NeuroRobotic Technologies just launched a Kickstarter campaign for an Arduino Due shield that makes building robots faster and easier. The DynamixShield gives users the ability to control Dynamixel AX, MX and XL smart servos and regular servos, while also offering numerous connectors for modular Grove and RobotGeek sensors, all on the same board! Grove and RobotGeek are frameworks for robotics that allow you to purchase commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors and plug them in to your robot with a single cable. This lets you rapidly assemble your robot in a Lego®-like fashion. Below is a list of some of the shields features.
DynamixShield Features
- 4 Dynamixel servo connectors.
- Jumper control of the power source for servos, shield and Arduino.
- 7 Digital Grove connectors. 6 with pulse width modulation (PWM) for control of regular servos.
- 4 Analog to digital Grove connectors.
- 2 Independent serial Grove connectors.
- 2 Independent I2C Grove connectors.
- 19 Digital 3-pin RobotGeek connectors.12 of them with PWM.
- 12 Analog to digital 3-pin RobotGeek connectors.
- All of these digital lines are level shifted to 5V.
- PTC fuses for overcurrent protection.
By combining the ability to control smart and regular servos with these modular COTS sensors, the DynamixShield makes it very easy to quickly build your robot. Even better though, the DynamixShield is fully open-source hardware and software! At the end of the campaign all design files will be made publicly available for others to use in their own projects. If you would like to help this project succeed, then please support the Kickstarter campaign that can be found here:
Thanks, David
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPHAlalq3QM