2011-05-09 Calgary Ez-robot Update
Wow time flies when you're having fun!
The past few weeks have been hectic and exciting. I managed to squeeze in some development time and release the new EZ-B firmware, EZ-SDK and EZ-Builder. The latest version contains some new features that I am very proud of!
There is a list below that I pasted from the release notes posted on EZ Robot's website. But the feature I'm most proud of is the speed increase. I modified the communication protocol and increased the speed by nearly 75%. There is an image below containing the new statistics.... nearly 200 Write Calls in 1 second!
Funny thing happened when I updated the firmware of one of my robots. The new firmware is so fast that the robot was acting nuts because the code was dependent on the static timing of the communication protocol speed. I could have modified the timers to slow down processing, but instead took advantage of the speed increase and added more features to that robot. 
Oh, many of you will enjoy the new Joystick support! It took creative brainstorming to design a configuration layout that provided flexability for everyone's unique project.
I also ran into some eccentric Star Wars fans the other day. They were nice and let me try on their storm trooper helmet. For fun, I included those pictures for you :D
And finally, I picture of the workshop being cleaned by an army of roombas!
That is all.
Change List
- EZ-B V3 Support Added!
- Communication protocol speed increased by 75%!
- Joystick Support Added!
- I2C Support Added!
- BlinkM Module and Control
- Now supports 20 Servos (rather than 14)!
- UART bug fix
- EZ-Builder's Modified Servo Movement Panel bug fix
- Roomba Module Bug Fixed
- EZ-Builder Script compiler speed increase
- New Script commands (serial, i2c, playnote, text to speech, etc)
- EZ-Builder camera color tracking module now contains motion control to follow objects
- Servo timing accuracy increased
- Modified Servo speed added
- Ports renamed from RA, RB, RC, RD to D0..D19
- Pause buttons added to EZ-Builder query controls
- Servo position references range changed
- EZ Builder controls default to NA for optional servo port settings
- Joystick support now includes a command for PRESS and RELEASE of joystick buttons
- Joystick Configure will highlight the button when pushed on the joystick. Makes finding buttons easier
- Soundboard Control added for WAV files. 10 Wav files can be loaded into the sound board and triggered from the buttons to play from PC Soundcard. TODO: Add scripting ability to trigger soundboard files.
- Script compiler returns more descriptive error messages
- New script command: WaitUntilTime( hour, minute ). Pauses script until the desired hour and minute has been reached. Neat feature for configuring your robot as an alarm clock
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