Hi,

I want to experiment with stepper motors as an alternative for some servos in my InMoov robot.
Searching on MyRobotLab.org gives me some messages about this subject and I even see messages about a stepper-service in MyRobotLab that for some reason is no longer supported.

Can somebody tell me why this stepper-service is no longer supported? Is there an alternative? Are there any plans to pick this up again?

Regards,
Jan

GroG

7 years 9 months ago

Hello Jan,

I could possibly assist you in this, but I would need to know the following :

1. Do you currently already have steppers which you plan to replace certain servos with ? - if so what are the detailed specifications ?

2. What do you intend to control the steppers with ? There are a variety of possibilities ..  Steppers vary in the number of poles/phases - 3, 4, 5 .. more .. which do you have, or intend to get?  
Control can be done in a variety of ways too. There are stepper chips, arduino stepper shields, or stepper motor controllers driven by fdti cables - Which do you intend to use ?

3. Steppers without feedback are "relative" position controllers - servos are aboslute - how do you want to implement absolute position?  ie. how do you want to implement feedback ?

 

Hi GroG,

Thanks for your reply!

I am trying to print some legs for my Inmoov and want to experiment with stepper motors as alternative for servos.
While searching the internet,  I found the controller board for3D printers: Ultratronics Pro V1.0 (https://reprapworld.nl/products/electronics/ultratronics/ultratronics_pro_v1_0/)

This controller board supports up to 7 stepper motors (4 poles) and with extension boards even more. It also supports a number of end-switches etc. And, last but not least, the board should by compatible with the Arduino software.
It looks very promising, so I have ordered a Ultratronics board so I can experiment with it.

It also changed my plans. Before I experiment with InMoov, I now want get some experience while building a simple robot arm with several stepper motors. I am hoping to use some off the services of MyRobotLab like voice control and CVOpen etc.
Perhaps it is a bit premature. But it would be great if MyRobotLab would have a service to support the UltraTronics board.

Perhaps you can help or have some tips how to start programming such a service.

Regards, Jan

Getting Started