Controlling Arduino Braccio arm using data from processing

Question

I am working on a project that uses processing to read data from a file and then sends these data to an arduino Uno board using serial, then supply these values to the arduino braccio Braccio.ServoMovment() function to move the robotic arm according to them. however whenever I run the code I keep getting wrong values into the function and the arm moves in a weird way, I have tested the same code and tried to light up an led and it worked fine for some reason.

 import processing.serial.*;
 import java.io.*;
 int mySwitch=0;

 int counter=0;

 String [] subtext;

 Serial myPort;



 void setup(){

 //Create a switch that will control the frequency of text file reads.

 //When mySwitch=1, the program is setup to read the text file.

 //This is turned off when mySwitch = 0

 mySwitch=1;


 //Open the serial port for communication with the Arduino

 //Make sure the COM port is correct

 myPort = new Serial(this, "COM5", 9600);
  myPort.bufferUntil('\n');
 }

 void draw() {
  // print(" the switch " + mySwitch);

  if (mySwitch>0){
  /*The readData function can be found later in the code.
  This is the call to read a CSV file on the computer hard-drive. */
  readData("C:/Users/Tareq/Desktop/data.txt");

  /*The following switch prevents continuous reading of the text file,           until
  we are ready to read the file again. */
  mySwitch=0;
  }

  /*Only send new data. This IF statement will allow new data to be sent      to
  the arduino. */
  if(counter<subtext.length){
  /* Write the next number to the Serial port and send it to the Arduino 
  There will be a delay of half a second before the command is
  sent to turn the LED off : myPort.write('0'); */
 // print(subtext[counter]);
  delay(5000);
  myPort.write(subtext[counter]);
  print(subtext[counter]);
  delay(2000);
  //Increment the counter so that the next number is sent to the arduino.
  counter++;
  } else{
  //If the text file has run out of numbers, then read the text file again      in 5 seconds.
  delay(5000);
  mySwitch=1;
  }
 } 


 /* The following function will read from a CSV or TXT file */
 void readData(String myFileName){

  File file=new File(myFileName);
  BufferedReader br=null;

  try{
  br=new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
  String text=null;

  /* keep reading each line until you get to the end of the file */
  while((text=br.readLine())!=null){

  /* Spilt each line up into bits and pieces using a comma as a separator */
  subtext = splitTokens(text,",");

  }
  }catch(FileNotFoundException e){
  e.printStackTrace();
  }catch(IOException e){
  e.printStackTrace();
  }finally{
  try {
  if (br != null){
  br.close();
  }
  } catch (IOException e) {
  e.printStackTrace();
  }
  }
 }

Arduino Code

#include <Braccio.h>
#include <Servo.h>
#include<SoftwareSerial.h>

Servo base;
Servo shoulder;
Servo elbow;
Servo wrist_rot;
Servo wrist_ver;
Servo gripper;

String stringData[6] ;
int intData[6] ;

void setup() {
 Serial.begin(9600);
 Braccio.begin();
 pinMode(1, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(2, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(3, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(4, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(5, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(6, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(7, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(8, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
 pinMode(9, OUTPUT); // Set pin as OUTPUT
}

void loop() {




for(int y=0;y<6;y++){

  while(Serial.available()== 0){}

stringData[y]= Serial.readString();

if(stringData[y]=="90")
intData[y]=90;
else if(stringData[y]=="120")
intData[y]=120;
else if(stringData[y]=="180")
intData[y]=180;
else if(stringData[y]=="45")
intData[y]=45;
else if(stringData[y]=="160")
intData[y]=160;
else if(stringData[y]=="170")
intData[y]=170;
else if(stringData[y]=="165")
intData[y]=165;
else if(stringData[y]=="60")
intData[y]=60;
else if(stringData[y]=="30")
intData[y]=30;
else if(stringData[y]=="110")
intData[y]=110;
else if(stringData[y]=="80")
intData[y]=80;
else if(stringData[y]=="155")
intData[y]=155;
}

Braccio.ServoMovement(20 ,         intData[0], intData[1], intData[2] , intData[3] ,intData[4] , intData[5]);

}

NOTE: The file im reading from is a notepad containing numbers separated with a " , " something like 150,30,60, etc for my code I used 6 for testing someone might say its weird why send string then map it into an int instead of sending int directly, well I tried the int first and it didn't work then I tried this.

Have you verified that the values are being successfully passed and parsed on the arduino side? (you could write some basic test files to push through a state machine on the arduino to demonstrate the accuracy of the values) — Sneaky Polar Bear

Sneaky Polar Bear Sneaky Polar Bear · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-03T15:36:44

I would try to isolate the issue among the following culprits:

Can you make the robot do repeatable things driving it from a static path in the arduino (ie hardcode the values in the arduino and check that you know how the robot is driven and it is working)

Are you cleanly passing your data between arduino and processing. To test this create some objects/ arrays of numeric values and transfer them from processing to arduino and have arduino verify that it received what was expected.

Is your file read correct. Read the file and write it to the processing console or something to verify you have what you think you have.

Controlling Arduino Braccio arm using data from processing

1 Answers