multiple servo control with processing

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi I'm a noob...

I want to control up to 54 servos simultaneously , the angles and speeds are sent from Processing patch.

that's a ton of servos, so can you tell me which is the smoothest way?

I'm thinking about sending data from Processing to Arduino through Serial - string method or bytes.

or instead using Processing Firmata library - that's a easier coding right?

sholud I be getting PWM driver(TLC5940) to expand more pins or will It do just fine with 74HC595 ?

does Arduino has enough processing power to do so?

and to powerup 54 servos at a time(Hitec HS-311), is there anything I need to be aware?

what power solution is most likely be ideal or is it ok to power it all from a single Arduino board(Mega)?

2

Hi I'm a noob...

Apparent. Servos need to be powered from an external power supply. Depending on the load on the servos, the external the power supply may need to be from moderate to very heavy duty. You may want to consider seperate servo controller boards for the servos, and have the arduino just send them commands. Probably best to get an arduino mega with the extrea pins.

3

thank you very much, I'm a nooooooob :frowning:

so assuming that each servos load approximately 100mA, then do you think a power supply that says 9V-5A will work ? - any suggestions for a decent example please?

I use a Mega so I already have one, also 4 x TLC5940NT and 54 Servos . I want my 54 servos to move according to Processing message, no heavy torque is needed but with

smooth and settled performance.

I've seen in this forum that MegaServo library can drive 48 servos, but can I extend just 6 more pins? using TLC5940 or 74HC595

does this option will load too much on the arduino ?

a seperate servo controler like SSC-32 or Pololu Micro Serial Servo Controller seems ideal but

is there an option I can use 1 SSC-32 and deal with other 22 servos using Megaservo library at the same time?

1 SSC-32 I can afford but 2 is out of budget.... without a separate controller is it too dangerous ?

Why can't I just use TLC5940 which is a PWM exander ? ( I've read in this forum that it's not PWM and it is PPM indeed.

but other threads says differntly I'm confused)

are there any Arduino examples or projects using more than 48 servos as a reference ? is it not possible with Arduino environment?

I've searched the internet , not found one yet so I'm trying to make one,, but as you see I'm a nooooob :frowning:

if a separate controller is a must, is there any suggestions to built my own simple version like this one?

http://robosforu.blogspot.kr/2012/05/controlling-ton-of-servos-tlc5940.html

i wanted to do something like this here controlling 830 servos

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,81191.0.html

any help or information would be very nice...

4

Sinse you already have your equipment, how many servos have you gotten to operate as desired so far?

5

8, using timer2 library it went great but I couldn't dare to do more because I'm scared of if It burns or anything

I thought it'll load too much amps? so I'm asking for experts advice here... since i'm very new to this

I've also tried 8 of them using TLC5940NT It went smooth also, but I think I might search more and know what

I'm doing before using 54 Servos at onetime

I'm looking for a decent power supply now could you be so nice to tell me

if there will be any problem using TLC 5940 pwn pins to control 54 servos, and

could you teach me what is the benefits of using a seperate controller over TLC 5940 pwn pins or other servo libraries?

6

so assuming that each servos load approximately 100mA,

Why assume when you could measure?