Hello, my name's Rich, and I am sort of new... No i'll say new to robotics.
I have made a robot before.. (It was a robot from a magazine, here in the UK) But after about 5 months maybe. I was putting the controller together and adding the board, But the bit's did not fit properly, and over the next few more bit's that didn't fit properly or nowhere to slott them because other bit's didn't fit. I mean even the body of the controller didn't fit around it..
So I'll class myself as a no-bot newbie.
Well bascily I was looking through the instructables website, where is saw the "Start here" bot. from the menu bar on here. Followed a link here feeling really intrested.
Now i have looked into all the sorts of robot circuits, etc.
Now for my question. - Basiclly what is the "best" begginner microcontroller.. Should I go with the picaxe, or Arduino, or another and why and why not use which ever ones. I do have some basic electronic knowledge, I did GCSE Electronics at school.. I got a D but I blame that on my super-over-complicated PCB.. Anyway...
I reckon I will probably use a picaxe-28x1 as in the "start here" bot. But do i need to buy a full starter kit? Is there another way to program, because breadboards seem more simple when it comes to expanding a robot. since im not sure how it would work with a premade circuit, apart from mabey adding another board or a breadboard to it.
Well thank's for reading, sorry about the small essay. I can imagine you have had this question a few time's but, you never get the answer how you want it unless you ask it yourself.
Cheer's,
Rich
There is a huge discussion
There is a huge discussion on this board already about the benefits of PICAXE versus Arduino versus other pics. If you use PICAXE you need a picaxe 28x1 chip, a programming cable and the rest is somewhat optional. Obviously you will need resistors, sockets, etc. If you get the project board you won’t need to breadboard the circuit and can more easily get started. I suggest starting with the starter kit if you are an electronics/circuit newbie.
lots of choice…
having BS2, picaxe08, picaxe18, picaxe28x1 (with project boards),
here is what I think : Go with breadboard !!!
my favourite is still BS2, the Board of Education is neat, really complete, really easy, really well documented
but really expensive.
For the price of a BS2 board of education + BS2 chip, you can have 3 picaxe28x1 complete starter kits !
($69 for board + $49 for bs2 chip)
Picaxe28x starter kit is $38
but you will have to solder some wire, add some pins.... stick the thing to a breadboard
The language used with both is nearly the same
The robotic manual coming with BOEBOT is really great to start with, I recommend you to download it from here :
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/books/edu/Roboticsv2_2.pdf
complete basic stamp reference is here:
http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/prod/stamps/web-BSM-v2.2.pdf
Thank’s
Thank’s guy’s. I think i’ll use the PICAXE, as stated in the “start here” bot.
These are the part’s that i’ll probably order. -
http://www.rapidonline.com/productinfo.aspx?catref=13-0835 - PICAXE Starter kit.
http://www.rapidonline.com/productinfo.aspx?catref=82-0192 - L293D Stepper motor control/driver.
http://www.rapidonline.com/productinfo.aspx?catref=13-0845 - PICAXE Servo Upgrade.
http://www.rapidonline.com/productinfo.aspx?catref=58-0976 - Distance sensor (analogue).
Only problem is I don’t know if they come with the cables/correct cables. What’s the difference between usb and serial of course apart from the port it connects to your PC with.
Also… The Red/Black/White cable on the sensor… I have a Red/Black/Brown cable… Don’t supposed they’ll cross across?
Well I have some motor’s and wheel’s etc. So i can use those… I’ll buy some more another time…
Thank’s again.
Rich
The only difference between
The only difference between cables is how it connects to your PC. Newer PCs/laptops don’t have seriel connections.
Wire colors don’t matter. Just make sure ground goes to ground, voltage goes to voltage and signal goes to signal.
Sonsor connections
It is not apparent to me that the GP2D12 sensor comes with a connector or wire for it. They appear to have the connectors (JST-HX) for sale to add to a power supply that uses them here. You could probably order those connectors (and pins on the lower part of that page (3 pin for the GP2D12, unless Rapid states they send them wiht the sensor).
Also, it might be good to get a 16 pin socket for the L293D h-bridge, or a breadboard to wire it on, with connectors to go to the motor, power and signal pins.
I had never touched a
I had never touched a Microcontroller prior to ordering my Arduino. I am now in love with. I will say based on learing to program it that as easy as it is, the PICAXE seems ALOT more programming beginner friendly. I hadnt even heard of the PICAXE when I got my Arduino but from what I’ve read some tend to grow out of the PICAXE where as the Arduino is a bit more flexible. They both have thier Pros and Cons just like everything esle.
I see…
Thank’s alot guy’s. Well I’ve taken everything in… I think, So I imagine I should be okay to order at some point… I’ll probably stick with the PICAXE beacuse it seems cheap enough, as a beginner project… Who know’s what i’ll end up on.
Thank’s one more time guy’s.
Rich
