dh4d:firmware_upgrade

Seed Robotics strives to deliver the best products to our customers. However, we know bugs are found issues are fixed and performance is improved so all our DH4D/RH4D units are software upgradeable. The SR-DH4D and SR-RH4D use the same firmware file. There are sufficient technical similarities to let us have one single firmware file for both models.

On June 2016, we released firmware version 10, which includes a host of new features that improve compatibility with Robot libraries, interoperability when controlling from multiple hosts, adds new Dynamixel protocol features, adds the SHSP protocol, fixes minor issues, and further extends the self diagnostics capabilities of the units.
This is a highly recommended update for users running previous versions of the firmware.

The latest firmware version is version 11.

Firmware file: SR-DH4D-RH4D_firmware_11.hex
MD5 checksum: 9468d5b3f468b205e34ee1d9dc93b475

The Release notes with Full Changelog are available here: Changelog_SR-DH4D-RH4D_firmware_11.txt
We recommend reading this file before upgrading your firmware.

Pre Requisites

In order to upgrade the firmware of your unit you will need:

  • A USB micro-B cable to connect to the unit's USB port
  • The firmware loader tool TyQT. TyQT is available pre compiled for Windows and Mac; for Linux the page contains instructions how to compile it from source.
  • If you are using Windows (version <10), you also need to make sure that you have the Virtual COMM Port drivers installed; If you are using Linux as non-root you need to add some udev rules. Check the USB console instructions where you will find the details on how to setup the device drivers for the USB connection, necessary to perform the upgrade procedure..

Upgrading

  1. Download the Firmware file
  2. Open the TyQT tool
  3. Connect the USB cable to the hand (the USB port is located on the side, near the back and is covered by a small plastic cap)
  4. Wait for the board's processor to show up on the TyQT list. (it should show up as “Teensy”)
  5. Click the “Actions” meny and select “Upload New Firmware”.
  6. Select the firmware file you wish to flash and click Open

The Firmware installation procedure begins: the Teensy icon in the TyQT window turns orange and you will see a progress bar in the TyQT window. Once the upload is complete the icon turns Back again and the unit reboots automaticaly. Congratulations! You have upgraded your firmware.

Confirming the new version is running correctly

If you wish to confirm the new version is running correctly you have two options:
(1) Open a USB Console Terminal and enter the hlp command. The first lines should show you the firmware version. (While you're at the console, you can issue an ope and clo command to open and close the hand)
(2) You can also use the Dynamixel Protocol or SHSP Protocol and read the memory position 2 on the control table of any physical actuator. This will return the running firmware version.

Using TyQT the firmware update procedure is quite stable and has had a 100% success rate in all our tests.
However if you do run into trouble, please get in touch with our Technical Support and we'll be happy to guide you through the process.

Copyright © 2015-2023 Seed Robotics Ltd

  • dh4d/firmware_upgrade.txt
  • Last modified: 2016/06/22 18:29
  • by wadmin