Journal99 jul
From Simreal
Contents |
July 1999
Fri, 9 July 99
There are new pictures in the photos page.
I arrive at the Lab by about 4:00 yesterday, boxes full of cables, tools, and circuit boards in the back of the car. Wednesdays software bench test looks good, or at least the blinking lights did what I expect. The first thing to do is to turn on the air conditioning. Then boot the computer. Start installing the compiler... that should take a while.
Moving over to the frame I bolt on the valve assembly; hmmm... the exhaust filter touches the frame. Screw that in a bit more, ahh, better. Bolt on the circuit board. Test fit the potentiometer to the brackets.. dang! The tab doesn't fit my slot (I designed the bracket for a different pot).
A little bit of grinding and the potentiometer fits the bracket. Woo-hoo! Check the fit against the shaft coupler... hmmm... need to cut that pot shaft. Ok. Now to bolt the pot into place. ARGH! Where's the nut?!? Poop. ARGH!! Where's my Allen wrenches for the shaft couplers! Looks like it's time to make a run home to get supplies.
More better, the pots are fastened in and coupled to the leg joint pins. Only one trip to the house (so far).
Hmmm... the compiler is in place, so let's copy the CD-Rom of Boris specific software and data. Argh! The computer doesn't recognize the CD! Re-boot. Okay, now I see it; must have missed it before.
I cleverly marked the wires in my cable assembly, so I simply join the sensors with the distribution board without any confusion about which plug goes where. Now to untangle the serial cables, power lines, etc. Plug this, attach that, and before long the serial switch is connected to the... programmer board. The programmer board's connected to the... bot board. The bot board's connected to the... knee joint.
Finally it's time to program the radio modems to the correct rate for this system... 19.2kbps. Run the setup software. What do you mean, you can't find the modem! Argh... pull the card, stare at the jumpers, re-insert. Argh! Pull the modem, put the serial card into another slot. Argh! Try different jumper settings. Argh! Check the Windows '98 device settings, turn off everything but Com1, put the card in a different slot. Argh! Pace the workshop and bang my head into the post a few times.
Okay, somebody here *must* have an extra serial card... hmmm... half an hour or so until humans arrive. Hey, this looks like a serial card here in the cupboard! It's big, and it has extra cables on it, but heck... that's definitely a serial port labeled COM-A.
Okay, plug it in and power up again... Argh! The computer isn't coming up. I guess the Hard Disk Driver on the board is in conflict with my other one. Pull the card; I guess someone will have a card hidden somewhere. Power up again...
ARGH!!!!!! Nothing on the screen! Power down, put in a floppy to at least generate an error message, power up. Hmm. No picture. No video signal! How could a serial card blow my graphics card!
MY COMPUTER IS DOWN!
Well, people are arriving now, and here I am with Boris all hooked up, and the computer dead. Bill has a DOS box in the corner, thanks, but that won't help. Eric has his laptop... DOS again. I can't stand it anymore, so I head home and pull my work computer apart and rush back to the lab.
About a half hour later, it's all together and the pale glow from the monitor shines on my happy face. Okay, the modems are set, time to talk to the robot. ARGH! The dang modem can't find its partner... oh, yeah, I have the modems reversed.
Okay, now they are talking, time to program the Brain. ARGH! Fuzbol says it can't communicate... heck with the radios, I'll debug them another day. So I roll the giant table over by Boris and run a land-line.
The brain is programmed; reset the board; the hearbeat light is blinking. Cool. Now I send a command to position a joint (no power to the valves yet; just blinking lights)... move the leg, the blinking changes. Cool. Now we're talking. Time to attach valves and air... a little bit of thinking to figure which wire goes where, so my feedback is feeding the right direction (nothing like negative feedback to make things twitchy).
Ta-da! Boris moves! Well, two of his 18 joints move. Manual control of the valve pulse rates is working like a charm, though I lose contact and/or synchronization with the PC from time to time... need to build some RS-232 failsafe resets into both sides soon.
Hmmm, problems with the closed loop control. I can set a target position for a joint, and it tracks to that position (really nicely, by the way), but if I set a second target position it just ignores it. Seems I have bugs.
Anyway, an hour of poking at it, tuning the fuzzy motion profile, and generally showing it to people arriving at the lab, and it's time to pack up my computer and go home.
A good day at the lab, indeed.
Also on the good news front, I'm now a legal entity in Texas -- Simulated Reality Systems, LLC. With the book coming out in a couple of months, it's time to rework my web pages, finalize the kit designs, and start looking at web commerce. I've also made some progress on the halloween controllers, but they won't really sell until after this Halloween season... and that's a whole different story.
BotBash is coming, but I won't be there. Robot Wars and Battlebots are also coming... and Boris may be operational, but it may not be battle ready by then... it's up in the air if I can compete. But if I can find a sponsor to pay for my trip out (and back), I hope to make a showing at least! Time will tell.
For you faithful readers, especially youse all who have been with me these last two years, things are really coming together.
This weekend I can assemble the rest of the brain boards -- maybe I'll even get some time on the RS485 network that will tie the onboard processors together. Certainly the software needs work (LOTS of work), and I need to explore my force-feedback sensors.
I need to figure out the stupid radios, too... I hope I don't have to run them at 9600; 19.2 is so much more convenient, and it wouldn't hurt my feelings to run at 38.4 either. Better speed gives me better telemetry from the robot, to design better control software.
I'll also be able to shoot video in a week or two, and Eric from the group has volunteered to transfer the tape to AVI! Now to find an AVI to MPG converted, or maybe RM... hmmm....
Fri, 9 July 99
Can't say that I've been busy lately... the word "busy" doesn't carry quite the correct connotation of really really too much happening.
Picture this... you are on a luxury cruise in the north Atlantic. Takin' it easy. Hangin'. Then -- whap! -- the ship jolts, and people scurry like frightened ants. A man in uniform runs up to you and says, "We hit an iceburg! We're sinkin! Here -- help bail the ship!" and hands you a six-ounce coffee cup.
I spent some working on the Boris boards... getting them to talk with the computer, adjusting the motion profile. The word went out that on Thursday the 15th a TV crew from a local news station was going to visit the Robot Group and shoot some of our current projects... Boris is going to be on TV!
Oh god! My shop is a disaster! So I split from work an hour early Thursday (which is bad, since we are in crunch mode; but when aren't we?) and clean shop. And tidy. And adjust. After the requisite two or three runs home for tools and/or equipment, everything is spic-and-span ready for prime time.
Of course, the camera man took ill -- but I had a good time anyway, and my lab looks marvelous.
Spent that next weekend really fixing the communications... now, even if it fails on one packet, I can send a reset/resynch code and resend... no sweat. Works almost like a charm. Haven't tested the radio modems again, but they make a fine sculpture on my bench. I'll get to 'em! Really!
NEXT Thursday... as the work day comes to a close, I check my mail and see the TV crew is trying to come over again! Cool -- but I'm an old-hand at this leg-waving business now, so I go over at a reasonable time to set up.
True to their word, some guy and a camera-man wander in a little after eight and do the whirlwind tour; shoot Dave's really cool patchwork robot (which has got to be *seen* to be *believed*... Dave, got any links for me?); shoot Tom's really solid platform as he rides around on it; shoot Boris waving his stump around the air.
Seems this little bit of sophistry will show on TV Tuesday 3rd of August... hope I get it on video!
Haven't hooked up the pressure sensors or the feedback to watch the system on my PC yet... the day job is hammering together a version for a big trade show next week; and egads, are we not ready or what! Even more exciting, they will be taking orders for this thing at the show... so gotta deliver in a month! ARRRGGHHH! But it's a sweet piece of software; really slick CAM job.
Rick, the ever-faithful and diligent machinist in Seattle, has put into the mail the last brackets needed to make Boris capable of perambulation. Er, half of them at least -- the hard half, so the back-end clamp bits should be here soon too. Anyway, he's right on schedule 'cause I'm way behind.
I spent all of this Saturday working for BBI -- of course, I'll get a day back during the show; they are good about comp time. By the end of the week I hope to have the rest of the board/valve hard mounts welded on... and hopefully the RS485 inter-robot network too.
Then, some adjusting of the air supply system to reduce dropout, and I can test all six legs in motion... and then stand... and then walk.
We're talking end of August here sports fans, so no way I can compete at Battle Bots this year. If a miracle occurs and I get walking action by then AND I can find someone to pay all expenses there and back... maybe.
I still expect to get stump-waving video on the pictures page someday!
Finally, when you come back to these pages in August, be prepared for a totally new look. Simulated Reality Systems (simreal) is now an LLC -- I'm going to take the experience from Boris and try to make it pay back a bit; at least enough to keep me in project parts, and who knows? If I hit a sweet spot in the market, I may even get to do it for a living.
