ArbotiX RoboController

The arbotiX robocontroller is an Arduino compatible microcontroller board, designed to control small-to-medium sized robots, especially walkers that use Bioloid AX-12 servos.

Support is typically handled through our discussion forum. You can purchase an arbotiX from Trossen Robotics. For more information, visit our website at http://www.vanadiumlabs.com/arbotix or Fergy's blog at http://www.showusyoursensors.com/

News

• 1-3-10 - A first beta release of PyPose V1.1 with NUKE has been released. This release supports 3DOF lizard-legged quads and hexapods. The next beta release will have 3DOF Mammal support. This release has been split into 2 parts: the arbotiX core, and the PyPose/NUKE software. This IS A BETA, so save frequently and please post issues to our user group
• 11-29-09 - PyPose V1.0c has been released. It includes several patches to the delta-T function under the Pose Editor.

Hardware Specifications

The ArbotiX sports an 16Mhz ATMEGA644P, with 64k of flash ROM, and 4k of RAM. It has 2 serial ports, 1 dedicated to Bioloid servo controller, the other to the XBEE radio. A total of 32 I/O, 8 of which can function as analog inputs with servo style 3-pin headers (gnd, vcc, signal) on all 8 analog inputs, and 8 of the digital IO. The ArbotiX has dual 1A motor drivers, with combined motor/encoder header. ArbotiX is 2.8”x2.8” with mounting holes designed to match many Bioloid configurations.

Software

A number of software programs have been designed to make working with your arbotiX quite easy:

• BioloidController - this is a Bioloid bus library for use with the Arduino/Sanguino environment. It allows easy manipulation of poses, the storage of poses in FLASH, and full interaction with AX-12 servos.
• PyPose - this is the stock pose & capture software. Written in Python, uses pySerial to communicate with an arbotiX board running the pypose sketch. After you have done pose and capture, PyPose can automatically create a C header file with the poses ready to load with the Bioloid Library.
• OtherLibraries - there are several other, smaller, libraries that have been made to make using the arbotiX extremely easy.

Sample Programs

Each sample program is an Arduino sketch, held in it's own directory within the Sketches directory of the release. Current examples include:

Licensing

All of the arbotiX libraries, robocontroller libraries, and Arduino extensions are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1. PyPose, and any other desktop software included (such as PyMech), is released under the GNU General Public License v2.