Viperx 300 Robot Arm

Information on the Arm

• https://www.trossenrobotics.com/viperx-300-robot-arm.aspx. This link gives a specific overview of information on the arm and its features.

• The arm uses DYNAMIXEL XM540-W270 and XM430-W350 servos.

• The arm is controlled by the DYNAMIXEL U2D2 board.

installing ROS

• The DYNAMIXEL servos can be controlled using ROS

• Steps to install ROS software

1. Use a Linux Computer (Or boot any computer from a USB drive with Linux installed)

2. Install ROS by following steps 1-7 under Quickstart on this Github page: https://github.com/interbotix/interbotix_ros_arms

Setting Up the ARm

1. Plug the 12V (10 Amp) power cable into an outlet and insert the barrel plug into the barrel jack on the X-series power hub. The LEDs on the DYNAMIXEL servos should briefly flash red.

2. Plug the micro-USB cable into the U2D2 controller and connect it to your computer

3. Verify that the port shows up under the symlink "/dev/ttyDXL"

cd /dev

ls

Operating the ARm

• Use the interbotix-examples directory to control the arm: https://github.com/Interbotix/interbotix_ros_arms/tree/master/interbotix_examples

• This is one example on how the control the arm with a PS4 controller

1. Connect the PS4 controller to the Linux computer via Bluetooth

• Press and hold the Share button and the PS button until the triangular LED starts rapidly flashing white

• On the computer, go into Bluetooth settings and select "Wireless Controller"

2. Type the following command in the terminal:

roslaunch interbotix_joy_control joy_control.launch robot_name:=vx300

3. Control the arm using the following buttons:

4. To exit out of the program, go to the terminal and press CTRL + C:

Troubleshooting

• When a servo is overloaded, the red LED on the motor flashes rapidly

• Use the following steps to reset the servo

1. Exit out of the program

2. Unplug the micro-USB cable from the U2D2 controller

3. Unplug the 12V power cable from the barrel jack

4. Replug everything back into the arm