Torobot 32 channel servo controller
I bought another “toy”, a 32 channel servo controller made by the Chinese company Torobot. It’s a small PCB with a dedicated micro controller that can control up to 32 servos. There is not much information to be found about it. There is an online manual available but it was not of much use to me.
A standard Arduino Uno can only control 12 servos. I would like to built a hexapod with 3 dof legs in the future, so that is 18 servos. That’s the reason I bought this board. It took me some time to figure out how the board works. The board comes with an USB connector and serial pins. The USB connector lets you connect it directly to your computer and with a small Windows program you can control the board. With this software you can actually make “actions” to control your servos and then upload these actions to the board. It even has some pre programmed actions to control a quadpod and hexapod robot. I want to use it with an Arduino so I connected the boards serial pins to the serial port of my Arduino Mega and tried writing a sketch to move one servo. It took me a lot of time and I needed a bit of help from the friendly people at Lets Make Robots till I had a sketch that worked. It’s actually not so difficult once you have figured out how it works.
Here is the sketch to control one servo with the board:
// http://www.bajdi.com
// Sketch to sweep one servo with a Torobot 32 channel servo controller
// Servo controller is connected to the serial pins (0 and 1)
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
move(1, 2400, 500);
move(1, 750, 500);
}
void move(int servo, int position, int time) {
Serial.print("#");
Serial.print(servo);
Serial.print("P");
Serial.print(position);
Serial.print("T");
Serial.println(time);
delay(time);
}
Hi, i also have a one of these controllers. can u send me the link where u found the software.
Thanks in advance.
I found the software here on the bottom of the page: http://www.elechouse.com/elechouse/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=100_146&products_id=1883
I’ve done some more testing and found out that the controller only works with a baud rate of 9600. The manual states that the baud rate is automatically detected and a whole range of baud rates should be supported. I’ve tried different Arduinos, different serial ports on an Arduino Mega 2560 but can only get 9600 to work.
i have the 24 port version of the servo control board and cannot find any software or info on it so im guessing it cant be to different from the 32 port board made by the same people but i have so problems and a question help will be much appreciated
i need some help here i got the software from the link im on windows 7 OS and i cannot find how to tell it what port to use to assess the servo control board.
also how do you connect this control board to an arduino i cant find an adapter i am trying to run 8 micro servos off of the board i currently have a 4.5v power supply linked to support them
thank you for any help
I only use GNU/Linux @ home so can’t help you with the software problem. To use the board with an Arduino you just have to connect the serial pins (TX/RX) on the servo controller to the serial pins on your Arduino. TX goes to RX and RX goes to TX. The Arduino and servo controller must of course share a common ground. If you don’t have experience with Arduino serial communication I suggest you look at some examples on the Arduino website.
I’ve got the 16 channel version of this controller. I’m trying to get it to work with Linux (Ubuntu 12.10) but I’m not really sure where to start. Any ideas?
Are you familiar with python? Do a google search for python “usb serial communication”. I think that will be the fastest way to get you started.
I’m fairly good with python. I managed to get the controller and some servos setup under windows using pyserial. I’m trying to get it running in conjunction with a package called motion, hence the desire to get it working on Ubuntu. I can’t see the controller showing up anywhere in /dev, does that mean I need to get a driver and if so any idea where I could find one?
how are you powering the robot? i am using a 6V but the robot is drawing current >2 Amps.
Thank you
Which robot? I have not used the torobot controller in a robot yet. I always use lipo batteries for my robots and ubecs/switch mode regulators to drop down the voltage.
hi, I have connected my arduino mega adk board to the servo controller with RX-TX and common ground. also, I could see the command sent through arduino console – serial monitor. but, the servo has no response. LED would not flash on the servo controller. so i think the servo controller is not receiving. could you foresee what might the problem?
thanks
Did you connect RX/TX to TX/RX? Provided the right power supply (see manual) to the controller? Try changing the baud rate, I only can get my controller to work at 9600.