The Dephy Actuator Package is a turn-key solution for people who want to test FlexSEA's capabilities or quickly design a prosthetic limb. The Package consists of a custom brushless motor integrated with a FlexSEA-Rigid circuit and a minimalist enclosure, pre-loaded embedded software, and a full suite of high-level software and test scripts.
Make sure the Actuator Package repository or flexsea Python package major version matches the major version of the ActPack firmware. This is in accordance with semantic versioning.
For instance, the flexsea package 6.0.3 is compatible with firmware 6.0 but not with firmware 5.1.
The fx_plan_stack API is a suite of functions that configure and control FlexSEA devices. See the full documentation for more information.
The repo contains the FlexSEA-Rigid Actuator Package library flexsea and sample programs for C/C++, Python, MATLAB and SIMULINK. These scripts are accompanied by and are dependent on pre-compiled libraries for Windows (.dll) or Linux(.so).
Run this script to install the python dependencies before running the python scripts
./install_python_deps.shIf choose to install Python manyually, make sure to add the current user to the dialout group so it can access serial ports.
sudo usermod -a -G dialout "$USER"- On Windows, download Python 3.9 and install it.
- Note which architecture you download (32 or 64 bits) and use the matching git shell.
- Install MinGW select the matching the matchin arhcitecture in the installer. Make sure MinGW gets added to your Path variable.
Then, install the required Python environment using using PowerShell or gitbash:
# Define your own virtual environment
# this is not required but it helps keeping your environment clean
# In Windows:
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install virtualenv
python -m virtualenv actpack --python=python3.9
# In Linux and RasberryPi systems:
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
python3 -m pip install virtualenv
python3 -m virtualenv actpack --python=/usr/bin/python3.9
sudo apt install libc6 libgcc-s1 -y
# Activate your virtualenv
# On Windows (PowerShell):
actpack/Scripts/activate.ps1
# On other shells:
actpack/bin/activate
# Once the environment is activated, install the package
# On Windows:
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install flexsea
# On Other OS:
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
python3 -m pip install flexsea
# Run your script that uses flexsea
# Once you want to stop using the flexsea library and go back to the regular shell
deactivatePlease Note to use the right symlink to
pythonorpython3in all the above commands based on your OS that you are running this on.
If you're using the fish shell, use this command to activate the virtualenv: . actpack/bin/activate.fish
If flexsea is already installed and you need to upgrade it, run this:
#activate your virtual environment if desired as shown above
# On a Windows system:
python -m pip install --upgrade flexsea
# On other OS:
python3 -m pip install --upgrade flexseaTo uninstall flexsea from your computer, run this:
# On a Windows system:
python -m pip uninstall flexsea
# On other OS:
python3 -m pip uninstall flexseaUse this information to set up your ActPack, power it and update its firmware.:
General information about the Dephy Actuator Package
Download the latest release as a zip file
Alternatively, use git to clone the repository:
$ git clone https://github.com/DephyInc/Actuator-Package.git
$ cd Actuator_PackageAll scripts can be run on their own. Use --help to see the required command line arguments.
For your convenience, run_demos.py displays a menu of all available scripts.
run_demos.py uses ports.yaml to configure the ports used to communicate with the ActPacks.
You'll need to modify ports.yaml to suit your needs. By default, this files contains the most common Windows configuration along with examples for other platforms.
To use it, uncomment and/or modify the lines you need. Below is an example of that file used on Windows, with one port (COM3).
# ports.yaml
#
# Adjust the baudrate if needed and uncomment or edit the port list.
#
# Note that commented-out lines start with a "#"
# Also the ports list has dashes "-" before the values to signify a list
#
# See the sample ports values below depending on your platform
baud_rate: 230400
ports:
# Windows
- COM3
# - COM4
# Ubuntu WSL
# - /dev/ttyS3
# - /dev/ttyS4
# Native Linux (e.g. Ubuntu or Raspbian)
# - /dev/ttyACM0
# - /dev/ttyACM1Once you modify your copy of ports.yaml, use the following command to prevent git from tracking the changes.
$ git update-index --assume-unchanged Python/flexsea_demo/ports.yamlThe latest instructions for working with the Actuatory Package and sample programs are located on Dephy's Wiki:
General information about the Dephy Actuator Package
- Plug the device in and turn it ON
- From a terminal, run the
Actuator-Package/Python/flexsea_demo/run_demos.pyscript
$ cd Python/flexsea_demo
$ ./run_demos.py- Notice the menu that displays
(actpack) ubuntu@PC:~/Actuator-Package/Python/flexsea_demo $ ./run_demos.py
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██░██░██░▄▄▄██░▀▀░██░▄▄░██▄▀▀▀▄██
██░▀▀░██░▀▀▀██░█████░██░████░████
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Beyond Nature™
STOP!
Read our important safety information at https://dephy.com/start/
before running the scripts for the first time.
Actuator Package Demo Scripts:
------------------------------
[0] Read Only
[1] Open Control
[2] Current Control
[3] Position Control
[4] Impedance Control
[5] Two Positions Control
[6] High Speed Test
[7] High Stress Test
[8] Two Devices Position Control
[9] Two Devices Leader Follower Control
Advanced Utilities:
------------------------------
[10] Bootloader Check
[11] Find Poles
Choose experiment number [q to quit]:- Enter the experiment number. Be careful, most of them will make the motor move!
Alternatively, the run_demos.py script accepts command line arguments. The first argument is the experiment number, and the second (optional) is the number of devices.
Calling Read Only directly (default = 1 device):
$ ./run_demos.py 0Two Devices Leader Follower is #9, it uses 2 devices. To launch it with one command:
$ ./run_demos.py 9 2All scripts can be run individually by calling them and passing arguments. Use –help to see usage information. See the example below using high_speed_test.py.
$ ./high_speed_test.py --help
usage: high_speed_test.py [-h] [-b B] Ports [Ports ...]
FlexSEA High Speed Test
positional arguments:
Ports Your devices' serial ports.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-b B, --baud B Serial communication baud rate.If your ActPAck is on port COM3 you can run the script depicted above like this:
$ ./high_speed_test.py COM3With more than one ActPAck (e.g. in COM3 and COM4):
$ ./high_speed_test.py COM3 COM4If you're planning to contribute to this repository, run this to install the autoformatting and syntax checks.
$ ./install_hooks.shTo run the checks manually, run this command:
$ pre-commit run --all-filesSee more info on pre-commit syntax.
To generate the automatic documentation for this repository, run the command below:
$ cd docs
$ doxygen doxyfile.inThen open the generated files:
sensible-browser html/index.html- On Windows, if flexsea can't install, or it can't load the libraries, make sure only once version of git and Python are installed as specified ins the installation section.
- If your device has never had poles configured, you should run “find poles” from the demo script before trying other demos. This is not typical!
- The leading cause of segmentation faults is a Device Spec mismatch between the embedded system and the scripts. This happens when you use old firmware with new scripts.
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
