Parallax Boe-Bot and MSRS Control
Hello Fellow Developers,
I just recently started using my BOE-Bot with MSRS. I am experiencing the following when I execute the BASICStamp2 program (and it does not matter if I use MSRS 1.0 or 1.5 CTP May).
The services all load correctly and Bluetooth communications gets etablished, The LED on the Bluetooth card for the BOE-Bot lights up green and I get the quick chirp from the speaker. Then the bot's motors start incremental movement for a very short time; each wheel incrementing in the opposite direction of each other. It is acting as though it's getting the 1.5ms pulse on the outputs but the pulse duration is messed up. So the result is the bot spinning in a circle in one spot incrementally.
I then started the Simple Dash Board Service made connection with the DSS node and get the drive differential partner but I can not make the bot do any thing.
Then I found this article...Problem with Boe-Bot Service.
Which appears to be accurate, because I can get the simple dash board to work with BOE some what, but it still spins in one place incrementally with a zero speed command..
I have to add this; yes the servos are tuned (nulled) correctly.
Any info would be great.. Hope to hear from you soon..
Robert
[1491 byte] By [
RKellogg] at [2008-2-28]
the issue will be fully resolved on our next release. This is a regression on how we treat nullable types, and the BoeBot service where one of the few that relied on them for their logic. If you want to work around it better now, you will need to add a boolean in the boeBot types and indicate if the value is present or not, then check that value in the BoeBot service.
George,
Thank you for the reply.
I understand the nullable types and I will try my best to folly through the C# code (this is new to me; too use to VB .NET). But I figured MSRS is the best time to get my hands dirty in C#.
I guess the question I have is; Are these nullable types causing the incremental motor movement? If so why didn't this question a raise in the early CTP? I have CTP Sept 2006 all they way up to this 1.5 current release. I have had MSRS since it's inception as a CTP, but, however this is the first time I have actually used it with BOE. So was this regression of nullable types; was it something that started in the 1.0 release? So if I go in and work around all these nullable types I should get normal motor control?
Thanks again for your time..
R
I'm getting the exact same problem. I've made the listed changes for the nullable types, but that doesn't change the behavior. The robot spins in place, and doesn't control properly from the simple dashboard. Only one of the motors seems to respond with any regularity.
I've run all of the test code from Parallax and the robot runs properly.
this will be addressed in the next release. To work around the nullable issue, you really need to modify the parallax services to read some new boolean fields, that say if the value is set or not.
our next release will fix the nullable issue.
George,
I am having the same problem with the Boe-Bot and what confuses me is that I did not have this problem with an early version of MSRS (in the November time frame), but now I do even if I use the 1.0 download. Oh, and I tried Omid's suggestion about the nullable type changes, but I still have the problem. Can you explain more and tell me what I can do to get around this?
Thanks,
Sara
Actually, I think I figured the problem out last night. I was about to post about it. It looks like the command line for the BoeBot BasicStamp2 project is wrong. It is not loading the manifest, but loading the contract. I have been having a series of problems regarding the Boe-Bot and it was hard to identify the actual problem. But, it appears to be working now. I am not trying to complain but working with 1.5 has been more difficult than 1.0. Maybe I am just doing more, but I seem to run into problems all the time. There is also no current docs from Parallax on the 1.5 version. I am actually working on that since it is for my book. I would be happy to post my results if it would help people work with 1.5 and the Boe-Bot (there were many changes).
Thanks for checking in with me.
Sara
