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Author Topic: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller  (Read 1824 times)

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Offline AntonyNealTopic starter

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Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« on: February 28, 2011, 07:32:52 PM »
I am starting a project with three friend’s to build a robot which carries out one specific task based purely on timing with no sensor input. It would need to control two DC motors, a vacuum which I assume would be powered by AC but I have not selected one yet and possibly some servos no more than three. The timing would need to be fairly accurate and the motors need enough power to. I would like to buy one which comes with a programmer and preferably one with tutorials and or clear noob friendly instructions. Me and my friends have some experience programing in c and basic if that changes anything. Also anything well under 100$ would be preferably but if that’s not possible then it’s not possible. Does anyone have ay recommendations on what I should buy? And is the Axon worth buying for my purposes or is it over kill for my project?

From what I understand from reading the microcontroller article is that all I will need to program a Augmented microcontroller will be the microcontroller, a compiler which is the software that compiles the code into a format which the microcontroller can work with and a uploader which interfaces your PC with the microcontroller is this correct? I believe this package contains the uploader and the microcontroller but not the compiler http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1302/resources. Do I need a specific compiler designed for this chip? And where does every one think I should get the software from?
« Last Edit: March 12, 2011, 07:07:45 PM by AntonyNeal »

Offline praveen_khm

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Re: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2011, 04:03:39 AM »
AVR microcontroller is always a good choice.

Quote
The timing would need to be fairly accurate and the motors need enough power to

You can use a atmega8 or atmega16 for this basic purpose and for motor controller, you need a motor driver, or a H-bridge.

SoR has nice tutorials and especially if you are using AVR, then this is a good place to learn.

Axon costs almost 100$ and Axon II more than 100$. But if you purchase one, then it is a good buy as it has almost all required features necessary for a DIY project.

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Me and my friends have some experience programing in c and basic if that changes anything

Ofcourse C knowledge helps a lot.
Robot building is all about sharing and learning
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Offline joe61

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Re: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2011, 06:40:42 AM »
Take a look at one of the Orangutan controllers at Pololu http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/8. I have a couple of the Baby-Orangutans ($20 each). They have built in motor drivers for two DC motors, and they're well documented. They also come with a very easy to use C/C++ library which also has good documentation. If you don't have a programmer already you can get this bundled with one: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1302. The programmer comes with a software scope you can monitor signal levels with. I've never used that part of it because it only runs on Windows, but Pololu puts out good stuff.

Joe

Offline AntonyNealTopic starter

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Re: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2011, 04:31:31 PM »
Thanks a lot for the advice but the links you gave me are broken.

Offline Soeren

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Re: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2011, 04:46:46 PM »
Thanks a lot for the advice but the links you gave me are broken.
Just remove the trailing period in the address line and reload.
Regards,
Søren

A rather fast and fairly heavy robot with quite large wheels needs what? A lot of power?
Please remember...
Engineering is based on numbers - not adjectives

Offline AntonyNealTopic starter

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Re: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2011, 06:42:23 PM »
Thank you

Offline AntonyNealTopic starter

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Re: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2011, 07:49:02 PM »
So from what I understand from reading the microcontroller article is that to program a Augmented micro controller I will need the microcontroller, a compiler which is the software that compiles the code into a format which the microcontroller can work with and a uploader which interfaces your PC with the microcontroller is this correct?. I believe this package contains the uploader and the microcontroller but not the compiler http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1302/resources. Do I need a specific compiler designed for this chip? And where does every one think I should get the software from?

Offline joe61

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Re: Noob needs help selecting a microcontroller
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2011, 09:32:13 AM »
Started to respond before realizing Soren had beat me to it.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2011, 09:33:41 AM by joe61 »

 


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