MICROBOT TeachMover Has Arrived

There were a few issues when I un-boxed it.  A drive shaft had been dislodged, tension cables were loose.  Other that than it's in good shape for a robot that's over 30 years old.   Yeap, when I took the side covers off to repair the shaft, the motors were stamped with "1983".  Cool Huh?

I found the original manual, a scan on a server at a university, don't remember which one, here is a link:

MicroBot TechMover Manual

     DB-9         -       DB-25

     Pin 2 RX       -       Pin 2 TX

      Pin 3 TX       -       Pin 3  RX

       Pin 5  Com   -       Pin 7 Com

So...per the manual; remember all the electronics are over 30 years old; I was able to talk to the TeachMover via RS-232 with a USB-RS232 adapter.  For quick ad dirty, I actually used Arduino's serial monitor to send commands.  Which are in the fairly simple format:

@STEP <SPEED>,<J1>,<J2>,<J3>,<J4>,<J5>,<J6>,<OUTPUTS><CR>

Basically, @ is the qualifier, STEP is the function, SPEED is the rate of steps per second, J1-J6 is the steps to move that particular joint, starting at the base and going out, OUTPUTS is the binary to the outputs of the controller, and CR carriage return terminates command.

Here shortly, I am going to start working on an app, probably write it in Python.  I will post my results when finished.

Update:
Here is a successful test using Python & Python Serial; I am using Linux, this script is portable to windoze and other OS's, just make sure to change the Serial Port name.

TeachMover Test # 1