How to create simple animatronics- part one: using the MAKE controller

Step 5 Setting up the controller/ connecting sensors and servos

Time to set up the MAKE controller! First you have to load the firmware HEAVY to the controller. There is a step by step on how to do this here:
http://www.makingthings.com/resources/tutorials/getting-started/index_html/introduction

This is done by connecting the controller to a computer with a USB cable, downloading the Heavy.bin file and the mchelper application and using mchelper to upload the firmware Heavy to the controller- it only takes a couple of minutes to upload the firmware and make sure the controller is functioning properly.

Now unplug the controller from your computer. There are some things that need to be configured on the controller board to connect the flex sensors and servos and enable the POLY mode.

First, you have to set the DIP switches on the board (there are eight of them) to put the controller into POLY mode and activate the FOLLOWER program. This is done by positioning switches 1, 3, 6 and 8 to the ON position. Switch 3 activates the FOLLOWER mode for the first set of analog inputs and switch 6 activates the second set of analog inputs. There is more info on the POLY mode functions here:
http://www.makingthings.com/resources/tutorials/poly-functions/index_html/introduction

Now you have to set the analog input power to 5v (the default setting is 3.3v)- this is required by the flex sensors. This is done by moving a couple of jumpers on the controller board located by each of the analog inputs.

The servos are powered by their own 4.8v battery. This is because I found that when I powered the servos directly from the controller board they had some glitches due to the electrical noise they generate. To power the servos from a seperate battery you need to position the jumper located near the servo outs so that it is closest to the VExtS label on the board and connect the power leads to the external servo power connector . The servos are connected to the servo outs on the board labeled 0 and 2, paying attention to the direction the ground wire from the servo is facing. Note that the servos that rotate the head and move it left/right are connected together. This can be done with a "Y" cable adapter or by splicing the servo wires together.

The lights are connected to the controller board's digital outs Gnd and VOut1. The controller board's default setting is to provide 5v at Vout so that doesn't need to be changed.

There is a complete breakdown of the inputs and outputs of the controller board here:
http://www.makingthings.com/resources/tutorials/application-board-overview/index_html/introduction

Now connect the 9.6V battery to the controller's main power input. The controller can use anywhere between 6v and 12v but they recommend 9v as the board doesn't have to work as hard converting the voltages for its inputs and outputs.

Now connect the flex sensors. First connect the Vin and Gnd wires. Now use a multimeter to test your input from the flex sensor. Touch the positive multimeter lead to the signal wire from the flex sensor and the negative lead to the to the Gnd contact on the controller board. When you bend the sensor the voltage should change according to how much you bend the sensor. The voltage reading should not go above 3.3v. If all is good connect the signal wires from the flex sensors to the analog inputs 0 and 4 (directly next to the Gnd wires.)

That's it! Now when you flex the sensors the servos should move according to how much and how fast the sensor is bent.

Comments

[ledman]

good make tahankss