Dawn Robotics Forum

Dawn Robotics Closing Down - Support Implications

2015-11-17T20:08:47+01:00

Hi all,

Some people may already know this based on this blog post, and the fact that we're running a closing down sale, but if not, unfortunately we're closing down, and indeed may already be closed, depending upon when you read this.

For people who have bought our products, please don't worry that you're going to be hung out to dry, support wise. I'll keep monitoring these forums periodically to try to answer any questions people may have. If you post here and don't get a reponse within a couple of days, please email helpdesk@dawnrobotics.co.uk, as notifications from the forum don't always seem to come through. Also please send me an email if parts you've bought recently, break or are faulty in some way, as I've held back some components to deal with this.

Many thanks to all of Dawn Robotics' customers over the last couple of years. It's been fun.

Regards

Alan

Statistics: Posted by Alan — Tue Nov 17, 2015 8:08 pm — Replies 0 — Views 6

Software • Raspberry Pi Camera Robot Modification

2015-11-16T16:55:44+01:00

Im in the process of building a R Pi Camera robot. Im considering adding a servo controlled claw at the front to pick up and move things while its out exploring. How easy would it be to add code to control one more servo. I would be looking at adding an extra joystick to the web interface to open and close the claw. Can you give me a heads up on all the files i would need to edit in order to implement this. Im having a read through the source files on bit bucket and im getting and understanding but want to make sure i dont miss anything. Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated...

Many thanks
adamrobots

Statistics: Posted by adamrobots — Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:55 pm — Replies 1 — Views 11

Technical Support • Seeed Arduino 4a motor shield only uses in3 & in4

2015-11-14T18:14:35+01:00

Hi I'm trying to get this shield working, but up till now only one half works (i.e. the motor connected to in3 and in4). Maybe someone recognizes this and has found a solution.

What I've tried so far:
- installed the Seeed library (MotorDrive20121210) and ran the example sketch through the arduino ide
- switched motors => both worked fine with in3 and in4 but stayed dead while connected to in1 and in2
- switched several times the power source: lipo 7.4V/2200mAh, NiMh 9V/2400mAh, powerbank 5V/12000mAH
- switched to another (brand new) arduino uno
- used a sketch to address the pins directly (without using the Seeed library) The pins used in1=8, in2=11, in3=12, in4=13, pwmA=9, pwmB=10.

Using a multimeter I can read in3 and in4 while a sketch runs and get a positive value (or negative when I switch the polarity) between 6 and 9 volts.

So now I think there are 2 options left:
- I'm using the wrong pins for in2/3 (but they're the same as in the Seeed library)
- The shield is malfunctioning (also brandnew and recieved it in a originally sealed box)

I'm realy looking forward to some help/advice here.

Statistics: Posted by Bastian — Sat Nov 14, 2015 6:14 pm — Replies 2 — Views 20

Technical Support • Robot tuning - tilt data

2015-11-01T08:41:29+01:00

Hi all,
I have finally fully functional robot, thanks for awesome kit!

Now I'd like to add some improvements. First of all, I'd like to put somwhere on the page where I control robot's movement information about camera tilt. Because I struggle with remote control when camera is somehow tilted.

Is there any change how to add (some numeric) value how much is camera tilted? So I would know, how to straigthen camera when moving forward.

I'm advanced (linux) user, but I'm not familiar with Python - I don't know where to read those values and where is template for html page..

Anyway, thanks for great job!

Statistics: Posted by laserdance — Sun Nov 01, 2015 8:41 am — Replies 1 — Views 26

Technical Support • problem with centering on pan tilt

2015-10-31T15:31:47+01:00

Hi,

I have had the camera robot working well for the last week.

I was playing with some children this morning and the centering of the pan server ended to the far right almost pulling out the camera cable. I reloaded the boot loader on the mini drive and has done nothing. I am a little stumped. The pan only works 60 deg at a full pan left and it seems to be partly working.

I tried playing the the config page but I can't save any settings and it still has problems.

How can I get the centering fixed?

Paul

Statistics: Posted by bro.coconut — Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:31 pm — Replies 1 — Views 14

Technical Support • Unable to connect to correct firmwa

2015-10-20T19:03:08+01:00

Hi,

I assembled my Raspberry Pi Camera robot but it does not work properly. Sometimes if I start the robot it is partially working (pan/tilt works always, camera does not work right now but can be something else, one of the motors are working). If I start the robot the next time nothing works and this is the log. It seems to me that the firmware was not installed correctly on the first start and now it sometimes tries to install the firmeware again but that does not work properly. Does anyone please have a suggestion? Is there a way to just reset the firmware manually?

Best,
Dirk

DEBUG:tornado.general:sockjs.tornado will use json module
INFO:root:Starting web server...
INFO:root:Read 0X0 0.0
INFO:root:Expected 0XACED 0.38
INFO:root:Unable to connect to correct firmware, uploading...
INFO:root:No file copy needed
DEBUG:root:Building sketch in dir /root/.ino_uploader/mini_driver_firmware
DEBUG:root:Trying to upload /root/.ino_uploader/mini_driver_firmware/.build/atmega8/firmware.hex
DEBUG:root:uploadResult = 0
INFO:root:Read 0X0 0.0
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 6.52ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.57ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.62ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.03ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 2.34ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 2.40ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.47ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.37ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.46ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.62ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.37ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.38ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.56ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.33ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.30ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.33ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.30ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.54ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.16) 3.49ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.57ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.97ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.41ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.40ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.34ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.49ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.87ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.32ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.45ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET / (192.168.42.16) 52.23ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /css/modal.css (192.168.42.16) 34.23ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /css/style.css (192.168.42.16) 5.75ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /js/jquery.joystick.js (192.168.42.16) 8.21ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /images/ajax-loader.gif (192.168.42.16) 8.04ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /js/sockjs-0.3.min.js (192.168.42.16) 31.07ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /js/jquery.js (192.168.42.16) 102.14ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.16) 2.52ms
WARNING:tornado.access:404 GET /favicon.ico (192.168.42.16) 18.23ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 2.45ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 2.49ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 2.40ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.33ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.30ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.72ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.30ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.26ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.27ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.72ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.39ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.74ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.50ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /logs.html (192.168.42.16) 7.78ms
INFO:root:SockJS connection closed
INFO:tornado.access:304 GET /js/sockjs-0.3.min.js (192.168.42.16) 4.35ms
INFO:tornado.access:304 GET /js/jquery.js (192.168.42.16) 4.00ms
INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.16) 3.40ms

Statistics: Posted by dirk123 — Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:03 pm — Replies 3 — Views 46

Technical Support • Raspberry Pi Camera Robot - web page display on iPad Mini

2015-10-18T17:51:32+01:00

Successfully built and all works.

Web page 192.168.41.1 displays OK on iMac if browser is Full-Screen but does not display correctly on iPad Mini - the joysticks are off the bottom of the screen. How do I get it to correctly display on the iPad?

Statistics: Posted by bhawkes — Sun Oct 18, 2015 5:51 pm — Replies 1 — Views 67

Technical Support • pan tilt camera

2015-10-11T19:11:13+01:00

I had to replace the pan tilt assembly on the raspberry pi robot after an unfortunate incident involving driving off a table... However I am having problems with the new assembly, it seems to be centred very far to the right. I presume I ve made a mistake in the assembly but not sure what... Any advice appreciated!

Statistics: Posted by drx — Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:11 pm — Replies 1 — Views 89

Technical Support • RPi Camera Robot issues - Please help!

2015-09-29T10:56:32+01:00

Hi, I sent a message yeterday about my Raspberry Pi Camera Robot not working (no movement of the camera pan/tilt or the wheels, but the camera stream works fine). I have since gone onto the log (192.168.42.1/logs.html - *) and realised the Pi is not communicating with the mini driver. Also from reading other threads, I see that I should expect to see a blue light flash when I power on the mini driver, however I do not see this - it is just red the whole time.

Please help me ASAP. I am a Secondary school teacher and had promised sessions to primary school students this week where they can come in and move the robot around an obstacle course and don't want to keep dissapointing. This is the reason we purchased the robot. It is so frustrating because it was working absolutely fine on monday morning, then just decided to have no life in its motors the next time powered on and nothing was changed at all.

*Here is the log:

Main Log

DEBUG:tornado.general:sockjs.tornado will use json module INFO:root:Starting web server... INFO:root:Read 0X0 0.0 INFO:root:Expected 0XACED 0.38 INFO:root:Unable to connect to correct firmware, uploading... INFO:root:No file copy needed DEBUG:root:Building sketch in dir /root/.ino_uploader/mini_driver_firmware DEBUG:root:Trying to upload /root/.ino_uploader/mini_driver_firmware/.build/atmega8/firmware.hex DEBUG:root:uploadResult = 0 INFO:root:Read 0X0 0.0 INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /logs.html (192.168.42.15) 48.84ms INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /js/sockjs-0.3.min.js (192.168.42.15) 23.50ms INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /js/jquery.js (192.168.42.15) 140.91ms WARNING:tornado.access:404 GET /favicon.ico (192.168.42.15) 26.72ms INFO:tornado.access:200 GET /robot_control/info (192.168.42.15) 3.65ms

Ino Build Log

Statistics: Posted by mra — Tue Sep 29, 2015 10:56 am — Replies 2 — Views 87

Technical Support • Dagu Mini Driver Issue

2015-09-28T18:42:44+01:00

Hi! My first post is nowhere to be found so I am posting again. I recently obtained the Dagu Mini Driver board based on the Atmega8 and uploaded the code from the getting started tutorial, the one that makes it go it a square. It uploaded perfectly.

Then I attached a 4x AA battery pack to the battery header connection, observing polarity. My multi-meter read 6.31v for the batteries...good to go . I also attached these motors(link bellow) to ML and MR headers. I powered the board on, but the motors didn't budge. I uploaded the blink sketch to make sure the bootloader was good and it uploaded perfectly also. So I uploaded the old code again. I let it sit for a day.

The next day I tried with a different motor and it worked! I thought, maybe I did something wrong the first time or something. So I attached the wires back to the original motors and tried it. They worked also! But after about 5 minutes of non-continuous driving they stopped moving. It wasn't sudden, it was after turning it off, and then on again. I tried the other motor that is had started working with and it did not work either.

I assure you the connection to the motors was secure. Also, the light on the board, the red one, always lights up.

So, as you can guess, I am totally confused. What could the issue be? The only thing I can think of is to high of a stall current maybe?

Link to motors I used:http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/dcm-427/6-12-vdc-motor/1.html

Statistics: Posted by 3dsource — Mon Sep 28, 2015 6:42 pm — Replies 11 — Views 263