Servo Control - C#?

Question

Hi Guys,First post on the group. Finishing up a PhD and I have been doing alot of instrument control the past few years through .NET applications- C# primarily and recently became interested in a little side projectthat would involve a tilt-pan servo controlled from the same. 2 Servosonly.I have absolutely zero experience dealing with Servos. GPIB, D/A, A/D- I've got it clocked, but this is new territory for me. Overall itseems most servos are controlled by pulse length to determine angle ofturn. That's fine - I can generate those from my desktop NI D/A cards.But I'm looking at looking at working from a laptop.Any reccomends on a pre-packaged USB interface that I can addressthrough the C# applications? I'd be willing to spend some money if anaccessory was available that streamlined my .NET control. I wouldrather focus on code than troubleshooting a baseline device I don'tfully understand.I see something like this at ServoCity - Are these usually bundled with .NET libs? Or do you just usestandard serial interface libraries?I'm completely ignorant.  Any help is appreciated.Jake

Gordon McComb · Accepted Answer

Time to Google.USB-to-serial dongles appear to your PC (or laptop) as a serial port.You write your code to that port. You'll need Framework 2.0 or laterunless you're okay with using an ActiveX control for the serial output.What you hang on the dongle is up to you. A serial servo controllerworks just fine; however there are ready-made USB servo controllers thatdo this all-in-one so you save money. Parallax sells one suchcontroller. I've not used it but I've seen some C# code for it in theParallax forums. It's about 40 bucks.Read up on servo control. Most people get this wrong and try to apply acontinuous stream of pulses, which is easy in the typical D/A card, andis standard for PWM. That won't work with an R/C servo, which is not atrue PWM device. You need to put in delays between in each single pulse.The nominal delay is 20ms. Your card may or may not have this feature,but it seems a waste anyway when low-cost hardware (serial or USB servocontrollers) is available that will do it...

Si Ballenger · Answer

>. Are these usually bundled with .NET libs? Or do you just useGet a serial servo controller (~$40 or less) and connect it tothe computer using a USB to serial adapter. Then you can evencontrol the servos using a notepad batch file if you want.

Roland Latour · Answer

See  (What's a servo-quick tutorial)IMHO the cheapest way to go is get an Arduino Diecimila microcontroller with a motor/servo shield from  and elsewhere. USB interface. 12 IO pins which can be used for PWM, ~490Hz. As Gordon McComb said: "...nominal delay is 20ms." Don't use the unit without a motor shield--I burned mine out trying that.Can't help you with software-I use linux. Script package at  Sorry.

pogo · Answer

> . Are these usually bundled with .NET libs? Or do you just useHello Jake. You might want to check out the Phidgets USB servo controllers. Theyhave C++ & C# APIs in their libraries. Here's a couple of links to get started:                've controlled the single and four servo models using C++ with just a couple offunction calls. They have good coding samples for download on the site, too. And here's a snippet from their PDF manual:    Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Windows CE, Linux, and Mac OS X    Programming Languages (APIs): VB6,   C++, Flash 9, Flex, Java,LabVIEW, Python, Max/MSP, and CocoaGood luck!JCDeen

Gordon McComb · Answer

I'm curious if you mean you burned out your Arduino running an R/C servo, or a standard DC motor? The signal input of an R/C servo is at TTL level, and the AVR should be able to drive that. Some folks put a ~300 ohm resistor in line to limit the current draw, but it's not really necessary. Ladyada's schematic for the motor shield shows the pins are just passed through for the servo motor connections, with nothing between (which is within acceptable practice).

-- Gordon

Servo Control - C#?

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