Maestro Servo Controller library
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Maestro Servo Controller library Documentation

Version: 1.0.0
Release date: 2015 Jan 12
www.pololu.com

Summary

This is a library for the Arduino IDE that helps interface with a Maestro Servo Controller. It communicates with Maestros using the Serial Protocol described in the Maestro Servo Controller User's Guide Section 5, "Serial Interface".

Supported platforms

This library is designed to work with the Arduino IDE versions 1.0.x and 1.5.x, and will probably not work with older versions.

This library supports any Arduino-compatible board.

Getting started

Hardware

The Maestro Servo Controllers can be purchased from Pololu's website. Before continuing, careful reading of the Maestro Servo Controller User's Guide is recommended.

The minimal connections required for using this library are:

Arduino TX pin (see table below) - Maestro RX
Arduino GND                      - Maestro GND

The example sketches try to use a hardware serial port on your Arduino if one is available. The one used is defined by SERIAL_PORT_HARDWARE_OPEN. The pins for this serial port are different depending on which Arduino you are using.

Microcontroller Board Hardware serial? MCU RX pin MCU TX pin
A-Star 32U4 Yes 0 1
Arduino Leonardo Yes 0 1
Arduino Micro Yes 0 1
Arduino Mega 2560 Yes 19 18
Arduino Due Yes 19** 18
Arduino Uno No 10 11
Arduino Yun No 10 11

If you would like to read information from the Maestro, like in the Input example sketch, you need to make one additional connection:

Arduino RX (see table above) - Maestro TX

** The Due's serial port is 3.3 V, so it should not be directly connected to the Maestro's 5 V TX line. A voltage divider or level shifter can be used.

Maestro configuration

Before using the example sketches, you should go to the Serial Settings tab in the Maestro Control Center and apply these settings:

Software

Download the maestro-arduino library from GitHub, decompress it, and drag the "PololuMaestro" folder into the "libraries" subdirectory inside your Arduino sketchbook directory. You can view your sketchbook location by selecting File->Preferences in the Arduino environment. If there is not already a "libraries" folder in that location, you should create it yourself. After installing the library, restart the Arduino environment. Example code for using this library can be found in the File->Examples menu.

Examples

Several example sketches are available that show how to use the library. You can access them from the Arduino IDE by opening the "File" menu, selecting "Examples", and then selecting "PololuMaestro". If you cannot find these examples, the library was probably installed incorrectly and you should retry the installation instructions above.

Documentation

For complete documentation of this library, including many features that were not mentioned here, see the maestro-arduino documentation.

Version history