Support for OWI/Maplin USB Robotic Arm

PATCH In review Maxin B. John 2 participants 4 messages Oct 8, 2012 – Oct 22, 2012 Staging

lore

Share & tools

lore

Maxin B. John

author

2012-10-08 21:26 UTC #0 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 Support for OWI/Maplin USB Robotic Arm

Hi Greg,

This driver helps us to control the OWI/Maplin USB Robotic Arm device.

I have tested this driver in my x86 Laptop and it works as expected (Some clean-ups and modifications are in the pipeline, though).

After review process and the life in staging,I hope this driver will find it's place in "drivers/usb/misc/" :)

The userspace utility program is available from the below URL:
https://github.com/maxinbjohn/robotic_arm_driver

OWI/Maplin USB Robotic arm is available from:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-266257
http://www.owirobots.com/cart/html/owi-535pc-robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-assembled.html

Please let me know your comments.

Signed-off-by Maxin B. John <[email protected]>

---

drivers/staging/Kconfig +2 -0

index d805eef..a1eefa9 100644
@@ -144,4 +144,6 @@ source "drivers/staging/imx-drm/Kconfig"
 
 source "drivers/staging/dgrp/Kconfig"
 
+source "drivers/staging/usb_robotic_arm/Kconfig"
+
 endif # STAGING

drivers/staging/Makefile +1 -0

index 76e2ebd..fd9b5f3 100644
@@ -64,3 +64,4 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_SILICOM)	+= silicom/
 obj-$(CONFIG_CED1401)		+= ced1401/
 obj-$(CONFIG_DRM_IMX)		+= imx-drm/
 obj-$(CONFIG_DGRP)		+= dgrp/
+obj-$(CONFIG_USB_ROBOTIC_ARM)	+= usb_robotic_arm/

drivers/staging/usb_robotic_arm/Kconfig new file +15 -0

new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ac4547
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+config USB_ROBOTIC_ARM
+	tristate "OWI/MAPLIN USB Robotic Arm support"
+	depends on USB
+	default N
+	---help---
+	  This enables us to control the OWI/Maplin Robotic Arm
+	  device attached to the USB port.
+
+	  For more details, and to get the userspace utility
+	  programs, please see https://github.com/maxinbjohn/robotic_arm_driver
+
+	  To compile this as a module, choose M here: the module will
+	  be called robotic_arm.
+
+	  If unsure, say N.

drivers/staging/usb_robotic_arm/Makefile new file +1 -0

new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9509413
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+obj-$(CONFIG_USB_ROBOTIC_ARM)             += robotic_arm.o

drivers/staging/usb_robotic_arm/README new file +59 -0

59 lines not on this page · raw message

drivers/staging/usb_robotic_arm/TODO new file +8 -0

new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c0fd7e
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+TODO:
+	- provide independent control for motors in the hand
+	- various code clean-ups
+	- test on various platforms
+	- send to lkml for review
+
+Please send patches to Greg Kroah-Hartman <[email protected]>
+and Cc: Maxin B. John <[email protected]>

drivers/staging/usb_robotic_arm/robotic_arm.c new file +278 -0

278 lines not on this page · raw message

Greg KH

maintainer

2012-10-08 23:55 UTC #1 lore raw

Quoted 10 lines · Maxin B. John

Hi Greg,
This driver helps us to control the OWI/Maplin USB Robotic Arm device.
I have tested this driver in my x86 Laptop and it works as expected (Some clean-ups and modifications are in the pipeline, though).
After review process and the life in staging,I hope this driver will find it's place in "drivers/usb/misc/" :)

Quoted 8 lines

The userspace utility program is available from the below URL:
https://github.com/maxinbjohn/robotic_arm_driver
OWI/Maplin USB Robotic arm is available from:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-266257
http://www.owirobots.com/cart/html/owi-535pc-robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-assembled.html
Please let me know your comments.

Very nice, but are there any real requirement to have this be a kernel driver, and not just be driven from userspace through libusb/usbfs instead?

thanks,

greg k-h

Maxin B John

author

2012-10-09 03:53 UTC #2 lore raw

Hi Greg,

Quoted 18 lines · Greg KH

Quoted 17 lines · Maxin B. John
Hi Greg,
This driver helps us to control the OWI/Maplin USB Robotic Arm device.
I have tested this driver in my x86 Laptop and it works as expected (Some clean-ups and modifications are in the pipeline, though).
After review process and the life in staging,I hope this driver will find it's place in "drivers/usb/misc/" :)
The userspace utility program is available from the below URL:
https://github.com/maxinbjohn/robotic_arm_driver
OWI/Maplin USB Robotic arm is available from:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-266257
http://www.owirobots.com/cart/html/owi-535pc-robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-assembled.html

Quoted 5 lines

Quoted 1 line
Please let me know your comments.
Very nice, but are there any real requirement to have this be a kernel driver, and not just be driven from userspace through libusb/usbfs instead?

Thanks. A number of people are using the libusb based userspace applications to control these devices. This was an attempt to remove the libusb dependency and control the device easily like:

# echo 1 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/robotic_arm/5-1:1.0/led

Quoted 2 lines

thanks,
greg k-h

Best Regards,
Maxin B. John

Greg KH

maintainer

2012-10-22 22:40 UTC #3 lore raw

Quoted 23 lines · Maxin B John

Hi Greg,
Quoted 20 lines · Greg KH
Quoted 18 lines · Maxin B. John
Hi Greg,
This driver helps us to control the OWI/Maplin USB Robotic Arm device.
I have tested this driver in my x86 Laptop and it works as expected (Some clean-ups and modifications are in the pipeline, though).
After review process and the life in staging,I hope this driver will find it's place in "drivers/usb/misc/" :)
The userspace utility program is available from the below URL:
https://github.com/maxinbjohn/robotic_arm_driver
OWI/Maplin USB Robotic arm is available from:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-266257
http://www.owirobots.com/cart/html/owi-535pc-robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-assembled.html
Please let me know your comments.

Quoted 8 lines

Quoted 3 lines
Very nice, but are there any real requirement to have this be a kernel driver, and not just be driven from userspace through libusb/usbfs instead?
Thanks. A number of people are using the libusb based userspace applications to control these devices. This was an attempt to remove the libusb dependency and control the device easily like:
# echo 1 > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/robotic_arm/5-1:1.0/led

I really think that libusb is the best way to control this device. We removed a bunch of drivers from the kernel a number of years ago that could be better controlled by userspace. Because of that, I can't take this driver either.

Sorry,

greg k-h