It was not easy but I can finally compile and download sketches to the board! To do that I use a modified version of this python script https://github.com/tician/opencm-1.5/blob/master/hardware/tools/opencm.py. The reason I can’t download sketches using the openCM IDE is that the replies from the board during the download process are corrupted. For each command sent by the PC over the USB the board replies with a corresponding response. For example, at the beginning of the download of a new sketch the PC sends “AT” and expects to receive “OK”. However, using the python script and some tests on ipython I figured out that the board is not responding correctly. For “AT” is replies “-\nOK\r\n-“, with randomly missing characters. What is the reason? Some guys from the trossen forum guess that it is a faulty bootloader on the board. The bootloader is like the operating system of the board, and it seems that it cannot be written with the PC over the USB (needs to write on special memory region) but with an special hardware. I am not sure, it could also be some problem of the USB connection.

Anyway, I can now compile sketches using the OpenCM IDE and send the generated .bin file using the modified python (I will upload it soon to github).

Next, write a sketch to read commands from the PC and send the state of the motors back.