ArbotiX-M Robocontroller

Presentation of the ArbotiX-M Robocontroller

The ArbotiX-M Robocontroller is an advanced remote control system for small- and medium-sized robots such as the Hexapod robot kit PhantomX AX – and it’s compatible with Arduino boards! It includes a powerful AVR microcontroller, an Xbee wireless radio module, a dual motor driver and a number of 3-pin servo headers for I/O.

The ArbotiX-M Robocontroller was specially designed for control using Dynamixel servomotors. The ArbotiX-M Robocontroller is not just a replacement for the CM-5 controller, it’s more a high-level tool dedicated to the construction of more sophisticated robots.

You’ll find an introduction to the ArbotiX-M Robocontroller in the video below:

Technical specifications of the ArbotiX-M Robocontroller

• 16 MHz AVR microcontroller (ATMEGA644p).
• 2 serial ports, 1 dedicated to the Dynamixel servo controllers, the other to the Xbee radio module.
• 32 I/Os, 8 of which are able to operate as analogue inputs.
• 3-pin servo headers (Gnd, Vcc, signal), on the 8 analogue inputs and on the 8 digital I/Os.
• Dual 1 A motor drivers with combined motor/encoder headers.
• Xbee radio module sold separately. A typical installation requires 2 Xbee radio modules and one Xbee explorer module to allow you to control your robot remotely from your computer.
• This controller requires the use of an FTDI or ISP cable. We recommend the FTDI 3.3 V Deployment Board with 6-pin connector.
• With dimensions of 7.11 × 7.11 cm (2.8" × 2.8"), this controller was designed for use with Dynamixel servomotors.

Resources for the ArbotiX-M Robocontroller

The ArbotiX-M Robocontroller can be used with the Arduino development environment. A number of libraries to help control AX-12 servo motors are available in the download list below.

These resources that will help you get started with the ArbotiX-M Robocontroller:

• ArbotiX-M Robocontroller User Manual
• Google Code website with instructions for downloading and configuring the ArbotiX-M software