PDA to servo controller

I have a palmpilot that I am trying to interface with a Pololu Micro Serial Servo Controller …

do I just hook the serial pins 3RxD and 5TxD from the palm to the serial pins on the ssc?
then will it react like the mini ssc from scott edwards?
or do I need something else?

thanks…

-phil

Hello,

I’m not familiar with the pinout on the palm, but it’s probably got RS-232 levels on its serial lines, so you should NOT connect them to the logic-level I/O of the servo controller. You can use just the transmit line and connect it to the RS-232 input on the servo controller. Don’t forget ground. The servo controller should behave just like a Mini SSC.

- Jan

yes I am aware of the ttl ports on the board… I will connect my handspring visor to them…
to get the pin right its the two “com” pins and the one marked GND…

also… can you configure the servo ports for a “ping” ultrasonic sensor…

thanks again…

-phil

Have you looked at the instructions for the servo controller? The servo controller just has outputs, so you can’t connect any sensors to it (since that would require inputs).

- Jan

yes I read the instructions … I was unsure if you could reconfigure ports like in other boards…

do you have a product that provides an input back to the microcontroller?

and I was just tring to confirm how to use the serial line as one has a circle (input) the other has a square (ground) correct?
sorry to ask seemingly simple questions but trying to interperet from ssc documentation to yours has been problematic.

I want to use either a palm pilot or handspring to control the robot … I have the servo part now. but to have a robot I need to provide sensor input back to the microcontroller.

thanks…

-phil

For the com port connection, yes, the square pad is ground and the one next to it (labeled ‘S’ in copper on the top side) is the serial input.

Unfortunately, we don’t have anything that sends data back over the serial line. It might be more than you want to do, but you might consider using something like the Baby Orangutan as an interface between your PDA and the world. You could program the Baby Orangutan to read some sensors and control some motors and servos while doing the higher-level processing on your PDA.

- Jan

I think a analog to digital “daughter board” for sensor I/O running on your pololu protocol would be a great idea… then no matter what the microcontroller is it would be a small matter of hooking them up to the serial line… and you could daisy chain them together for lots of sensor input…

BTW I am looking into your r/c switch as I have a laser I would like to come on… controlled by a R/C pulse.