Please help me pick the correct hardware for my application

This is what I have 32 of these motor controllers Pololu Jrk Motor Controllers with Feedback. That can communicate with these actuators that that have a POT for feedback Pololu - Glideforce LACT12P-12V-20 Light-Duty Linear Actuator with Feedback: 50kgf, 12" Stroke (11.8" Usable), 0.57"/s, 12V

So I have 32 actuators and 32 motor controllers. The controllers can communicate through TTL and can be assigned an address. If I have read correctly they can can be daisy linked together. What I picture in my head is a Christmas tree light string where at each light you have a controller and an actuator.

First off let me say I work for DR. PEPPER at the bottling plany and we actually bottle 9 different size bottles. These actuators can move something 12 inchs with 110 lbs of force and can hold it there even when the power is taken off. What I will be using them for is when we go from one size bottle to the next these will move the rails that guide the bottles. (if the rails arent’ the correct width the bottles fall over).

What I need is a touch screen on this screen I can select a (recipe or size bottle) and all the actuators would go to a certain position and hold (doesn’t have to be fast at all actually better to go really slow) I need to be able to move the rails one by one via the touch screen. After that it would save to that recipe. So if I change recipes and then go back to that recipe all the actuators will back to their positons.

So for instance I am running a 12 oz bottle and rail 23 needs to be moved out a little bit because bottles are falling. I could go the the touch screen select rail 23 hit an up button on the screen or down button and the rail would move and auto save. Then tomorrow I go to say 16 oz all the actuators go to the locations that they were at the last time we ran 16 oz.

I need to know if there is a way that I could add new recipes on the screen or add and delete controllers from the screen

What peaces of hardware am I actually missing.

I was thinking that a HYDRA along with 7 inch touch screen and communicate through TTL to the daisy link controllers. Although Im not sure if the hydra can communicate with the controllers. I’m new to this.

This project may be over my head I am very new to this and programming. I have blink some led’s in the arduino platform and made a pot control a servo passed that I’m learning. I would prefer to pay somone to guide me through this so I could expedite it, but I really would like to do it myself with help.

will the hydra work witht he 7 inch touch screen and these controllers. If not what do I need.

So you’re trying to use gadgeteer for an serious industrial application? Can you share the motivation (i.e. cost)? Aren’t there regulations about maturity of control software/hardware being used and so forth? I dont understand what you mean by recipes, and by add and delete controllers. The UI you’re describing sounds like it will end up being complicated, which might be a major hurtle for you if you’re new to programming (and may suggest a different hardware set altogether).

I would worry about getting my power control ducks in a row if I were you. And it sounds like you’ll likely need emergency stop capabilities if this is on a production floor of any sort, which means relays. You probably also need to consider some end stops if something goes really wrong.

Call GHI and get some consulting expertise involved here - and they can talk through hardware options too !

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This is definitely a serious endeavor. You can get advice for pieces of it from the forum but for the whole thing you definitely need to bring someone in. There are plenty of options out there, not the least of which being GHI.

If you want to keep trying with the forum I’d recommend tackling a single issue at a time. Like first get 7" display working, next look through examples for running multiple apps to deal with changing what type of bottle you’re working with from day to day; Pyxis 2 is open source and a good starting place, and so on.

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