AL5 Programming Tutorial - PS2 & BotBoard II

Last modified by Eric Nantel on 2026/04/06 10:24

AL5 Programming Tutorial — PS2 RC Rev. 1

Updated January 11, 2012

Safety first! Wear eye protection and never touch a powered robot!

The purpose of this guide is to set up the robot arm to be controlled via a PlayStation 2 game controller. This can be done using a Bot Board II with Basic Atom Pro 28 with or without an SSC-32 — both methods are demonstrated below.

Note: PS2 control programs have been verified to work with Lynxmotion wireless controllers. Non-Lynxmotion controllers cannot be guaranteed.

What You'll Need

Any AL5 arm · Bot Board II with Basic Atom Pro 28 · SSC-32 (optional) · PS2 Controller and cable · 6" Servo Extender Cable

Method A — SSC-32 + Bot Board II / Basic Atom Pro 28
AL5 PS2 RC — Modify Servo Cable
Step 1 / 5

To connect the Bot Board II to the SSC-32, modify a 6" servo extender cable: remove the header pins so you have two female ends. Use an exacto knife to gently pry the tab up and pull the red wire free on one end. Cover the exposed connector with heat shrink to avoid accidental shorts.

Remove the TX and RX jumpers from the lower-right corner of the SSC-32, and plug the unmodified end of the cable in: yellow on TX, red on RX, black on ground.

Figure 1.
AL5 PS2 RC — Install Boards
Step 2 / 5

Wire the Bot Board II and SSC-32 as shown in the schematic and tables in Step 3. Verify all jumpers are correct. Install the boards as shown in Figure 2 after all connections are complete and checked.

Figure 2.
AL5 PS2 RC — Configure Jumpers & Connections
Step 3 / 5

Configure the Bot Board II as shown in Table 3-1. Configure the SSC-32 as shown in Table 3-2.

Bot Board II Jumpers (Table 3-1)

ActionSetting
Connect6.0VDC battery to VS
EnableSpeaker
ConnectI/O 4-7 Power Bus to 5VDC
ConnectVL to SSC-32's VL

Bot Board II Connections

PinFunctionPinFunction
P0N/AP8N/A
P1N/AP9Speaker
P2N/AP10SSC-32 RX
P3N/AP11SSC-32 TX
P4N/AP12PS2 Data
P5N/AP13PS2 Command
P6N/AP14PS2 Select
P7N/AP15PS2 Clock

SSC-32 Jumpers (Table 3-2)

ActionSetting
Connect6.0VDC battery to VS
Connect9.0VDC battery to VL
DisconnectVL = VS1
Enable115.2k baud
ConnectVL to Bot Board's VL

SSC-32 Servo Connections

PinFunctionPinFunction
P0Base RotateP3Wrist
P1ShoulderP4Gripper
P2ElbowP5Wrist Rotate

Schematic. Double check your connections against the schematic below. Note: if your cable colors don't match the diagram, find a complete listing here.

Schematic.

AL5 PS2 RC — Download & Program
Step 4 / 5

Download and install Basic Micro Studio. Download the arm code here. Open the .bas file and locate the arm length constants section. Remove the semicolons from in front of the arm you are using. The code defaults to AL5D — if using another arm, add a semicolon before the AL5D line. Make sure the USE_SSC32 line is not commented out (as shown in Table 4).

When finished, save your program and click "Program." Consult the serial troubleshooting guide if you have difficulties.

Table 4 — Arm Selection (SSC-32 mode)

;[SETUP] ;disable(0)/enable(1) the FSR Gripper EnableFSR con 0 USE_SSC32 con 1 ;Comment this line to use only the Bot Board ;Select Arm type ;NOTE: Enable only one arm! ;AL5A con 1 ;AL5B con 1 ;AL5C con 1 AL5D con 1
AL5 PS2 RC — Controller Reference
Step 5 / 5

PS2 Controls — Table 5

ButtonFunctionButtonFunction
L Joy UpGripper UpR Joy UpGripper Angle Up
L Joy DownGripper DownR Joy DownGripper Angle Down
L Joy LeftGripper BackR Joy LeftBase Rotate Left
L Joy RightGripper AwayR Joy RightBase Rotate Right
L1Gripper CloseR1Wrist Rotate CW
L2Gripper OpenR2Wrist Rotate CCW
L3N/AR3N/A
D-Pad UpN/A△ TriangleCenter Wrist Rotate
D-Pad DownN/AX CrossFully Open Gripper
D-Pad LeftN/A□ SquareN/A
D-Pad RightN/AO CircleN/A
StartEnable / Disable ArmSelectN/A
Method B — Bot Board II / Basic Atom Pro 28 Only (No SSC-32)
AL5 PS2 RC — Install Bot Board II
Step 1 / 4

Install the Bot Board as shown in Figure 1. Wire the Bot Board II as shown in the schematic and table in Step 2. Verify all jumpers are correct.

Figure 1.
AL5 PS2 RC — Configure Jumpers & Connections
Step 2 / 4

Configure the Bot Board II as illustrated in Table 2.

Bot Board II Jumpers

ActionSetting
Connect6.0VDC battery to VS
Connect9.0VDC battery to VL
EnableSpeaker
ConnectI/O 0-3 Power Bus to VS
ConnectI/O 4-7 Power Bus to VS
ConnectI/O 12-15 Power Bus to 5V

Bot Board II Connections (Table 2)

PinFunctionPinFunction
P0Base RotateP8N/A
P1ShoulderP9Speaker
P2ElbowP10N/A
P3WristP11N/A
P4GripperP12PS2 Data
P5Wrist RotateP13PS2 Command
P6N/AP14PS2 Select
P7N/AP15PS2 Clock

Schematic. Double check your connections against the schematic below. Note: if your cable colors don't match the diagram, find a complete listing here.

Schematic.

AL5 PS2 RC — Download & Program
Step 3 / 4

Download and install Basic Micro Studio. Download the arm code here. Open the .bas file and locate the arm length constants section. Remove the semicolons from in front of the arm you are using. The code defaults to AL5D — if using another arm, add a semicolon before the AL5D line. Make sure the USE_SSC32 line is commented out (as shown in Table 3).

When finished, save your program and click "Program." Consult the serial troubleshooting guide if you have difficulties.

Table 3 — Arm Selection (Bot Board only)

;[SETUP] ;disable(0)/enable(1) the FSR Gripper EnableFSR con 0 ;USE_SSC32 con 1 ;Comment this line to use only the Bot Board ;Select Arm type ;NOTE: Enable only one arm! ;AL5A con 1 ;AL5B con 1 ;AL5C con 1 AL5D con 1
AL5 PS2 RC — Controller Reference
Step 4 / 4

PS2 Controls — Table 4

ButtonFunctionButtonFunction
L Joy UpGripper UpR Joy UpGripper Angle Up
L Joy DownGripper DownR Joy DownGripper Angle Down
L Joy LeftGripper BackR Joy LeftBase Rotate Left
L Joy RightGripper AwayR Joy RightBase Rotate Right
L1Gripper CloseR1Wrist Rotate CW
L2Gripper OpenR2Wrist Rotate CCW
L3N/AR3N/A
D-Pad UpN/A△ TriangleCenter Wrist Rotate
D-Pad DownN/AX CrossFully Open Gripper
D-Pad LeftN/A□ SquareN/A
D-Pad RightN/AO CircleN/A
StartEnable / Disable ArmSelectN/A
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Created by Eric Nantel on 2024/07/03 09:20
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