penguin stays in the same place

stavros

Hi,

I have been building my new penguin bot and i have run into an odd phenomenon.I have already calibrated the servos (but not the compass sensor yet) and I have loaded the navigation program.It seems that the legs move freely without over-forcing the servos.
The problem is that it is trying to walk but it stays in the same place.Its like the feet are sliding.All of a suden a slightly different sound comes out from the servos gears and it starts walking forward normally as it should.Then again it stops going forward and does the same thing again and so on.
If my guess is correct this is not normal and it should always walk forward.How can I correct this problem?

Another question i have is : Is it normal for it,·to back up a little bit when running into an obstacle and then going forward again? It doeant make sense.Shouldn't it turn left or right?
Why is the range of the IR sensors so small?(almost 5cm)
What benefits will a PING sensor have on the penguin bot and what code·additions or changes·should I make in the basic navigation program so as to use it?

Franklin

First get the penguin you have working correctly before even thinking of changing anything (focus) Can you attach some photos of your bot and attach the code you are using? Start with the basic code to walk and don't add any features until that works.

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- Stephen

Ken Gracey

stavros,

When you ran the calibration code, did you also enter a range for tilt and stride, or only center the servos? You need to define a range for both variables in the calibration code. Then, enable the servos and try to walk using the same program.

Ken Gracey

stavros

I am using the Penguin-AutonomousNavigation-v1.2.bpx to walk.

While calibrating the servos I didnt specify any range.How do I specify a range and what range should I specify for each servo?

Franklin

If you bought the kit you have the manual. You need to follow the setup and testing instructions. If you don't have the manual it can be downloaded from the site.

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- Stephen

Larry Sutherland

Does the linkage move freely (left to right) over the ball joints when tilt servo is centered?

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stavros

The manual doesnt say anything about specifying ranges for the servos unless im missing something.

Yes it moves freely as far as I can tell.

Franklin

[b]3.2. SERVO CALIBRATION
[/b]
The Penguins servos most be calibrated before the Penguin can walk. This is a crucial step and the

Penguin will not walk without it.1) Run Penguin-ServoCalibration.bpx
2) Click in the white transmit area at the top of the Debug Terminal.
3) Press 'Enter' to enable the servos
4) Press + and - to adjust the tilt servo
5) Press the space bar to switch to the stride servo
6) Press + and - to adjust the stride servo
7) Press 's' to save the new settings
8) Listen for the long beep to ensure that the settings were saved
Tip: Pressing 1 through 5 changes the coarseness of the adjustments


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- Stephen

Humanoido

Confirm the batteries are good by running the display test and
noting both the display and blue power-on LED are very bright.

Hold Penguin Robot upside down and confirm the delron linkage
is seated properly. It controls the walking stride. With power off,
move the legs back and forth by hand and note that it should
move smooth with no anomalies. When you determine it's
mechanically sound, move on to the calibration.

The 1st calibration happens during assembly. After assembly,
when Penguin Robot is switched on, the front of the feet should
be even or almost even and close together (stride), and flat on
the floor (tilt).

Were you able to get good calibration of tilt and stride? What were
the final calibrated numbers? Confirm your calibration and numbers
with this program:

penguin_automatic_servo_calibrator.bpx
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=671204

You can also use this program to test the servos. There's an
immediate response and centering the feet should be easy.
If there's no repeatability, then try swapping out the servo
with a known working one.

humanoido

Post Edited (humanoido) : 6/17/2008 7:33:11 AM GMT