I am thinking about make a robot for my nephew for christmas. He is 6yrs old so chances are this thing will probably end up in pieces. I’m looking for the cheapest way of building this. I’m thinking i’ll hack something and make an antonomous rover, very basic object avoidence, maybe some flashing lights, thats it. I would also like for it to be powered by regular batteries. I was thinking about the PIC controller, the chips are cheap, but by the time i buy an interface board and sheesh $100 for the software. There has got to be something cheap… maybe a BS1 off ebay or something. Any suggestions?
Hi Johnny,
The PIC is a good choice, but you’ll either need to learn C, BASIC, or write in assembly. I haven’t seen Forth on a PIC! The C compiler can be a free version from Hi-Tech or MicroChip. The PIC BASIC, as far as I know, you’ll need to buy.
The BASIC Atom that Lynxmotion carries is a good choice for 'bots, and getting started in programming. You didn’t mention what level programmer, electrical (and electronic/uP), and mechanical experience you have. BASIC would probably be easier to get up and running then embedded C. But you pay a more for the Atom (or BS) chip then a PIC. The Atom board and IDE give you a free programming (download) ability. Low cost PIC programmers for use with C are available, or they can often be boot-loaded as well.
Tell us a little more about your ideas and project, and we can help you more!
Alan KM6VV
Another cheap’n’cheerful idea, that depends on your comfort with building electronics: You might want to check out a KronosRobotics starter kit.
It is programmed in (yet another variant of) BASIC, and for $20 (and half of that is the reuseable RS-232 to TTL adapter), shouldn’t put too big a dent in the wallet. It includes a small carrier board with a very small prototyping area, which might just be enough for what you want.
The downside is that it is very slow and very, very tiny. The Perseus has only 256 bytes (thats ¼kb) of program space and 64 bytes of ram.
But if your just want some touch sensors and blinky lights, it (and a h-bridge or two for motor control) might just be enough.
From memory, the IDE has a pretty cool simulator, so you could try writing some code for it to see if might work out before buying.
The USB Bit Whacker PCBA sold by Sparkfun and based on the UBW project might also be a cheap way to go at $25. It has a USB bootloader so no programmer required and the free C and assembler tools downloaded from Microchip can be used to generate code. There is even a $20 DIY through hole version ifyou want to put it together yourself (or possibly use a different PIC chip variant but you might need access to a PIC programmer to get the bootloader loaded in that case.)
Look into the PICaxe. Programmable in basic. Costs only a few bucks for an 8-pin that can control servos and make sound.
I just tried getting on but couldn’t.
From the UK but sold by several people/companies in the US.
Here’s an interesting robot:
societyofrobots.com/step_by_step_robot.shtml
Of course, you would have to do a little better on the chassis, but its definitely pretty cheap…
Once you invest $35 in the good USB programmer, the microcontroller chips are only $5 each.
- Jon
johnny-5,
Here’s a better link to the PICaxe.
Good article by Peter Anderson, a US seller.
phanderson.com/picaxe/picaxe_overview.html
Some parts he sells:
phanderson.com/picaxe/picaxe.html
phanderson.com/picaxe/index.html
The Brits use it with grade school kids. Very easy to program.
PICAXE-08M Micro (Three) - $9.95. Can’t beat the price. Bigger chips available.