Raspberry Pi DYNAMIXEL Servo Controllerboard

The Dynamixel Servo Controllerboard (DSC) is designed by MYBOTSHOP for the ambitious user and robotic developer. Through the combination of a powerful components on a small space we managed to develop a servocontroller with a Half Duplex interface, that is attachable to to Raspberry Pi. Furthermore it is also possible, to make use of the DSC via USB when used with an external FTDI Converter. The DSC is provided with 5 x Molex Header for the Dynamixel servos of the AX/MX/RX series (protocoll dependent), 4 x analogue Pins, 6 x digital ports for controlling of the PMW servos, aswell as 2 x I2C interfaces.

ROS (Robot Operating System)

The DSC is fully integrated in ROS, wich means that besides the Arduino firmware (ROS.ino) we also developed a ROS node for controlling and evaluating up to 254 Dynamixel servomotors, to enable a maximum productive usage. Further information aswell as a instruction for the integration can be found HERE. 

Software

The DSC is a Arduino IDE compatible development board wich is provided with a 10 Pin ISP interface and a FTDI Bus. The Bootloader is already on the uC and flashed with a testcode. When both the Arduino IDE and the USBASP driver are installed there is the opportunity to load other Arduino codes onto the DSC.

Die controlling and screening can already be done with just one codeline using the main function. Following there is an example shown regarding this funtion:

void loop() {
  
  Temperature = Dynamixel.readTemperature(1); // Request and Print the Temperature of Servo 1
  Voltage = Dynamixel.readVoltage(1);         // Request and Print the Voltage
  Position = Dynamixel.readPosition(1);       // Request and Print the Position 
 
  Dynamixel.move(1,200);  // Move Servo 1 to position 200
 
  Serial.print(" *** Temperature: ");   // Print the variables in the Serial Monitor
  Serial.print(Temperature);
  Serial.print(" Celcius  Voltage: ");
  Serial.print(Voltage);
  Serial.print("  Volts   Position: ");
  Serial.print(Position);
  Serial.println(" of 1023 resolution");
  
delay(1000);


}

Hardware

The DSC comes with a Atmega644P uC, a Tri-State Buffer for converting the UART signal into a Half Duplex signal, several additional peripheries, aswell as a integrated Step Down module for voltage supply of both the Raspberry Pi and the uC.
Furthermore we take use of high-quality components to provide besides the large spectrum of possible applications a high safetiness aswell as a  nice optic and haptic. One product of our ambitions is the green connector-plug combination by Phoenix Contact, wich is designed for up to 12A and is also short-circuit protected.

Download & Links

• Quick Start Guide
• DSC ROS Integration
• application example

Delivery content

• MYBOTSHOP Dynamixel Servo Controllerboard
• optional available FTDI Converter for communication via USB
• optional available programming device via ISP interface

The singel-board computer wich is shown in the pictures is NOT a part of the delivery content!