I am working on a project where we are wanting to use a servo in a hand held prop.
there are 2 arms on the prop that swing out to a specific point on power up, and then we want to be able to control the positions or the arms with small switches in order to open and close the arms @ will.
then when we power down we want the arms to return to the full closed position.
now this all has to run on a small 9V battery and be compact like the size of a hair brush.
I know that a certain amount of programming from the computer would be necessary but other than the initial programing it would have to be a stand alone system.
and we are trying to be as cost effective as possible.
It doesn’t go too much in depth with the guts of the PKE meter, but it covers the outside well, including showing exactly what to purchase for the shell.
Alternately, you could always check out this page; it has some kits/assembled stuff for the PKE meter. It’s a lot more expensive, of course. hyperdynelabs.com/products_elec_PKE.php
The Atom Pro would do a good job of controlling one or two servos and all the lights and some beepy sounds.
Looks like 7 LED’s on each wing. If the two sides can be paralleled then you can get away with 7 I/O’s there. The main display appears to be a matrix, but some are making simple LED’s in a pattern so if you were to have just the one pattern no I/O needed there. If you wanted to be able to change the pattern then a couple I/O lines to turn one or the other on. So that’s 9. There looks to be three LED’s below the main screen. Now up to 12. Looks like only two buttons, so it’s 14. Two servos, 16. One for a speaker, 17. Leaves 3 I/O pins for expansion. Can be done.
to be honest i am trying to steer clear of Hyperdyne due to costs.
so I am looking for a cheaper and well hands on alternative.
I have the Shell talked about in the first link and
the inner space without having the frame on hand at the moment is around 3" L x 2.5" W x 2.5 D
If this is just a hand held prop, then why not just use a thumb slider with a paper clip wire linkage to make the two arms swing in and out? Save the electronics for making blinkey LEDs.
Do you know which end of the soldering iron to hold on to?
(Disclaimer, this is an industry standard way of asking if you can solder. It is not intended to patronize, antagonize, or any other ize.)
The small size of your enclosure prevents you from using many of the carrier boards like the Bot Board II. You will need to breadboard the connections for the Atom Processor. Use a socket. The Atom chip is $60.00, a couple cheap servos are $26.00 ($13.00 each.) All can be powered from a single 9vdc battery as the servos will not be under any load and can be powered from the BB’s 5vdc regulator. Cheap enough?
