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Our Experiences with Phidgets Lloyd Spencer Kevin Sikorski Monthly SRS Meeting November 18, 2006 Company Confidential CoroWare, Microsoft & Phidgets Robot magazine http://www.botmag.com What are Phidgets? Small bits of hardware useful in robots Sensors Interface LCDs, Boards Servo control, Encoders, etc. Varying complexity Goal is to free the developer from dealing with low-level hardware issues. Made by Phidgets, Inc. First Use CoroWare needed an accelerometer for a robot. We budgeted 3 days for integration. We were done in 2-3 hours. Most of our robots have an accelerometer in them. Great for a simple “bump” sensor or inclinometer Great for force feedback joystick control Interface Kits We use the 8/8/8 Interface Kit. Digital I/O Interface with analog sensors CoroWare’s big robot has humidity, light, gripper pressure, and two voltage and temperature sensors. Digital I/O good for driving LEDs or bump sensors. Servo Control One of our smaller robots uses a compact 4-servo controller. Controls a 2 DoF Servo arm. We’ve also used them to drive Pan/Tilt units for cameras. A few others… LCD 16x2 LCD display with 16 Digital ins and outs. Do it yourself sensors Sharp Line GP2D12 IR sensors following sensors Force Sensing Resistors 4-port USB Hub 4-relay Interface Board A Quick Tutorial… Findings (The Good) Very easy to integrate Lots of OSes: Windows, Linux, Mac Lots of languages: .NET, C/C++, Visual Basic Great for prototyping or one-offs Decent power economy Easy to find power Good support Findings (The Slightly Less Good) Some Power limitations Reasonable cost Need a CPU that supports Phidgets Their biggest Servo controller only handles 4 servos Run out of USB ports quickly Where to Get Phidgets www.TrossenRobotics.com www.PhidgetsUSA.com www.Phidgets.com Rapid Robotics Integration Applications Non-Destructive Inspection Security and Monitoring Unmanned Vehicles Robotic Functions Vision Navigation Manipulation Operating System Platform Plug and Play Wireless Communications Device Drivers Hardware Platform Sensors Motors Mainboards Rapid Robotics Integration CoroWare Surveyor 3000 Machine Labs Base VIA Mainboard Phidgets Sensors Accelerometer RFID Voltage Meter Temperature Sensor Light Pressure Lynxmotion Servos Windows XP Microsoft Robotics Studio Rapid Robotics Integration CoroWare Surveyor 3000 Remote Client /joystick /UIService Browser 802.11G wireless link Robot /camera /accel /rfid /voltage /temp /light /movement /panTilt /arm /motor /analogIn /servos /relay Rapid Robotics Integration CoroWare Surveyor 3000 Microsoft Robotic Studio Phidgets Accelerometer Integration Direct reading of status from the browser Microsoft Robotic Studio Phidgets Accelerometer Integration A few lines of code make a much nicer display Questions?