Easy Robot Control using .NET or Robotics Studio:

The Serializer WL Robot Controller provides a ready-to-use solution to interface the Microsoft™ .NET framework or Microsoft Robotics Studio to common robotic hardware.

Never before has it been this easy to interface DC motors, servos, analog sensors, I2C devices, single and quadrature encoders, switches/relays, and other devices to the .NET framework and/or Robotics Studio

Of course, we had to go and make it even better...

One controller, Five serial interfaces to choose from:

The new Serializer WL™ is the second generation of the Serializer. It has been updated to allow customers to use choose from five different serial interfaces (four are interchangeable). The pluggable interface modules include RS-232 (Included with Serializer), USB, Bluetooth, or ZigBee (MaxStream XBee or XBee Pro). The TTL serial port is built into the base Serializer board.

Each serial interface module quickly plugs into the base Serializer board, and communication w/ the board can be established in less than a minute.

Having pluggable serial modules means you'll be able to swap the modules in/out, and you won't be stuck with a single interface. This is a great feature, especially if you plan on using the Serializer to control various projects in the future. NOTE: Only one serial interface can be used at a time with the Serializer WL.

The Bluetooth and XBee/XBee Pro serial interfaces provide Wireless connectivity, making it extremely easy to communicate with the Serializer (and thus your robot) up to a distance of 50 feet (line of sight situations will yield longer distances, where communicating through dense/metal walls will yield shorter distances). Range does vary between Bluetooth, XBee, and XBee Pro technologies

The Bluetooth module has a UFL antenna connector, to allow customers to connect a 1/4 Wave UFL Antenna for increased signal strength. Our UFL antenna also works on the XBee/XBee pro modules with a ufl connector.

The Serializer WL can be controlled by any device featuring a complimentary serial device on the other end (e.g. RS232-to-RS232, USB-to-USB, Bluetooth-to-Bluetooth, XBee-to-XBee). This could be a Personal Computer, a PDA, a Cell Phone, a PC104 board, a Single Board Computer, or a microcontroller.

Simple Serial Protocol:

The Serializer utilizes a very simple control protocol to communicate serially to host devices. Any computer can communicate using this protocol.

However, to make developing applications that communicate with the Serializer faster, you can choose to use either our Serializer .NET library, or our Serializer Services for Robotics Studio. The Serializer .NET library and Serializer Services implement the communication protocol, and provide an easy to use interface.

The original Serializer, and the Serializer WL, share common firmware, thus the serial protocol is identical between the two models.

Develop smarter applications, faster, with .NET or Microsoft Robotics Studio:

The Serializer was developed to allow developers to hit the ground running with their robotic application. Why waste time re-implementing bit-twiddling routines and interfacing hardware, when that time could be better spent developing a higher level (and smarter) application that allows your robot to do something meaningful?

The Serializer requires absolutely no low level programming whatsoever. Instead, developers simply take advantage of the free Serializer .NET library and Serializer Services (for Robotics Studio) to effortlessly query or control their hardware.

Extensive Documentation:

We provide an extensive suite of documentation and source code examples for the Serializer. Our Serializer .NET library includes MSDN style documentation for the .NET interface, which also includes examples for all supported sensors and components.

Our Serializer Services are based on the Microsoft Robotics Studio framework, so developers can take advantage of the documentation included with Robotics Studio to learn how to use them.

Feature Rich:

The Serializer WL provides an interface to query and control the most popular robotic components on the market. Developers can pick and choose from the Rich set of features the Serializer provides, and focus on higher level application development.

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I2C Devices:

• Any I2C device (using generic I2C interface)
• RoboticsConnection Line Following Sensor
• Devantech SRF02
• Devantech SRF04
• Devantech SRF05
• Devantech SRF08
• Devantech SRF10
• Devantech TPA81 Thermopile
• Devantech SP03 Speech Synthesizer
• Devantech CMPS03 Electronic Compass
• Devantech LCD03

Analog Sensors (5 Sensor Inputs):

• Ambient Temperature Sensor
• Potentiometer Sensor Board
• Serializer is compatible with all Phidgets analog sensors
• infrared distance sensors
• Maxbotix MaxSonar Sensors
• Onboard battery voltage level monitor - analog input 5

Digital I/O Lines (10 I/O Lines + 4 Encoder Input Lines):

• RoboticsConnection Pushbutton I/O Board
• Parallax PING Sonar
• Maxbotix Sonar Sensors
• Single and Quadrature Wheel Encoder inputs
• NOTE: Six I/O lines are used for Servo control (4,5,6,7,8, & 9) and two are used for I2C communications (1,2). Thus if you’re using Servos or I2C devices, on any of these pins, you won’t be able to use them for any other I/O.

Motors:

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• Two DC drive motors up to 4A each
• One Bipolar Stepper motor
• Six Standard or Digital Hobby Servos
• Gamoto External PID Controller (uses generic I2C interface)
• External H-Bridge control
• Built in Velocity and Distance PID Motor Control Algorithms

Expansion Boards:

LEDs:

• One Red Power LED
• Two Green LEDs are used as a programmable heartbeat
• Two Bi-Color (Green/Red) are used to display the PWM duty cycle percentage (0-100) and direction of current through each motor (and thus motor direction).

Hardware I/O Specifications

• Power LED
• Two onboard voltage regulators
• Two User definable LEDs + 2 Bicolor LEDs for H-Bridge duty cycle status
• Dual 4 Amp H-Bridges - control 2 DC motors, or one Bipolar Stepper Motor
• External H-Bridge interface via headers
• Velocity and Distance PID control algorithm built in (works for most drivetrain configurations)
• I2C Port
• Six 10-bit Analog Inputs (one is tied internally to battery supply voltage)
• 10 I/O lines (six can be used for servo control, two are connected to I2C port)
• Onboard TTL serial port
• Dual single/quadrature encoder input ports
• Four serial interface modules to choose from (RS-232, USB, Bluetooth, and XBee/XBee Pro)
• All serial modules are interchangeable
• Reset Button
• easy connect power and motor screw terminals

Serializer Pinout:

Documentation:

We have a great selection of documentation for the Serializer. Click on an icon below to learn more about the Serializer:

Examples: