Speed. Torque. Accuracy. Resilience.

Hitec servos have been delivering the STAR power you demand since 1983.

Whether you require the pint-sized proficiency of a micro, the steadfast performance of a standard
sport, the efficiency of a brushless digital or the IP-67-rating of a waterproof giant, our top-level
engineering, design and technology goes into everything we manufacture. For generations,
Hitec’s talented team of R & D professionals have committed to building the
highest quality of servos on the market, giving you the power to be your best.
Be STAR POWERED with Hitec!

Hitec RCD USA, Inc. | 12760 Danielson Court, Unit E | Poway, CA 92064 | (858) 748-6948 | www.hitecrcd.com |
 01/02.2019 VOLUME 17 • NO. 01

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16 Bots in Brief
• Ginger, Bread Please
• Bone to Pick
• Creepy, Crawly SkinBot
• Scorpion King
• Voyaging Velox
• 32-Legged Freak
• Serve at Your Service
• You’re an ANYmal
• (Mini)RHex on Whegs
• Cyber Plants?
• Affordable 3D Perception
• Game of Throne-Cleaning
• Bye, Bye Breazeal
Page 32
• Chocolate Aibos
• “ElliQ”uent Social Robot for
Older Adults

Departments
06 Mind/Iron
Combat Zone

Mass Customization:
Why Aren’t We There Yet?
14 New Products
49 SERVO Webstore
81 Advertiser’s Index
82 GEARBOX
24 BUILD REPORT: Grater Good
26 Maximizing Strength for
Printing Combat Robots with a SERVO Magazine (ISSN 1546-0592/CDN Pub

Budget 3D Printer
Agree#40702530) is published bi-monthly for $26.95 per year
by T & L Publications, Inc., 2279 Eagle Glen Parkway, #112-

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4 SERVO 01/02.2019
 50 Using a Servo with the TS-7180
SBC
by Michael Peters
Whether building a balancing robot, keeping a toddler
out of daddy’s special stash, or designing the next great
braking system for your soap box racer, servos are an
essential component in any hobbyist’s or embedded systems
engineer’s toolbox. See how the TS-7180 SBC (single-board
computer) from Technologic Systems makes a conveniently
apt servo controller.

56 Fun with Subroutines

by Scott Supeck
Page 56 Let’s face it, when it comes to designing and building a
cool microcontroller project, coding is rarely on top of the
“fun part” list. This article introduces the coding concept of
subroutines to programmers and makers looking for creative
ways of dealing with programming their microcontrollers
through a recent animatronic bird project of mine. It’s a
very useful technique for servo control, animation, or any
program that requires multiple actions to be called upon at
various times within the loop.

64 Reach Out and Build Robots

Twin Tweaks: Twin brothers hack whatever’s put
in front of them, then tell you about it.
by Bryce and Evan Woolley
08 3D Printing for Robotic Regardless of their increasing ubiquity, the world of robotics
Projects often seems opaque and intimidating to the uninitiated.
Fortunately, a profusion of great robotics kits exists out
by John Blankenship
With 3D printing becoming more affordable, its potential for there, and now there’s a new breed of kit aimed at makers
use in robotic applications is becoming more feasible. This of all stripes. Enter goBUILDA.

72 Large Robots Over the Years

article explores some of the robot-related things you can do
with a 3D printer that might make you want one as another
tool in your workshop. Then & Now: Advances in robotics from the past
up through today.
32 A Quick Experimenter’s Guide
by Tom Carroll
Large and small robots have been around for decades, but
to Servomotors it’s usually the larger robots that capture the attention and
imagination of the public. This article looks back at some of
by Bill Donofrio
Servomotors, for the most part, are a joy to work with. They the original big bots used in military and space exploration,
make it possible to precisely control the motion of a motor and where they’ve evolved to today.
and are indispensable in robotics, radio control planes, and
cars. Learn some handy tips by working with a simple circuit.

40 Hands-Free Robot Control

by Jim Newman
Ever since I first saw the Leap Motion hand tracking
controller, I’ve been fascinated by the potential of what can
be done with this fantastic device. I decided to start with
something simple that could be controlled with just hand
gestures. I wanted to do this both to become more familiar
with the use of the Leap Motion controller along with its
software, and to just have some fun. What I came up with
is the software that allows you to control a SparkFun RedBot
robot with just your hands in free space.
SERVO 01/02.2019 5
 Mind / Iron
Published Bi-Monthly By
T & L Publications, Inc.
2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-481
Corona, CA 92883
by Bryan Bergeron, Editor OFFICE: (951) 371-8497
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Mass Customization: WEBSTORE: (800) 783-4624

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N
early two decades ago, I visited the Other than the occasional separate Outside US: (818) 487-4545
Levi Strauss store in San Francisco, suit jacket/pants available at the malls, it’s P.O. Box 15277
CA to witness a full-body 3D laser impossible for me to find a suit that fits North Hollywood, CA 91615
scanner take a person’s measurements for (think orangutan torso with chimp legs). subscribe@servomagazine.com
a pair of custom jeans. The process was So, I spend money on custom suits. I’ve
quick and painless, and the resulting jeans tried the online versions where you enter PUBLISHER
were reasonably priced, given the promise your measurements and a package arrives Larry Lemieux
of a truly custom fit (about $100). in a month. No good. The only thing publisher@servomagazine.com
True, anyone could have bought a that works, so far, is the old-fashioned
pair of off-the-rack no-name jeans and handmade suit. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/
had them tailored the old-fashioned way In talking with my tailor, he says that ADVERTISING SALES
for less money, but who in the technology the canvas fabric in a suit coat can’t float Robin Lemieux
field wants shears and needles over sexy between the outside and the inner lining if robin@servomagazine.com
laser scanners and digital imaging — it’s machine sewn. Apparently, the looping
especially when scanners theoretically hand stitch — which is sometimes taunt EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/
scale, ultimately bringing customization to and sometimes lax, depending on the area
the masses? of the jacket, the curvature of the person’s
PRODUCTION
Sean Lemieux
Well, that was two decades ago, and body part, and the tailor’s sense of what’s
sean@servomagazine.com
the scan-based custom jean service has right — results in a suit that feels like a pair
long since ended. There have been similar of pajamas.
startups and failures around other apparel It’s that last part — the tailor’s sense EDITOR
and accessories. Perhaps the greatest of how to stitch a given area given his Bryan Bergeron
success in matching customers with sense of what’s right — that has yet to be techedit-servo@yahoo.com
existing products has been around virtual captured in software. That sense seems
fitting, such as the ability to virtually try on equally important whether it’s a tailor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
glasses online (glassesusa.com). However, sewing a sheet of wool or a surgeon Tom Carroll Kevin Berry
this is a long way from the promise of joining the ends of a severed artery or Bryce Woolley Evan Woolley
mass customization, where we can get length of bowel. Jim Newman John Blankenship
clothing or other products that fit our So, how do we quantify and ultimately Bill Donofrio Michael Peters
exact specifications in about the same time replicate the “sense” and the associated Scott Supeck Matthew Smith
it takes to acquire an off-the-shelf product. action? I’m sure it’s domain dependent, Nate Franklin Ryan Clingman
So, what happened? Why aren’t we as most things are in AI. I suppose the
there yet? What happened to the universal validation — at least in a non-critical task WEBSTORE MARKETING/
3D printer that can produce custom shoes, such as creating custom clothes — is in the COVER GRAPHICS
clothing, and (eventually) food at the touch product, i.e., the proof is in the pudding. Brian Kirkpatrick
of a button? What about critical tasks such as brian@servomagazine.com
One issue is, of course, capability automated custom surgery? I suppose
vs. cost. Keeping with the theme of there are animals that could be sacrificed Copyright © 2019 by T & L Publications, Inc.
clothing, there are companies that use in the name of commerce and science. All Rights Reserved
expensive room-sized 3D printers in-house Simulations are the ultimate answer All advertising is subject to publisher’s approval.
to create clothing (ministryofsupply. to validation, but — as with mass We are not responsible for mistakes, misprints,
com), but these are relegated to cranking customization — we’re not there yet. or typographical errors. SERVO Magazine
out standard sizes that appeal to (or at So, other than identifying temporary assumes no responsibility for the availability
least fit) the masses. There simply aren’t roadblocks to mass customization, or condition of advertised items or for the
honesty of the advertiser. The publisher makes
any 3D printers/weaving machines that what’s the takeaway? It’s just that.
no claims for the legality of any item advertised
are affordable to the common consumer. These roadblocks to mass customization
in SERVO. This is the sole responsibility of the
It’s like the days before sewing machines are temporary, in that they are massive advertiser. Advertisers and their agencies agree
became household items — only one opportunities for you to exercise your to indemnify and protect the publisher from
professional seamstress in town owned a robotics skills, including sensor and any and all claims, action, or expense arising
machine. simulation technologies. from advertising placed in SERVO. Please send all
Another issue is more subtle, and has Who says there’s nothing left to editorial correspondence, UPS, overnight mail,
to do with the AI on the production end. invent? SV and artwork to: 2279 Eagle Glen Pkwy #112-
Let me explain. 481, Corona, CA 92883.

6 SERVO 01/02.2019
Mad Science
BioFeedback and students again have to shift their engineering. Parents who haven’t
Bryan Bergeron made some foundational views of math, science, been exposed to ham radio clubs,
excellent points in his Developing or “history.” electronics experiments, or basic
Perspectives editorial in the November- We can debate the reasons for the chemistry or physics can’t encourage
December 2018 issue, and I’d like to shift all day long, but the fact remains their child to explore an area they
respond. that we our failing our children with know nothing about.
chaos and inconsistencies. My dad used an IBM 370 with
1. Depth of knowledge in high Cogo (coordinate geometry program)
school students. 2. Parental involvement. at his office. He didn’t understand
When you constantly change the A parent cannot even begin microprocessors, but he did
foundation, any building is going to to help their child with the “new” understand how to think logically —
fail. We didn’t start tinkering with math until they have gone back and and taught me to do the same.
social engineering of education until studied the book, worked through
the ‘60s. Prior to that, a student from examples, and asked for clarification 3. Critical thinking.
1920 or 1950 had a fundamental from the teacher (who may not even Heaven forbid if your child
grasp of math and basic science. understand it themselves). questions the teacher’s theories or
My high school experience in the My mom was a whiz at math, assumptions today. They will be
mid ‘70s was one of extremes. My worked in a bank, and understood labeled with “authority defiance
physics teacher was old school, and numbers; ditto for my dad, who was disorder” for disrupting the class.
my algebra teacher was new age. I an architect and bombardier in the Teachers in public education are
earned an “A” in physics because our war. Neither of them could grasp the not taught how to think critically or
instructor engaged us and kept us “new math” and so could not offer logically, so how can they teach those
on our toes while making sure we any assistance. skills to our children?
discovered underlying concepts. He Prior to 1960, most parents
did this right after lunch, when most could help with homework if their 4. Six figure incomes.
students were nodding off. child needed it. Today, parents have a A child today being raised in the
If he caught you snoozing, a monumental task ahead if they want home of a doctor or lawyer may see
chalk eraser would be launched into to help their kids. extremes. There are more than a few
your chest and you would wake up Most parents of school age struggling baristas who thought a law
coughing from chalk dust (I’m sure children today are themselves a
that would be a lawsuit today, but it product of this educational social Continued on page 71
was highly effective at keeping you
awake).
My other instructor was tasked
with teaching new math. I was a
challenging student (I’m sure!) as I
Make Precision
asked repeatedly “Why?” He couldn’t Metal Projects
answer basic foundational questions
about why these algebraic steps were
taken. It made no sense to me, and I User-friendly, budget-friendly,
used rational thought to work out the making-things-happen-friendly.
answers, showing my work. The compact Tormach PCNC 440
Because I didn’t use “new math” runs on single-phase power and
even though I showed my work and fits just about anywhere.
got correct answers, I was given an
“F.” When the teacher can’t grasp and Delivered* and ready to rumble
explain the method but is telling the for under $8500.
students to “trust the process,” it is a
Get started at tormach.com/440.
recipe for failure.
Our educational system has been
overrun with social engineering (I
*Standard shipping included in the continental USA.
hate that term, as it is anything BUT
engineering). Every five years, a new TORMACH.COM/440
“improved” method is introduced,
SERVO 01/02.2019 7
 3D Printing
for Robotic
Projects By John Blankenship

With 3D printing becoming more affordable, its potential

for use in robotic applications is becoming more feasible.
This article explores some of the robot-related things you
can do with a 3D printer that might make you want one
as another tool in your workshop.
8 SERVO 01/02.2019
T
he cost of 3D printers has fallen Customizing Your Parts
dramatically in recent years, with many
now under $200. Of course, price should Being able to produce a part you need when you need
not be the only criteria for picking a printer, it is a valuable capability, but customizing parts can be even
but those issues will be addressed later in better. For example, instead of using a separate encoder disk
this article. With the trend for lower prices to determine a wheel’s speed and/or position, you could
though, it makes sense for robot hobbyists print a wheel with integrated encoder slots or holes. Instead
to consider ways 3D printing might make their robots of a conventional mounting bracket for your ultrasonic
perform and look better and perhaps even make them
easier and faster to build.
A quick search of the Internet turned up thousands of
robot-related parts that other people have designed (many
are free). Producing them to use with your robots is as
easy as downloading and printing. You can find complete
robot platforms, sensor brackets, robot arms, humanoid
hands, and much more. Figure 1 shows two items I
printed with a Mooz-2 printer (shown in Figure 2) just to
see if free options are usable.
The item at the bottom of Figure 1 is a mounting
bracket for ultrasonic sensors such as the Parallax PING)))
or SR04. There are many variations available that provide
this functionality. I liked the bracket shown because it’s
smaller and less obtrusive than many others. It’s intended
to fit on an RC servomotor to provide scanning capability.
The wheel in Figure 1 has a recessed area exactly the
same size as a standard servomotor horn (also shown). Figure 1.
Inserting the horn into the wheel and attaching it to
the servo completes the design. I was impressed by this
unique mounting idea.
SERVO 01/02.2019 9
 Figure 3.
Figure 2.

sensor, imagine making one that looks like a unique head figure is the feet.
with the transducers positioned to look like eyes. Rather than create movements using a series of poses
(as most humanoid projects do), I want to experiment with
TinkerCad accelerometers for balancing.
My algorithms for controlling movements require that I
Creating custom parts was not nearly as difficult as I can tell when and where the feet are contacting the floor,
expected it to be. I’m sure I could benefit from one of the so I want three contact switches on each foot: one at the
more expensive CAD programs, but I tried TinkerCAD and front and two in the back corners.
could not be happier. Not only is it free, it was extremely One option, of course, is to just disassemble the feet
easy to learn and had all the features I needed to design and attach limit switches similar to the one shown in Figure
everything discussed in this article. 4. While it’s possible to just bolt the switches directly to
the feet, both the front and rear edges are tilted inward; it
Bigger Projects might be better to have a vertical mounting surface.

One of my current works-in-progress is a walking Multiple Options

humanoid as shown in Figure 3. It’s basically a JD robot
from EZ-Robot, but with an extra joint in each leg to provide There are many ways to solve this problem and
significantly more mobility. The point to focus on in this exploring a few options can be educational for the reader.
10 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Perhaps the easiest solution would be to

print small wedges (as shown in Figure 5)
and glue them to the front and back edges
of the foot shell. The wedges were easy to
create with TinkerCAD and represent an easy
and workable solution.

More Sophistication
Even though individual wedges are
probably an excellent choice, I would be
remiss if I didn’t mention more sophisticated
options. One such solution is to simply create
an entirely new shell in TinkerCAD as shown
in Figure 6. This was possible because
EZ-Robot (as well as a growing number of
other companies) provide the STL CAD files
Figure 6.
for many of their parts. Even the relatively
primitive TinkerCAD allowed me to modify
the original files and add vertical surfaces to both
the front and back edges (the back is shown in
the figure).
The printed object along with the original
foot shell are shown Figure 7. Notice the sloped
edge on the toe of the factory-made foot in the
rear of the figure. Compare that to the toe of
the newly designed and printed shell in the front.
The vertical front edge is subtle and blends in
nicely with the original design. The quality of the
printed shell speaks well for the Mooz printer (the
object shown is as printed with no sanding or
polishing).

A More Polished Option

Figure 7.
In all of the previous methods of attaching
SERVO 01/02.2019 11
 Figure 8.

Figure 9.
Figure 11.

the switch sensors, the switches are visible. While some

might like the look of exposed switches, others would prefer I designed a switch cover in TinkerCAD as shown in
a more polished finished product. For that reason, I decided Figure 8. It allows the switch I used to slip over the cylinders
to engineer another option. shown (no bolts necessary). If you look carefully at the
figure, you can see overhanging edges at the top of both
ends of the object.
These allow the plate shown in Figure 9 to slide
under the protrusions and lock in place. The fit does need
to be perfect, so a small amount of filing (less than a
minute of work) was necessary.
Figures 10 and 11 show the printed objects. In
Figure 10, you can see how the switch can be positioned
on the cylinders. The plate is shown separately in Figure
10, and partially inserted in Figure 11.
If the plate is glued to the toe of the foot shell (hot
glue is easily removed if needed), then the switch module
can be secured.

Printer Considerations
I’m very happy with my Mooz-2 printer. It comes
in two models (Mooz-1 and Mooz-2), but either should
produce the quality prints shown in this article.
The Mooz-2 has one extra motor to handle the extra
weight and torque needed for an optional CNC carving
attachment. It’s considerably more expensive than many
Figure 10. models and less expensive than some.
When evaluating printers, I found the review
12 SERVO 01/02.2019
comments on printers sold through Amazon to be very
helpful. To post comments on this article and find any associated
files and/or downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/
Anyone thinking of adding 3D printing to their robotics
magazine/issue/2019/01.
workshop should consider many things, with the volume
of the available print area being high on the list. The Mooz
area is approximately 13 cm cubed which was just barely
able to print the robot foot in Figure 7.
For the projects I have in mind, this is an acceptable
limitation, but consider your needs
when selecting a printer.
Print speed and quality can
certainly vary, but most any
printer should provide acceptable
performance in these areas —
especially for hobby use.
wSupport from the manufacturer,
on the other hand, seems to vary
considerably. This is to be expected
since many 3D printers are made in
China and that alone can easily add
communication problems when you
need help.
It was obvious to me that
Mooz support has tried to provide
appropriate documentation (including
numerous YouTube videos), but those
totally new to 3D printing should
be prepared to take their time and
research anything about which they
have questions — no matter what
printer you choose.
Hopefully, all foreign 3D printer
manufacturers will spend more
time in the future translating their
documentation to English.

Conclusion
For many hobbyists, 3D printing
is still a luxury. It seems obvious to
me though, that it’s going to become
commonplace in the not-to-distant
future.
I’ve tried to share some project-
based ideas and demonstrate that
customization is far easier than you
might imagine.
Now that I’ve become immersed
in 3D printing, I think new ideas and
project options will become a natural
part of my robot building process.
If you try it, I suspect it will be the
same for you. SV
SERVO 01/02.2019 13
 NEW PRODUCTS
DYNAMIXEL Pro Plus H Series

F ollowing the discontinuation of ROBOTIS’

DYNAMIXEL Pro H Series and M Series actuators,
the new DYNAMIXEL Pro Plus H Series has now been
released.
Some of the improved features of the new
DYNAMIXEL Pro Plus include:

• External Design (Housing, JST Connector)

• Improved Dust Resistance/Lubricant Seal (54
Series)
• Improved Control Table (Inherits X Series
Features)
• Improved Servo Control Performance
(Response, Resolution)
• Improved Communication Performance
(Communication Response, Modbus
supported)
• Improved H/W Reliability (Heat, Noise, Durability)

Pricing starts at $1,390. Dynamixel Pro+ series is a self-

developed high performance all-in-one actuator equipped
with a cycloid reducer. Additional features include:

• Torque control based on current sensing.

• Increased reliability and accuracy for position and
speed control through PID control.
• High resolution with combination of incremental
encoder and contactless absolute encoder.
• Full metal housing for high durability.
• Can be used to make a full-size manipulator, pan
tilt, humanoid, etc.
W270-T is priced at $349.90
PRO+ upgrade details include: DYNAMIXEL is a robot exclusive smart actuator with
fully integrated DC motor, reduction gearhead, controller,
• Improved design and JST connectors applied. driver, and network in one DC servo module.
• Improved dirt inflow and leakage (54 Series). The DYNAMIXEL XH/XM series offers a variety of
• Improved control table (supports X-series functions). control techniques based on high-performance current
• Enhanced control performance such as sensing algorithms. It adopts the aluminum case and adopts
responsiveness and resolution. the new technology such as the hollow cable fastening
• Enhanced communication responsiveness. structure for user’s convenience.
• Improved heat, noise, and durability. Additional features include:

• Six operating modes.

DYNAMIXEL X-Series Actuator • Torque, velocity, position, extended position, current
based position, and PWM control.
Modules • Profile control for smooth motion planning.

T he DYNAMIXEL X-Series is a new line-up of high-

performance networked actuator modules, which
have been widely used for building multi-joint robots with
• Improved heatsink featuring an aluminum case.
• Hollow back case minimizes cable stress (three-way
routing).
reliability and expandability. The DYNAMIXEL XM540- • Direct screw assembly to the case (without nut
14 SERVO 01/02.2019
 insert).
• Energy savings (reduced current from 100 mA to 40 For further information, contact:
mA).
• A 28.4% reduced volume compared to the MX-106.
• Support synchronous control mode. ROBOTIS
• External I/O port support. www.robotis.us

Second Generation Motor detection, more accurate speed control at low tachometer
frequencies than their predecessors, and VIN measurement
Controllers with Feedback capability which allows monitoring of the battery or power
supply. Five versions are available, with prices ranging
from $49.95 for the tiny Jrk G2 21v3 (4.5V to 28V, 2.6A
continuous) to $149.95 each for the high-power Jrk G2
18v27 (6.5V to 30V, 27A continuous) and Jrk G2 24v21
(6.5V to 40V, 21A continuous).

Carrier Boards for Bipolar Stepper

Motor Drivers

P ololu also announces the release of carrier boards for

Toshiba’s new TB67S249FTG and TB67S279FTG bipolar
stepper motor drivers (the only difference between the
two is the maximum current supported). In addition to
typical features such as configurable current limiting and
microstepping down to 1/32-steps, these new products offer
several innovative features that set these drivers apart from
the multitude of integrated stepper drivers currently on the
market.

P ololu’s second generation of Jrk motor controllers with

feedback is now available. With integrated support for
analog voltage or tachometer (frequency) feedback, the
One particular new feature is Toshiba’s Active Gain
Control (AGC) which automatically reduces the stepper
motor current below the set limit based on the actual
Jrk family of motor controllers makes it easy to add closed- load on the motor, allowing for reduced unnecessary
loop control of speed or position (but not both) of a single heat generation and higher peak power when the motor
brushed DC motor to a wide range of applications. actually needs it. The drivers also incorporate Toshiba’s
These versatile general-purpose modules support Advanced Dynamic Mixed Decay (ADMD) technology
a variety of high-level control interfaces: USB for direct which dynamically switches between slow and fast decay
connection to a computer; TTL serial and I²C for use with
a microcontroller; RC hobby servo pulses for use in an RC Continued on page 39
system; and analog voltages for use with a potentiometer or
analog joystick.
The Jrk G2 motor controllers also offer many settings
that can be configured using Pololu’s free configuration
software utility for Windows, Linux, and macOS. This
software simplifies initial setup of the device and allows for
in-system testing and monitoring of the controller via USB.
Configurable parameters include PID period and PID
coefficients (feedback tuning parameters), maximum
current, maximum duty cycle, maximum acceleration and
deceleration, error response, input calibration (learning) for
analog and RC control, and more. The software can also
plot nearly a dozen system parameters in real time including
feedback, error, duty cycle, and current, easing the process
of configuring your system for optimal performance.
Some additional features of the Jrk G2 controllers
include reverse-power protection, field-upgradeable
firmware, optional feedback potentiometer disconnect
SERVO 01/02.2019 15
 bots
IN BRIEF
Ginger, Bread Please
N epalese startup robotics company, Paaila
Technology has created a robot waiter
named Ginger, which it hopes will be able
to disrupt the food industry.
Standing around five feet tall, Ginger is
a humanoid robot designed to deliver food
between the kitchen and restaurant tables.
To do this, it uses smart sensors to work
out what’s happening around it to figure
out the best way to maneuver inside the
restaurant’s environment. When it needs to
charge, it automatically returns to a docking
area. Food orders are placed by customers
using a touchscreen computer built into the
tables.
Ginger is also designed to engage customers
in conversation, and is capable of understanding
requests in both English and Nepali. Bone to Pick
Paaila Technology was started by a group
of engineering graduates from the Institute of
Engineering in Dharan, Nepal. Ginger is the startup’s
flagship robot. Three of the units have been installed
A scientist at the University of Arizona is investigating ways to
mend broken bones using 3D printing and adult stem cells.
The research is geared toward helping veterans who suffer combat
at a restaurant called Naulo in Nepal’s capital city injuries, which can lead to prolonged ailments and bone defects.
of Kathmandu. The restaurant opened a few months “At this time, there is no good solution for repairing very large
ago, and the robots have reportedly been a big draw segments of bone that have been damaged,” John Szivek, a biomedical
when it comes to getting people through the door. engineer and professor of orthopedic surgery at Arizona, told Digital
“With Ginger, we have tried to reduce human Trends. Surgeons often use allografts — pieces of bone obtained from
intervention as much as possible,” Dipkamal Bhusal cadavers in bone banks — to replace severely damaged segments.
(one of the team members) recently told Digital However, allografts tend to fail and often require additional surgery,
Trends. “When any food is ordered and ready for according to Szivek.
dispatch, Ginger knows it automatically and comes Szivek has received a five year/$2 million grant from the US
to perform its duty. When one leaves, another robot Department of Defense to study advanced bone-regeneration
finds the kitchen station to continue the work. This techniques that may be more reliable than allografts.
way, Ginger and humans work in coordination in the Szivek and his colleagues will begin by 3D printing plastic
restaurant environment. While Ginger performs [the] bone-shaped frames called scaffolds, which can be used to replace
mundane task of delivering food, human personnel substantial bone segments that are broken or missing due to trauma.
can engage in meaningful conversation with The scaffolds are filled with calcium and stem cells to assist in bone
customers, thus developing an intimate relationship.” growth and recovery. Once implanted, scaffolds serve as — you
Dipkamal Bhusal said that Paaila Technology has guessed it — a scaffold for the patient’s own bone to grow on.
plans to expand Ginger’s reach. “We are eyeing to “My scaffold system has shown promise for regenerating these
expand globally,” Bhusal said. “If things go well with long segments so a person can get their own bone material back in
investments and mass manufacture, we will enter the the damaged location,” he said.
South Asian market first, then onto [the] Western In pilot studies, Szivek said he has achieved “complete bone
market.” formation covering a large bone defect in about three months.” With
Keep an eye out for a Ginger near you! support from the DOD, Szivek and his team will now study whether
exercise has a positive impact on healing and recovery, using sensors
embedded on the 3D implants to track exercise activity.

16 SERVO 01/02.2019
 bots
IN BRIEF
Creepy, Crawly SkinBot
R earchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) Media Lab have been working on the next iteration
of smart artificial intelligence assistants tech: a palm-sized
personal robot that is designed to literally crawl over your
body. Called Skinbot, it carries out this movement using
suction-cup feet that are modeled after the adhesive abilities
of leeches or cephalopods.
“The idea is making wearable robots that move around
your body, kind of like small robotic companions that help
you,” Artem Dementyev, a Ph.D. student in the MIT Media
Lab’s Responsive Environments Group, stated recently. “We
see this kind of relationship in nature already. The goal is to
look at new ways at wearable devices, as not just static devices
such as watches. The ‘epidermal robots’ attach directly to
the skin using suction cups, kind of like the suction cups for
massage. It is the first robot that can climb on the skin. We robot can have a microscope that looks at the skin. [It] can
already have robots that autonomously explore Mars, so why crawl thoroughly and inspect the skin for signs of cancer
not have robots that can explore ourselves?” or other skin problems, perhaps while you sleep. The robot
In theory, such robots could function as robo-pets, but knows the precise locations and can record changes over time.
Dementyev said that a more compelling use case would This would be impossible with current technology, as it would
involve medical applications. require to look at the skin with a microscope.”
“I see the robots as tiny physicians that you can order Skinbot could also be used to precisely map the
on demand in a small box to your house,” he continued. “The mechanical properties of the body by walking around and
physically pushing on the skin to
determine how hard it is in various
places. In addition, SkinBot’s suction
cups have metal rings that can pick
up biopotential signals such as heart
rate and muscle activity.
Dementyev commented
that currently, the robot is still
exploratory and preliminary work,
and any commercialization is likely
at least half a decade away. To get
there, the team needs to solve
technical challenges such as removing
the wires and making the robot
autonomous in order to make it
more practical.
No hurry ... we can wait on this
one.

SERVO 01/02.2019 17
Scorpion King

T he US Army may be well on its way to acquiring

a fleet of 3,000 battlefield-ready robots from
Endeavor Robotics. Called the Scorpion, the sub-25
pound mechatrons are small enough to be carried in
a backpack. Once removed, they can then be powered
up in less than a minute and used for carrying out a
variety of tasks, including remotely defusing bombs.
“Once on the ground, Scorpion can travel over
rough terrain, up and down inclines, climb stairs, and
even operate while submerged,” Endeavor CEO Sean
Bielat explained. “It has a unique manipulator arm that
can rotate continuously to grasp anything nearby, plus
multiple cameras to give its operator various high
definition views — [such as] thermal and night-vision
— for excellent situational awareness. Scorpion’s gripper Additionally, if the robot loses communications during
provides best-in-class strength for a robot of this weight.” an operation, it can autonomously retro-traverse back the
Another innovative and unique aspect of the Scorpion same path to regain communications to keep the soldier up
is its lightweight composites body, which can be repaired in and running. The robot’s controller also allows the operator
the field by soldiers using 3D printed parts. That means less to take control of other ground robots, as well as unmanned
downtime, resulting in a robot that’s ready for its next mission aircraft, to improve battlefield awareness.
faster. Its open architecture design makes it easy to integrate So, why the hesitation whether the Army will acquire
third-party sensors and other devices. Endeavor’s creation? Because Scorpion is competing against
“Scorpion requires a human operator, but does have other robots also hoping to net the $429 million government
autonomous capabilities,” Bielat continued. “Its controller deal.
includes a number of preset ‘poses’ that the robot will An announcement from the Army’s Common Robotic
automatically move into with the touch of a button. System-Individual (CRS-I) program is expected in early 2019.

Voyaging Velox

B iomimicry — the concept of modeling systems

found in nature to solve complex problems — is
extremely popular among roboticists. However, while

the robots that result from it can gain the strengths

of particular forms of animal locomotion or other
abilities, they also adopt that species same limitations.
For example, a fish-inspired swimming robot may be
really awesome in water, but it’s probably not going to
be too effective on dry land.
That’s where an intriguing new robot created by
Pliant Energy Systems is switching things up. Not only
is Velox effective at maneuvering underwater using a
pair of servo-assisted silicone fins, but it can also turn

18 SERVO 01/02.2019
 32-Legged Freak

S ure, there are one-legged, two-legged, four-legged, and

even six-legged robots, but researchers from Japan’s
Keio University and the University of Tokyo have taken
it up a notch with their latest project: a 32-legged robot.
Called Mochibot, the spherical robot moves by telescoping
its individual legs, thereby pushing it wherever it needs
to go. When it needs to remain still, it levels out all of its
legs, keeping it stable on the ground. This movement is
reminiscent of a sea urchin.
Each of Mochibot’s legs is composed of three sliding
rails. These can extend to a maximum of 1.6 feet in length
or shrink down to half that. The advantage of using this
method of locomotion is that it should — in theory —
make it much easier to move on challenging surfaces. That’s
because Mochibot can essentially deform itself as it travels across the terrain, thereby giving
itself a “leg up” on robots which are stuck balancing on fewer legs.
Presumably, it could also lose or damage multiple legs while still retaining the ability to
move. The robot’s limbs can additionally be modified to include cameras, sensors, or sampling
devices for taking measurements.
Mochibot’s unusual shape is referred to as a rhombic triacontahedron: a polyhedron with
32 vertices and 30 faces made of rhombuses. It weighs 22 pounds including its batteries and
could carry a payload in its central section.
Should Mochibot be able to successfully climb up and down slopes or roll over uneven
rock-covered surfaces, it will be interesting to see where the project goes from here.

these fins into “legs” to continue to travel while out of

the water. It can even move effectively on ice which is a
particularly tough surface for virtually anything to move
on.
According to Benjamin “Pietro” Filardo, founder
and CEO of Pliant, the fins are best described as “four-
dimensional objects with a hyperbolic geometry that
allows the robot to swim like a ray, crawl like a millipede,
jet like a squid, and slide like a snake.”
At this time,Velox is intended as a proof-of-concept
demonstration platform. The work is being supported
by the US Office of Naval Research, which is interested
in exploring the potential of different types of robots.
However, Filardo said that Pliant has commercialization
in mind and is currently exploring potential partners.

SERVO 01/02.2019 19
Serve at Your Service

O n-demand delivery company, Postmates unveiled an

autonomous delivery robot called Serve that it’s
planning to put to work this year.
The adorable wheel-based bot can carry items
weighing up to 50 pounds and operates with a battery
that gives it a range of 30 miles, which should be
enough for around 12 deliveries a day, according to
Postmates
Serve moves at walking speed and has a built-in
touchscreen that customers can use to punch in a
code to access their delivery. The touchscreen also
includes a help button in case a passer-by spots a
problem and is nice enough to contact Postmates to let them know.
Velodyne LiDAR sensors help Serve avoid obstacles; the setup is powered by an Nvidia Xavier processor. For
enhanced safety, a ring of light at the top of the robot enables it to signal which way it’s going, while its large eyes
move around to offer hints about its next course of action. It’s also monitored remotely by a human operator
when it’s out on the street.
Postmates is keen to point out that Serve won’t be putting any of its current delivery personnel out of a
job. Instead, it should allow the company to make more deliveries, with the robot taking on a range of tasks that
could include not only direct delivery to the customer, but also item collection in busy areas where personnel
might otherwise waste time looking for parking.
Obstacles to such autonomous delivery robots include trouble from thieves and vandals (remember
HitchBot?), as well as jokers who might find it fun to confuse the robot by throwing a blanket over it. Most
importantly, though, regulators have to be confident of their safety before they allow them onto the city streets.
As for Serve, Postmates plans to put it to work first in Los Angeles, CA, with more cities incorporating the
delivery bot over the next 12 months.

You’re an ANYmal
Q uadruped robots like Boston Dynamics’ various
canine-inspired units have been wowing folks
for years. So far, though, they have mostly remained
confined to the lab or to limited outdoor tests.
However, one quadruped robot in particular is already
proving its worth in a real world commercially useful
setting, as demonstrated by ANYbotics: a Swiss
robotics startup that spun off from ETH Zurich’s
Robotic Systems Lab.
The company’s autonomous ANYmal quadruped
robot recently underwent a one week trial carrying
out inspection tasks on one of the world’s largest
offshore power-distribution platforms in the North
Sea. This involved covering a total of 16 inspection
points, including checking gauges, levers, oil and water
levels, and assorted other visual and thermal measurements.
ANYmal showed impressive maneuvering abilities. It climbed up and down stairs, as well
as over obstacles, and crawled through narrow spaces, giving it an advantage over wheeled or
tracked robots. The robot is also impressively tough, with a rugged waterproof design and a
dock that allows for automatic recharging without human intervention.

20 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Photo: CMU.

(Mini)RHex on Whegs

R Hex (pronounced “rex”) is a

unique hexapedal robot that
uses hybrid wheel-legs (whegs)
to get around. It’s surprisingly
adaptable, able to adjust its gait to
conquer a variety of obstacles and
terrains, and it can even do some
impressive parkour.
RHex has been around for
nearly two decades, and Carnegie
Mellon University’s Robomechanics
Lab uses a fancy $20,000 version
of RHex called X-RHex Lite
“to explore the connection
between dynamic locomotion and
perception.”
They’ve only got one robot
since it’s super expensive, which
limits the amount of research and
outreach they can do. To fix this, they’ve designed a much
smaller version of RHex called MiniRHex that you can build
yourself for about $200.
MiniRHex weighs in at under half a kilogram, but can
support a payload of up to three kilograms. Six Dynamixel

XL320s power the legs, driven by a ROBOTIS

main board that talks to a computer via
Bluetooth. Most of the structure of the robot
is 3D printed which keeps the cost low.
If you have access to a 3D printer and a
laser cutter, the entire robot will run you just
over $200, or around $250 if you also need to
buy the Bluetooth module and a charger for
the battery. There’s a tiny amount of soldering
plus some software setup that doesn’t look
too difficult, and the instructions seem very
easy to follow. For more details on the kit,
go to https://robomechanics.github.io/
MiniRHex.

SERVO 01/02.2019 21
 Image: Harpreet Sareen/Elbert Tiao.
Cyber Plants?

C ybernetics usually refers to

humans enhancing themselves
with robotic parts. It’s not all that
often that we hear about plant-robot
cyborgs because what’s a plant going
to do with a robot? You could argue
that plants have the most to gain
from robotic enhancements because
otherwise (with a few totally cool
exceptions), plants aren’t capable of
mobility or manipulation at all.
One can see how mobility and
manipulation could be useful for plants, but the real question is to, to the extent that plants want things and the plant is able
how do you get a plant to tell its robotic parts what to do? At to communicate such. The system measures signals from the
the MIT Media Lab, Harpreet Sareen is trying to figure this out plant itself and takes direction from that. Whether it’s the right
and Elowan — the mobile cybernetic plant — is just the first direction or not isn’t necessarily clear, but at least the plant is
in “a series of plant-electronic hybrid experiments.” in the loop somewhere, rather than being just a passenger.
The difference between this plant-robot hybrid and others While the intent here is to give the plant some
is that the plant is actually in control. With the plant placed independence (plants are people too, after all), the practical
on top of the base, the robot moves where the plant wants it result is still a robot with a plant on it that chases light.

Occipital’s Structure Core sensor on the Misty II robot.

Affordable 3D Perception

T here’s clearly a need for high quality, high performance,

affordable 3D sensors designed for robotics applications,
so Occipital is making this possible with their Structure Core
sensor: a high precision, self-contained 3D perception system
for $400.
The device is based around a pair of infrared cameras and
a high-contrast IR pattern projector that Occipital assures
won’t zap anyone’s eyeballs, but will still work outdoors in
direct sunlight. The cameras are synched to a global shutter (as
opposed to a rolling shutter), ensuring that you’ll get good data

even if objects are moving.

An additional RGB camera gives you registered RGBD
images, or you can opt for an ultra-wide angle visible light
camera instead. There’s also an IMU on board to enable 6-DoF
positional tracking. The whole thing is backed up by a new SDK
for generating things like point clouds and depth maps.You’ll
need a USB 3 connection to properly take advantage of all this
because there’s too much data for USB 2.
Reports indicate that the Structure Core sensors will be
shipping in March 2019 for $399, but if you want one sooner,
$499 will get you one.

Photos: Occipital
Structure Core sensors on a drone.

22 SERVO 01/02.2019
Game of Throne-Cleaning

W e’ve seen some attempts at robots that fold

laundry and wash dishes, but not a lot that clean
bathrooms. However, thanks to the World Robot
Summit (WRS) recently held in Japan, robots are finally
tackling this task.
As part of a competition held at the event, robots
had to clean water from around a toilet and clean trash
off the floor. Team Homer at the University of Koblenz-
Landau, Germany managed to get things done with a
TIAGo mobile manipulator that you could (almost)
picture cleaning up your bathroom.
During the competition, judges randomly sprinkled
water on and around a toilet. Teams had to clean at
least 80 percent of the liquid and remove trash from
the floor in order to get full points.

There were a variety of different Photos:Team Homer/

approaches that teams used for this challenge, University of Koblenz-
Landau.
including building a robotic system around the
entire bathroom to handle the cleaning tasks.
That’s probably a faster and more reliable
way to solve the problem, but it’s also far less
practical than Team Homer’s use of a mobile
manipulator that was modified only with a
sponge.

Bye, Bye Breazeal

I n some very sad news, The Robot Report announced that Jibo, Inc.,
completed the sale of its assets and intellectual property to a New York
based investment management firm, which probably is not going to be
using Jibo’s IP to build robots.
We’ve known for a while that Jibo (the company) was having some
challenges both in selling robots and meeting expectations. Layoffs
followed, and back in June 2018, a Boston Globe reporter stopped by Jibo’s
Boston office to find it deserted and full of packing material and sold
furniture.

Continued on page 48

SERVO 01/02.2019 23
BUILD REPORT: By Matthew Smith

Grater Good
(a150 gram Combat Robot)

A
lthough I’m something
of a veteran builder now, Grater Good, before its
assisting new prospective first fight.
builders with their
machines and having a
couple of trophies on my desk, I think
it’d be best to start my roboteering
story from the beginning.
I’ve got no higher education,
fancy machine shop, or specialized
knowledge that gives me an edge
when building robots; just an active
mind and a distinct lack of care for
how badly some of my ideas turn out
in the box.
Although I was a fan of
BattleBots™ as a kid, it took the
reboot (and the adult privilege of two-wheeled wedge. strong but heavy materials to meet the
disposable income) for me to really get Rather than trying to design an weight limit.
involved and build something to throw elegant chassis, I went out to Safeway Driving Grater Good was a pair of
into a life-or-death contest between and bought an ordinary cheese grater Solarbotics GM7 gear motors. These
two home-built mechanical gladiators. for around twenty bucks. I figured are very low cost/high gear reduction
For a first robot, it’s always good thin steel wouldn’t shatter like plastics motors that are designed to provide
to start simple. Every builder probably might, and that it already was full of high torque at very low voltages. For a
was given that advice at some point. speed holes. robot whose only means of attacking
So, naturally, I went with the simplest Having built Sumo bots in my was pushing, it seemed like a good
design you can do in robot combat: a youth, the old weight-loss answer of choice.
“just drill holes in it” was well-ingrained High reduction means low speed,
in my head as an easy answer to get so I went with relatively large-diameter
FEATURED THIS
MONTH Close-up of
the rear of
Grater Good.
24 BUILD REPORT:
Grater Good
26 Maximizing Strength
for Printing Combat
Robots with a Budget 3D
Printer
29 EVENT REPORT: PCT
SWORD Fall Fights 2018
24 SERVO 01/02.2019
To post comments on this article
and find any associated files
and/or downloads, go to www.
servomagazine.com/magazine/
issue/2019/01.

foam aircraft wheels. As they were

designed to roll freely, these wheels
had to be glued to the motor shafts.
Grater Good’s front plate was simply
cut from one side of the cheese grater,
with the rear segment being rolled
around the end of the motors snugly.
The idea was to keep the
vulnerable wheels and motors tucked
far back to the rear of the robot,
so that frontal hits would have less
chance to impact them.
Lacking a proper bottom plate to
keep all the loose wiring attached, I
turned to the tried and true solution of
the amateur repairman: duct tape. It’s
an extremely ugly solution, but it held
up until the very end of the event.
Care had to be taken in taping to
prevent this already slow robot from
dragging its center on the ground,
thanks to the long bodies of the
motors which made for poor ground
clearance underneath.
I settled on Gorilla glue as the
primary means of keeping the machine
together, figuring it would make for Duct tape is the best armor!
a strong bond while not adding as
much extra weight as screws or bolts.
Extra protection for the internals was
provided in the form of a thin layer of
packing foam layered underneath the
metal cheese grater shell. Everything
was secured with glue to this foam
rather than the frame as a shock-
absorbing measure.
Grater Good made its debut at
Kilobots 36. It was — in comparison
to most Fairies at this event — an
inelegant, sloppy little machine.
Although Grater Good was durable in
combat suffering limited damage from
multiple spinners, there were more
than a few flaws with its construction.
The very old GM7s I used both
broke during the event (although their
replacements were fine), meaning the
wheels (glued onto the gearbox shafts)
had to be taken off and re-glued, as
did the motors to the chassis. In these
circumstances, the 24 hour cure time Repairing Grater Good – what a pain!

SERVO 01/02.2019 25
 failure, I felt that a ground-up redesign
Turns out, would result in a much better robot for
Beetleweights hurt! the next event (because, if you hadn’t
guessed, I was absolutely hooked).
Every match — win or lose — was a
learning experience.
Against fellow wedge Chicken
Little, it was the importance of having
the lowest wedge. Versus shell spinner
Cracker Jack, the inadequacies of
a 24 hour set time for replacing
motors nearly knocked me out of
the tournament, despite winning the
match.
Getting knocked out by
Troubleshooter showed that strong
armor alone isn’t enough to fight
spinners. You need enough speed to
keep that armor where it needs to be.
of Gorilla glue proved unacceptable much less emphasis on drive power. Most importantly, my loss to
in the frantic 20 minute repair times The low speed of the robot Pumpkin Queen showed that making
allotted, meaning Grater Good had (thanks to its high gear reduction) also sure everything works as it should
to fight several fights with motors meant it struggled to keep pace with after a repair is essential, rather than
secured only via tape. some of its faster-moving opponents. just assuming that everything is fixed
The lesson here is clear: Design In the end, Grater Good ended the because you replaced one part that
with repairs in mind from the outset. event with two wins and two losses, broke.
The foam aircraft wheels also and was entered into the Beetleweight
had a very thin contact point, and up rumble to ensure that it would get Grater Good might have been an
against robots running thick wheels, completely destroyed and require a full ugly duckling, but every lesson learned
Grater Good had very little traction rebuild. Needless to say, Scary Thing and every improvement made gets me
and struggled to push its opponents did a pretty good job of that. one step closer to building a swan.
around — even against opponents with Although it hadn’t been a total SV

Maximizing Strength for

Printing Combat Robots
with a Budget 3D Printer
By Ryan Clingman

T
he rise of affordable 3D seldom fare well when matched settings, and overall design to make a
printers has made it easy against steel or titanium spinning at printed chassis as durable as possible.
for builders to come high speed. One of the most obvious places to
up with a design for an Budget 3D printers can be used start is with the printing material itself.
Insectweight bot and to print some remarkably durable Nylon is one of the toughest plastics
have the frame printed in one simple parts which can withstand the trials of printable on budget 3D printers and
operation. However, the materials robot combat, but it takes some care tends to bend and deform rather than
typically used by 3D printing hobbyists in the selection of the materials, print break when it’s hit. The downsides

26 SERVO 01/02.2019
for nylon are that it has a tendency to
warp even more than ABS and it’s not
a very stiff plastic by itself.
Nylon also absorbs water from
the air around it, which then turns
to steam when it gets heated in the
nozzle, and results in a print that is not
as strong or solid as it’s meant to be.
Because of this, nylon must be dried
with an oven or a food dehydrator and
then stored in an airtight dry container
to keep it in a usable state. Comparison of the gaps left in 3D printed material based on the layer
Nylon composite filaments with height-nozzle width ratio.
carbon fiber mixed into the plastic
are a new development, resulting in the parts to slowly cool down to room a part that has a small gap of air left
a material that is stronger, stiffer, and temperature (rigid.ink has a nice between the lines. Because the layer
less prone to warping while printing. guide on this). The result is a part that lines are often the weakest area of a
These CF-nylon filaments can create is a bit stronger than one straight out printed part, we want them as strong
some very rigid and durable parts, but of the printer. as possible.
they have a few significant downsides One of the most important things Printing thinner layers at a lower
in that they cost about 6x as much to recognize about the strength of 3D speed and at the high end of the
as a standard PLA filament and they printed parts is that they are stronger material’s temperature range allows
are quite abrasive to the print nozzle, in some directions and weaker in more heat to transfer from the
wearing out brass nozzles or requiring others; the trick is minimizing these extruder nozzle to heat the previous
a hardened steel nozzle to withstand weaknesses and making the best layer which, in turn, allows the new
the constant grinding. use of the strengths. Printed plastic layer to form a stronger bond with the
As a final word on the plastic is generally strongest in the direction previous layer.
itself, there is one more thing that you that a line is printed, while being Decreasing the layer height also
can do with your printed part to make weakest at the interface between makes the extruded lines flatter and
it stronger: annealing. layers and between adjacent lines. less round, leaving less space for air
Annealing involves placing a The first — and simplest — between adjacent lines and increasing
printed part into the oven and heating recommendation is to ensure that the contact area between layers. This
it just enough that the polymer chains your extrusion settings are properly results in better bonding.
in the plastic can relax a bit from the calibrated for the filament you’re Because of this, you want to have
stresses of uneven cooling during using. your layer height as low as possible,
printing, but not enough for the part A printed part that has every and always have the layer height
to deform. extruded line nicely touching and below 50% of the nozzle width. While
Then, after a few hours, allow bonded to the adjacent line is going to printing with a lower layer height
be much stronger than is good for layer bonding strength,

Comparison of a horizontally printed hole and a

vertically printed hole. The layer lines make the
horizontally printed hole weaker.

Comparison of the infill required for a solid

part versus the same part with strategically
placed voids.

SERVO 01/02.2019 27
 infill options that are now available.
While making a 3D printed
bot that can stand up to blows
from opponents can be challenging
enough, trying to print a bot with a
spinning weapon can make it equally
challenging to withstand the force of
your own weapon.
For printing holes that will be
seeing impact loads (for example,
holes supporting a weapon axle or
motor), the orientation of the part in
the printer matters a LOT. If the hole
is printed horizontally, it gets all of
the weaknesses of the multiple layer
lines to concentrate the stresses and
increase the likelihood of breaking.
If the same part is printed with the
hole pointing up, it’s much stronger
due to being able to have solid lines of
plastic surrounding the hole and more
evenly distributing the forces.
Another complementary strategy
for strongly supporting your weapon
axle is to add a bushing to support it
instead of simply relying on the plastic
Mostly Harmless is my 3D printed Beetleweight bot made using the frame alone, spreading the force of
principles laid out in this guide. impacts out over a larger area and
decreasing the likelihood of ripping
higher layer height is good for tensile between infill percentage and strength your own weapon off.
strength in the direction of the is not linear. The same idea can be applied
extruded lines. Increasing the infill on a part from defensively by including armor to take
These two factors wind up 25% to 50% will give you just a 25% the worst of an impact and spreading
working against each other, and the increase in strength, and increasing it out over your 3D printed frame.
simplest way to find a happy medium from 50% to 75% will only add 10% My 3D printed Beetleweight bot,
for strength is to go to a larger to the strength of the part. Mostly Harmless, has a strip of UHMW
diameter nozzle. Rather than increasing infill, what armor that wraps around the back
While it isn’t the best for fine tends to give more strength to a part of the bot because that is where the
details, a larger nozzle diameter allows is increasing the number of outer frame is most likely to suffer a direct
you to print at a higher layer height walls that are printed with each layer. strike from an opponent.
while still maintaining a low height- If your design has large areas that By just putting a little extra
width ratio. This helps maximize the would require infill, a good option to consideration into your process for
strength in both directions. increase the strength could be to add designing and printing your parts,
A larger nozzle also reduces the strategically placed pockets or trusses. you can print bots that are more than
risk of having the nozzle clog which By combining these two capable of withstanding the trials
can be a more common occurrence techniques, you can wind up with of combat, even with a budget level
when printing with composite designs that have solid trusses that are printer. SV
filaments. both more durable and lighter than a
A common misconception solid part with infill.
about 3D printing is that in order to Where you still do need infill,
increase the strength of a printed plain old rectangular and triangular
part, you simply need to increase the infill patterns tend to be the strongest
infill percentage, but the relationship choice instead of some of the fancier

28 SERVO 01/02.2019
EVENT REPORT:
PCT SWORD Fall
Fights 2018 By Nate Franklin

N
ovember 17, 2018 spinners, Cenobite and Kit-E-Cat who Team Already Broke the top three
marked another Insect started off their tournament runs spots in the Antweight class.
event at the Pennsylvania with ease. They eventually met in the Twenty-seven Beetleweights
College of Technology. third round, where horizontal spinner fought in a two-stage tournament. The
The Student Wildcats of Kit-E-Cat managed to beat the current first stage consisted of three rounds
Robot Design (SWORD) club hosted Bot Blast champion, sending it to the of three-way rumbles. The winner of
the event with president Stanley loser’s bracket. each rumble got three points, plus one
Bohenek at the helm. Forty robots Meanwhile, ForkLift managed bonus point per knockout, as well as
from the school and as far away as to flip its way into the semi-finals by the other bots receiving a single point
Indiana competed in the Antweight beating Fragment, Scarry Larry, and for showing up. The top 12 bots would
and Beetleweight classes. FireArrow. Despite losing in round one, then advance to a single-elimination
Like previous SWORD events, the the fast wedge Rainbow Kitty won knock-out tournament, which would
bots fought in Kyle Singer’s 8x8 arena four straight fights with great driving end in a three-way rumble to decide
that featured a single push-out hazard. in the loser’s bracket in order to meet the top three spots.
Singer served as the box loader and teammate ForkLift, who was beaten by The Beetleweight event featured
handled safety checks, while Bohenek their other teammate, Kit-E-Cat. many competitive bots, like club
handled running the brackets, judging, ForkLift managed
and announcing. to stack Rainbow
Thirteen Antweights fought in a Kitty against the wall,
double-elimination bracket, featuring advancing to the final.
wedges, spinners, and lifters alike. The Kit-E-Cat had no trouble
competition began with heavy hitting taking the final, giving

Rainbow Kitty pins Incomplete Control.

Antweight champion, Kit-E-Cat

(photo courtesy of Dylan McCarthy). ForkLift overturns Scarry Larry.

SERVO 01/02.2019 29
 Shrapnel.
Scrappy.

Wheels are Tasty.

Disko 3 after getting its receiver removed.

Ryan
Farabaugh
with
SpiderBot.

advisor, Craig Miller’s horizontal Nitro Hornet, Scrappy, and Circuit

spinner Shrapnel alongside Breaker proved to be the toughest
eggbeaters like Guardin Gnome competition, flinging bots around
and Scrappy. Many first-time entries the arena left and right. One of the
from the student body showed up, highlights was spring 2017 champion,
such as the fan favorite SpiderBot. Disko 3 taking on Wheels are Tasty
Despite suffering from frequent and DoorStop.
wheelectomies, SpiderBot was a The two spinners exchanged
crowd pleaser with a creative use of hits after DoorStop was left with one
an umbrella mechanism. At the end of wheel and upside down. Wheels are
the event, SpiderBot received the Mike Tasty managed to exploit Disko 3’s
Award, given to the bot beloved the major weakness of having a duct tape
most by previous club president, Mike cover, as a hit caused its receiver to
Zalatan. trail behind the bot. Getting around to
In the preliminary rounds, the back of the bot, Wheels are Tasty

30 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Photos by Ken Franklin.

Circuit Breaker dismantles Guardin Gnome.

managed to yank the receiver off of the wall multiple times. It

Disko 3, completely shutting it down. sent Scrappy on its back,
The fast wedge Thunder Child and even managed to fling
started off by accidentally driving into its opponent into the ceiling
the push-out, but managed to reach after ricocheting off its
the next stage of the competition wedge.
after winning its next two fights. After the three minutes
Other highlights included Scrappy were up, Thunder Child
sending bots to the ceiling, and a toy got the win by a judge’s Beetleweight champion, Thunder Child.
Batmobile ending up torn apart at the decision. SV
hands of Nitro Hornet.
After the three preliminary Weight Class 1st 2nd 3rd
rounds, there were nine bots with
enough points to go through, Antweight Kit-E-Cat ForkLift Rainbow Kitty
and four additional bots tied with
enough points to go through. In
Beetleweight Thunder Child Scrappy Wheels are Tasty
order to decide which ones would
continue, three of the four bots were
randomized and became the “wild
cards” into the knock-out stage.
The first round of the knock-out
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Scrappy knocked out Disko 3; Thunder including program flow, loops, coding techniques, binary
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dispatching Grievance. $99.99 trainer board, cable, tutorial with exercises and sample
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code!
arguably the best fight of the event. It
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give up, even after getting thrown into Contact us at info@melabs.com

SERVO 01/02.2019 31
 A Quick
Experimenter’s
Guide to
Servomotors
By Bill Donofrio

Servomotors, for the

most part, are a joy
to work with. They
make it possible to
precisely control the
motion of a motor and
are indispensable in
robotics, radio control
planes, and cars.

If
you’ve ever taken one apart, you’ll find it
to consist of a gear motor, potentiometer,
and control electronics. Figure 1 is an
example of a home-built servomotor
without the electronics. As you can
see, the motor is connected to the
potentiometer through a series of gears.
Small DC motors run very fast, but have very little
32 SERVO 01/02.2019
 A Quick Experimenter’s Guide to Servomotors

torque. By adding a reduction Since the relay switches are

gear (small gear on the motor set up in an H configuration,
shaft), you increase the rotational energizing one relay will cause
force or pulling power of the the motor to go clockwise and
motor. The potentiometer is the other counterclockwise. As
used as the sensing transducer you may have noticed, I used
to measure the position of the a relay H-bridge instead of a
motor. MOSFET and separated the
When the motor moves, power supplies. There are some
so does the wiper arm of the definite advantages to doing this.
potentiometer. If a voltage is You eliminate motor noise
placed across the potentiometer that can cause the circuit to
and measured at the wiper arm, oscillate and, more importantly,
it will increase or decrease with you can easily change input
the position of the motor. voltage up to the specified limit
of the relay. This becomes handy
Build a Joystick when you need to use either a
very small motor which runs on
Servomotor low voltage or a large one for
Controller torque that requires a higher
working voltage.
To determine the position of The larger the voltage
the motor, the control electronics differences between the two
must compare the voltage at the potentiometers, the farther the
motor potentiometer with that
Figure 1. motor will rotate. The motor will
at the position potentiometer as stop rotation when the voltage
shown in Figure 2. at potentiometer P1 equals the
To measure the two incoming voltages, one comparator voltage at potentiometer P2. In this manner, the motor will
is set up in the non-inverting mode and the other in the track the location of the position potentiometer.
inverting mode. When the voltages are unequal, one To eliminate the motor from hunting or oscillating
comparator will have a high input and the other low. A high — which is caused by the momentum of the motor
input at either comparator will cause one of the relays to overshooting the null point (even gear motors can’t stop on
energize. ROBOTICS
a dime) — the two comparators were set up in a window
Servo Magazine

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MICRO LINEAR SERVOS
· 10mm-300mm stroke · 25kg+ available force
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SERVO 01/02.2019 33
A Quick Experimenter’s Guide to Servomotors

If you
add an arm to
potentiometer
P1, you can make
a rudimentary
joystick that can
manually control
a robot arm very
effectively. Since
there aren’t any
mechanical stops
and the gear ratio
can be optimized
for any application,
movement from
0 to 360 degrees
is possible. Most
toy servomotors
have mechanical
stops at 0 and 180
degrees to prevent
damage to the
gears.
If you build
Figure 2. this circuit and
are sure that
your wiring is
correct but find
the circuit doesn’t
work properly,
reverse the plus
and minus leads
on the servomotor
potentiometer or
motor leads. This
circuit is polarity
sensitive.
The motor
potentiometer
and the motor
must run in the
correct direction
relative to the input
potentiometer. If it
configuration which provides a bit of slop, or a deadband doesn’t, the voltage drop across the potentiometer may go
around the null point. Near the null point, both comparators up when it should go down or vice versa. The comparator
stay low in a specified voltage range, preventing the motor will receive the wrong information and the circuit will work
from oscillating. incorrectly, causing the motor to slam the potentiometer
R2, R3, and P1 provide the window. R3 can be into the extreme left or right position.
anywhere between 150-330 ohms and is somewhat
dependent on your application. By decreasing the value,
you will decrease the size of the window and stiffen the
Building the PWM Infrared Transmitter
motor’s reaction time, though too low a value can cause it While this simple circuit is useful, you can go one step
to oscillate. farther and control your servomotor with a pulse width
34 SERVO 01/02.2019
 A Quick Experimenter’s Guide to Servomotors

modulated (PWM)
signal; refer to
Figure 3. For a
standard hobby
servomotor, a 1.5
ms signal with
a period of 20
ms moves the
servomotor to the
center position,
while a 1 ms
signal moves it
90 degrees from
center, and a 2.0
ms signal moves it
90 degrees from
center in the other
direction. With a
1 to 2 ms signal,
0-180 degrees of
movement can be
achieved.
The transmitter
operates by
modulating a
PWM signal with
a 38 kHz carrier. This signal is then Figure 3.
demodulated by the infrared receiver
module mentioned later in this
article.
I used a 555 timer to generate
the PWM signal. To do this, the
charge and discharge times need
to be designed independent of
each other. This is made possible by
the 1N914 diode. With the diode
in parallel with the 100K resistor,
capacitor C4 can only be charged
through the 3.3K resistor/5K
potentiometer combination.
By varying the resistance of the
potentiometer, the length of the
pulse can be varied from 1 to 2 ms.
Since C4 can only be discharged
through the 100K resistor, the off
time is fixed at approximately 18
ms. By varying the value of C4 from
.3 µF to .4 µF you can control the
rotation of the servomotor from 90
to 180 degrees.
The output of the PWM is
then fed to the 2N3904 transistor
and modulated by the other 555
timer configured as an astable
SERVO 01/02.2019 35
A Quick Experimenter’s Guide to Servomotors

Figure 4: Circuit to PWM

pulse
convert PWM signal
to linear ramp.

Scope
pattern
showing the
conversion
of PWM
signal to Ramp generated at C1
linear ramp.

multivibrator. To adjust the carrier frequency, turn the

10K potentiometer. To calibrate the carrier frequency,
I suggest you use a meter with a frequency counter if
you have one.

Parts List for Joystick Servomotor Controller U2 LM555C Timer

C1 .1 µF Ceramic Capacitor 10%
D1 1N914 General-Purpose Diode
D2 1N914 General-Purpose Diode Parts List Infrared Receiver
P1 5K Linear Potentiometer Preferred C1 4.7 µF Electrolytic Capacitor Optional
P2 5K Linear Potentiometer Preferred for Noise
R1 10K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt C2 .1 µF Ceramic Capacitor 10%
R2 150-300 ohm 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt C3 2.2 µF Electrolytic Capacitor
R3 5.1K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt C4 2200 µF Electrolytic Capacitor
R4 10K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt C5 .1 µF Ceramic Capacitor 10%
RLY 1 5V Coil SPDT D1 1N914 General-Purpose Diode
RLY 2 5V Coil SPDT D2 1N914 General-Purpose Diode
T1 2N3904 NPN Transistor or Equivalent P1 5K Linear Potentiometer Preferred
T2 2N3904 NPN Transistor or Equivalent R1 100K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
U1 LM339 Quad Comparator R2 1K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
R3 680K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
R4 1K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
Parts List Infrared Transmitter R4 150-330 ohm 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
C1 .1 µF Ceramic Capacitor 10% R5 20K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
C2 .001 µF Ceramic Capacitor 10% R6 5.1K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
C3 .1 µF Ceramic Capacitor 10% R7 10K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
C4 .3-.4 µF Ceramic Capacitor 10% R8 100 ohm 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt
D1 RadioShack IR Diode as shown online, Vishay Optional for Noise
TSAL6100 IR Diode, or Equivalent RLY2 5V Coil SPDT
D2 1N914 General-Purpose Diode RLY 1 5V Coil SPDT
P1 10K 15-Turn Potentiometer T1 2N3904 NPN Transistor or Equivalent
P2 5K Linear Potentiometer Preferred T2 2N3904 NPN Transistor or Equivalent
R1 22K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt T3 2N3904 NPN Transistor or Equivalent
R2 1K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt U LM358 JFET Input Dual Op-Amp
R3 1K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt U1 CD4066 Bilateral Switch
R4 47 ohm 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt U3 LM339 Single Polarity Quad
R5 100K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt Comparator
R6 3.3K 5% Resistor, 1/4 watt IR RadioShack Receiver Module as shown online,
T1 2N3904 NPN Transistor or Equivalent Vishay TSOP4838, Sharp GP1UD26XK, or
T2 2N3904 NPN Transistor or Equivalent Equivalent
U1 LM555C Timer

36 SERVO 01/02.2019
 A Quick Experimenter’s Guide to Servomotors

Building the
Infrared
Receiver
The receiver
circuit consists
of an infrared
receiver module
that amplifies
and demodulates
the transmitted
signal, and a
PWM to voltage
converter
that feeds the Figure 5:
servomotor Sample and hold
comparator circuit.
circuit.
Most any
IR receiver
module will
work; I’ve used
discarded TV,
VCR, and even
IR helicopter
modules as long as they can receive a 38 kHz carrier and a to a linear ramp as shown in Figure 4.
continuous signal. A low pulse from the IR receiver to pin 13 of the 4066
You may also have noticed I used Ni-MH rechargeable Quad Bilateral switch forces it to open, allowing .1 µF
batteries to run these circuits instead of alkaline. Alkaline capacitor to charge through the 680K resistor, producing a
versions have a higher operating voltage which might linear ramp.
damage the IR receiver module. The longer the pulse, the longer the .1 µF capacitor will
For clarity, I broke up the circuits into parts. After the IR charge through the 680K resistor and the higher the voltage
receiver module demodulates the PWM signal, it’s converted across the capacitor. This will continue until the pulse goes

SERVO 01/02.2019 37
A Quick Experimenter’s Guide to Servomotors

high, discharging the capacitor. varies proportionally with the width to the PWM input.
A non-inverting amplifier with a gain of 20 amplifies The conditioned signal is then fed into the servo circuit as
the ramping voltage to a useful level. To convert the ramp described back in Figure 3.
to steady DC voltage, the peak voltage must be stored for For such a simple circuit (Figure 6), it performed
a short period of time. A ramping voltage would cause the admirably when tested next to a commercial unit. The
circuit to oscillate. mechanical aspects of the servomotor were tough and
To do this, a simple sample and hold circuit was used as reliable.
shown in Figure 5. I hope this article serves you well. SV
A sample and hold circuit is used to catch a brief input
voltage and store it until the next sample cycle. The circuit
consists of a high impedance op-amp and a CMOS switch. To post comments on this article and find any associated
When the switch closes, the capacitor rapidly charges to a files and/or downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/
new voltage. magazine/issue/2019/01.
Opening the switch captures this voltage and the high
impedance of the op-amp keeps this voltage from decaying
during 18 to 19 ms between pulses.
To remove the slight spike caused during the charging
of C3, capacitor C4 was placed at the output of the op-
amp. This produced a relatively smooth DC output that

Figure 6: Complete servomotor control circuit.

38 SERVO 01/02.2019
New Products Continued from page 15
modes based on the actual motor current, providing higher active channels and the sampling rate.
efficiency and smoother steps at high speed than you get This is possible due to an embedded 2 Gb memory that
with traditional timing-based mixed decay. buffers the captured signals before sending to the attached
Two carrier boards are available for each driver chip: a PC. Powerful trigger options are provided including: edge
larger module that provides access to all of the integrated trigger; logic change on one or various channels; trigger
circuit’s pins so you can test all the features it offers; and on timed logic signals sequence; trigger on protocol word
a compact carrier in the popular 16-pin 0.6” x 0.8” Pololu or event (e.g., serial word or I2C address acknowledge);
form factor, which makes it easy to use the new drivers on external trigger input; etc. The SP2 series makes it easy to
RAMPS-type 3D printer controllers that have the compatible analyze CMOS logic signals and industrial busses. The series
sockets. consists of two devices: the SP209 ($399) is the standard
Both the TB67S249FTG and TB67S279FTG have the edition; and the SP209i ($519) is an industrial version with
same wide operating voltage range of 10V to 47V, and on specialized receivers for most common industrial busses like
the compact carrier boards, they can respectively deliver RS-485, RS-232, or CAN.
continuous currents up to 1.7A and 1.2A per phase (4.5A The Trigger-in and Trigger-out SMA connectors allow
and 2A peak) without additional cooling. users to synchronize the SP209 to other lab equipment,
The maximum current is slightly higher on the larger building highly sophisticated test setups. The Spartan
carriers because of the better heat dissipation due to the 6 FPGA design provides the processing power required
increased board size. The drivers feature a built-in regulator and can easily be firmware-updated. The SP2 series logic
so no external logic voltage supply is needed, and they can analyzers use the supplied ScanaStudio software (Windows,
interface directly with 3.3V and 5V systems. Mac, and Linux) to capture, display, analyze, and decode
The compact carriers have single-piece pricing signals. Most industry standard protocols can be decoded,
starting at $9.95 for the TB67S249FTG and $7.75 for the including: SPI, I2C, USART, 1-Wire, CAN, LIN, RS-232, RS-485,
TB67S279FTG, and they are available with or without header TWI, and more.
pins soldered. The larger full breakout versions are $11.95 The software allows users to capture very long
and $9.75 each in single-unit quantities. sequences of logic signals (up to 2 Tera samples), or view
For further information, contact: decoded signals in various levels of abstraction (packets
or detailed bits and bytes). It also enables targeting very
Pololu specific events due to the versatile multi-stage trigger
www.pololu.com system.
The SP2 series logic analyzers compress and stream
Ultra-Compact Logic Analyzers captured signals via USB 2.0 to an attached Windows, Linux,

S aelig Company, Inc., has introduced the Ikalogic SP2

series of compact nine-channel 200 MHz logic analyzers
which offer in-depth analysis of logic signals and protocol
or MacOS computer. USB bandwidth can be variable from
system to system, with a practical limitation of 20 MB/s.
SP2 logic analyzers have an embedded 2 Gb DDR-3 memory
decoding with 200 MHz (5 ns) timing resolution. The which buffers captured samples at 1.6 GB/s to avoid these
nine-channel design allows eight-bit parallel data to be USB limitations. Features include:
captured along with a clock or strobe signal at the maximum
sampling rate without any trade-off between the number of • Nine logic-level channels with adjustable thresholds
(1.8V, 2.5V, 3.3V, 5V).
• State-of-the-art input stage, with Schmitt triggers
that eliminate glitches on slow signals.
• 200 MHz sampling rate, with all nine channels
used.
• External clock option (state mode), up to 50 MHz.
• Precise Trigger-in and Trigger-out signals on SMA
ports.
• Sample compression, streaming via USB.
• Embedded receivers on industrial version: SP209i
(RS-232, CAN, LIN, RS-485).

For further information, contact:

Saelig Company, Inc.

www.saelig.com
Continued on page 81

SERVO 01/02.2019 39
 Hands-
Free Robot
Control
By Jim Newman
Ever since I first saw the Leap Motion hand tracking controller,
I’ve been fascinated by the potential of what can be done with this
amazing device. Leap Motion has not only developed a device that
can track your hands, but through their software, they can tell you
every characteristic about your hands. With great accuracy, they
can tell you every aspect of your left, right, or both hands; they can
tell you the pitch, roll, and yaw of the palm of your hand; they can
tell you how many fingers you have extended, along with the length
and direction of each segment of each finger on each hand (including
your thumb). With this device and its accompanying software, you
can use your hands as input devices to control any aspect that is
controllable through your computer. The potential of this device is
limitless!

With this in mind, I wanted to start with a simple device that can
be controlled with just hand gestures. I’m doing this both to become
more familiar with the use of the Leap Motion controller along with
its software, and to just have some fun. What I came up with is the
software that allows you to control a SparkFun RedBot robot with
just your hands in free space.

40 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Figure 1 - Leap Motion controller.

T
control.
he RedBot robot is a basic platform
that has two wheels where each
one is driven independently, along
with a third pivot point. So, in
order to control this robot, you’ll
need throttle control for forward
and reverse along with directional
control for straight, left, or right.
I decided to use a single hand to
control the device with the pitch
of the palm to control the throttle and roll for directional

So, how am I communicating with the RedBot? Good

thing you asked! I just happened to have several Digi XBee
wireless RF modules left over from an earlier project that
fit the bill. The best part is that the controller board on
the RedBot is already fitted with the proper connector to
support an XBee module. I just love it when things work out
Hardware Requirements
The hardware requirements consist of the Leap Motion
controller, the RedBot robot, a variety of Digi XBee modules,
and the hardware to support those modules. These
requirements are documented in the following sections.

Leap Motion Controller

The heart of this project is the Leap Motion controller
shown in Figure 1.
This is the device that will track the movements of your
hands and turn those movements into a format that you
can use in your program to manipulate anything else that is
controllable through your computer. Leap Motion provides
the hand tracking controller along with a USB 3 cable.
We’ll get into the details of connecting the controller to
your computer and configuring your computer to be able to
interact with this device a little later.
for the better!
In addition to the one XBee module for the RedBot, I
have two others. Both of these modules are mounted on
SparkFun RedBot
SparkFun Explorer boards that include an FTDI-to-USB chip, Next, we have the RedBot development platform. This
so all you’ll have to do is plug the module into the Explorer kit comes with everything shown in Figure 2 (along with a
board, then plug the Explorer board into an open USB port few items not shown).
on your computer, and you’re all set. Please be aware that this particular version of the
Now, you may ask, why do I need two modules RedBot is no longer in production. However, the good news
connected to my computer? Again, good question! We’ll be is that the differences between this RedBot and the one
using one as a transceiver to communicate with the XBee currently being sold by SparkFun have no relevance to what
module on the RedBot and the second one that will be used we will be doing in this demonstration.
to monitor all communications between the computer and The best part of this platform is the RedBot Mainboard
the RedBot through the use of a serial terminal window. that is mounted on the top of the robot. This is an Arduino
This article describes the required hardware and compatible development board that includes everything
software that provide you with the ability to control a that’s needed to control this platform, including the motor
SparkFun RedBot using the Leap Motion controller. This drivers. It also includes multiple I/O ports that can be used
article also contains the firmware that you’ll be loading onto to drive servos or other devices, along with monitoring
the RedBot along with the application that you’ll be running sensors.
on your host computer that allows you to control the robot The best part, however, is that it comes with the proper
without any contact to any device. connector for the Digi XBee module that we’ll be using to
SERVO 01/02.2019 41
Figure 2 - SparkFun RedBot robot development
a USB port on your computer. Again, either will work; the
platform. choice as to which one to use is up to you.
I’ve chosen the Digi Pro 900 modules primarily because
remotely control the robot. In this project, we’ll utilize the I had these left over from an earlier project. These modules
Digi XBee connector along with the motor drivers. Plus, with work on the 900 MHz frequency band as opposed to the
all of that available I/O, there’s lots of room for expansion! Digi modules that you’ll normally find that work on the 2.4
The first thing you’ll need to do is build the RedBot GHz frequency band.
according to the instructions provided by SparkFun. This is You’ll need to attach one XBee module to the RedBot
an easy and fun process and shouldn’t take more than an Mainboard’s XBee connector and mount the other two XBee
hour or so to complete. modules to the Explorer boards as shown in Figure 4.
Please be aware that there is what I’ll call a ‘design
Digi XBee Modules oversight’ with the RedBot Mainboard. This has to do with
the placement of switch S3. During development, you’ll
The last pieces of hardware that we’ll need are the need to change the setting on this switch in order to load
items shown in Figure 3. What you see are three Digi XBee the firmware onto this board and then change the setting
Pro 900 modules along with two versions of the SparkFun back in order for the firmware to work properly. That’s
XBee Explorer USB boards. I have one XBee module that why I’ve shown the XBee module with the wire antenna
is using a wire antenna and two that are using the RPSMA mounted on the RedBot. With this XBee module, you’ll have
connector with a 900 MHz antenna attached to each. direct access to switch S3 without having to remove and
For this project, either antenna configuration will work. then remount the module during firmware updates.
As for the Explorer boards, one needs to be plugged into a As a further note, I’m showing two XBee modules that
USB cable whereas the other can be plugged directly into will be used on the host side, when in reality, you only need
42 SERVO 01/02.2019
one. The second module will be used
to monitor the serial data between the
RedBot and the host computer.
This makes debugging the software
much easier and is well worth the cost of
the additional module when you consider
the time that will be saved.
Another item that I need to inform
you about is that Digi supplies a very good
tool for configuring their devices called
XCTU. This setup tool provides you with
the ability to upgrade your XBee devices
to the latest firmware. It also allows you to
configure the devices to use a baud rate
other than 9600 bps which is their default
value.
I’ve reconfigured mine to use 115200
bps which is what the firmware for the
RedBot and application is expecting. You’ll
either need to reconfigure your XBee
devices to use this baud rate or modify the
supplied code to use 9600 bps.

Software Figure 3 - Digi XBee Pro 900 modules.

Requirements
Figure 4 - RedBot and XBee modules.
There are multiple pieces
of software that will need to
be downloaded and installed.
These include the Arduino
integrated development
environment (IDE) along
with the SparkFun plug-in
for Arduino, Microsoft Visual
Studio Community 2017,
git, Leap Motion Services,
and LeapC-Sample. You will
also need to retrieve the
software that I developed for
this project from the article
downloads. Details on where
to get and how to install the
various software packages are
listed next.

Microsoft
Windows 10
I guess that I should
start with the basics. All
development was done using
Windows 10. It should be
SERVO 01/02.2019 43
 https://visualstudio.
microsoft.com/vs/
community. Once you’ve
downloaded the installer,
you’ll need to execute it to
install Visual Studio on your
system.

git
You first need to
install git. git is required
in order to clone the
various repositories that
are required to build the
firmware for the RedBot
and to build the application
program. To help you out,
Figure 5 - Leap Motion go to https://git-scm.com
control panel. for links to everything that
you’ll need to get going.
I’m a big fan of
configuration management,
so I consider learning
git to be very important
in anyone’s growth as a
software engineer.

possible to port everything to either MacOS or Linux, since

most of what is described here does have support for those
Leap Motion Services
operating systems. Another piece of software that you’ll need to install is
the Leap Motion Services. Leap Motion does a great job
Arduino IDE at defining how to install their services at https://www.
leapmotion.com/setup.
Let’s begin with the simple stuff first. You’ll need to For this project, you’ll need to install the Leap Motion
install the Arduino IDE. At the time of this writing, I installed Services for the desktop. Once installed, the service will run
version 1.8.7. Once you have this installed, you’ll need to in the background and will only become active once the
install the SparkFun plug-in for Arduino. Leap Motion controller is plugged into your host computer.
This is a pretty straightforward process and is well The application that we’ll be building that runs on the
documented on the SparkFun website. You can start host computer will interact with this service to get the hand
by going to https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/ tracking data. So, it’s quite important that it’s installed and
experiment-guide-for-redbot-with-shadow-chassis/ working properly.
experiment-1-software-install-and-basic-test. Once you have the Leap Motion Services installed, we
Then, just follow the instructions on how to install the can verify that the host computer can see it and that it is
Arduino IDE along with the SparkFun plug-in. functional. Leap Motion supplies a USB 3 cable with their
Truthfully, they’ve explained the process better than I controller, so start by plugging the controller into the USB
can. 3 Micro-A end of the cable and then plug the USB 3 Type-A
connector into an open USB port on your host computer.
Visual Studio Community 2017 This does not necessarily require that the host computer
have an open USB 3 port since a USB 2 port will work as
Visual Studio Community 2017 is a full featured and well.
free version of Microsoft’s Visual Studio IDE. You can Next, you’ll need to bring up the Leap Motion Control
download the installer for either Windows or Mac at Panel. You can access this from the hidden icon pop-up
44 SERVO 01/02.2019
within the Windows Taskbar or by searching for Leap
Motion Control Panel from the task bar as well. cd redbot-hands-free-control
auto_config.bat
Once the Leap Motion Control Panel is open, click
on the Troubleshooting tab and you should see what’s Please take note of the message that gets displayed
displayed in Figure 6. First, check the Device Status panel. If after the batch file executes. You’ll need to make a minor
everything is green, then we’re good to go. If you truly want edit to one of the files that got copied. This is necessary
to see what this device is capable of, click on the Diagnostic for the application to build properly; otherwise, you’ll get a
Visualizer button and have some fun. message about a missing header file.
If you’re like me and prefer to use a bash shell, I’ve also
Leap Motion LeapC-Samples provided a script to copy the required files. The advantage of
this script file is that it uses sed to automatically update the
Please bear with me, we’re getting close to the end. file that needs to be modified. It’s a shame, but sed is not
The next software package that needs to be downloaded is available under Windows.
the Leap Motion LeapC example programs that I used as a
starting point for this project.
You’ll first need to go to the Leap Motion Github LeapC-
Building and Installing the
samples repository at https://github.com/leapmotion/ RedBot Firmware
LeapC-samples.
If you have git installed (as I suggested earlier), all you’ll Now that all the work is done, we can finally start to
need to do is clone the repository. To do this, first bring up a have some fun! To begin with, we’ll first build the firmware
terminal window and enter the following commands: that we’ll load onto the SparkFun RedBot. This should be a
simple task if the Arduino IDE is set up as defined previously.
mkdir Development Open the Arduino IDE and from the File menu, select
cd Development
git clone https://github.com/leapmotion/LeapC- Open. Once the file browser opens, make your way to
samples.git <path>/redbot-hands-free-control/redbot-firmware and select
`redbot-firmware.ino’ to open the file that has the firmware
In truth, you probably didn’t need to go to github to source code.
clone the repository. However, it’s nice to see what’s there Please feel free to scan through the code to become
and available for you to use. familiar with what it’s doing. The code is very simple in
that the setup() function initializes the UART and timeout
redbot-hands-free-control counter. The main work is being done in the loop() function
in that it waits for data to show up on the UART, reads the
Last but not least, you’ll need to clone my github data, and then programs the left and right motor with the
repository as well: data that it receives.
If you look closely, you’ll also notice that I have a
git clone https://github.com/JimInCA/redbot- timeout counter that is intended to prevent the robot from
hands-free-control.git
running wild if it stops receiving data by zeroing out the
I know this was quite a bit, but this should be it for motor analog values.
software installation. Now what we need to do is connect the RedBot to the
Next, we need to configure the software by copying host computer through the USB cable connected to the
some code from LeapC to our project. RedBot Mainboard. You should be familiar with this if you
went through the SparkFun Software Initialization Guide
Software Configuration mentioned earlier.
Once the RedBot Mainboard is connected to the host,
you’ll need to open the Tools menu in the Arduino IDE and
Now that we have everything we need to build both then scroll down to Boards. From the pop-up listing, scroll
the firmware for the RedBot and for building the host down and select SparkFun RedBot.
application, we now need to copy some files from the Leap You will then need to repeat the process of opening the
Motion LeapC samples directory to our application directory. Tools menu, but this time, you’ll need to select Ports and
I’ve put together a batch file that will automatically copy then select the proper port that your RedBot is connected to
the files from the LeapC-samples directory and place them on your computer.
where Visual Studio expects them to be. From this point, it should be a simple matter of selecting
Assuming that you cloned the two directories as defined Verify/Compile from the Sketch menu. Once it completes,
above, this is all you should need to do: select Upload from the Sketch menu to load the firmware
SERVO 01/02.2019 45
onto the RedBot Mainboard. Please remember that you’ll then connect the board to a second USB port on your host
need to change the position on switch S3 to upload the computer. With everything plugged in, you’ll need to find
firmware and then switch it back to its original position once out the serial port being used by the XBee module which
the firmware has completed uploading. can be done through Window’s Device Manager.
Once you have all of this done, you can enter the
Building the RedBot Host following on a command line replacing the serial port that I
have shown with the one that you found in Device Manager.
Application You can also specify a baud rate other than the default value
used by the application:
All that’s left to build is the application that will run on
your host computer that will send the wireless commands to <path>\redbot-application>./x64/Release/
controller.exe -p COM4 -b 115200
the RedBot by monitoring your hand movements using the Successfully connected to UART on port COM4 at
Leap Motion controller. We’ll start by bringing up the Visual baud rate 115200.
Studio Community IDE and opening up the solution file for Successfully connected to Leap Motion Controller.
Using device LP95554261956.
the application. Once Visual Studio is up and running, go to
the File menu, scroll down to Open, shift right to open the If everything went well, then it’s time to see if our
sub menu, and select Project/Solution. application is sending out any data. We’ll do this by
From the pop-up file browser, make your way over to connecting the second Digi XBee to your host to monitor
the solution file <path>/Development/redbot-hands-free- the proper RF frequency for all data (or you can connect
control/redbot-application/redbot-application.sln, select this the second XBee module on a second computer if you like).
file, and then press the Open button. If all goes well, Visual You’ll then need to open a terminal program and connect
Studio will open up the solution file for this project. this program to the second XBee module’s serial port. Both
All you should need to do now is select Build Solution Tera Term and HyperTerminal work well for this, or you can
from the Build menu and Visual Studio will compile, link, use any other serial terminal that you prefer.
and store the application executable in the ./x64/Release If everything is working, you should see the data that’s
directory. being sent from our application by means of its XBee RF
module as shown in Figure 6.
Testing Leap Motion Control of Remember, we want to verify that the Leap Motion
controller is the source of the data being sent! So, hold your
RedBot left hand about 12 to 18 inches above the controller and
verify that the data being presented in the serial terminal
Now it’s really time to start having some fun by getting follows the movement of your hand.
the software and hardware talking to each other. The first If you hold your hand flat, the pair of data (the analog
thing that we want to verify is that our application can value for left and right motor) should be close to zero. Then,
connect to both the Leap Motion controller and to the XBee try tilting the palm of your hand forwards, backwards, to
RF module. the left, and to the right (±pitch and ±roll). The data should
Start by connecting the USB cable to both the Leap change as you move your hand. Now for the ultimate test:
Motion controller and host computer. Next, plug one of the It’s time to power-up the RedBot!
XBee modules into the SparkFun USB Explorer board and On the RedBot Mainboard, set the motor switch, S2,
to the on position. Turn on the RedBot
Mainboard by sliding S1 to the on position.
For the first test, I’d set the RedBot on its
end so that the wheels are in the air, and
then place your left hand over the Leap
Motion controller and verify that the wheels
turn in the correct direction following the
movement of the palm of your hand.
Once you’re satisfied that everything
is working correctly, place the robot on a
Figure 6 - Serial output to large flat surface and enjoy!
Tera Term.
About the Magic
The real power in this application is
46 SERVO 01/02.2019
what’s hidden inside the libraries supplied to us by Leap Leap Motion Setup Guide: https://www.leapmotion.com/
Motion. What they provide is a very simple set of APIs to get setup
access to the hand tracking data. We then use that data to
control the movement of the robot. Leap Motion LeapC-Samples: https://github.com/
leapmotion/LeapC-samples
Here is the heart of the application code that gets the
information from the controller that we use to determine RedBot & Application Code: https://github.com/JimInCA/
the pitch and roll of the hand. We then translate that redbot-hands-free-control
information into forward or reverse throttle and left or right
SparkFun RedBot: https://www.sparkfun.com/
direction. products/12649
Once we’ve calculated the proper values for the left and
right motor, we then send that data to the RedBot by way of SparkFun Software Installation Guide: https://learn.
the XBee RF module: sparkfun.com/tutorials/experiment-guide-for-redbot-with-
shadow-chassis/experiment-1-software-install-and-basic-tes
while(1)
{ Digi XBee XCTU Setup Tool: https://www.digi.com/
LEAP_TRACKING_EVENT *frame = GetFrame(); products/iot-platform/xct
if(frame && (frame->tracking_frame_id >
lastFrameID)) Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2017: https://
{ visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community
lastFrameID = frame->tracking_frame_id;
for(uint32_t h = 0; h < frame->nHands; h++) git Installation: https://git-scm.com
{
LEAP_HAND* hand = &frame->pHands[h];
LEAP_VECTOR* vector = &hand->palm.normal;
if (hand->type == eLeapHandType_Left) To post comments on this article and find any associated
{ files and/or downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/
// pitch will be used for throttle magazine/issue/2019/01.
// forward or reverse
pitch = get_pitch(vector) + (float)90.0;
pitch *= GAIN;
// roll will be used for turning left
// or right
Introducing the

1(:39-U
roll = get_roll(vector);
roll *= GAIN * (float)0.5;
// calculate values for left and right
// motors
int32_t left_motor = (int32_t)(pitch -
roll);
int32_t right_motor = (int32_t)(-1.f *
(pitch + roll));
0LQL&LUFXLW%RDUG+ROGHU
sprintf(str, “%8d %8d\r\n”, left_motor,
right_motor);
WriteFile(uart,str,(DWORD)strlen(str)

}
,&num_written,NULL); '(6,*1('
}
}
)25 29(5
} //ctrl-c to exit
7+(('*(
This just scratches the surface of what you can do with
the Leap Motion controller. The library not only provides &20321(17
%2$5'6
data about the palm of your hand, it can also tell you about
each finger, such as length and direction of each segment
and for both left and right hands. The possibilities are Model
endless. 220

Conclusion Innovative H
Holding
olldi
o din
ngg SSolutions
olutio
olutiio
ut ons
n

That wraps up this introduction into using your hands 800-759-7535

to control your robot using the ultimate geek toy: the Leap
Motion controller. I hope you have as much fun with this
device as I did in developing this project. SV
SERVO 01/02.2019 47
Bots in Brief Continued from page 23
Chocolate Aibos
T o celebrate the one year anniversary of the new Aibo going on sale,
Sony is announcing a special edition of the robot with an open API, and
some new features that could make it a bit more useful.
The special 2019 limited edition Aibo boasts a “chocolate” color to
commemorate Aibo’s first birthday. If you already have an “ivory white”
Aibo, don’t worry. All the hardware inside is the same, which makes the
rest of Sony’s announcements more interesting.
First, Sony will release an accessible (and free) software API for Aibo
in August of this year. A demo that Sony put on recently had Aibo pulling
a tissue paper out of a box. So what, you say? Well, the entire thing was
apparently coded in Scratch, which is a visual programming language
developed by MIT that allows even novice users to create sophisticated
behaviors by dragging and dropping customizable colored blocks in
software.
It’s not immediately clear whether you’ll be able to get more into
Aibo’s software innards than this, although, we assume that if you really
want to, you’ll be free to do so. Even with Scratch, it looks like there will be
some relatively sophisticated functionality available, like measuring distances
and taking angles to specific objects that Aibo can identify.
That’s the key to making APIs like this useful — especially to people
who aren’t robotics experts — making complex functionality easy to
access.
For the chocolate edition
Aibo, the subscription price,
protection plan, and tax will be
nearly $3,400, spread out over
three years. The “Premium Plan,”
which includes more online
storage for pictures Aibo takes,
would add another $14 per
month on top of that.
It’s definitely an expensive
robot, but hopefully the cost will
go down over time if Sony can
ramp up production.

“ElliQ”uent Social Robot for Older Adults

Intuition Robotics has been working on its ElliQ “proactive social robot for older
adults” for only a few years. The company — founded in 2016 — has managed
to secure funding from Toyota AI Ventures, Samsung, and iRobot, among others.
For nearly a year, Intuition has been beta testing ElliQ in the homes of people
aged 62-97 in the San Francisco Bay area, and things have apparently gone well
enough that they’ve decided the robot’s ready to go on sale.
ElliQ can be pre-ordered for $1,500 and should ship this summer. To bribe
potential buyers, pre-orders include $600 worth of waived subscription fees,
which are normally between $35 to $50 per month, “depending on the tier of
service chosen by the customer.”
Generally, the subscription covers “unlimited access to a library of
curated content, software updates, phone support, and wellness monitoring features in the
accompanying app.”

48 SERVO 01/02.2019
 To Order Visit www.servomagazine.com
or call 1-800-783-4624
Some Of Our Most Popular Books On Robotics
Arduino Robot Robot Building Robot Programmer’s The Ultimate Guide
Bonanza for Dummies Bonanza To DIY Animatronics

Nuts & Volts and SERVO On CD

SERVO 01/02.2019 49
 Using a Servo with
the TS-7180 SBC

By Michael Peters
Embedded Systems Software Engineer

50 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Servos are a ubiquitous and versatile part of
everyday electronic gadgetry. From unlocking
doors to controlling a robot’s movements,
nearly anywhere a “computer” needs motion
you will probably find a servo. Servo control is
an important trick in any embedded systems
software engineer’s or robot builder’s
repertoire.

T
he TS-7180 SBC (single-board computer) from hobby servo like the one in the included photos.
Technologic Systems (www.embeddedarm.com) In this article, we’ll explore just two types of servo; both
makes a conveniently apt servo controller. However, of them fall fairly readily into the familiar “hobby servo”
there are some caveats that might surprise the category.
uninitiated.

Assumptions Servo Basics

Inside the typical hobby servo housing is a DC motor
This article does make some assumptions: and gearbox attached to an ASIC (application-specific
integrated circuit) or microcontroller (usually in more
• You already know how to obtain serial console on expensive servos) that listens to a control line for a three to
the SBC. five volt pulse every 20 ms (approximately).
• You are already familiar with basic Linux
usage and the Linux command line.
• You have a TS-7180 running the standard
shipping image as provided by Technologic
Systems.

Definitions A typical pulse train: 20 ms low, 1.5 ms pulses high; usually

signifying the “center” position.
Actually, there’s a whole lot of different
kinds of “servos;” many more than the scope of this The length of that pulse tells the control chip where to
article can handle. The word servo is generally short for place the servo’s armature (also known as the servo horn).
“servomechanism,” defined as: This pulse is usually between 1 and 2 ms wide, with 1.5 ms
being the typical “neutral” or “center” position.
A powered mechanism producing motion or forces at This “pulse train” needs to keep coming at the rate of
a higher level of energy than the input level, e.g., in the once every >20 ms in order to keep the servo’s control chip
brakes and steering of large motor vehicles, especially where actively seeking the requested position. When the signal
feedback is employed to make the control automatic. stops, so does the servo — whether it made its destination
or not.
As a very general concept, a servo is a motor device that Timing may vary slightly from one servo to the next and
will seek a specified position and then exert force to hold may vary significantly from one servo vendor (manufacturer/
that position against competing forces. For our purposes, brand) to the next. Always check with the servo vendor’s
from here on when we say “servo,” we mean a typical datasheet if available and experiment with your exact
SERVO 01/02.2019 51
 hardware to tune or potentiometer or setting the potentiometer’s position to be
trim servo performance always centered. This modification is difficult to do by hand
before deploying a “live” but has become very popular among hobbyists and garage
application. inventors. So popular in fact, that some manufacturers offer
Normally, the servo what we now call “constant rotation” servos which basically
will expect 20 ms “low” have had this modification done in the design of the servo
between positional pulses. to begin with.
With this kind of modified servo, the pulse train is
the same, only the behavior is different. Now instead of
180 Degrees of Freedom controlling a specific position, the servo is tricked into
chasing an unobtainable position, so the farther from the
The typical hobby servo has a “sweep” of 180 degrees. center the pulse would indicate a move, the faster the servo
It’s used in all kinds of things, from toy cars to optical lens will turn!
shutters. They’re usually cheap and available from just about For either type of servo chosen for your application, the
every hobby shop in the world. This is the kind of servo we’ll control mechanism at the TS-7180 is the same.
use to explore the true-to-form servo functionality of seeking
and holding a position.
As mentioned above, its typical control signal involves
a pulse train where pulses of less than 1.5 ms mean turn The TS-7180 SBC
proportionally left, and pulses more than 1.5 ms mean turn This single-board computer offers a wide variety of
proportionally right. available access choices. With serial ports, Ethernet, and
various wireless networking options, it’s an ideal controller
for a remote sense and control network. Direct to our need
Constant Rotation for this article, the focus will be on two of the four screw
terminal banks located at the “front” of the SBC.
Of course, there are a lot of different kinds of servo,
even among the hobby servos we’re exploring here. One of
the most interesting types is the constant rotation servo.
It’s interesting because it turns a hobby servo into a Connections
cheap but powerful high torque gear motor complete with In particular, we will be using DIO 1 at P3-A pin 1, GND
electronic speed control. Is it even a servo anymore? It’s at P3-A pin 12, and OFF-BD-5V at P3-B pin 9.
certainly not effective for a production design, but it’s a Using jumper wires for test purposes, loosen and
quick way to bang out
a proof of concept, and
a handy way to re-use
old electronic parts you
might otherwise end
up throwing away.
The modification
is done by removing
the motor stop from
the gearbox and
disconnecting the
position-measuring
potentiometer from
the drive shaft; either
replacing it with
a fixed resistance
representing “center”
position for the retired
52 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Terminal block
P3-A removed to
expose the lower
screw terminal
access; terminal
blocks P3-A and
P3-B wired with
control, GND, and
OFF-BD-5V wiring
installed.

remove the upper screw

terminal with a small
flat-head screwdriver
(not shown). This will
allow you to access the
lower terminal to install
the power wire.
Once these are
done, we move on to
wiring the servo.
Servo wiring varies
between brand and
model, but generally
wires usually follow
the same pattern: GND, power, signal
(control). It’s best to check with the
manufacturer if there’s any doubt,
though. Note: Some servos may need
more power than the 5W the TS-7180
can provide. A separate power circuit
must be devised under this circumstance.
When powering externally, remember
the TS-7180 and the servo must share a
common ground.

Software Setup
With the wiring completed, it’s time
to set up some prerequisites. For the
curious, you may have already checked
the OFF-BD-5V signal and found it isn’t
outputting anything! That’s actually okay.
That signal is designed for intrinsic safety,
which means it starts out OFF. So, there
are two main registers we need to set up

Servo wired to terminal blocks.

SERVO 01/02.2019 53
 before our servo will do PWM driver to operate the servo. This involves telling Linux
anything. Run these: which PWM chip to use, then setting the standard PWM
parameters.
tshwctl -a 309 -w 1 There is an interesting “gotcha” though: PWM’s duty
# this will turn on PWM, we’ll
need that in a minute. cycle is not “high” or “low;” the PWM is implemented on an
tshwctl -a 0x10 -w 3 “assert”/”de-assert” way of thinking. Since this DIO is active-
# this will turn on power to low, it starts high.
the off-board 5V line.

These and all other commands are documented

Source Material
• General information about hobby servos: https://
in the TS-7180 product manual. References are all in
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servo_control
the Source Material section.
• TS-7180 GPIO documentation: https://wiki.embeddedarm.
com/wiki/TS-7180#GPIO

The Command Line Servo • TS-7180 Terminal Block definitions: https://wiki.

embeddedarm.com/wiki/TS-7180#Terminal_Blocks
• TS-7180 PWM documentation: https://wiki.embeddedarm.
While bit-banging a GPIO pulse train is technically
com/wiki/TS-7180#PWM
possible, the device has a PWM generator already,
• Link to where to buy the constant rotation servo in the photo:
so it makes more sense to save CPU time and use
https://www.pololu.com/product/2820
the built-in hardware. The TS-7180 uses the Linux

54 SERVO 01/02.2019
 What this means is the PWM on DIO 1 is LOW on 100% That should center the servo. From this point, you can
duty cycle! Instead of giving the duty-cycle time in 1-2 ms vary the duty cycle between ~20500000 and ~22400000 to
with a ~20 ms gap, the duty cycle must be expressed in find the true center and full effective sweep of the servo.
terms of 22.5 ms because the servo will be expecting a For the C-savvy programmer, each of the above echo
high-time of ~1-2 ms. (Again, with some variation. I suggest targets are file handles and can be opened in your program
giving an extra 0.5 ms gap to ensure any potential jitter for manipulation with a simple write() call.
stays out of your 20 ms minimum low time.)
The math to choose your full period therefore is:
Wrap-Up
period = 20 ms + maximum sweep in ms Whether building a balancing robot, keeping a toddler
out of daddy’s special stash, or designing the next great
One servo we tested actually had 0.6 ms to 2.4 ms full braking system for your soap box racer, servos are an
sweep. So, in the case of this project, my full PWM period essential component in any hobbyist’s or engineer’s toolbox.
is 22.5 ms. Try this to center the servo (pulse width set to With a little luck and a bit of exploration, hopefully this
about 1.5 ms): article has helped add a servo control trick or two to your
embedded systems repertoire. SV
echo 0 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip4/export
echo 22500000 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip4/pwm0/
period echo 21500000 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip4/ To post comments on this article and find any associated
pwm0/duty_cycle echo 1 > /sys/class/pwm/pwmchip4/ files and/or downloads, go to www.servomagazine.com/
pwm0/enable magazine/issue/2019/01.

www.embeddedARM.com
TS-7180
Single Board Computer

696 MHz i.MX6 UltraLite CPU

4GB eMMc Flash
Up to 1GB RAM
WiFi and Bluetooth Enabled
XBee/NimbeLink sockets
SPI, I2C, CAN, RS-485
Nine-Axis MEMs
Gyroscope, Accelerometer and Compass
Industrial Temp Range (-40 °C to 85 °C)
10+ Year Life Cycle

Board Support Packages,

Source Code and Toolchains
Available

SERVO 01/02.2019 55
 By Scott Supeck

56 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Fun with
Subroutines
Let’s face it, when it comes to designing
and building a cool microcontroller
project, coding is rarely on top of the
“fun part” list. This article introduces
the coding concept of subroutines
to programmers and makers looking
for creative ways of dealing with
programming their microcontrollers.
It’s a very useful techniqueW for servo
control, animation, or any program that
requires multiple actions to be called
upon at various times within the loop.

M
ost of my Arduino sketches involve real time control of outputs like
servos, sound FX, and relays. I usually accomplish this using either
remote control “model airplane” style controllers or variable resistance
joysticks like repurposed video game controllers. Those sketches
involve pretty straightforward “if-then” type programming.
I recently finished an animatronic project where a different
functionality was desired: a self- running program that — while still
a loop — gave the appearance of random actions. It was during the
programming process that I really began to take advantage of the
subroutine.
SERVO 01/02.2019 57
 I
n computer programming, a be repeated in the loop. In this case, that would be anything
subroutine is a sequence of program from a head turn to a wing flap or eye blink.
instructions that performs a specific These subroutines are then called one by one by
task, packaged as a unit. This unit can the loop with any necessary delays or other directions in
then be used in programs wherever between to form a complete show. My subroutines for the
that particular task should be bird project were used mostly to control servo movements,
performed. although some just controlled LEDs.
Subroutines may be defined

The Tricky Part

within programs, or separately in
libraries that can be used by many programs.
A subroutine is often coded so that it can be started
several times and from several places during one execution The tricky part in calling subroutines for servo
of the program, including from other subroutines, and then movements is making sure the servos are in the positions
branch back (return) to the next instruction after the call, that are referenced in the subroutine at the time it is called.
once the subroutine’s task is done. To help explain that, let’s look at a subroutine from my bird
project that moves the head to the right 20 degrees:

The Project void headright3(){

for (pos = 90; pos > 70; pos -=1) {
The project that led me to this programming style was headservo.write(pos);
a three-dimensional desk-top sized animatronic bird. I have delay (5);
designed and built several animatronic characters and have }
been wanting to attempt something like this for a while.
Originally, it was to be a realistic looking bird — feathers For this movement to appear smooth, the head servo
and all. I soon realized that the “skeleton” and mechanics needs to be at the 90 degree position at the time the
were really the interesting parts to me and decided to go routine is called. In order to keep track of the head servo
with a robot bird concept inspired by the steampunk style. position, I came up with a system where the left and right
I have included several photos of the robot for reference. head turns are divided into four movements or subroutines
However, this article is not meant to focus on the design and each. I devised the diagram in Figure 1 as my reference
mechanics. when writing the loop.
Figure 1 shows the eight subroutines and the servo

The Idea
positions for each. The letter/number combination under
each arrow refers to the name of the subroutine that moves
the bird’s head over that distance/position. The numbers
The idea was not to control it like a puppet, but to in between are the degree used by the servo to hold that
have the robot mimic lifelike motions on its own when position.
activated. There are two key programming
techniques that allow this action: random
delays and subroutines.
In the Arduino programming
language — as in C++ — a subroutine
is just another function. Because the
function does not have any return
information, it’s known as a void function.
The syntax for a void function is:

void routinename () {
action to be taken Figure 1. Head
}
movement
These pieces of code are then called chart.
to action by the loop function. The
concept is simple: Write a bit of code that
creates a portion of the program that will
58 SERVO 01/02.2019
 So, for instance, if the head is turned to the left 20 I ended up writing 17 different
degrees, it would be at the 110 degree position (90 being routines: eight for the head turns;
straight on). To write a turn to the right 20 degrees from two for wing flaps; two for wing
there, the subroutine would read: extension; four for steam pipe valve/
whistle SFX; and one for eye blink.
void headright2(){ In the process of writing these
for (pos = 110; pos > 90; pos -=1) { subroutines, I found it very useful to
headservo.write(pos); create a completely different sketch
delay (5); for testing their timing and positions.
} This test sketch was completely identical to the one I
would use for the final code except that the loop was blank.
These subroutines live in the sketch right below the This allowed me to put in just one routine (the one I was
main loop. They are written as little bits of code and listed working on at the time) followed by a delay.
in no particular order, waiting to be called by the main loop. When I loaded and ran the test code, the loop would
They become the building blocks of the loop and when used run a particular routine over and over while I would stop,
in conjunction with random delays in between, can give the tweak the routine, and retest until I was happy with the
appearance of random actions — which is exactly what I was results. Once all of the subroutines were tested and adjusted
after for my robot bird’s performance. this way, I was ready to program the show!

Animatronic
Steampunk Bird

T his is an Arduino controlled

animatronic bird done in a
steampunk style. It’s the first animatronic
I’ve built that runs without control
input. In other words, once you turn it
on, it runs a loop of movements with
variable delay times to produce a lifelike
animation.
My original idea was to do a realistic
bird of some type as a companion to a
5’ animatronic tiki pole I made last year.
As I began designing and fabricating
the skeleton for it, I began to realize
that, for me, the inner structure and
linkages were really the interesting thing
to see and shouldn’t be covered up with
feathers, etc.
I had also always been interested in
trying something in the steampunk style,
so this was going to be the project!
SketchUp has been my go-to
modeling program for many years. It
was a painless transition to start using
it to design parts for 3D printing. The
powerful combination of 3D modeling Plywood box with faux “old suitcase” paint job.
and printing has opened many doors in
my shop and certainly in my animatronics endeavors. much anything I struck out on in the plumbing isle at Home
This bird project uses many 3D printed parts (pretty Depot). I also tend to use whatever odds and ends I have
SERVO 01/02.2019 59
 3D printed
parts with
final paint.

on hand for my one-off projects and this build enough outputs for this project. The process of
was no exception. Coat hangers, plumbing programming was made simpler with the use
parts, old fabric belts, and even a ball point of subroutines.
pen tube all made their way into this one. The main article goes into what those are,
I used an Arduino Pro Mini to program how I used them, and how you can implement
the animation and eyes. I used the Mini them to free yourself up a little when
because it’s cheap, small, and had more that programming your own creative projects.

Rear servo with

coat hanger
linkages for
wing in/out
movement.

60 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Monocle is
3D printed
with hot
melt glue
for lens.

Bird Parts List

1 Arduino Pro Mini
1 WTV020M01 sound module
5 Futaba FP5148 5V hobby
servo (or similar)
1 2” 8 ohm/.5W speaker
1 Micro switch
1 TIP22 transistor
(for powering eye LEDs)
1 10 µF capacitor
(for audio smoothing)
2 5 mm LEDs (eyes)
1 White LED backlight
module (Adafruit)
2 100 ohm resistors

Final hookup. Speaker is

powered straight from the
sound module.

SERVO 01/02.2019 61
 Assembling
the painted
body parts.

Scott Supeck is an
artist and maker from
Clermont, FL. When he’s
not maintaining the world
class attractions at the
Walt Disney World Resort,
he is busy in his home
shop creating projects
that combine his many
interests.

Proto board used for mounting and wiring Arduino and sound module.

62 SERVO 01/02.2019
To post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads, go to
www.servomagazine.com/magazine/issue/2019/01.

The Show
I thought. At times, I found myself
acting out the movements and
analyzing the order and timing of my
The show consists of a loop that calls the subroutine performance to translate to the loop.
actions in some order with delays in between each action. It was a lot of fun, but what
Think of it as the storyboard of actions used to create a made it so enjoyable was the fact
realistic performance for the animatronic. that I could focus on the performance
I had been looking forward to this part of the because the work of programming the
process. After all the designing, building, painting, and actions had been done. Be sure and
troubleshooting, it was going to be very rewarding to sit check out my code in the article downloads.
down with the finished robot bird and make it come alive. Think of subroutines as a helpful tool to free up your
That process — it turns out — required almost as much trial programs; to allow creativity without getting bogged down
and error as the rest of the project up till this point. in the technical aspects of programming servos. That’s the
Putting the subroutines together in a way that was fun real advantage of the subroutine.
and entertaining to watch was more of a challenge than Happy programming! SV

Custom breakout board

used to attach servos to
the Arduino Pro Mini.

Testing the movement range after final

assembly.

SERVO 01/02.2019 63
Reach Out and
Build Robots
By Bryce and Evan Woolley

Despite our recent laser focus on fighting machines, robots are

actually everywhere you look. From the task-oriented versions
of the VEX and FIRST Robotics competitions, to delivery and
crop-dusting drones, to industrial car-assembling automatons,

R
robots play a large role in all of our lives.

egardless of their increasing ubiquity, the They can entail different sets of tools, hardware, and
world of robotics often seems opaque and techniques, and there’s often limited compatibility between
intimidating to the uninitiated. Fortunately, the parts. So, what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if
a profusion of great robotics kits exists out the cool new kit on the block could work just as well with
there, and now there’s a new breed of the previous generation you’ve grown to love?
kit aimed at makers of all stripes — from We picked up some new linear motion kits from
FIRST competitors to animatronics artists to ServoCity to find out. These products promise a robust
cosplayers. The broad focus and accessibility of a particular solution to linear motion with lead screws and racks and
kit is expressed in the name of the system itself: goBILDA. pinions — exactly the kind of tasks one might use the FTC-
All that’s missing to go build a robot (or anything else) is legal goBILDA system for.
you. How easy would it be to make a cool mechanism from
At first glance, the kit is similar in general appearance scratch? What’s the longest reach we could give a VEX
to the Actobotics kits that we’ve grown to know and love robot? Could this all work just as well with goBILDA as it
through projects like our can crusher (March 2018 issue) and does with Actobotics? The only way to find out was to start
mini tank, Nominal Damages (April 2016 issue). Our comfort building.
and facility with Actobotics highlights one of the challenges
of launching a new robotics system: switching kits can be a
pain.
goBILDA Robot
The basis of the goBILDA
system is a metric hole pattern, so
meticulously designed around 4 mm
holes and spacing multiples of four
that when you look closely, a sort
of divine pattern emerges. It’s so
elegant it would feel right at home
as the centerpiece of a mystery in a
Dan Brown novel.
The basic 4 mm mounting
holes sit on an 8 mm grid. A 14 mm
bearing hole occupies the center of
the grip — the veritable sun of this
organized constellation. Finally, all
the holes encircling the bearing hole
are slotted to allow for adjustability
64 SERVO 01/02.2019
Twin brothers hack whatever’s put in front of them,
then tell you about it. Twin Tweaks
and to allow mounting at a 45 degree angle
from the grid.
That grid pattern is regularly repeated
over all the structural channels of the
goBILDA system, and is also found on gears,
clamps, bearing blocks, and pretty much
everything you would want to attach to the
structural bones of your project.
The goal with this kind of setup is to take
the guesswork out of structural design. No
matter what kind of mechanism you want
to make, there will pretty much always be
an easy way to connect things together. No
more meticulous sketching and measuring
things with calipers; all of the mounting
points you could possibly need are already
there.
goBILDA is so much more than just a
clever hole pattern on structural bits. It’s a
full-on robotics system complete with motors,
servos, motor controllers, batteries, and all
sorts of specialized mechanical systems to
help bring all your wildest designs to life. Assembling the dual perpendicular gear rack kit.
The recommended motor controllers are
the two-channel Roboclaws from Basicmicro,
which come in a variety of flavors ranging mechanisms: linear motion. We’ve worked with various
from one to two channel and from 7.5A to 60A continuous linear motion solutions, from VEX rack and pinion kits (all
duty. The system even includes sprockets and chain and the way back in the September 2007 issue) to the Mighty
linear motion systems. Zap linear actuators (October 2017 issue). Those solutions
The whole system feels like a real professional grade, are fine for what they target (like a torquey plug and play
high quality robotics system — so much more than a simple solution with the Mighty Zaps), but we’ve yet to see a kit
kit for students and the like. that jives with our recent affinity for very large scale robots
If you’re a fan of kits like Actobotics (as we very much and provides a huge range of motion.
are), the foregoing might make you a bit trepidatious. If the That’s where the Actobotics gear rack kit and linear
heart of the goBILDA system is an 8 mm grid and 4 mm actuator kit come in. Both products promise a surprisingly
hole pattern, wouldn’t that not play nicely with Actobotics large range of motion: almost 20” of total travel from the
and its 0.77” hole pattern on its structural components? gear rack kit, and a 7.4” stroke length on the linear actuator.
Fortunately, the Actobotics system includes various First up for assembly was the 785 gear rack kit. One
pattern adapters that allow you to fasten the goBILDA parts thing we like about the Actobotics kits is the absence of
to the Actobotics parts. They look
like innocuous hubs and are only 3
mm thick, so they won’t add a lot
of clunkiness to your Frankensteined
designs — which is good news for
our plans to incorporate Actobotics
mechanisms into future goBILDA
projects.

Walk the Line

In the meantime, we wanted
to work with two Actobotics kits
aimed at solving what we think is Ready for linear duty.
often a vexing problem for robot
SERVO 01/02.2019 65
To post comments on this article and find any associated files and/or downloads,
go to www.servomagazine.com/magazine/issue/2019/01.

the natural top-down perspective you’ll have

assembling the kit on your workbench, and
the mysterious assembler in the video does
a fine job of showing multiple perspectives
of the assembly so it’s easy to confirm that
you’ve put everything in the right place.
The gear rack kit is straightforward and
contains only a few parts: the mount for the
large HS-785HB servo; brackets for the gear
rack; some 6-32 screws; 12.32” long 6061 T6
aluminum beams; and the 118-toothed Delrin
gear beam. The entire finished assembly is
only 0.61 lbs, and that’s with the monster
servo.
The HS-785HB servo from Hitec is larger
than your standard version and has the
unique ability to retain positioning feedback
even while making multiple full rotations.
It’s not a continuous rotation servo — it can
only go about eight turns — but that’s a way
Assembling the linear actuator kit. larger range of motion than the about 180
degrees you would normally expect.
Things were looking promising for
paper instructions. It’s less material to package and ship delivering on the pledge of a super big range of motion.
and one less manual to keep track of. The instructions are The assembly is simple, with the chief challenge being
available online and can be found on the ServoCity website, fitting the Delrin beam gears over the servo spline. Our gear
as well as be navigated to using a QR code on the kit rack kit came in the dual perpendicular flavor, meaning it
packaging. The assembly videos are easy to follow and give came with two beam gears and the servo was positioned
clear instructions on which parts and hardware are required with the major axis of the servo body perpendicular to the
for each step. beam gears. The Actobotics gear rack kits are also available
The top-down perspective of the video nicely aligns with with a single beam gear, and in a parallel configuration
where the body of the servo is
rotated 90 degrees so that the major
axis is parallel with the beam gear.
In any event, we were able to
get the beam gears over the spline
with a bit of brute force. We could
ponder what to do with that huge
range of motion while we put
together the next kit.
The Actobotics linear actuator
kit uses a beefy lead screw to
achieve a stroke length of 7.4”.
There’s a goBILDA flavor of the
linear actuator kit too, with the chief
difference appearing to be the hole
Quality parts pattern on the structural U-channel.
for the linear The linear actuator kit lacks an
actuator. assembly video, but the step-by-
step instructions in a PDF on the
ServoCity website are easy to follow.
The kit comes with the
characteristically high quality
parts we expect from Actobotics,
66 SERVO 01/02.2019
including aluminum gears, pillow blocks, and some
tiny and precious thrust ball bearings. All of the
components are easy to place into the U-channel,
and the long lead screw feels very solidly supported
within the pillow blocks. The combination of collars
and thrust bearings are delightfully easy to wrangle,
with the threads on the lead screw keeping everything
in place as you finesse the placement of the assembly
within the U-channel.
The one caveat about the linear actuator kit is
that it doesn’t come with the means to drive the lead
screw. It does come with a motor mount bracket and
a suggestion to use a goBILDA motor. Specifically
recommended is the 5202 Series Yellow Jacket
planetary gear motor. The ServoCity website promises
that the motor provides enough torque to lift 50 lbs
at the rate of 6” per second. With such an impressive
pledge, we had to check one of these motors out.
The 5202 Series Yellow Jacket is a powerful smart A 5202 Series Yellow Jacket motor; banana for scale.
motor that clocks in price-wise at $39.99. It operates
on 12 VDC, sports a 5.2:1 gear ratio, and comes
with a built-in encoder. The specs promise 7.9 kg-cm of the screw.
(109 oz-in) of torque and an impressive resolution on the The VEX base was still equipped with the servo gearbox
encoder with 145.6 countable events per revolution of the jaw that we featured back in the March 2018 issue. The
output shaft. The wires are equipped with 3.5 mm FH-MC servos in the gearbox were continuous rotation and since
Bullet connectors. That all sounded great, but did we have a the gearbox was also an Actobotics device, we were hopeful
platform to use it with? that it could easily be integrated into the linear actuator.
First, however, we needed to figure out what kind of
The Long Arm of the Robot mechanism we wanted to make with both the gear rack and
the linear actuator. Since both kits boasted an impressive
We like to keep various robot platforms around as easy- range of motion, we thought it would be particularly fun
to-use test beds for mechanisms like the gear rack and linear and crazy to combine them into one arm that had the
actuator. The gear rack was servo powered and required a largest reach of any servo-powered robot arm we’ve ever
4.8V to 6.0V input — exactly what our old
school VEX kit (last used for our can crusher)
could provide. The Yellow Jacket motor, on
the other hand, was hungrier and required
12 VDC. That’s what we run Nominal
Damages (our mini Double Jeopardy based
on the Actobotics Agent 390 kit) on.
Unfortunately, we had recently busted
the battery in Nominal Damages (a cell
died, so we had the chance to do our first
decommissioning of a LiPo), so that wouldn’t
be an ideal test platform. We also have
bigger plans for Nominal Damages.
So, we looked back to our old school
VEX kit. The VEX brain was perfect for
plugging servos into, and the ready-to-
go radio made controls a snap. The only
problem with using the VEX robot as our
base was that it was not equipped to power
the Yellow Jacket. Maybe something else Possible test beds.

could pull a Henry James and give us the turn

SERVO 01/02.2019 67
 worked on (prior to this, the robotic arm with the
longest reach we’d ever encountered was Team
1079’s entry for the 2005 FRC game Triple Play).
The most natural way to fasten the linear motion
kits together seemed to be attaching the gear rack kit
to the end of the linear actuator by the hub mount on
the gear rack kit.
The end of the X-rail in the linear actuator
conveniently contains threaded holes. We were a little
surprised by what we perceive as a death of mounting
holes on the gear rack kit; the hub mount was just
about the only place to fasten anything to the body of
the device.
The only mounting plates in the servo plate
were used up by the servo and by the gear rack
brackets. There are some extra through holes on
the side mounts for the gear racks, but those are
uncomfortably close to the gnashing teeth of the
spline and beam gears.
We suppose you could always pick up the servo
Finding a solution to turn the screw. mounting holes by using some longer screws to
attach the servo. However, using the hub mount
meant we didn’t have to rummage for some longer
fasteners, and extra through holes on the side mounts
actually gave some different options for where to put
the hub mount in the first place.
We liked where it was because it allowed us
to have the gear rack on the end of the linear
actuator, with the motion of the two mechanisms
perpendicular to each other.
The gear rack kit could be used for some very
wide scissor jaws, and the torquey linear actuator
could extend those jaws over seven inches out from
the front of our robot base.
Was the linear actuator torquey enough to move
and support massive jaws so far out from the robot
Servo gearboxes and upper jaw. base? How wide could we make the robot jaws? And
what could we bite into?

Far Hanging Fruit

We removed the upper jaw
from our can-crushing VEX robot to
make room for our new kind of jaw
assembly.
We took a closer look at the
newly liberated servo gearboxes,
and it looked like they could be a
workable solution for powering the
lead screw on the linear actuator.
The mounting holes on the
servo gearbox (also a bit sparse)
lined up well enough with the
Frankensteining a monster of linear motion. Actobotics pattern on the C-channel,
68 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Sometimes an inelegant solution looks cool.

Forming linear actuator the perfect height to rest comfortably on top

the jaws. of the VEX brain. It certainly wasn’t a very robust solution,
but we didn’t have any plans to take this thing into a battle
box.
and some of our simple angle brackets promised to hold the What could we make our massive jaw out of? We
assembly together. wanted something on a large scale, but also lightweight
The linear actuator kit comes with two 48-tooth and easy to work with. We selected some thin wall 1” OD
aluminum gears, so the pace of the extension was brisk. aluminum tubing. The circular cross-section ensured that
Given the position of the servo nestled inside the
gearbox, however, the 1:1 ratio wouldn’t work
because the gears couldn’t quite reach each other.
The larger gear — which provided a 7:1 ratio —
also provided a perfect fit. It would severely slow
down the travel of the actuator, but it would also
ensure there was plenty of torque to extend the
actuator even with a massive jaw hanging off the
end.
Before figuring out what kind of jaw to put on
the end of our linear actuator, we wanted to see
how the whole thing would attach to our VEX base.
We left the bottom jaw of the can crusher because it
looked cool and also because the extra support out in
front of the robot would ensure that the bot didn’t tip
forward as it reached out to grab something.
The mounting holes on the servo gearbox actually
lined up perfectly with the back of the battery holder
that hung off the caboose of the bit, and it gave the Mounted but toothless.
SERVO 01/02.2019 69
 for the jaws, which we
envisioned using in a scissor
mechanism. We started the
jaw fabrication by laying out
how we wanted the parts
to attach and ensuring that
we could retain the large
range of motion on the
gear rack.
The support beams
for the gear racks have
a plethora of mounting
holes. We could move the
mounting screws inward a
little bit to allow space for
the ends of the jaws on the
Ready to bite. ends of the beams.
We flattened the ends
of the tubes a little bit with
a vise, then drilled a hole
long jaws would maintain their shape even while being for a bolt through the flatter section.
lightweight. A thin beam would bend and wilt like the We were pleased to see that the entire three foot
branches of a neglected Christmas tree overstaying its lengths could hang off the front of the robot without
welcome into the new year. tipping it over. We eyeballed a good place for the vertex of
We acquired two three-foot long segments of tubing the scissor, marked it up, and flattened it in a vise. We test

Gummy bear at a safe distance? Reach out and bite something.

70 SERVO 01/02.2019
fitted it a few times and found that we needed to flatten the robot.
out a good swath of the center of the tubes to ensure The gear rack jaws were much quicker (albeit a bit
smooth sailing for the scissor motion. squeakier), and they swiftly extended the jaws to the
Once we were satisfied with the motion, we turned maximum range and brought them back together around
to the ends of the jaws. We curved the ends using a vise the throat of our hapless gummy bear. The two kits
and brute force, and flattened out a section at the end of integrated with each other seamlessly, and even mounted to
the tube where we could mount our teeth. We used some the old school VEX kit with ease.
quarter inch bolts for teeth, and after a few runs with the We’ve tended to think of servos as suitable chiefly for
drill, we were ready for the final assembly. small scale precision mechanisms. However, these kits show
So, what could we reach out and grab for testing? that you can build big things with them too.
We still had a gigantic five pound gummy bear that we With the right adapters to tap into all the possibilities
bought for a huge robot cocktail (and then shot with Double of the goBILDA system, it looks like the path to making
Jeopardy). whatever cool mechanism and/or robot you can dream up is
That gummy bear cost more than a Yellow Jacket motor as easy as a straight line. SV
and we wanted to get out money’s worth, so we kept it in a
Ziploc bag. By some miracle, ants had not found it yet.
We propped it up on a plate in our backyard, moved it
several feet back from the robot (which we christened Long
Arm Statute since all our robot names need to be legally Recommended Websites
themed now), and found out if we really could reach out
and grab something so far away with just a couple of servos. www.servocity.com
It worked! The linear actuator was as slow as
BattleBots™ journey from Comedy Central to ABC, but it
had no problem moving the entire jaw assembly 7” out from
www.gobilda.com

Bio-Feedback Continued from page 7

degree was the hot ticket (or the child such discrimination; an experienced am concerned with the superficial
may live a life of luxury). Ditto for the attorney or doctor is far more knowledge that the younger folks
child of a doctor. We have a shortage preferable when your life is on the line. possess.
of doctors because kids have seen the A radiologist may be looking at An allied observation that I have
hidden and direct costs. your X-rays over in India because your tells me that the younger engineers
Doctors are working for less hospital needs to keep costs down in (mechanical and manufacturing) don’t
money, put in more hours, and must order to keep the contract with your have anywhere near the depth of
deal with insurance company policies insurance company. “Acceptable risk” understanding that an older engineer
and paperwork that would drive a is great, except when it’s your life on has.
normal person to insanity. the line. Many of my “60 something”
Electronic engineers may earn a Looking at all these factors, is it friends and I have arrived at the
six-figure income, but the half-life of any wonder so few kids get excited following observations: The younger
an engineer is 40 years old. Senior about STEM? engineers are more enamored with the
engineers are routinely kicked to the Dave Riness process versus the product, and they
curb in favor of hiring a new graduate, apparently confuse information with
in large part because companies put Thanks Dave. All good points. And knowledge.
zero value on experience, and the I’m with you on the comparison of I’m not sure how this will self-
kid fresh out of school is fluent in the engineers with doctors and attorneys. correct. I hope it will be gradual versus
latest buzzwords (Python, Ruby on Bryan Bergeron catastrophic.
Rails, when it used to be C, C#, or Bill Ryder
FORTRAN in the early days).
When a lithium battery explodes
Catastrophe in the Your comments are much
in an airport, everyone shrugs, the Making? appreciated. I too hope the correction
lawyers come up with a settlement, I thoroughly enjoyed Bryan will be gradual vs. catastrophic. Time
and life moves forward. Bergeron’s editorial in the Nov/Dec will tell.
A doctor or lawyer faces no edition of SERVO Magazine. I too Bryan Bergeron

SERVO 01/02.2019 71
Large Robots Over
the Years
Large and small robots have been around for decades, but it’s usually the larger
robots that capture the attention and imagination of the public. Largeness is
sometimes equated with power and the ability to accomplish a monumental task.
Long before computers and modern control systems were available outside the
laboratory environment, robot experimenters were turning to systems such as
hydraulic cylinders that could exert many thousands of pounds of force and
yet have a very small form factor. The downside of hydraulic power is that the
cylinders needed very high-pressure hydraulic fluid that required leaky hoses
from an external pump system. Equivalent electric motors were larger for the
same power output but didn’t require leaky liquid.

The General Electric The operator sat in a booth at the located nearby and the compressed
top of the machine as seen in Figure fluid was supplied via hoses to
Walking Truck 2 and controlled the robot’s motions the robot. As with many hydraulic
Back in the mid ‘60s, I remember via hand- and foot-operated hydraulic machines, this robot leaked a lot of
my awe as I watched a news segment valves. The hydraulic pump was fluid — like 50 gallons an hour.
about an amazing robot Today’s large
built by General Electric excavators are operated
for the US Army. At the in a similar fashion with
time, it was referred to an operator that sits in a
as a “walking truck” or cab and operates hydraulic
a “cybernetic walking foot and hand valves to
machine.” swing the machine’s arm
The Army had long around a horizontal plane
realized that travel over to position the shovel, and
uneven terrain could not other joysticks and controls
always be accomplished to manipulate the shovel
by wheeled vehicles, so GE to scoop dirt and move it
won an Army contract to to a pile or into a waiting
develop a walking truck. An truck. Back in those days,
early concept is shown in hydraulic valves were not as
Figure 1. smooth and required lots of
It was designed by force for actuation.
Ralph Mosher and was The walking truck’s
built to assist infantry operator could only control
personnel in transporting the robot for short periods
materials over rough terrain. of time due to the complex
Weighing in at over 3,000 and forceful series of
pounds, the hydraulically- motions required to move
operated robot could walk the many pedals and hand
at speeds up to 5 MPH. Figure 1. GE’s quadruped walking truck. controls.
72 SERVO 01/02.2019
 Then NOW

and
Advances in robots and robotics over the years.

By Tom Carroll
TWCarroll@aol.com

Figure 2.
Ralph
Mosher’s
walking
truck in
action.

Figure 4.
Boston
Dynamics’
BigDog.

The walking truck was one of the

first hardware designs to utilize force
Early Developments The 3D One-Leg Hopper was built
for experiments on active balance
feedback to give the operator a feel Evolving into Boston and dynamics in legged locomotion.
of the forces on each of the four legs,
though it would occasionally fall.
Dynamics’ Big Dog The machine has a leg that changes
length, a body that carries sensors and
Most of the earlier photos didn’t While we’re on the subject of interface electronics, and an actuated
show the overhead cables hooked military robots, I would be remiss to two-axis hip. The hip is powered by
to the top of the robot to catch it if not discuss the BigDog from Boston hydraulics and the leg by compressed
it tumbled. Side braces to prevent Dynamics shown in Figure 4. Before air. The machine has an overall height
falling were later added for outdoor going into detail about this unique of 43.5 inches (l.l0 m) and a mass of
exhibitions, such robot, I’d like to talk 38 lbs. (l7.3 kg).
as in Figure 3 about the founder of the
from an Army company: Marc Raibert. They further comment on the Web:
museum show. None of the amazing
This particular robots developed at
project has been Boston Dynamics would
shelved for quite be possible without the
a while but the pioneering work done by
military is still Raibert in his early days
very interested in at Carnegie Mellon and
robots to assist MIT.
modern warriors Figure 3. Side braces on the GE I still remember that
walking truck prevented it from
in difficult terrain. falling over. one-legged hopping
Videos are robot shown in Figure
available on the Internet showing the 5 that was built in 1983 by Raibert at
walking truck pushing a Jeep with MIT, though his leg laboratory was not
its foot and other tasks beyond the moved from CMU to MIT until 1986.
capability of a human. According to the AI group at MIT: Figure 5. Marc Raibert’s one-legged robot.

SERVO 01/02.2019 73
“There were four reasons When I first saw a
to build a 3D machine video, I was amazed at its
with only one leg. First, walking ability but taken
it’s simpler to study back with the sound of
balance on a machine the whining two-cycle
with one leg because it gas engine that drives
eliminates the difficult the hydraulic system and
task of coupling the a generator for electrical
behavior of several legs. power. It sounded like
Second, it forces one to a weed-whacker and I
focus on balance because assumed that enemy
a one-legged system has troops might hear it
no other way to stand coming from a mile
up. Third, the behavior away. Military personnel
and control of a one- wondered about the
legged device could be same thing.
used as the cornerstone
for each leg of multi-
legged systems. Fourth, a
Figure 6. Parts diagram of the BigDog robot.
Robot Power
one-legged system has the minimum military certainly realize that the need Systems
equipment. Less equipment means is ongoing for carrying supplies and Let’s step aside now on the
less construction time, less down time ammunition across difficult terrain discussion of the BigDog and look
due to mechanical failure, and more during warfare. at what is required to power large
reliable operation.” robots. Boston Dynamics chose a
“Experiments with the 3D One-Leg gas engine since its power density
Hopper showed that balance can be BigDog is quite high compared with typical
achieved with a simple control system. Let’s get back to BigDog that electric motors and chemical batteries.
The control system has three separate made its debut back in 2005. The Modern brushless electric motors and
parts: one controlling forward running robot was financed in part by NASA rare earth magnet fields are quite
speed; one controlling body attitude; JPL, Foster-Miller, and Harvard powerful for their size and weight,
and one controlling hopping height. University. I’m sure that most of you but even lithium-ion batteries don’t
The 3D One-Leg Hopper hopped in readers were just blown away when have the power density for a large
place, travelled at a specified rate, you saw the first YouTube and news robot traversing rough terrain for many
followed simple paths, and maintained videos of this amazing robot military miles.
balance when disturbed. Top recorded pack mule (refer back to Figure 4) and Elon Musk proved to the world
running speed was 2.2 m/sec (4.8 hopefully you’ve been enlightened a that an all-electric automobile could
MPH). The 3D control algorithms were bit. However, let’s take a closer look travel several hundred miles on a single
generalizations of those used earlier in at this robot. When I first saw the charge, but applying that technology
2D, with little additional complication.” initial BigDog robot in photos and and power longevity in difficult
especially in videos, it reminded me of battlefield conditions is another story.
I’ve elaborated on Raibert’s early two skinny sumo wrestlers facing each I do believe that electric robots with
experiments because they formed the other, arms locked together, with a high power density batteries is on the
basis from which most walking robots cover sheltering the tops of both their near horizon, however.
have developed stability. Obviously, a bodies.
single-legged robot cannot ‘walk’ and The robot is just under three feet
must hop, but the sensor technology tall and weighs about 240 pounds. The LS3: Legged
that he and his team used is applied Powered by a gasoline engine driving Squad Support
today — over three decades later. Low a hydraulic pump which, in turn,
cost accelerometers, gyros, and other drives each of the 16 joint’s hydraulic Systems Robot
motion sensors have become available cylinders, it can carry 45 kg or about At the end of 2009, DARPA and
to all robot experimenters, and this 100 pounds of payload up a 35 degree the US Marine Corps gave Boston
has allowed many mobile robots (even slope at up to 6 MPH. The photo Dynamics a contract to develop ‘a
wheeled ones) to traverse all types of in Figure 6 shows the parts of the legged robot which could function
terrain. The different branches of the BigDog. autonomously as a packhorse for
74 SERVO 01/02.2019
a squad of soldiers or
Marines.’ Like BigDog (its
quadruped predecessor),
the LS3 was ruggedized
for military use, with
the ability to operate
in hot, cold, wet, and
dirty environments. This
new robot followed
on the development of
BigDog to ‘Go where
dismounts go, do what
dismounts do, work
among dismounts, carry
400 pounds (180 kg) of
squad equipment, sense
and negotiate terrain,
maneuver nimbly, and
operate quietly when
required.’
In the old days, when
a mounted soldier got off
his horse, he was called
a ‘dismount;’ basically a
foot soldier. The LS3 is
shown in Figure 7. Figure 7. Boston Dynamics’ LS3 evolutionary robot.
Figure 8. ATLAS: the agile
The LS3 is 1.7 meters
anthropomorphic robot.
tall, weighs 590 kg, carries a payload Agile Anthropomorphic Robot shown
of 182 kg, and can travel 32 km on in Figure 8 that was being provided as
a 24 hour mission. Also powered by government furnished equipment for
a gasoline or diesel engine, it uses each of the DARPA Robotics Challenge
hydraulic actuation, has 12 leg joints, program Track B teams.
and sophisticated LIDAR and intelligent It was an upgraded modification
stereo camera vision to follow a of BD’s PETMAN. This robot was
human leader through rough terrain. developed to test suits worn during
This newer robot could travel over hazardous chemical spills. It balanced
rough rocky terrain at 1-3 MPH, easily itself and moved freely — walking,
transition to a 5 MPH trot, and go flat bending, and doing a variety of suit-
out at 7 MPH on a level surface. stressing movements during exposure
At the end of 2015, the Marines to chemical warfare agents. Its
placed LS3 into storage as it had too ‘offspring,’ Atlas was one of the better
many limitations and the loud noise DRC competitors, but still tripped and
factor was not acceptable in a wartime fell with the best of them.
scenario. Shortly after the DRC
competitions, Boston Dynamics
completed the development of a new
Atlas Atlas (shown in Figure 9) that was a
Back in the early DARPA Robotics major improvement over the original.
Challenge (DRC) days, few robots Shorter at about five feet, it was also
were able to accomplish the required much lighter at 165 pounds and much
tasks in the disaster scenarios. In more agile than its larger brethren.
August 2012, DARPA worked with Battery powered with hydraulic
Boston Dynamics with a $10.9 million actuation, it had 28 joints and stereo
contract to develop the ATLAS: the computer vision with an additional Figure 9. Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas.

SERVO 01/02.2019 75
LIDAR system. on Earth with a cable
In all the videos hanging from a pulley
that I saw of this robot, on the end of a long
it was so much more boom.
able to traverse uneven After aero-
terrain that would be braking with the heat
found at a disaster site. shield and parachute
It might have won the deployment of the
earlier DRC competition spacecraft that slows
hands down (or should the descent from 1
I say claws down) if it km per second to 100
had been available. meters per second, the
parachute is jettisoned
and the craft goes into
Rovers to a powered descent
Mars mode with the firing
Let’s switch now of four solid rocket
from the battlefield Figure 10. NASA’s Curiosity. motors for the last two
to deep space. Many kilometers.
of us have followed The ‘scary part’
the travels of the occurred at about
huge Martian robot 20 meters from the
rover, NASA’s Curiosity surface as the sky crane
(shown in Figure 10) method deployed the
since it landed on the lander from the craft
red planet back in and the four firing
2012. The size and motors lowered the
weight of a small car, rover to the surface.
it has traveled over 10 Upon landing, the rover
miles on the dusty soil severed the cables
many millions of miles and the sky crane/
from Earth. It was so spacecraft shell flew
large that it couldn’t be away to the side to
landed on the surface crash.
of the planet in the way Curiosity was
that all the previous immediately ready for
rovers had been. action and began her
After entering mission. I remember
the thin Martian atmosphere and That’s okay for a tiny 23 pound that hot August night as I was
using a heat shield to slow down as Sojourner rover in 1996, or even the watching Curiosity’s landing at a bit
they closed in on the surface, large much larger 408 pound Spirit and after 8:00 at night when the word
balloon ‘airbag’ clusters containing Opportunity rovers that both landed came on the NASA feed, “She’s down
the previous three landers deployed on Mars in January of 2004. Curiosity and safe.”
and inflated just prior to landing. that landed on Mars in 2012, however, The Curiosity rover has an RTG
These huge balloon clusters landed was almost a ton in weight at 1,982 (radioisotope thermoelectric generator)
like beach balls and slowly deflated pounds and could not be landed via that converts the 2,000 watts of heat
after bouncing a bit, uncovering the an inflatable balloon cluster. Another emitted by the decay of the 4.8 kg
contained landed rovers. ‘Petals’ approach was needed. of plutonium-238 dioxide at its heart
protectively surrounding the rover Realizing that Curiosity couldn’t to produce 125W of electric power.
inside the balloon opened and pushed be landed via an inflatable balloon Excess heat is piped to sensitive areas
away the deflated balloons, serving cluster, NASA-JPL decided to use a ‘sky that need warmth during cold Martian
as a flat surface for the rover to cross crane’ shown operating in an artist’s nights. That big $1.8 billion nuclear-
the balloon’s deflated edges and alight depiction in Figure 11. Of course, this powered robot is still trudging across
upon the surface of Mars. is unlike any crane that you might see the alien soil, gathering very valuable
76 SERVO 01/02.2019
Figure 12. Evolution of the Mars rovers
with Earth people for scale. disabled and could no longer move
or charge itself, Opportunity is still
Mars 2020 Rover
information about the makeup of operating and had traveled over 28 With the success of the Mars
Mars. miles as of June 10, 2018. Mockups Science Laboratory and Curiosity,
Even though Spirit finally became of the Sojourner, Spirit/Opportunity, NASA is looking forward to 2020 and
and Curiosity are shown together in an improved rover. NASA informed
Figure 12 with two humans for size Congress that it would use the same
comparison. form and size of the initial Curiosity

Figure 11. The Mars Curiosity is lowered to

the Martian surface with a sky crane. Figure 13. NASA’s 2020 Mars rover.

SERVO 01/02.2019 77
to save money as it had many of the mission (an artist’s concept is shown payloads based on scientific objectives
spare parts and could use a proven in Figure 13) will look for signs of past set a year earlier. However, as always,
design with newer array science life, cache rock samples, and prepare the mission is contingent on receiving
experiments. The Mars 2020 rover’s the way for human exploration. adequate funding. The exact mission
NASA JPL details will be determined by the
will manage mission’s Science Definition Team.
the mission. There are distinct differences
The payload in the two rovers. The six wheels
and science are quite a bit different since
instruments Curiosity’s wheels have suffered some
for the mission considerable damage from striking
were selected pointed rocks bound tightly into
in July 2014 compact soil.
after an open The original tests on Earth used
competition similar rocks lying in loose sand that
for science were pushed down, so designers
didn’t anticipate sharp points striking
the surface of the wheels. Engineers
Figure 14. changed the design to give the one-
NASA’s
Spidernaut. ton vehicle’s wheels a tougher surface
to withstand striking any sharp objects
on the ground.
You can see that the ChemCam
structure is different, as is the front
section of payload instruments. The
rocker-bogie wheel assembly seems
similar, though. The rover mission and
launch is estimated to cost about $2.1
billion, unlike its predecessor that cost
$2.5 billion back in 2012. Using the
spare parts will make the new rover
somewhat more affordable. Curiosity’s
engineering team is also involved in
the new rover’s design.

NASA Spidernaut
NASA has long looked at ways to
assist astronauts in space missions —
especially where extravehicular activity
is required. Exposure to the vacuum,
extreme temperature variations, and
other hazards of space can kill a
human.
It’s always best to limit having
astronauts being directly exposed
to space. A great alternative to
accomplishing physical activities
outside the safe environment of a
spacecraft or space station is to use
robots for the necessary tasks.
Back around 2006, I had heard
of a unique project sponsored by
NASA to build a Spidernaut robot to
78 SERVO 01/02.2019
assist astronauts in various space
tasks and to handle payloads and
similar functions (Figure 14). The
project had piqued my interest as I
had earlier headed a design team at
Rockwell to develop a similar robot
for NASA.
A NASA article best described
Figure 15. Northrop-Grumman mobile transporter railway system on the space station.
the work that Purdue University
and General Motors did as “Robotic
space research steps into the Rockwell’s
new age of exploration at Purdue
University with Spidernaut.”
Mobile Remote
Their design goal was to Manipulator System
develop a 600 pound “arachnid-
like Spidernaut that will be able to As I mentioned earlier, I had
assist astronauts with planetary the pleasure of working on a
construction and maintenance.” similar robot platform project to
Planetary space exploration assist astronauts in space. The
with the use of robotics normally system our group developed
means treads or wheels. utilized a platform to which the
Purdue researchers felt that Canadarm was attached, also
the spider configuration on the known as the Shuttle Remote
Spidernaut could create a mobility Manipulator System (SRMS). It
platform where the load of the was built by Spar Aerospace, then
system was constantly and equally based in Toronto.
distributed. It was the pride of Canadian
The reason why this was of aerospace as the red maple leaf
great importance to not only the was so visible in all the televised
researchers creating Spidernaut shuttle missions where the 50 foot
but eventually the astronauts up in long robot arm deftly handled so
space, revolved around usurping many payloads and spacecraft. It
as much of a weight load as was a natural choice for Rockwell
possible while in a non-gravitational to use for our space station bid.
environment. The many space station
Purdue had developed such a Figure 16. Space station MRMS robot crawler. configurations all used similar
robot and this project was “leaping structural beam systems to which
forward and going where no robot has a human down to the ground with were attached different modules and
ever gone before.” restricted mobility and counter- the large rotating solar panels for
weight balancing issues. Not so with station power needs.
“Spidernaut is a large robot the Spidernaut. The robot could Our team developed a mobile
designed to service spacecraft in the distribute weight evenly over its eight transporter (Figure 15) for the mobile
planetary environment. The sense legs to avoid damaging the skin of remote manipulator system (MRMS);
of the meaning of this research into the spacecraft or for scurrying across I’m holding a mockup model of it in
robots and man in outer space is not delicate solar panels. Purdue was even Figure 16 that used the Canadarm
a new concept. For decades, we have looking into a “web” deployment for the main manipulative tasks and
been tantalized with robots working system for the robot, in which case, a platform that climbed about the
right along astronauts in deep space. there would not only be one or two outsides of all the structural beams to
Purdue took the visuals of trashcan-like Spidies up in space, but a host of reach all parts of the space station.
robots tweeting and chirping about in these high tech robots.” I wanted to minimize structural
space to the second highest level.” additions to the space station, so
“Spidernaut was no lightweight, There remains a single working our Rockwell design used doorknob-
weighing in at an impressive 600 prototype of Spidernaut at Houston sized pins at major nodes of the
pounds. All that weight would pin JSC. structure rather than a railway system.
SERVO 01/02.2019 79
 An artist’s concept in Figure 17
shows the MRMS at the left of the
photo traversing the space station’s
structure carrying an astronaut at
the end of the Canadarm.
Carrying the Canadarm with
an attached payload, the fore and
aft sections of the 45 foot long
platform moved successively in
and out, grasping on the attached
nodes at all corners of the structure
as if it were climbing a ladder.
It would slide along on two ‘C’
shaped hollow rails that enclosed
the pins and could turn corners and
directions when needed on other
faces of the structure. I still have
that mockup shown in the photo.
The present mobile transporter
built by Northrop-Grumman weighs
almost a ton and was delivered to
the space station in 2002. It uses a
rail system and the new Canadarm 2
robot arm.
Figure 17. Space station MRMS robot (at left) traversing nodes with an astronaut payload.
Large Home Built
Figure 18. Owens’ big robot in the frosty Alaskan woods.
Robot in Alaska
Let’s get back down to earth,
and as an interesting
aside, briefly discuss a very
large robot built in Alaska
— a state noted for big
mountains and other large
things. The Juneau Empire
newspaper reported back in
2005 that Wasilla resident,
Carlos Owens Jr. “has taken
it upon himself to construct

80 SERVO 01/02.2019
an 18 foot high motorized killing offering 46 possible movements. building a large robot. They really
machine with the capability of firing “Chillingly, Owens says of his creation: don’t cost that much more than
nine inch nails from its hydraulically- “I’m 110 percent positive this will smaller creations and there is a certain
powered shoulders and is further work. Failure is not an option. I have enjoyment that many people receive
armed with flamethrowers.” The no choice but to do this. If I don’t do from standing next to their large
photos in Figure 18 show the creation it, I will explode.” automaton that is close to their own
with Carlos standing in his robot. size or bigger.
Not too many of us have a beautiful Yes, some of the larger robots can
backdrop of snow-covered pines in our Final Thoughts cost in the billions, but I don’t think
workshops as he does in. Every so often, I enjoy writing that I will get another opportunity to
As the apprentice (at the time) about large robots — a style I have design a robot for space. However, I’m
ironworker, Owens put it: “You’ve got always loved building since I was quite sure one of you might have that
to have flame-throwers.” a child. If you recall from previous chance. Go for it! SV
Owens had been working on his columns, I was first inspired by
“Mecha” since 2001 and had spent another kid who built a robot named
$20k on the project by 2005. The gas- Gismo and had a write-up in Boys Life To post comments on this article and find
any associated files and/or downloads, go
engine-driven cybernetic exoskeleton Magazine.
to www.servomagazine.com/magazine/
is controlled from within by Owens I always encourage readers and issue/2019/01.
himself via 23 hydraulic cylinders listeners who attend my talks to try

Continued from page 39

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SERVO 01/02.2019 81
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82 SERVO 01/02.2019
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