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Posted by Peter Baltus on October 4, 2005, 4:51 pm
>I am looking for a PC -> Serial -> Robosapien solution. If anyone has
> seen this done or has any ideas, please let me know.
Hi James,
I'm working on a PC->parallel->radio-> Robosapien solution. I've put
an RF receiver (433MHz) at the PCB point where normally the IR
receiver connects, and use a RF transmitter connected to a bit of the
parallel port of a PC. This could equally well have been one of the
handshake pins on the serial port. I've written some software (under
DOS, but planning to port to Linux) that switches the transmitter
on and off in the right "rythm" to emulate the pulses that would normally
come from the IR remote -> IR receiver. I've bought the RF PCBs
from Conrad electronics for about EUR15 for the pair.
However, even when using a handshake pin on the serial port instead
of the parallel port, it still wouldn't be true serial communications since
the bit pattern will be formed by software rather than the serial port
hardware, and not conform to the RS232 protocol. The reason for
this is that the Robosapien uses MFM rather than a straight
RS232-like bitstream. If you need "real" serial, then you need some
extra hardware to convert RS232 into MFM. Not really
difficult, but different from what I'm trying to do. Could you perhaps
explain a little bit more to what you want to use this for, and how
you want to use it?
If you are interested, I can of course send you diagrams, pictures, source
code of the DOS software, etc.
My goal is to control the Robosapien from my PC, with video & sound
from the Robosapien feeding wirelessly into the PC (RF @ 2.5GHz), and
audio feeding wirelessly from the PC to the Robosapien (RF @ 88MHz).
This could then, with appropriate software, be used for primitive cleaning
& security tasks, as well as remote access (video & control) over the
internet.
I don't expect this to be really useful, given the limitations of the
Robosapien,
but I hope to learn quite a lot during the project.
Best regards,
Peter
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Posted by Si Ballenger on October 4, 2005, 8:05 pm
On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 22:51:16 +0200, "Peter Baltus"
>>I am looking for a PC -> Serial -> Robosapien solution. If anyone has
>> seen this done or has any ideas, please let me know.
>Hi James,
>I'm working on a PC->parallel->radio-> Robosapien solution. I've put
Have you ever considered hacking your IR remote and controlling
it from the PC like below? Let your PC operate the buttons on the
IR remote. Add the RF pyrimid IR remote extenders to operate out
of line of sight.
PC -> parallel-> IR remote-> Robosapien
PC -> parallel-> IR remote-> pyrimid TX-> pyrimid RX-> Robosapien
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Posted by Peter Baltus on October 5, 2005, 1:32 am
> On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 22:51:16 +0200, "Peter Baltus"
>>I'm working on a PC->parallel->radio-> Robosapien solution. I've put
> Have you ever considered hacking your IR remote and controlling
> it from the PC like below? Let your PC operate the buttons on the
> IR remote. Add the RF pyrimid IR remote extenders to operate out
> of line of sight.
> PC -> parallel-> IR remote-> Robosapien
> PC -> parallel-> IR remote-> pyrimid TX-> pyrimid RX-> Robosapien
Hello Si,
thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I've been thinking about that, but didn't go
this
route because I wanted to keep the IR remote for local manual control (I've
put a switch on the RS to select radio or IR input). Also, I wanted to be
able
to control the RS all over the house, also in different rooms. I hadn't
considered
the IR remote extenders, though. Still, putting one in every room would be
less convenient and more expensive than the current RF link.
The obvious advantage would be that I wouldn't need accurate timing in
software
- and I still have some 4051s that I intended to use for controlling the RF
remote of
a remote controlled RC car in a similar way as you describe. Hmmmmm....
have to think about this. Thanks!
Peter
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Posted by on October 5, 2005, 9:12 am
Guys, thanks for the input. My goal is this: 802.11b control of
Robosapien.
I found the following items / information that may assist in this
effort, please tell me what you think.
EZL-80c: 802.11b to Serial converter
http://www.eztcp.com/en/Products/ezlw-spec.html
Handy Cricket Serial to IR Converter
http://gleasonresearch.com/prod.php?sku=GR-CXIR
(Hoping to skip this step hence the inquiry about serial communication)
http://www.robosapien1.com/resources/official-mod-guide/
"The only way to input commands is by direct serial input to the
IR-OUT pin (active low signals, 1200bps, visit http://www.robosapien.tk
for a list of command codes), and through the P1.4 (right) and P1.1
(left) touch sensors. In three I/O ports, you have his entire body now
under control."
I suppose I should say that rs232 is not really a requirement. I am
thinking the best way to proceed is to sort out serial communication
directly from the PC to the RS. That would get me a long way towards
the goal. There are plenty of 802.11b to serial units out there and I
am hoping that will complete the package.
Thanks agin for the input!
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Posted by on October 5, 2005, 9:46 am
One other note, I am unfamiliar with "MFM." Can you provide some
additional information or point me to the same? I assume it is some
form of machine level language, but searching on just the initials, I
cannot seem to find any information. Thanks again.
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> seen this done or has any ideas, please let me know.