Using Joystick Parts For A Robot

[soninja8]

Hi, im new to building robots so bear with me. I have a Logitech Attack 3 Joystick that has a couple of IC's and a lot of resistors capactitors and etc. I was wondering if it was possible to use these components to make a robot. I have the servos and most of the other parts. If you could lead me in the right direction that would be great! I put a picture of the main IC, it is made by
STMicroelectronics.
Here are the pictures (It wouldnt let me upload them because they were past 300kb): http://img96.imageshack.us/g/capturevqs.png/

[TrickyNekro]

I don't really think there is something really really usefully in there,

The IC is, by fat chance, not programmable...There are the buttons you may use and some trimmers, but nothing really worthy taking off...

But it would be indeed very interesting to rewire the controller to control a robot, learning to do all these can be educational enough.

I suspect its output is USB so, it would be difficult enough to read the USB directly with a microcontroller...

So I'll suggest, build your first robot, learn some stuff on microcontrollers, about inputs, ADCs and USARTs (or UARTs)...

And you'll be doing nice stuff in no time ;-)

Just wait until you really know, some stuff and then you probably won't even need out help.
Don't rush 

Step by step and remember to K.I.S.S.


Best Regards, Lefteris
Greece

[The arctic wolf]

Soninja hello,
in general I agree with TrickyNekro(I'm not in a position  to complain about very long screen names, am I ) , you probably could use some of the resistors and capacitors from the joystick in one of your own creations, and maybe there are some useful IC's there, but besides maybe the microcontroller(that you don't have in there, at least not one you can reprogram) all the other parts you need for your first robot are cheap(first robots tend to be simple), the capacitors and resistors I mentioned earlier are also cheap, so there is no point in ruining the joystick(at least not for parts ).
What there is a point to do(in my opinion) is to search the forum and the site and find a simple robot that will recive the honor to be the first robot you build, and start from there.

Andrei.

[soninja8]

I still dont understand microcontrollers much, I have read what the Admin has wrote about them, but its still confusing. How do I know what to program the MC with? I was looking at http://www.robotshop.com/dfrobot-romeo-all-in-one-microcontroller-atmega-328-4.html which looks like a good one...but I still need help on which one to get
Thanks!!

[The arctic wolf]

No reason to feel bad about it, absolutley no one understands microcontrollers right from the beggining, it takes time.
First, don't buy anything until you research and understand it(money don't fall from the sky).

Now about the microcontroller, in general the microcontroller is like a very small and relativley simple computer, it has a proccessor, some memory and usually some additional components, all on one chip.
So you can program it to controll stuff(from here the name).
(The interaction with the outside world occures through the ports).

The most popular microcontroller families that hobbiests use are: PIC and AVR.
(You should research those).
Given the fact the microcontroller is basically a computer, a special version of computer programing languages is used to write programs for them(most popular and easy to use are the microcontroller versions of C, you should check if the particular version is good for your particular microcontroller).
The program is usualy writen on a PC and then downloaded to the microcontroller using a device called programmer.

There are also comfortable for use learning kits with microcontrollers(like the Lego mind storm), but those tend to be costy.
About the particular MC you asked about(atmega32), I never used this one, don't have an opinion about it(but I'm sure the other forum members are familiar with it and can help)

Andrei.

[soninja8]

Thanks for the advice! A side note, that MC is a Atmega328 not Atmega32 if it makes any difference I do not know.

[Soeren]

money don't fall from the sky).

Unless you ram a truckload of C4 into a bank 

[Soeren]

Hi,

I still dont understand microcontrollers much,

Then start with a "Hello LED" program and save your robotics dreams for a little while.
Crawl before you walk.

[The arctic wolf]

Oh yeah, the blinking LED expirement is a good starting point!
Everyone who ever did something with microcontrollers did that expirement at first to understand the MC better.
After that expirement you officialy join the "microcontroller expirementors club" !

Good luck soninja, and have fun!

[The arctic wolf]

P.S
I personally(when I was new to  the field) got zapped by electricity on several occasions and burned good amount of electronic parts,
so don't do like me and remember about safety.