RoboSavvy - Testing Servos

Each servo has to be tested and verified that the it is attached to the correct channel on the RCB-1s. To do that, we attach the serial cable again to the laptop and run HeartToHeart. The SYNC choice widget is set to "ON". This basically means that any moves to a channel's slider will change the angle of that servo in the robot. Happily, I found out that all my wiring went well and every channel is attached to its designated servo.

As expected, the alignment of the servo Hones were not perfect. For example, the legs were slightly spread apart. Heart2Heart provides a function function called "Trimming" which involves adding or subtracting up to 10° from the "initial-position" of each servo. The downside of this process is that you restrict the total 180° of freedom that you would otherwise have for each servo. The manual recommends that if more then 10° are needed to Trim a servo, it is wiser to take it apart and physically turn the Servo Hone one notch. To apply the Trimming function, we go again to the Configuration panel by pressing the wrench-looking icon. Channels 13-24 are on RCB-1 ID 1 but the options panel doesn't know it by default so it had to be set. Then, recommends the manual, we press the Get button to get any prior Trim settings. Now we can start playing with the left-right arrows to adjust and fine-tune the position of the servos. As you can see below, I only needed slight adjustments to channels 13, 14 and 19 to get the perfect pose looking a bit like the Corcovado statue in Rio de Janeiro.

In order to have my hands free I hanged my KHR-1 using a shoe lace to the back of an office chair. There are two convenient hanging holes located on the side of the Head Base.