Reddy Update

Schedule

Week 31, July 27 - August 1	Ordered new coupling for shoulder Fab. + installation of head mechanism for gravity assist (previous one had interference problems with other head parts) Assembly and installation of 1 motor PCB for neck Assembly and installation of the speaker PCB + support Final tuning of motor controllers Documentation (protocol)
Week 32, August 3 - August 9	Final tests & tuning

Arm Improvements

To have better control of the arm (and neck) motors, we did the following :

• Change the Motor PCB to support
  • Temperature detector. A signal will be sent to the motor controller if the motor temperature is higher than 60 degrees celcius. Analog temperature value is also available.
  • Potentiometer feedback.
  • Motor power connection
• Design a new PCB with support to 4 motors
• Communicate with the CAN bus already available on Reddy
• Allow position feedback from the RS-232 interface
• Create a tuning GUI for easier setup of the robot controllers

Motor Controllers

• A new motor drive that can connect up to 4 motors have been designed.
• A new adjustable bracket for fixing the drive to the side of the robot have been designed.

Cabling Improvements

• Cables are now better organized
• Added connectors inside the arm to disconnect motors easily for repairs
• Signals are color coded as follow
  • Red
  • Green
  • (TODO ADD DOCUMENTATION)

Head Improvements

Motor controllers for head movement (YES-NO)

• Same motor controllers were used for the neck to add overheating protection and better feedback / control

Future Improvements

• Single 12V power supply could be useful for direct connection to Pioneer robots. A 12V-->8.5V DC-DC (100W) converter is required for this operation. This item can be ordered at Vicor. 8.5V batteries would then be useless.