Well its a bit late in the year, but i have started our schools first robotics club and have attracted a suprising large crowd. I intend to show them them basic concepts, much of which are covered here, with the final project being the start here bot (final planned project).
However although its relatively cheap, i cannot supply microcontrollers/ equipment to 20 or so students and will require a PTA grant for the club. The clubs overseerer will need a parts list and price approx. for each head. I am now trying to figure out which chip i should start them on thats the cheapest possible, but will also provide the desired functions. The most i will need to do is accomodate an l293D and an input/ output for a sharp IR sensor. Also another pin for a servo but thats iffy cuse its not needed. So i guess 6 pins in total, and a few extra just in case, therefore the 14M seems like the right chip for the job. 4$ each 3.60$ with 10 or more.
As for programming i figure i can pick up a few serial jack ports cheap and just mount them in breadboards which students can share. Looking at the schematic in the 3rd manual for hooking up a 293, it seems no resistors or anything are needed. I can just hook one up as pictured?
I just wanted to run this idea over with you guys and make sure im not screwing anything up before i go ahead and spend 80$ on chips. Would you advise another chip? The first meeting will be this friday so i can give a little demo of the start here bot and applications of micro controllers. Ill give them links to the pic axe manuals because their more learner friendly IMO, but i wont give out the LMR site yet, i know some of them are going to be lazy and just post RTFM questions like i did. any and all advice is welcome.
