Video Tutorial on Roboplus Mobile & BT-110A Module

[UncleBob]

This is a video tutorial on how to use Roboplus Mobile to connect Android Smartphone to the Bioloid using BT-110A. BTW this is the new CM-530 controller.

UPDATE
=====
The Roboplus Mobile cannot download task code to CM510. It would only work with CM530 and RC-100. However it can be used as a remote controller.

www.unclebobtech.com

[tician]

Cannot yet comment on the BT-110A's as we haven't gotten any in the lab yet, but the CM-530 is quite nice with an STM32 (ARM Cortex-M3) and an onboard FT232 for USB to UART communication (no more USB2Dynamixel needed). Any problems with the CM-530's FT232 being powered off the battery/adapter, or is yours newer than ours?

The beta version they shipped us requires a bit of modding to which I still have not gotten around. It still works well enough without 'fixing' and I get the feeling I will end up 'breaking' it when I try to move (not just remove completely) an SMD inductor so the FT232 will be powered from USB instead of the battery. As is, anytime you flip the power switch it disconnects the USB UART connection and you must wait for it to reconnect after re-powering the CM-530 (very annoying when debugging). On the bright side, that constant disconnecting/reconnecting when working with embedded-C provided the incentive to build a very basic hardware checker/firmware pre-loader (prints out debug info similar to the robotis firmware and waits for you to press the START button before moving on to run the user program). Also has basic functions for easily using the HaViMo2; controlling all LED's, external port pins, and the buzzer; and reading all of the external port ADC pins, buttons, and the microphone. If anyone is interested, all the source code is on the Robotis Gallery site as an attachment to a HaViMo2 article.

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

[UncleBob]

I still have my battery connected to the CM530. I am not sure if it would work straight off the USB but since I would need it to power all the servos I don't find that a big problem.

I don't find much mod needed. What kind of mod are you refering to ?

Regarding power on/off, don't need that right ? I always plug it to the power until either the servo overheat or battery runs out of juice.

[tician]

I meant USB powering only the FT232 USBtoUART IC, not the STM32 or the dynamixel bus. On the very much beta version we were shipped a few months ago, the FT232 is powered only by the main voltage regulator of the CM-530 which draws power from the battery/SMPS through the main power switch. This means that any time the main power switch is flipped off then the USB serial connection is cut off, which then takes a bit of time to reconnect to Windows after the power switch is flipped back on. Robotis is well aware of the issue and have fixed it in newer versions. Since you haven't had any problems then I guess yours isn't a beta or you haven't used the USB connection much. I should have just kept my electronic mouth shut and said nice tutorial (I did not know there was a mobile/Android version of RoboPlus prior to that video).

When I was working with embedded-c and building the ease of use functions for the CM-530 and HaViMo2, I had to frequently power down the CM-530 because servos would get stuck after the program exited or crashed or otherwise misbehaved. Doing this meant the USB connection would shut down. To then upload less buggy code, I would have to flip the power switch on while holding down the red mode button (to keep the STM32 from re-executing the bad code) and keep holding it down while waiting for Windows to reload the drivers, re-open RoboPlus Terminal, and reconnect to the COM port to even access the CM-530's bootloader (which finally requires me to release the red mode button). This very annoying process is part of why I added a bit of code as a sort of a pre-loader/system checker to prevent any user code from starting prior to user input (partly mimicking the Robotis firmware with different modes selected by the user before any user code is run).

[UncleBob]

Yup just tested it. Simply connecting the USB won't power the controller.

BTW I have updated my finding.

UPDATE
=====
The Roboplus Mobile cannot download task code to CM510. It would only work with CM530 and RC-100. However it can be used as a remote controller.

I am yet to test if one can transfer motion file & task code to CM510 from the computer via the BT-110a.

I meant USB powering only the FT232 USBtoUART IC, not the STM32 or the dynamixel bus. On the very much beta version we were shipped a few months ago, the FT232 is powered only by the main voltage regulator of the CM-530 which draws power from the battery/SMPS through the main power switch. This means that any time the main power switch is flipped off then the USB serial connection is cut off, which then takes a bit of time to reconnect to Windows after the power switch is flipped back on. Robotis is well aware of the issue and have fixed it in newer versions. Since you haven't had any problems then I guess yours isn't a beta or you haven't used the USB connection much. I should have just kept my electronic mouth shut and said nice tutorial (I did not know there was a mobile/Android version of RoboPlus prior to that video).

When I was working with embedded-c and building the ease of use functions for the CM-530 and HaViMo2, I had to frequently power down the CM-530 because servos would get stuck after the program exited or crashed or otherwise misbehaved. Doing this meant the USB connection would shut down. To then upload less buggy code, I would have to flip the power switch on while holding down the red mode button (to keep the STM32 from re-executing the bad code) and keep holding it down while waiting for Windows to reload the drivers, re-open RoboPlus Terminal, and reconnect to the COM port to even access the CM-530's bootloader (which finally requires me to release the red mode button). This very annoying process is part of why I added a bit of code as a sort of a pre-loader/system checker to prevent any user code from starting prior to user input (partly mimicking the Robotis firmware with different modes selected by the user before any user code is run).

[tician]

Yup just tested it. Simply connecting the USB won't power the controller.

Again, I did not mean powering the entire CM-530 via the USB cable, only the FT232 USBtoUART IC that allows the CM-530 to connect to a PC over USB without a USB2Dynamixel. If you plug in only the USB cable and do not turn on the power switch, does the PC still recognize a Virtual COM port? If it does find it without turning on the power switch ignore all of my previous comments. The only point I was trying to convey is that "on some early beta versions, the PC will not find any USB serial device until the power switch is turned on."

The Roboplus Mobile cannot download task code to CM510. It would only work with CM530 and RC-100. However it can be used as a remote controller.

I am yet to test if one can transfer motion file & task code to CM510 from the computer via the BT-110a.

Hmm. I hope that gets fixed with a newer version of RoboPlus and/or CM-5/510/700 firmware. I know that a completely wireless replacement for the serial cable when communicating between a PC using RoboPlus and a CM-5/510/700 is on quite a few people's feature wishlists (there are even a couple threads here about it). I was under the impression that one of the main reasons for moving from ZigBee to Bluetooth was that it would be a more reliable wireless connection allowing people to completely discard the wired connection if they were so inclined. I really really hope it is not due to the CM-530 having a UART dedicated to the wireless module instead of sharing it with the serial cable connection like the CM-5/510.

[darkback2]

Thanks for the great tutorial Unkle Bob! My kids are going to love this!

DB

[UncleBob]

Just tested it. Plug in the USB cable to the PC without flipping the power switch. A new port is assign to an FT connection. So it works.

[UncleBob]

You have to be an android fanboy haha