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Dexter rocks!
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Dexter rocks!

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JamesNewton/README.md

Old Dude shakes... robots

  • Loves to collaborate.
  • Many years experience in making things move.
  • Has been VERY lucky to be involved with brilliant people (and learn all their secrets 🤫)

In-Work

  • Simplifying the implementation of the 1 Million CPR Encoder used on the Haddington Dynamics Dexter Robot to avoid the need for an FPGA and allow simple RasPi Pico or other microcontroller to provide precise (and somewhat accurate) position feedback. That's done with the HybridEncoder. Next is adding Single Track Grey Code (STGC) operation via an inner track for absolute position to a slot. Since the analog reading of an individual slot gives absolute position inside that slot, the combination should provide 1MCPR absolute position reporting with something you can 3D print or laser cut for $10.

  • Continued improvements on the super easy to use Arduino Controller including optional Stepper Motor and Dynamixel Servos a simple Arduino script to set pins high, low, input, pull up, or analog/servo, clock out data with timing, and read all or a single pin back via serial IO (e.g. USB). It also (optionally) supports Dynamixel Servos given a sheild and Stepper Motors given a standard step / direction driver. Instead of binary commands, it uses human readable byte codes. e.g. 13H turns on the LED. 13,60A PWMs it.

History

  • Contributed to the Insight Mars Helecopter... :cough: by correcting the spelling of ONE word in the documentation of the OpenCV.js project. (so... pretty much ignore that tag please? LOL)

  • Provided the electronics for the very first cement house 3D printer in the USA in 2013 1 2

Cement 3D printer drivers Andrey3DCementCastle

Then Alex Le Roux and his team at VestPrint purchased the same electronics, printed an outhouse, and managed to get purchased by Icon forming Icon Builds which does most of the house printing you see today. Proud to have gotten them started.

  • Developed a basic, very low cost, useful PID controller: The BOB PID. Accepts step / direction or serial input, and drives standard DC or other high power motors, allowing replacement of stepper motors for truly massive 3D printers or CNC machines. Combined with PCBs for a DC motor driver, and hall effect array encoder which came together (along with some fabrication help from friends) to make the MONSTER servo: 1 foot square, 5000 oz/in of torque, runs on power tool batteries, WiFi enabled. Like an RC servo but massive. first video second, with smoother motion. Cheap DC motors from salvage, encoders, and the BOB PID can make massive monsters move.

  • Joined Haddington Dynamics the year before they won the the Hackaday Prize in 2018 (:cough: a co-worker put us in for it, but I got to give the acceptance speech ). I've done gobs of work on the firmware for that project, implementing real time monitoring and control including jerk limited playback, fast dh IK (based on a method developed by a co-worker) and extensive servo control, debugging, etc... As well as a web based UI, which allows editing and execution of onboard scripts, direct "chat" based control, and troubleshooting.

  • Extended the basic design of an educational robot by JMalins which uses an ESP to provide a WiFi AP and is controlled by the web page served into a connected cell phone browser, to add a web editor which allows the files on the robot to be changed, implemented recording / playback of movements, support for onboard sensors, etc... the SDMG Bot

Pinned Loading

  1. DroidScriptBusPirate DroidScriptBusPirate Public

    DroidScript for easier use of the BusPirate on your Android device.

    JavaScript 45 8

  2. HybridDiskEncoder HybridDiskEncoder Public

    Hybrid Disk Encoder: A lasercut Analog / Quadrature encoder with more than 1 MILLION CPR

    C 29 5

  3. BOBPID BOBPID Public

    A VERY cheap, tested, working, PIC based P.I.D. PID servo controller

    C 12 6

  4. Simple Arduino script to set pins hi... Simple Arduino script to set pins high, low, input, pull up, or analog/servo, clock in or out data, with timing/start/stop, and read all or a single pin back via serial IO. NOTE: THIS HAS BEEN REPLACED BY https://github.com/JamesNewton/Arduino_Dynamixel_Stepper_Controller
    1
    /*
    2
    PinReadWrite.ino
    3
    //20170512 initial version
    4
    //20170517 uS timing (was mS), vars are longs, i2C start/stop, and clock IN data w/.
    5
    //20201002 Returns valid JSON.
  5. SDMG-Web-Bot SDMG-Web-Bot Public

    C++ 3

  6. Arduino_Dynamixel_Stepper_Controller Arduino_Dynamixel_Stepper_Controller Public

    USB adapter to Arduino with Dynamixel Shield provides simple digital IO and motion.

    C++ 1