Bluetooth, ZigBee, USB, and RS-232
communication modules are included
with this kit!
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
of XBee Pro). The TTL serial port is built
into the base Serializer board.
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This kit includes all four
communication modules! |
RS-232 |
USB |
Bluetooth |
ZigBee |
|
Serial Interface Modules (click
to view product) |
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Various Serializer Configurations
(click to enlarge) |
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. |
UFL Antennaa
(click to view product) |
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.