Minimum material for First Robot

Community General Discussions
1

Hello Folks,

Im considering building first robot and would like to purchase this kit

http://arduino-direct.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=244

I see that LMR is using a ''Shield'' over his Arduino or PIC. Whats the purpose of it.

Could I simply be using this yourduino boards with motor and servo and voila? Would I be missing anything without a shield.

I also notice that there seems to be a IC already on the yourduino board, would I need extra IC ?

 

Thanks

Bronco Billy

2

i bought this kit to learn

i bought this kit to learn with

http://www.oomlout.co.uk/arduino-experimentation-kit-ardx-p-183.html

though yours gives more bang for oyur buck i think (though the oomlout one has some excellent walk throughs, and comes with a genuine arduino, if that counts for anything.

if you are new to arduino (as i am) i would suggest getting a motor shield, rather than messing around with H bridges. that way you just plug it in, wire it up and it works. no need to understand it before you get some movement (not that understanding it isnt good, but it helps to make some progress too). The adafruit motorshield, also availible from oomlout is rather fine.

http://www.oomlout.co.uk/motor-shield-for-arduino-kit-p-207.html

though you do have to build it. Also, it comes with male headers only. you would be wise to get some extra long female headers, so that you can still pin cables into the remaining usable pins on the board. After that you need some running gear! Some people use toy “robots”, which already have gears, motors, wheels or tracks, and a battery case built in. Which is brilliant, if you can find one you like which you could canibalise. Otherwise, pick up some geared motors and wheels, to bolt onto a chasssis you your choice…

my running gear came from here

http://www.technobotsonline.com/motors/solarbotics-geared-motors.html

i bolted the motors, and wheels onto a home made chassis,mounted the motor shield and arduino on the top, and included two battery packs.

jobs a goodun

worth noting, you will probly need two power supplies (batteries). you CAN run the motors off the same battery as the arduino, but the load on the motors can make a “dirty” power supply, (unstable) which can cause the arduino to freak out or reset. better to have a pp3 9v cell for the arduino, and then a stack of higher capacity AAs (enough to supply your desired voltage) for the motors… hope this helps!