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pturner
Administrator
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Posted: Tue Oct 7th, 2008 11:14 pm |
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Robotis have finally released a Utility that allows upgrading of the Dynamixels. Previously the AX modules could be done within the Bioloids Behaviour Control Program, but now DX & RX modules can be upgraded as well  .
From what I understand you'll need to:
(i) download the Dynamixel Manager from http://www.robotis.com/zbxe/software_en/5446
(ii) download the latest firmware from http://www.robotis.com/zbxe/software_en/11389
(iii) within Dynamixel Manager click on Advance menu option then Firmware Update.
I tried this, but I had an old version of Dynamixel Manager without Advance options. So I uninstalled the previous version and downloaded and installed the newer version (4Mb).
But now when I run the Dynamixel Manager I get a message "This application failed to start because FTD2XX.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem".
Re-installing the application didn't fix this problem - I assume that this is the FTDI driver for the USB to RS485 converter used in the USB2Dynamixel. I'm hoping that when I plug the USB2Dynamixel module in that this will be fixed.
I don't have the USB2Dynamixel with me at present so I'll have to give this a go later today. Will let you know what happens then ....
Peter.
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schuit
Member
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Posted: Sat Oct 18th, 2008 02:31 pm |
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Hi all,
The new Dynamixel Manager installs and runs fine on my computer, and I've upgraded several RX-28's to a new firmware version. However, the program is not perfect. I encountered the following problems:
- Connecting more than one RX-28 at a time to the USB2Dynamixel and updating their firmware at the same time is possible with Dynamixel Manager, but with my servo's, it failed several times (also succeeded once or twice if I remember correctly). I guess the safest way is to update one servo at a time.
- Sometimes, updating the firmware of an RX-28 fails, and when you disconnect and connect the power, the LED turns on and doesn't go off and the RX-28 is not responding anymore, even after a couple of power disconnects/reconnects. However, if you connect it, start Dynamixel Manager and press the Search button (and wait), the servo's LED finally turns off, blinks a couple of times and turns off again, like it is resetting. After that, it can be used again!
- The new Dynamixel Manager (v.0.96 I guess) crashes very often when the Search button is pressed. What I noticed is that whenever I start Dynamixel Manager and the search dialog is displayed, the Rx LED on the USB2Dynamixel sometimes starts blinking like crazy. That's when the program crashes when the search button is pressed.
- I also noticed that this Rx LED is blinking like crazy and/or some dynamixels are not found by the search dialog, unless I physically grab the DATA- line (not the ground; I checked) between the USB2Dynamixel and the first dynamixel. It seems to be a grounding problem of the USB2Dynamixel that a colleague of mine has also encountered. It's not a weak cable; we tried several cables. This is a weird and reoccurring problem of the USB2Dynamixel (are there any threads on this problem yet?), and it is actually quite annoying.
We also tried updating two RX-28's which seem to be having software problems. Unfortunately, updating failed for both of them. They don't have the same problem, so I will describe them separately:
- The first one is actually returning data packets (monitored using our own software), but the first byte of every returned packet is 0x00. The servo is interpreting all packets fine; it's just that we cannot read it's status packets which makes it useless for our robot control. Updating the firmware failed since it is not detected by Dynamixel Manager. We also tried the following: we connected a healthy RX-28 with the same ID, baud rate, return level and return delay time. Then we initiated the firmware update step and just before hitting the Next button, we replaced the RX-28 with the faulty one. Didn't work
 . We also tried setting the return level of the faulty RX-28 to zero, giving it the same ID as the healthy one, connecting both of them and tried updating: didn't work . I guess its faulty return packets are messing up the communication.
- The second one blinks its LED when the power is connected, but it doesn't respond to any packet, nor does it return any packets. Since it is (therefore) not detected by Dynamixel Manager, updating the firmware is impossible.
If only Robotis could give us the protocol of updating the firmware, I could write a program that simply ignores return packets of the dynamixel and perhaps updating of faulty servo 1. would succeed. I tried several serial packet sniffer programs, but they were all uncapable of capturing the communication coming from Dynamixel Manager. But who knows, perhaps my two servo's are beyond repair anyways..
Best regards, Erik
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