What module requires to control Lynxmotion AL5A Arm robotic using LabVIEW

[nhmh]

Hi everyone,

I am little bit confuse on what NI LabVIEW toolkits that should be used in order for me to program the Lynxmotion Arm robotics. Has anyone has any experience programming the lynxmotion arm robot using labview? What should be awared in selecting the correct toolkits. Do i need to have the control design and simulation toolkit? How about the embedded design modules? Please help me.

thanks  

[nhmh]

 Hi everyone, I got no replies for my previous question. Maybe this is because of lack in information. The lynxmotion robotics has 5 Hitec servo. Each servo has 3 pin where 1st pin is the signal pin .2nd pin is for power supply, normally from battery, and 3rd pin is the ground. The servos are controlled with a 5Vdc variable pulse width.The servo was designed for pulse widths that vary from 1.0ms to 2.0ms, where 1.5mS is centered.

My question is, if I would like to use the NI USB DAQ to control this lynxmotion ARM Hardware servo, what are the additional modules of toolkits I need besides LabVIEW (I have a Professional Edition. Let say I am going to use the NI USB-6229 (the Digital Input Module).Do I need to have any servo controller such as MID-7654 etc.

The complete set of the Lynxmotion ARM Robot COmbo Kit which has an electronics together is contolled via serial communication. thanks. 

Please advice. 

[jhsdelallana]

Hi nhmh,

Is this for a University Project? If you can provide documentation and User's Manual of the robotic arm, that would be very helpful. But from how you described it, it seems that you only need a DAQ device with outputs capable of providing such pulse resolution. If your aim is to just make the robot move, then the DAQmx VIs and some simple programming should suffice. If you want to use it for any complex application, then I would need to know it first before I can suggest the appropriate toolkits.

I believe your DAQ device should suffice to control this Robotic Arm though, you could also use serial communication, I believe. And yes, you can definitely program it through LabVIEW. We are actually planning on doing a similar application ourselves with this same model.

If you need any further assistance, please  don't hesitate to contact our support mailbox directly at asean.support@ni.com

Thanks and Best Regards,

Joshua de la Llana

Applications Engineer

NI ASEAN

[nhmh]

 Hi Joshua, thanks for your response. Yes, the project is for University Research. At this beginning stage, the objective of the project is to allow the arm to move an object from point A to B. This is something similar to what have been done by one of researcher at Nanyang Polytechnic Singapore. We wants to display the movement in 3D using LabVIEW. We plan to go for lyxmotion AL5C robot (without electronics and software pack since we are going to use NI DAQ as the controller).

Do you mean the  technical specification of the servo for the arm robot? From my understanding, the arm robot main component is the servo where the movement of the arm is controlled via servo. Please advice. However, here is the information of the servo and little bit about the arm robot. 

http://www.lynxmotion.com/images/html/build136.htm

http://www.lynxmotion.com/images/html/servo01.htm 

[jhsdelallana]

Hi,

Yes, the AL5C without electronics option. We are actually contemplating on the same thing. We're planning to use CompactRIO as a controller though.

You may have two options in programming really, you could do away with the servo controller, connect your motors directly to the DAQ device, and include the movement algorithm to your programming. If it would just be  movement control from Point A to Point B, then the DAQmx VIs should suffice. All you need to do is relate the pulse width output of your counters to the angles of your kinematics equations, and you're good to go. Counter channels are optimal for pulse generation applications. Problem is that your DAQ device only has two whereas you have four or five degrees of freedom to control. So this might be more of a problem than the actual programming.

If this is the case, you can just use a servo controller and communicate the commands from LabVIEW serially or through TCP/IP, whichever is available.

Best Regards,

Joshua de la Llana

Applications Engineer

NI ASEAN

[nhmh]

Thanks Joshua for your advice. Should I have further inquiries later, I will either come back to forum or refer to our local Malaysia AE. Thank you again.

 

[D K]

I am planning to do the same thing. Use cRIO as controller for Lynxmotion AL5A. Can you please give me a little insight on how to go about it and which I/O modules I will need for the same.

Thanks

[nhmh]

Hi DK,

Unfortunately. my client didn't not use NI for his solution (to control the AL5A Lynxmotion). But what I can advice you (based on my little experience in this field):-

i- You may need to use any NI motion cntrol module such as  NI 9514 (for cRIO) or PXI/PCI-7352 module WITH any Universal Motion Interface (UMI) IF you are going to control any DC or AC SERVO or STEPPER motor. Please use the www.ni.com/advisor for easier configuration. (obviously that when requires you to get the feedback eg: encoder)

ii- It is might enough to have Analog Output (eg: +/-10V, +/-5V) IF you want to control just a DC Motor (obviously without any feedback such as encoder). 

 I leave to the expert to provide you with more information.

Cheers

 

hamiza7@caidmark.com.my

[jhsdelallana · Accepted solution]

Hi DK,

The NI9474 High-Speed Sourcing Digital Output Module should be more than enough.

We actually have a working demo available using the AL5D and CompactRIO. The concept should still be the same though.

Best Regards,

Joshua de la Llana

Applications Engineer

NI ASEAN

[D K]

Hi Joshua,

Thank you for the advice.

This is for our final year project and we are doing it at NI in Bangalore, we will be using CRIO. I would like to know typically how long would it take to develop the VI's for the control of the arm (AL5A).

Regards,

Darshan.