I just completed my first robot project. It's based on a dsPIC33FJ32MC202 DSP. I used the Tamiya track kit and dual motor gearbox for the vehicle base. A L298 bridge controller was used to control the motors and a Sharp GP2D12 mounted on a RC servo was used for ranging and navigation.
Thanks, The dsPIC is a 28 Thanks, The dsPIC is a 28 pin DIP and it makes it easy to prototype circuits quickly. I had a couple of L298 surface mount IC’s so I etched a small PCB for the motor controller. Fun little project. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks, I used the DATAK Thanks, I used a DATAK positive PC board to etch that one in the garage. It makes it easier to prototype with surface mount stuff. Now if I only had a reflow oven! Thanks for your comment.
I love how neat it is, id love to be able to put things together and make them look as good as tha, mine always seem to come out as bundles of confusing wires with big splodges of solder all over the place.
Reflow ovens… Hey -go over to sparkfun and do some searching of thier “blog posts”. I can’t remember specifically, but I swear I saw some mention of some MacGyvered systems working with SMT’s. I think it was a hot-plate or a heat gun -something. I’ll do some looking and see if I can find anything for you. And to be honest, SMT scare most people -You are the oddball to think they are easier! (…and that makes you cool)
Nice and clean He has a sort of number-5 look (I hope you dont mind me saying that). Especially from the front. is this bot inspired by the one from the "short circuit" movie?
I am a big fan of microcontroller designs. How did you like using the microchip DSP? I was thinking of buying the starter pack so I could experiment with it.
As far as a reflow oven, could you use a toaster oven? Not the one in your kitchen, but one you might find at a yard sale, or for $20 at walmart. I think the lowest setting is 200 degrees, but if you leave the door ajar you might be able to control your heat. I have seen them used to melt the polymorph plastic that other people have used on this site.
The dsPIC33’s are Awesome. With this one I’m running 3 PWM channels(left motor, right motor, servo) 2 channel out of 6 ADC’s for the IR sensor and battery voltage and a RS232 port for comm. It’s running a 32 tap filter on the IR sensor to knock out the hi frequency noise and an inline FFT so I can look at the filters performance. All this in a $3.00 package! I’m using this bot to see how far I can push this little DSP. As for the toaster oven, I found one to convert. I have a couple of dsPIC33FJ12GP201’s laying around and am gonna try to control the temp cycle up to around 250 - 280 C. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
