It has been awhile since I did very much with the robots, I have been dealing with some other stuff, which hopefully is in the process of being resolved. Before this other stuff came up, I was tinkering along a few different fronts, which included:
PhantomX:
updating the PhantomX hexadpod to some updated parts as well as the Arbotix-m board. This was up and running.
DIY Remote control:
Playing around with my DIY Remote controls. Currently have two of them. The original one is still using an Basic Atom Pro. My other one that I have been experimenting with was originally Arduino based (a few different boards, including my own Atmega shield for the Seeeduino mega, later with my own board using Atmega644p and now it is running using a Teensy 3.1.
What I was working on, was to update my XBee communication protocol as to simplify it, which also allows it to speed up. Before the protocol was setup such that the robot asks the controller for a packet when it wants it, but this causes a time delay. Now doing it similar to Arbotix Commander, where I simply send it out N times per second (Still in XBee packet mode).
I have versions of this code working on the Teensy DIY remote as well as the Phoenix code base, which I tested some using the Lynxmotion SQ3 quad. I verified that I could get a much higher number of packets through per second.
As I know that Kåre still has several of his robots using some form of BAP (Bap28 or Arc32) and also is one of the few of us with these remotes, I thought I should also update the BAP versions of the code. I think I have a working version of it for my BAP remote. I also had an updated version of the Phoenix code base which I have not started to test yet, as I had converted all of my hexapods over to other processors. So I was in the process of converting the Phoenix to run with an Arc32 connected to SSC-32. Hopefully I will get this done soon.
Short Term plans:
I am going to slightly update the PhantomX Hexapod, to mount a Teensy 3.1 on the top, and then reroute some of the AX-12 servo connections, to use a second hub, for the two legs that currently plug into the Arbotix-M, plus make it easy to plug one AX-12 cable either into the Arbotix-M or into the Teensy as a quick and easy way to choose which board I will be working with...
During this, I will make a teensy version (or versions) of the Phantom_Phoenix_DIY_XBEE, for both Arbotix-M as well as for Teensy. What I have not figured out yet is if I will start off with using my github project Phantom_Phoenix and/or Phantom_Phoenix_Serial, or create a new project or start off in the full Arduino Phoenix in Parts project.
The main difference currently working with Arduino 1.0.5 for the Teensy and Arbotix is that I am using different code bases for driving the AX servos (Arbotix uses it's own serial code base, Teensy uses standard HardwareSerial code base). What I may do is start off with my Phantom_Phoenix_Serial github project and use Arduino 1.0.5 (plus Teensyduino) and for Arbotix, use Arduino 1.5.6r2 with my 1.5.6 Arbotix setup. If so, I will probably create a new branch in my Arbotix fork with my version, which is real simple as it no longer has any code...
Sorry for my rambling here![]()
Thoughts?
Kurt
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