Animatronic Chimpanzee

Fonzie

·My teacher bought one of these interactive animatronic chimpanzees(see link at bottom) with the ontention of hacking it with a basic stamp board. inside the chimps head are several small dc motors. im still a nobbie and ive only experimented with stamp a little bit, and i don't know how i would control these motors since they aren't continuous rotation. I just need some ideas on how to get started on this project, and what kind of equipment i need. price dosn't matter because the technology program at my school will pay for it. Thanks for any help!
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?pid=05895027000&vertical=Sears&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

Fonzie

i really need an answer soon. we are trying to figure out the best way to run dc motors with a basic stamp board so if we could get a reply it would really help.

Tibo

Did you search for DC MOTORS CONTROL FOR BASIC STAMP in parallax's web site or google ? May be you should....
http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/products/motorcontrol/motor_control.asp
++
PS. There's another way of hacking it : since it is r/c...you could try to understand how the orders are transmitted...but this may take too long for you but I find it quite neat

Message Edité (Tibot) : 11/13/2006 7:22:29 PM GMT

Patonian

-Im helping Fonzie with this project and looking on parallax was the first thing i did and the only thing i found was for servos.

-I looked at motor controls and·now my main delima is that we need something that we can control multiple motors and sensors and speakers.· Can the stamp board control a D.C motor like a servo?

Post Edited (Patonian) : 11/13/2006 7:41:18 PM GMT

Tibo

did you check the link I wrote ?
There are plenty of controlers...

What kind of motor will you put in the head ?
The controler you need will be (at least) choosed based upon their specifications...
++

allanlane5

The chimp DOES come with a 'radio control' remote. Perhaps your easiest interface would be to hack into that -- or generate a 'clone' remote controlled by the BS2.

Tibo

To answer you edit above : NO.
YOU CAN NOT CONTROL A DC MOTOR DIRECTLY WITH YOU BS.
You definitively need a controler to do so.

Look for h-bridge in google.
It's a type of circuit that controls a dc motor. So you need as much as motors you'll use.
You should consider using servos...they are asier to use with BS since they dont require extra circuits. However, they arent cheaper...

To play a pre-recorded msg, you will also need a daughter board, the stamp cant do it.
You might technicaly be able to use the sensors but....I cant be positive since i dont know the product and only read the pdf manual.

Tibo

allanlane5 said...
The chimp DOES come with a 'radio control' remote. Perhaps your easiest interface would be to hack into that -- or generate a 'clone' remote controlled by the BS2.

Since I wont have all the motors and sensor part to handle, this is also what I would study first...

allanlane5

Wow, creepy. Just what I always wanted, a dis-embodied Chimpanzee head, screeching on my desk at visitors. Not!

The sound of the eyes moving suggests they really are Servo controlled. I've not taken one of these things apart, but the BS2 CAN directly control a servo motor. If they are, they'll have three leads -- Power, Ground, and Signal. The RF remote also suggests a 'servo' controller approach.

Note also the thing comes with a 3.5 amp 6-volt DC wall-wart. That's a lot of current, but not a problem. This does mean you'll probably want to use the wall-wart, so you'll want to connect the BS2 'Vss' signal (its 'ground') to the Chimps 'ground' wire -- once you find it. Typical colors are black for DC Ground, Red for DC supply, and white for signal.

Kenny Gardner

We were discussing this thing a while back but the thread seems to have disappeared. Maybe it was in the EFX Forum that still exists but you can't get into it.

Kenny

Tommy Bot

Has anyone concidered the difficulty of trying to program for a complex project when learning how to program has not yet been concidered?

Does it strike as odd that we want to fly when we haven't learned to crawl yet? (Cause if "we" could crawl, "we" wouldn't ask the type of questions asked). Maybe not, I still want to fly. I'm just too scared of "sudden anti gravitational syndrome".

Has your teacher already purchased the chimp and torn it apart only to ask the question too late, "what do we do now kids?"

Seriously, it can probably be done with· a little research, but there should be someone on the team with experience. Otherwise, start out with one of Parallax's fine learning products and create an experienced programmer.

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(Frequently heard from other's)

Tommy, I know it wasn't designed to·x, but can you make it·do x·anyway?



Post Edited (Tommy Bot) : 11/14/2006 1:28:43 AM GMT

Zoot

Follow AllanLane5's suggestions for the motors that might be servos (you'll know because they'll move to precise postions, like for the eyes, and they will have THREE wires as Allan described).

If there are other motors that are real DC motors, then hook an ammeter up between one of the motor leads and the board/circuit that runs it. See what the current is when the motor starts up (stall current = much higher) and then what the current is when the motor is running (continous = lower). This will at least give you some kind of base to start from in picking/building a motor controller.

At that point, you have two options -- purchase an off-the-shelf controller -- there are many, many out there for $99 or less, including some made and distributed by Parallax. A motor controller is a small peripheral board that lets your Stamp send a low current pin signal or data to the board; the board handles the current/speed/direction to the motors themselves.

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

Fonzie

ok thanks a lot for all the advice., and i have done quite a bit of experimenting with stamp but it was mainly boe bot stuff, a little bit of the toddler, and most of stampworks. we do have a speech board to make the sounds, and i think the motors that control the eyes are servos but i can't be sure because they are hidden to well in the forehead. if and when it ever works i'll post a video and code.

Zoot

Somebody said...
but i can't be sure because they are hidden to well in the forehead

Can you trace the leads from the eye motors/servos without disassembling it all? If you've got three wires it's probably a servo; two wires would be a regular motor.

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

Fonzie

yeah i traced the leads and i found what looks like a servo wire, but the connections are the wonrg size for the BS. so we have to improvise. this would be a lot easier if this thing wasn't so jappaneese, all the connections are just a hair under the right size.

Patonian

Fonzie was wrong they are not servos they are in fact D.C motors.

I like the idea with controling them with the radio controler but how exactly would we do that we have an idea but arent sure?

Zoot

Get a motor controller. Many, many motor controllers will let you do one or both of the following:

- send data to the controller to control direction/speed of DC motor (e.g., using SEROUT from the Stamp)
- send RC pulsewidths to the controller to control direction/speed of motor (e.g., you can hook an RC receiver up to the controller OR use PULSOUT from the Stamp to "simulate" RC signals).

A very common setup if you want your Stamp to control the motors PLUS use RC is to hook an RC receiver up to input pins of your Stamp and hook the controller up to output pin(s) of your Stamp. Then you use PULSIN to "read" the receiver and let your PROGRAM decide what to do. For example:

(pseudo code)
get RC input values
if RC input values = nothing then
   'i am autonomous
    run motors according to some programmed script or input or whatever suits your fancy
else
   if RC input value > 500 then
       run eyeball motor left
   else
       run eyeball motor up
   endif
endif

Parallax sells some small current motor controllers (the Motor Minds); there are also LOTS of other vendors selling ready-to-go controllers. Google "robot motor controllers and drivers".
I would still follow my suggestion above about getting real current/voltage requirements for these particular motor -- you don't want to spend $100 on a controller that is way bigger than you need; conversely, you don't want to fry your controller because it's not strong enough.

Is this helpful?

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

Super Squirrel

Zoot your a smart man so Fonzie and Patonian you might want to listen to him.

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The squirrels are after my nuts!!

Zoot

A good chunk of what I know I learned at these very Forums last Autumn and Spring... the big posters deserve most of the credit Search the forums and there are many posts about PULSIN for RC and converting that to send to a servo or motor controller.

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST

GWJax

If the Chimp is anything like the Elvis then you can find the H-Bridge boards with in the head and use those board like I'm doing with the Elvinator Project. All circuits that drive the motors are right there in the head and the bust. The board should be labled pretty well since it's a WowWee product and meant to be hacked into. If you google GWJax and look for the YouTube videos you'll find an eye test that I have done with a BS2 plus at www.robocommunity.com here you also can see the code for it plus other code as well and once again in the site just look for GWJax and pull up all of my articles about it as well. I do believe that there is also someone hacking into the Chimp under the Alive Fourms. If you goto these suggested sites I hope it help you out.
The Chimp will most likely be my next project to hack into and when I get there I'll post all code and videos here and RoboCommunity.

Jax

MovieMaker

GWJax,
It would be interesting to see the insides of Elvis with also a files saved with your codes, etc. I got interested in the whole robot head thingy with Kismet and I am interested in all things AI.

Thanks,

GWJax

Rather than posting everything again here you can view the article here: http://www.robocommunity.com/article/12655/Transforming-Elvis-to-the-Terminator---Part-1/

This is the first of 5 that I have done, on the bottome of the 1st article you'll find other links that goto different threads like code and the other Articles as well but I really enjoy the 5th article as it brings the elvinator charter to a visual completeness now I am working on part 6 which will take it into the computer and start the anamitions for the head, after that the AI program will be installed and then the learning begins for him as he is begining to learn about the world around him and no two will ever be alike if someone shall copy this major hack to the Elvis. This is what I love about AI as it learns from diffrent enviroments it will act and talk diffrently as time goes by..

Jax

MovieMaker said...
GWJax,
It would be interesting to see the insides of Elvis with also a files saved with your codes, etc. I got interested in the whole robot head thingy with Kismet and I am interested in all things AI.

Thanks,

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If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..

MovieMaker

Thanks!

MovieMaker

GWJax,

That was a GREAT article. I would like links to more of your stuff.

Thanks,

GWJax

Thanks MovieMaker.. for more links and articles goback to Robocommunity.com and goto the member link and search for my name GWJax and this will bring up everything I have on that site. A buddy of mine in NZ is helping me out on getting my own web site so I can start adding new projects and how-to's to it but this will take some time to do.
Oh also the Elvinator Project got second place in an Instructiables.com contest and my buddy 4mem8 got 1st with his Wall-E that I'm helping out in the program section inwhich we are using a BS2p40 for the MCU and some other electronics as well.

Jax

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If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..

MovieMaker

Cool! Keep up the great work.

GWJax

Thanks again MovieMaker, I'll try once he is finnished I post a video here to show you all how he reacts to his enviroment.

Jax

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If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..

GWJax

MovieMaker here are my articles from robocommunity just incase you could not find them. I hope you enjoy them and more is on the way soon.

http://www.robocommunity.com/x/members/1385/contributions?type=article

Jax

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If a robot has a screw then it must be romoved and hacked into..

MovieMaker

thanks!