PoMoCo: Connection to Servoter failed.

Hexy Questions, Problems and Suggestions
#1

After many setbacks (holes that are too big, parts too wide, etc), the robot is built! Arduino drivers installed! Arduino software configured, set to Leonardo and Com 3 (I’m on an xp box) loaded firmware 2.0 (at least I think… Red light blinks, and no errors!). Python installed. After some errors, pySerial installed. PoMoCo runs, BUT I get the error “Connection to Servoter failed.”. Arduino program is closed… I just can’t get it to work… I can finally see the control panel, but no connection means no movement.

Know that I am sooooooo close…

Help!

Other thoughts: I’ve had a hell of a time getting this far. And I’d like to think I’m good at this, but there’s just not enough documentation to make this easy. Granted ive never used anything arduino or python, but I’m getting there! But I pity anyone doing this the first time without programming experience…

setPos not working in PoMoCo
#2

Are you sure it’s COM3? With me, after a couple of incomplete attempts to get the Servotor software installed (on XP) mine ended up on COM4. For me, PoMoCo tries a couple of things, says something like “trying Windows mode”, and then connects and talks to the board.

Can you talk to it with the serial console in the Arduino IDE? You should get responses for ‘V’ (version), ‘C’ (center all servos) and ‘K’ (kill all servos). There’s more, but if you get responses from those (no quotes) then it should also work from PoMoCo. Check which port it’s using.

Regarding documentation: while the hardware assembly docs appear to be excellent (I say “appear” because I haven’t actually assembled the Hexy yet, just loaded the software to test out the board and servos), there are some gaps in the software documentation. In part that’s because there are several different components (Servotor, Python, etc) and so many different host possibilities (which OS, which versions, etc). I’ll take a stab at consolidating the software install instructions into a single document (I’m a software engineer and a writer) over the next week or so.

-Al

#3

Positive it’s on com3, checked system…

#4

Hardware assembly had excellent instructions.

You are talking about the ‘Serial Monitor’ window, right? I’m new to this…

#5

Doesn’t appear to be responding…

#6

I did have this happen to me briefly last night. I was messing with the board and servos, and the PoMoCo connection dropped out and thereafter it refused to connect. (Not exactly sure what I did to cause that.) Resetting the board didn’t make any difference, so I resorted to the default Windows trouble-shooting step: unplugged the board from the USB, restarted my computer, and plugged it back in. Et voila, I could communicate it with it again.

I assume you’ve already tried turning it off then on again, so this probably isn’t helpful, but just in case…

-Al

#7

Yup. Several times. :slight_smile: also tried changing the com port in system settings. Tried resetting the board and When i did that the Arduino IDE couldnt see it, but like you, when i restarted the computer and plugged it back in, it found it. I’m going to try another computer with win 7 to see if that works.

#8

Another thought… In the Device Manager, under Ports, does it show up as an Arduino Leonardo or as an Arcbotics Servotor32 ? I’m not sure what difference that would make to PySerial, but it does make a difference trying to upload firmware.

#9

Following up on earlier messages. Did you say that it’s not responding to anything typed in at the Serial Monitor (in the Arduino IDE)? If not, then it’s not a PoCoMo problem, it’s something else.

Just to be crystal clear (apologies if you already know this): when you open the Serial Monitor (under Tools in the Arduino IDE), there’s a small single line text box, a Send button, and a larger text area. Type a V into the single line text box then click Send. If you don’t get back “Servotor32V_2.0” (or whatever version), then you have a serial communications problem. Not sure how to help with that, it should “just work”. You could try uploading the firmware (Servotor32) again from the IDE.

If it does respond to that, try sending C or K. If you get some response then it should also work in PoMoCo, and if it doesn’t the problem might be with PySerial, so you could try re-installing it.

Oh, one other thing … if your USB cable is plugged in via a hub or a port on the front of the computer, try plugging it into a different port (eg on the back). I had an issue with that at one point.

-Al

#10

After installing on Win 7 box it worked great! The robot is running just fine now. I did get the servos shaking a little, but not too much and am currently only using 4 NiMh batteries, so will switch to 5 and see what happens! Did you get yours built?

Thanks again for the help!

Also it is now responding to commands in the serial monitor window. Interestingly, those commands seem to be case sensitive. So use uppercase.

So for anyone reading this in the future, I’d suggest trying this all on Win 7…

#11

Congrats! Glad you got it working, even if it wasn’t through my help :wink:

Mine isn’t assembled (or even really started) yet, I’ve got some other things to finish up first. I do want to start on it soon though (at least a leg :wink:). I sent my boys (twins, 14) a kit as a late Christmas present and I want to make sure I understand enough to help if they have questions (they live with their mom and step-dad a few hundred miles away).

#12

Just out of curiosity, were you running XP update 3 or something earlier when it wouldn’t work? I recently rebuilt the box I’m using for that and put all the latest XP updates and patches on it, which might have made a difference. Never mind if you don’t remember, I was just wondering.

#13

It looks like the above case resolved itself. I have a similar problem. I can run PoMoCo, as well as get a reply from the serial monitor. However, PoMoCo will not connect to the servotor board even after an extended time. I checked the Com Port, tried switching USB ports, and tried restarting my computer but no luck. I have Servotor32 V2.0 installed.

I am new to robotics and micro-controllers so no advice is to obvious. Any help would be much appreciated.

#14

I am using Win 7 by the way.

#15

So I have been zeroing in on the problem to a point. I rearranged the “Connect” function to get servotorComm to connect to the right port without any problems with timing. It is a hack for now, so I will have to go back and figure out a better solution once I am done.

The problem is that even though I can send a “C” command from the connect function, once the GUI starts up, none of the motion commands produce any actual motion. If I run through PoMoCo without the GUI, I can also send a “C” command using

hexy.con.serialHandler.ser.write(“C\n”)

at this point as well. However, the move function does nothing for me from the command line. I can type

move(‘Tilt Left’)

and get

Preforming move: Tilt Left

However. No actual movement occurs. Does anyone have any thoughts?

In case it matters, To get it to connect, I forced it to use the “Windows Methods” first while making sure it went right to the correct port. Otherwise it would never get to that port. It seemed to be a timing issue.

#16

I have opened a new thread here for my questions since they are no longer just about connecting.

[url]setPos not working in PoMoCo]