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Package Summary

dynamixel_interface aims to provide a fast, scalable and easily configurable interface for controlling the Robotis 'Dynamixel' brand of servo motors. It is implemented in c++ and is based on the official robotis dynamixel_sdk. The controller is designed to handle many dynamixels at once and can synchronously communicate with dynamixels spread across multiple serial ports. The controller can run in either position, velocity or torque control modes and is easily configured with an external yaml file.

  • Maintainer status: maintained
  • Maintainer: Tom Molnar <Thomas.Molnar AT data61.csiro DOT au>
  • Author: Tom Molnar
  • License: CSIRO Open Source Software License Agreement (variation of the BSD / MIT License)
  • Source: git https://github.com/csiro-robotics/dynamixel_interface.git (branch: noetic-devel)

Package Summary

dynamixel_interface aims to provide a fast, scalable and easily configurable interface for controlling the Robotis 'Dynamixel' brand of servo motors. It is implemented in c++ and is based on the official robotis dynamixel_sdk. The controller is designed to handle many dynamixels at once and can synchronously communicate with dynamixels spread across multiple serial ports. The controller can run in either position, velocity or torque control modes and is easily configured with an external yaml file.

  • Maintainer status: maintained
  • Maintainer: Tom Molnar <Thomas.Molnar AT data61.csiro DOT au>
  • Author: Tom Molnar
  • License: CSIRO Open Source Software License Agreement (variation of the BSD / MIT License)
  • Source: git https://github.com/csiro-robotics/dynamixel_interface.git (branch: noetic-devel)

https://github.com/csiro-robotics/dynamixel_interface

https://i.imgur.com/HCrmRDS.gif

Overview

This package wraps the Robotis dynamixel_sdk in an easy to use, fast and scalable driver that makes configuring and controlling many dynamixels very straightforward. Simply create a single custom yaml file specifying the ports, ids and some simple configuration info then load it into the driver at launch time.

Features:

*current control not available on all models.

Currently the following series of motors are supported:

Installation

Requirements

Dependencies

Building from source

   1 mkdir -p catkin_ws/src
   2 cd catkin_ws/src
   3 git clone https://github.com/csiro-robotics/dynamixel_interface.git
   4 cd ..
   5 rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -r -y
   6 catkin build

Usage

For detailed instructions, consult the tutorials on github:

Operation

To use the dynamixel_interface_controller to operate servos:

  1. Create a controller_config.yaml with the necessary parameters for each servo (see the tutorials as well as the example in the config/ folder for an example and explanation of the various configuration options)
  2. Launch the dynamixel_interface_controller_node, loading in the custom config file (see the example in the launch/ folder)

During operation:

A note on units:

Improving Driver Performance

Got too many dynamixels? Driver running too slow? Well, this driver is designed with goal of achieving the maximum possible loop rate for a given configuration of dynamixels. To that end, there are three key optimisations that we recommend:

Baud rate

The baud rate used to communicate on the bus directly affects the maximum achieveable loop rate on the bus. A higher loop rate will result in faster update rates but can reduce the noise the bus can tolerate, for most applications the recommended baud rate is the maximum of 3Mbps.

Return delay time

The return delay time is a parameter on the dynamixels that sets the amount of delay in microseconds before they respond to a packet, by default this value is quite large (250, which equates to 500 microseconds). Lowering this value will reduce the total round-trip time for any comms on the bus. It is recommended to set this value very low (tested at 5, or 10 microseconds).

Both the above values will need to be configured PRIOR TO OPERATION using the dynamixel wizard available from robotis.

FTDI Driver Latency For Serial Communications

Since 16.04, the default latency_timer value for the ftdi usb driver was changed from 1ms to 16ms. This value represents how long the kernel driver waits before passing data up to the user application. It significantly affects the speed the driver will be able to communicate with the dynamixels, resulting in very low achievable loop rates. To correct this, a script is included that can change a serial port into 'low latency' mode (a latency_timer value of 1), which requires the installation of the setserial command:

Related Links


2024-03-23 12:33