Published October 29, 2015 © GPL3+

Solo Servo Sweep

Add a servo to your solo using arduino, firmata, python, and a usb OTG

IntermediateFull instructions provided11,591

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

3DR Solo

Servos (Tower Pro MG996R)

Solo Breakout Board

Story

Intro

Solo has a great development environment but a lack of I/O. Currently the Accessory port breaks out CAN, Mavlink Serial to Pixhawk, and USB to Sololink(imx6). By using an arduino and firmata can add custom sensors, control servos, blink LEDs, or any other arduino function.

This tutorial will walk you through the steps of using an arduino with Solo to control a servo.

Software Preqs:

Solo update 1.2.0 or greater
Arduino IDE
Filezilla
Putty or any other SSH Client

Step 1: Upload Firmata Host to Arduino Uno

1 / 2

Open StandardFirmata from the examples tab. Select board and port. Upload!

Step 2: Hardware Setup

Parts

1 / 4 • Female Servo Cable

Note: The breakout board is not sold at this point. Please refer to here

Assembly

1 / 5 • Connect Servo

Power on

Make sure Solo boots up to these colors and the Arduino has power

Step 2: Download pyMata and Code

pyMata

Step 3: Transfer Files to Solo

Connect to your Solo's Wifi network!

Host: "sftp://10.1.1.10" Username: "root" Password: "TjSDBkAu

Make sure you are in the root directory of Solo

Step 4: SSH into Solo

SSH into Solo using your OS's SSH client. For Windows we will use Putty.

1 / 3 • root@10.1.1.10

Make sure you are still connected to Solo's Wifi!

See the photos captions for more details

Step 5: Install pyMata

Run this command in your SSH session:

cd ./PyMata-master/PyMata-master && python setup.py install

This should be your result

Step 7: Run the example

While your ssh session is still open run:

cd && python SoloServoSweep.py

Schematics

Code

SoloServoSweep.py

from PyMata.pymata import PyMata
import time
import sys

SERVO_MOTOR = 9  # servo attached to this pin

END = 170 # Max servo travel

# create a PyMata instance
board = PyMata("/dev/ttyACM0")

# configure pin as servo
board.servo_config(SERVO_MOTOR)

try:
    while True:
        for i in range (0,END):
            # sweep up
            board.analog_write(SERVO_MOTOR, i)
            time.sleep(.015)
        for i in range (END,0,-1):
            # sweep down
            board.analog_write(SERVO_MOTOR, i)
            time.sleep(.015)

except KeyboardInterrupt:
    board.close()
    sys.exit()

Credits

Daniel Nugent

1 project • 9 followers

I was born, one thing lead to another, now I'm here.

Solo Servo Sweep

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

Intro

Software Preqs:

Step 1: Upload Firmata Host to Arduino Uno

Step 2: Hardware Setup

Parts

Assembly

Power on

Step 2: Download pyMata and Code

SoloServoSweep.py

Step 3: Transfer Files to Solo

Step 4: SSH into Solo

Step 5: Install pyMata

Step 7: Run the example

Custom parts and enclosures

Solo Breakout Board

Schematics

Untitled Sketch 2_bb.png

Code

SoloServoSweep.py

Credits

Daniel Nugent

Comments

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Solo Servo Sweep

Solo Servo Sweep

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Story

Intro

Software Preqs:

Step 1: Upload Firmata Host to Arduino Uno

Step 2: Hardware Setup

Parts

Assembly

Power on

Step 2: Download pyMata and Code

SoloServoSweep.py

Step 3: Transfer Files to Solo

Step 4: SSH into Solo

Step 5: Install pyMata

Step 7: Run the example

Custom parts and enclosures

Solo Breakout Board

Schematics

Untitled Sketch 2_bb.png

Code

SoloServoSweep.py

Credits

Daniel Nugent

Comments

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