling the Solo8 v1 robot you will need 2 Dual Channel CAN cards.
    That will give you 4 CAN interfaces for communicating with the 4 Texas Instruments Launchpads.
    Each Launchpad can control two brushless motors - so that’s all you need for the 8dof robot.

Alternatively you could use one Four Channel Card to control the Solo8 v1 robot.
Unfortunately this card is the FD version which doesn’t seem to be fully compatible - @felixwidmaier and @Ross_Worobel have been trying to debug the issue in this thread.

  • @felixwidmaier could maybe provide a link to the software.
  • We are also struggling with the chip shortage - I don’t know about alternative options.

Best wishes.
Felix

12

The software interface for Solo 8 via CAN is part of the robot_fingers package (it is using the same interface as the TriFinger robots). I’m afraid apart from a demo (“demo_solo_eight.py” in the demos folder of the package) there is no documentation specific to Solo. However, it basically works the same as for the fingers, just the number of joints is different. If something is unclear regarding how to use it, please let me know.

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