Al's Robotics.... The Robux Project

Robux Plans

Hardware:

Module board bus

All of the modules can be interconnected and maybe stacked upon each other so as they share a common power supply and all communicate with each other. This is achieved by the use of a 40 Way connector. Further information on the connector and pin outs can be found below:

Bus pin out document (PDF)

Speed Controllers
The first stab at the hardware side of things has begun. I have put together a design for the speed controller, which will have the option for SPI, I2C and RS232 data communications. The design is for a dual motor controller using a couple of MOSFETS and two relays. Relays are driven by a ULN2803 Darlington driver IC which has it’s spare outputs connected to a header so that it may be used to drive other devices (stepper motor, relays etc).

The firmware for the speed controllers is partly written, but until we do a run of the PCB’s I’m not able to test any further.

Files below attached for PCB layout. The PCB has been designed to be made on a double sided board.

Schematic: DSC01

PCB layout: PCB_DSC01

PCB Gerber’s: Gerber_DSC01

Data communications

We now have an updated version of the control structure for the interfaces between microcontrollers and PC platform. This is a downloadable DOC, click here for more information

The basic idea is to give ever microcontroller an IP address so that it may be individually addressed over Serial, I2C, SPI, Ethernet etc. each packet contains the total packet length, packet type, user data and CRC.

I’ll post a hex file for the PIC when I get a PCB so I can finish off and test the code.

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