 |
Traxster II Module + Serial Communication
Scott Thompson from United States [11 posts] |
14 year
|
I'm using a Traxster II chassis with a Serializer WL 3.0 controller from Robotics Connection with RoboRealm (purchased). Also on-board is an ArduinoMega board that talks via I2C with the Serializer board and is used to control peripherals, like the two MR16-K2-RGB LEDs (see photo).
AFAIK, there is not a provision for sending a generic "i2c" command from the Serializer's firmware from the Traxster interface, yet using the serial module alone provides me with limited functionality. I'm exploring using a named pipe executable to control the Traxter's motor movements as well as sending the necessary I2C commands from the 'bot via Bluetooth when a variable gets changed in RoboRealm.
Question: Is it possible to utilize more of the Serializer's (Traxster's) features that are in its firmware, such as the sonar, IR distance, and I2C commands from the native Traxster plug-in? Or, am I better off rewriting something with a pipe program to handle this?
Thanks,
--Scott Thompson
|
|
|
|
Anonymous |
14 year
|
Scott,
It is probably easier for us just to add those abilities ... they already exist on some of the other modules that we have created.
Would you be looking for a more generic i2c interface from the module or are there a set of specific sensors that you are looking for. I.e. just sonar and IR?
This would help us understand which ones you are looking for so that we don't go off and implement something you don't need! :-)
BTW, way cool pic of your robot! That's got quite a bit of baggage on it!
STeven.
|
|
|
|
Scott Thompson from United States [11 posts] |
14 year
|
Hi. Thanks for the reply.
A generic I2C read/write capability would give me the most options w.r.t. controlling the ATMega1280 MCU, PWM dimming, etc.
Best,
--Scott
|
|
|
|
Anonymous |
14 year
|
Scott,
not sure if you noticed (nor if this is relevant after a month) but the generic i2c textbox was added to the Traxster interface.
STeven.
|
|
|
|
Scott Thompson from United States [11 posts] |
14 year
|
STeven,
Yeah! Perfecto! This works great, thank you so much for the addition.
At first, I had variables for the six color channels in the SetVariable module, like redL, grnL, bluL, redR, grnR, bluR and would send it like "i2c 16 [redL] [grnL] [bluL] [redR] [grnR] [bluR]<cr>.
For the "serial variable" box for the Traxster, I tried putting this in but it didn't work, so I tried to create a variable using the SetVariable module, with the contents of the "i2c" string as from above. I thought that putting the desired variables in the brackets like that would put in the values (works in the serial module but not in the SetVariable module).
Instead, I had to create a variable to be sent that had the i2c header and all of the relevant values already in it. So, this is working out fine :) Thanks again.
--Scott
|
|
|
|
Anonymous |
14 year
|
Scott,
Interesting thought ... the provided dropdown is just for a variable (as you have determined) as we figured you would probably be better off using a variable configured from VB or other API application as apposed to a static text string. As a lot of folks do not know the [variable] substitution trick we often settle on a variable selection. Glad you got that working!
STeven.
|
|
This Thread