The arbotiX robocontroller is an advanced control solution for AX-12+ servo/Bioloid Based robots as well as small-to-medium size robots of any type. It incorporates a powerful AVR microcontroller, XBEE wireless radio, dual motor drivers, and 3-pin servo-style headers for IO.
The arbotiX robocontroller is specifically designed to control robots built using the Bioloid System and AX-12+ servos, although it is also a very high-end solution for powerful rovers. It is not intended to be a drop-in replacement for a CM-5, rather it is intended as a high level development tool for building more sophisticated robots.
For full information and product manual, check the manufacturer's page.
arbotiX Robocontroller Specifications
- 16MHz AVR microcontroller (ATMEGA644p).
- 2 serial ports, 1 dedicated to Bioloid servo controller, the other to the XBEE radio
- 3 Bioloid AX-12+ style ports onboard, plug your AX-12+ Servos directly in!
- 32 I/O, 8 of which can function as analog inputs
- Servo style 3-pin headers (gnd, vcc, signal) on all 8 analog inputs, and 8 of the digital IO
- Dual 1A motor drivers, with combined motor/encoder header.
- XBEE radios sold separately. A typical setup will require 2 XBEE radios and an XBEE explorer w/ USB Cable to be able to wirelessly control your robot from your computer.
- This board requires either an FTDI cable or ISP for programming. For an FTDI cable we recommend the Sparkfun FTDI Basic Breakout, alternately you can use our USB AVR Programmer.
- 2.8”x2.8” with mounting holes designed to match many Bioloid configurations.
Software
The arbotiX can be used with the Arduino IDE. We've also released an open source library and sample programs to help with controlling Dynamixel AX-12 servos:
BioloidController - this is a Bioloid bus library for use with the Arduino/Sanguino environment. It allows easy manipulation of poses, the storage of poses in FLASH, and full interaction with AX-12 servos.
PyPose - this is the stock pose & capture software. Written in Python, uses pySerial to communicate with an arbotiX board running the pypose sketch. After you have done pose and capture, PyPose can automatically create a C header file with the poses ready to load with the Bioloid Library.
Other Libraries - there are several other, smaller, libraries that have been made to make using the arbotiX extremely easy.
See more on using the arbotiX software
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