Controlling servos directly with ServoBlaster
The previous recipe demonstrated using a dedicated servo controller to handle the control of the servos used by the Pi-Bug. This has the advantage that any disturbances in the processing taking place on the Raspberry Pi do not cause interference with the delicate servo control (since the controller will continue to send the correct signals).
However, the Raspberry Pi is also capable of direct servo control. To achieve this, we will make use of Richard Hurst's ServoBlaster, which is a multiple servo driver.
In this recipe, we will control four servos attached to the MeArm, a simple laser-cut robot arm; however, you can choose to fit servos to whatever device you like:
The MeArm is a simple robot arm powered by four miniature servos
Getting ready
Most common servos will have three wires and a three pin connector, as follows:
Black/Brown | Red | Orange/White/Yellow/Blue |
Ground | Positive supply (typically 5V for small servos) | Signal |
While it is usually possible to...
