Visa USB robot arm

[ojko]

Hello I am trying to control a USB robot arm from maplin http://www.maplin.co.uk/robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-266257

I have made a driver using the ni-visa driver wizard but am not having any luck. I know the bmRequestType is 0x40, bRequest is 6, wValue is 0x100 and wIndex is 0. I am trying to send 0x00,0x00,0x01 which would turn on a light that the device has, but I keep getting back BFFF003E "VI_ERROR_IO". I can control the device in python using these commands but am not having any luck in labview.

P.S. I am a complete noob when it comes to labview, have read the forums and scoured the web but am having any luck. I am using this as a learning process to see if labview is a viable option for a web controlled robotic rover project I am also working on. 

[S.Limb]

Hello Ojko

Thank you for your message, I am an Applications Engineer at National INstruments and I will be supporting you with your query. As I understand you have the robotic arm from Maplins and are now having some problems communicating with the device via LabVIEW and the driver you created, please correct me if I have misunderstood.

Before creating your own driver did you have a look to see if any of our users have uploaded a driver for this device? On the LabVIEW splash screen there is an option to search for drivers.

If you plug in your robotic arm and select scan for instruments, this will tell you if there is a driver already available.

With regards to the error you have seen, I have had a look into this for you, but have been unable to find a direct solution yet. I will continue to look into this. I have found some resources that may be useful for your development.

Using the VISA Driver Development Wizard and NI-VISA to Develop a PXI/PCI Driver in Windows - http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4713

How Do I Uninstall a Driver Created With The VISA Driver Development Wizard? - http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/A9EA306FA500A6EA8625765C004E2A3B?OpenDocument

Incompatible bcdUSB Value with NI-VISA Driver Wizard - http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/E811055409D5B8778625782900701DFB?OpenDocument

I also had a look at the product page on the wmaplin website and a few users have posted reviews pointing towards drivers, it may be an idea to look into those as well.

If you could let me know what results you get from the driver and instrument search, and I will continue to look into the error for you.

Regards

[ojko]

Ok I uninstalled the drivers I made for the device and tried the "find instrument driver" tool no luck, I had previously manually checked your website at the start of this process any way.

I maybe am missing something here, can I use the driver that comes with the device? If so how do I talk to the device? E.g. What would be he resource name for the vi? Would it be the hardware ID "USB\\VID_1267&PI_0000" or the device name "Elan USB Device"

I thought that it had to be a Labview driver?

Thanks

[S.Limb]

Hello Ojko

Thank you for getting back to me with your query.

I am sorry that there is not a driver specific for that device available through our website.

With regards to the driver you received with the device, this may be compatible and allow you to speak to the device through LabVIEW, as there is not a lot of documentation on this Robot arm and LabVIEW I have been unable to look into what has been used previously. There are a few posts on the Maplins website, but I have not looked into these yet, I recommend looking at any information posted by users on the product page.

With third party USB devices the communication from LabVIEW is normally done using serial communication functions and the VISA driver, as I don't have access to the device I am unable to test this.

You also mentioned the device name, what is the device named in the Windows device manager? The Measurement and Automation Explorer will also display this device name and that is the name you use in LabVIEW.

If this testing proves that this is not possible I will help you look into creating an installer and possible reasons for why your installer did not work initially.

Regards