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PC controlled servo motors — Parallax Forums

PC controlled servo motors

BijanBijan Posts: 2
edited 2012-04-29 08:04 in Robotics
Hi everyone

I’m looking for a servo controller for PC connection for a prototype that entails:

Six 12V servo motors.

Five load cells (weight sensors)

One biaxial tilt sensor (or two tilt sensors).

The system is to be controlled through a PC, with real-time adjustments in speed and positioning capabilities, however, ultimately I would love to have a touch screen monitor type pad to replace the computer. I'm not an engineer, so please be gentle with the lingo.

Thanks,

Bijan

Comments

  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-04-29 04:58
    Do you have any links to the servo motors? Knowing what sort of interface they require would help. The same is true for the sensors.
  • BijanBijan Posts: 2
    edited 2012-04-29 06:10
    Martin_H wrote: »
    Do you have any links to the servo motors? Knowing what sort of interface they require would help. The same is true for the sensors.

    Hi Martin,

    Thank you so much for replying.

    I haven't purchased motors or sensors yet. I will based on the right controller.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-04-29 07:31
    OK. This is a bit of a chicken and egg problem.

    I would generally figure out the motor requirements based upon the application, then look for a control and feedback system for those motors. Many servo and motor controllers have a serial interface which you can hook up to a PC via a USB to TTL serial cable. On the PC side it would look like a serial port and you should be able to get code examples from the vendor of the controller.

    However, the addition of tilt and weight sensors means that your project could benefit from using a microcontroller to manage the feedback between the sensors and the motor controller. The microcontroller would then implement a serial protocol for control from the PC.

    How comfortable are you with microcontroller programming?

    How about programming in general?
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2012-04-29 08:04
    The Parallax Propeller Servo Controller can be controlled either from a microcontroller via a logic level connection or from a PC using a USB serial connection. This controller consists mostly of a Propeller running a servo control program that's pre-installed and, if you're willing to modify the control program, some of the servo outputs can be used instead for sensor inputs.

    This presupposes that what you plan to use are R/C-type servo motors that use a control pulse from about 0.5ms to 1.5ms in length repeated about 50 times a second since that's what this controller handles.
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