The Dynamixel servo can be configured using a program called RoboPlus, provided by ROBOTIS, INC. (http://en.robotis.com/), the manufacturer of Dynamixel servos.
To configure Dynamixel, you have to switch your operating system to Windows as the RoboPlus tool works on Windows. In this project, we are going to configure the servo in Windows 7.
Here is the link to download RoboPlus: http://www.robotis.com/download/software/RoboPlusWeb%28v1.1.3.0%29.exe.
If the link is not working, you can just search in Google for RoboPlus 1.1.3. After installing the software, you will get the following window. Navigate to the Expert tab in the software to get the application for configuring Dynamixel:
Before starting the Dynamixel wizard and configuring, we have to connect the Dynamixel and properly power it up. You can have a look at the pin details at this link: http://emanual.robotis.com/docs/en/dxl/ax/ax-12a/#connector-information.
Unlike other RC servos, AX-12 is an intelligent actuator, having a microcontroller that can monitor every parameter of a servo and customize all of them. It has a geared drive, and the output of the servo is connected to a servo horn. We can connect any link to this servo horn. There are two connection ports behind each servo, and each port has pins such as VCC, GND, and data. The ports of the Dynamixel are daisy-chained, so we can connect one servo to another.
The main hardware component interfacing Dynamixel with the PC is called a USB-to-Dynamixel adapter. This is a USB-to-serial adapter that can convert USB into RS232, RS 484, and TTL. In AX-12 motors, data communication is done using TTL. There are three pins in each port. The data pin is used to send to and receive from AX-12, and power pins are used to power the servo. The input voltage range of the AX-12A Dynamixel is from 9V to 12V. The second port in each Dynamixel can be used for daisy-chaining. We can connect up to 254 servos using such chaining.
To work with Dynamixel, we should know some more things. Let's have a look at some of the important specifications of the AX-12A servo. The specifications are taken from the servo manual:
The Dynamixel servo can communicate with the PC at a maximum speed of 1 Mbps. It can also provide feedback about various parameters, such as its position, temperature, and current load. Unlike RC servos, this can rotate up to 300 degrees, and communication is mainly done using digital packets.