Devantech Thermal Array Sensor TPA81 in Robot Mag Issue 7

Hi all,

If you read Robot mag you might have seen an article called “The Follow Me Rover” in the Summer edition of the mag.

The article is by Steve Norris and uses a 4WD1 Rover, a BS2p, a PING))), a TPA81 Thermal Sensor Array, and a couple of PICs to build a heat sensing/tracking robot.

I just purchased one of the Devantech Thermal Array Sensors (TPA81) from Jameco (Robot Store) and hooked it up to a BS2p on a BOE (A Basic Atom 28 and a Mini Bot Board will work just as well though you will have change the I2C IN command syntax). I downloaded a demostration program from this site: robot-electronics.co.uk/htm/tpa81bs2p.htm and the sensor worked the first time I turned it on.

You might want to check out the article by Norris to see how he put the system together. Here is the link: botmag.com/issue7/. The source code and schematics are with the article.

I have eliminated the PICs and have rewritten his BS2p code to do the work of the PICs.

We will see how well it works!

Regards,
TCIII