Author Topic: Balancing Robot Electronics  (Read 4036 times)

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Offline jailsellgrenTopic starter

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Balancing Robot Electronics
« on: November 26, 2006, 06:28:35 PM »
Check out my post on this in Misc
http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=293.0

so as you see i need to pick a microcontroller still, also im not sure if the other parts are the right ones for me

I was reading in another topic about a microcontroller avr and hes using gyroscopes, he seems to have made a pcb and combined the gyroscope board and accelerometer board onto his own and just purchasing the parts he needs, should i try to do this and get in contact with him or can i just mount these two boards on my bot and they will do the same thing, but with more money and space taken.

Thanks

Jailsellgren
ps: read my post, im really unsure of my parts

Offline JonHylands

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Re: Balancing Robot Electronics
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2006, 06:33:53 PM »
You can make your own board, but these chips are really tricky parts to solder on a board, which is why the Sparkfun modules are so nice...

There are more micro-controller boards out there than you can shake a really big stick at, so take your pick. I personally use PICs, and make my own boards, but I've been doing this sort of thing for many many years, and I invested in a decent C programmer for PICs a long time ago. It really depends on what language you are comfortable with using.

- Jon

Offline jailsellgrenTopic starter

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Re: Balancing Robot Electronics
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2006, 07:23:35 PM »
Hey jon,

Tell me more about you making your own boards, is that a good idea for me, my dad is an ee and ive had some experience building things (cmoy amp in an altoids tin http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/) but never anything like that. Id like to program it in C as it seems to be the most flexible for larger more complex projects,(if its not it doesnt really matter i still would like to use it) so what board would you reccomend for this, also do i need something seperate to run the kalman filter for the accelerometer and gyro, from what i see its pretty complex. i know there are many boards and i should explore but just pick a couple for me, haha, thanks

erik

Offline JonHylands

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Re: Balancing Robot Electronics
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2006, 08:24:11 PM »
I would strongly recommend you read this page:

http://www.geology.smu.edu/~dpa-www/robo/nbot/

There are a couple dozen links at the bottom of the page to other two-wheel balancing robots.

That should give you a better idea of what is required and what isn't, and what parts will work. Which microcontroller you use isn't going to make a lot of difference.

Check out these places:

http://www.bdmicro.com/
http://www.newmicros.com/

for some options.

I personally have a couple Tiny2138 ARM boards, which are awesome - 60 MIPS, full 32 bit processor, free C compiler, dual PWM channels, in a tiny footprint, for $69. The 2131 has a lot less memory, but most of the same other features, for $29 !!! Note that these boards are 3.3 volts, which may or may not be an issue interfacing with some sensors and motor controllers.

As far as making your own boards, what I typically do is buy a blank proto-board from Radio Shack, and solder wires underneath. You can see an example of that here:

http://www.huv.com/miniSumo/seeker3/

The 5th and 6th pictures show the top and bottom of the controller board I soldered.

You can lay out a PCB and have them professionally printed as well, but I wouldn't advise that until you have a lot of experience putting this stuff together, so you know ahead of time exactly what is needed.

- Jon



 


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