Phoenix Bot Board II / BASIC Atom Pro Tutorial.

Updated 02/24/2009.

Safety first! Wear eye protection and never touch a powered robot!

Note: This tutorial applies to the SSC-32 v2 with Register Support.

Software:
- Basic Micro Atom Pro IDE v8.0.1.7 (download)
- Basic Atom Pro program (Step 16)

Image of Phoenix.

I. Phoenix Configuration: SSC-32 Registers

Step 1.
Place the robot on top of a CD spindle or similar to hold the legs off the ground.

Download and install LynxTerm v1.08 or higher. Connect the SSC-32 to the serial port and apply power. The green LED should light and stay on until it receives a valid serial command. Run the LynxTerm program.

Please consult the serial troubleshooting guide if you have difficulties with this.

Figure 1.

Step 2.
Type "ver" and press "enter". You should see "SSC32-V2.01XE" or higher returned. However, if you have the firmware v2.01XE, there is still one more test you have to do. Due to an error on our part, the early v2.01XE firmware did not include register support, and will need to be updated.

To test for register support on your 2.01XE firmware, click on "Reg.", then "Read", and enable "Initial Pulse Offset". Click on "Write", then click "Read".
- If the option is still enabled, you have the proper version and can move on to Step 5.
- If the option is now disabled, you need to update your firmware.

Figure 2.

Step 3.
Download the 2.01XE firmware. Remove power from the SSC-32, and make sure the baud rate is set to 115.2k. Refer to the manual if you need more information regarding baud rate.

Apply power to the SSC-32 again, make sure it's connected to the PC, and click on "Firmware" along the bottom of the LynxTerm screen.

Click on "Open" and browse to the firmware file you just downloaded.

Click on "Begin Update".

Figure 3.

Step 4.
When the firmware has been successfully updated, click "Ok" then "Exit".

Now repeat the ver test: type "ver" then press "Enter". You should see the proper firmware version returned.

Figure 4.

Step 5.
Place the robot in a position as close to neutral as possible. Click on "All=1500" in the bottom right portion of the screen. Your robot should go to and hold the neutral position, and should resemble figures 7, 8, and 9. If the joints are off by more than 15° you may have made an error in assembly. To correct this, remove the center screw from the round servo horn, pull the servo horn off the servo, rotate until it's aligned, then reattach the servo horn.

Figure 5.

Step 6.
From the main screen, click on "Reg" to open the Registers page.

Click on "Default" to initialize default values.

Figure 6.

Refer to this servo channel number guide for the following three steps.

Do the most accurate alignment as possible! The robot can only operate as well as as it is aligned. In other words, a poorly aligned robot will walk poorly!

Servo Channel Numbering.

Step 7.
You need to adjust the robot's horizontal hip servos. Select servo #0, then adjust the "Offset" slider until the tibia is in line with the horizontal hip servo horn's screws as shown.

Do this for servos #00, 04, 08, 16, 20, 24.

Note, the mouse's scrollwheel or keyboard's arrow keys can be used to make fine adjustments.

Figure 7.

Step 8.
Now adjust the robot's vertical hip servo. Select servo #1, then adjust the "Offset" slider until the robot's femur is parallel to the ground as shown.

Do this for servos #01, 05, 09, 17, 21, 25.

Figure 8.

Step 9.
Now adjust the robot's knee servo. Select servo #2, then adjust the "Offset" slider until the tip of the robot's foot is directly underneath the knee servo pivot point. From the servo's pivot point to the tip of the foot should be perpendicular to the ground as shown.

Do this for servos #02, 06, 10, 18, 22, 26.

Figure 9.

Step 10.
Enable "Initial Pulse Offset", then click "Write" and exit LynxTerm when the write process is finished.

Note, you can also check "Initial Pulse Width" to automatically enable the servos on power-up as an option. If you do, make sure you "Write" to save the changes. The next section of this tutorial allows Sequencer to enable the servos instead.

This completes the Phoenix configuration process for the SSC-32 registers. Now, whenever the robot is turned on, the servos will automatically be aligned and/or enabled.

Figure 10.

II. Phoenix Configuration: Bot Board II Installation

Step 11.
Remove a screw holding the SSC-32's standoffs onto the Phoenix chassis. Replace the screw with the 3/8" M/F standoff as shown. Be careful to not over tighten! Repeat for the remaining three screws.

Figure 11.

Step 12.
Flip the Phoenix over and attach the PS2 cable's receiver socket as shown. Route the rest of the cable up and out the top.

Figure 12.

Step 13.
To connect the Bot Board II to the SSC-32, you will need to modify a 6" servo extender cable. Remove the header pins from the cable so you have two female ends. Then use an exacto knife to gently pry the tab up to pull the red wire free on one end. Cover the exposed female connector with heat shrink to avoid accidental shorts.

Remove the TX and RX jumpers from the lower-right corner of the SSC-32, and plug the unmodified end of the cable in. Yellow on TX, red on RX, and black on ground.

Plug in some extra lengths of 18-24awg wires to VL on the SSC-32, with the 9vdc battery clip. These will be used to run power to the Bot Board II.

See Tables 14-1 through 14-3, and Schematic 14-3 for connection information.

Figure 13.

Step 14.
Install the Bot Board II, using 1/4" socket head screws. Plug the modified end of the servo The yellow and black part goes on pin 10 with the black wire toward the outside of the Bot Board II. Plug the red wire in on Pin 11, on the header pin nearest the center of the Bot Board II.

Plug in the PS2 cable as shown in Figure 14-2. Plug in the power wires from the SSC-32 to VL.

See Tables 14-1 through 14-3, and Schematic 14-3 for connection information.

Install the BASIC Atom Pro as shown.

4 x	Atom Pro Orientation:

Figure 14-1.

Figure 14-2.

Connection Information Tables.

SSC-32 Connection Information
What	Where
Jumper installed	VS1=VS2
Jumper installed	38.4 Baud Rate
Unmodified Servo Cable End	TX / RX / GND Black wire on GND
9vdc Battery Clip	VL
Power Wires	VL to BBII's VL
Battery Wiring Harness	VS1

Bot Board II Connection Information
What	Where
Power Wires	SSC-32's VL to VL
Modified Servo Cable End Black and Yellow wires	Pin 10, Black wire toward outside of board
Modified Servo Cable End Red wire	Pin 11, toward center of board
Power jumper for I/O group 12-15	5vdc
PS2 Cable	I/O Group 12-15 (see diagram above)

Table 14-1

Table 14-2

Servo Channels and Schematic Label Explanations
RRH / 00	Right Rear Horizontal Hip	LRH / 16	Left Rear Horizontal Hip
RRV / 01	Right Rear Vertical Hip	LRV / 17	Left Rear Vertical Hip
RRK / 02	Right Rear Knee	LRK / 18	Left Rear Knee
RMH / 04	Right Middle Horizontal Hip	LMH / 20	Left Middle Horizontal Hip
RMV / 05	Right Middle Vertical Hip	LMV / 21	Left Middle Vertical Hip
RMK / 06	Right Middle Knee	LMK / 22	Left Middle Knee
RFH / 08	Right Front Horizontal Hip	LFH / 24	Left Front Horizontal Hip
RFV / 09	Right Front Vertical Hip	LFV / 25	Left Front Vertical Hip
RFK / 10	Right Front Knee	LFK / 26	Left Front Knee

Table 14-3

Schematic - Figure 14-3.

Step 15.
Download the Basic Micro Atom Pro IDE v8.0.1.7 from (here). Install and run the IDE to allow programming the chip.

Connect the serial data cable to the PC's serial port. This can be recognized by having 9 pins that stick out. Connect the other end of the serial data cable to the Bot Board's DB9 port. Note, you can also use a BAFO BF-810 or IOGear USB-to-Serial adaptor.

Figure 15.

Step 16. Download the Program
Download the program with the gait you'd like to use into the BASIC Atom Pro IDE. Program the Atom Pro. Install the PS2 controller receiver into the PS2 cable on the robot, and apply power. If all is well, the legs should snap to position. At this point, if you properly calibrated the servo offsets, the legs should be perfectly aligned. Remove power to the robot.

Phoenix BASIC Atom Pro Program
phoenix1.3.bas	See details/controls in Step 17.

Step 17. Controlling the Robot
Make sure your PS2 controller is turned on. The software switches the controller to analog mode. However, some controllers may need to be put into analog mode manually. Apply power to the robot. If you hear a continuous beeping, the PS2 controller is not connected to the Atom properly or is not functioning. If you hear beeping, you can try pressing Reset on the Bot Board II. You can also test the controller with a Playstation 2 to verify that it is working.

The default is Walking mode. Use the Left joystick to move the robot around without turning (this is called "translation"). The Right joystick rotates the robot as it moves. Up and Down on the D-Pad increases or decreases the height of the body. The Triangle button puts the body at 35mm from the ground. The Circle button puts the body onto the floor in a 'resting' position. Press Triangle or Up on the D-Pad to raise the body.

There are three special "body moves" functions that are triggered by pressing L1, L2, or R2. While in one of these modes, the hexapod does not move. The joysticks change function depending on which mode is toggled on; see Table 17 for details.

Button	Walking Mode (default)
Start	Turn robot on/off
Select	Change gaits
Left Joystick	Walk/Strafe
Right Joystick	Rotate
D-Pad Up	Body up 10mm
D-Pad Down	Body down 10mm
/\ Triangle	Move body to 35mm from the ground (default walk position)
O Circle	Move body to the ground
[] Square	Turns Balance mode on/off (Balance mode: Lifts and lowers body along with moving legs.)
Special Control Toggle Functions (Press trigger button to toggle special mode on/off)
L1	Left Joystick shifts body along the X/Z axis; Right Joystick shifts and rotates body along Y axis
L2	Joysticks shift body along X/Y/Z axis
R2	Left Joystick doubles gait travel length

Table 17.