User Manual

The Channel Settings tab in the Maestro

Control Center.

The Status tab in the Maestro Control

Center.

Features

• Three control methods: USB, TTL (5 V) serial, and internal scripting

• 0.25μs output pulse width resolution (corresponds to approximately 0.025° for a typical servo, which is

beyond what the servo could resolve)

• Configurable pulse rate and wide pulse range (see the Maestro comparison table below)

• Individual speed and acceleration control for each channel

• Channels can be optionally configured to go to a specified position or turn off on startup or error

• Alternate channel functions allow the channels to be used as:

◦ General-purpose digital outputs (0 or 5 V)

◦ Analog or digital inputs (channels 0 – 11 can be analog inputs; channels 12+ can be digital inputs)

◦ One channel can be a PWM output with frequency from 2.93 kHz to 12 MHz and up to 10 bits of

resolution (see Section 4.a for details)

• A simple scripting language lets you program the controller to perform complex actions even after its USB

and serial connections are removed

• Free configuration and control application for Windows and

Linux makes it easy to:

◦ Configure and test your controller

◦ Create, run, and save sequences of servo movements for

animatronics and walking robots

◦ Write, step through, and run scripts stored in the servo

controller

• Two ways to write software to control the Maestro from a PC:

◦ Virtual COM port makes it easy to send serial commands

from any development environment that supports serial

communication

◦ Pololu USB Software Development Kit

[http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J41] allows use of more advanced

native USB commands and includes example code in C#,

Visual Basic .NET, and Visual C++

• TTL serial features:

◦ Supports 300 – 200,000 bps in fixed-baud mode, 300 –

115,200 bps in autodetect-baud mode

◦ Simultaneously supports the Pololu protocol, which gives

access to advanced functionality, and the simpler Scott

Edwards MiniSSC II protocol (there is no need to configure the device for a particular protocol mode)

◦ Can be daisy-chained with other Pololu servo and motor controllers using a single serial transmit line

◦ Chain input allows reception of data from multiple Mini Maestros using a single serial receive line

without extra components (does not apply to Micro Maestros)

◦ Can function as a general-purpose USB-to-TTL serial adapter for projects controlled from a PC

• Board can be powered off of USB or a 5 – 16 V battery, and it makes the regulated 5V available to the user

• Upgradable firmware

1. Overview Page 5 of 73