Hello LMR world..:) Im a complite beginner.. Im studying robotics and Automation first year.. i know ill learn this stuff in the university but entusiasm in me doesnt let me to sit down and wait for 2 3 years..:) While i was searching for PICAXE one of ma seniors sugested to me to laern and explore PIC microcontrollers... he said ull be better prepared for universyty exams in future and can design your own development boards which is chipper and easier.. but The problem is i dont have enough electronical knowlidges for designing ma own development boards:( for now i have to use ready designed ones.. I want to star from the "strongest one" .So ma question is which is better to explore? Arduino or PICAXE? which is stronger in terms of technical specifications? which one has more applications?
so far i know only that audrino is more easier to find, PICAXE is actually PIC based micro controller which maybe can be useful for me in future in terms of Uni study exams..
So what are your suggestions? where should i start?
I advise to get an arduino (Atmel AVR based board) such as the mega or something with a lot of online support (maybe duemilanove), learn the arduino libraries, learn C programming, browse the Atmel AVR datasheet and learn how the microcontroller works independent of the arduino libraries. You should alsol be able to deploy an Atmel AVR without a premade development board and just a solderless breadboard; you can follow this easy tutorial and get started for under $50:
I like Arduino’s approach to providing pretty much everything to get started in one package. If you buy a board and USB cable (if you don’t have one already) and then go out to the Arduino web site, you can download the software and stand a reasonably good chance of downloading your first working example within minutes. The 28 pin project board mentioned is probably easiest to find as a “Boarduino”. I don’t think either is inherently better; a case could be made for either. But I prefer Arduino.
I am only new to robotics myself. I could not make up my mind between the 2. I purchased the LMR start here robot kit as it come with the picaxe and all I needed to get started and just finished building that. I am now playing with my Arduino and working through online tutorials to help me understand it. I found that building the Start here robot was great as it explains everything well as you go along so u can go through and make changes and play around when your done! I must say I still cant decide what one I would prefer but Picaxe is a really easy way to get into robotics… So far arduino seems a touch harder.
To become an embedded programmer you need to know the deep secrets of the microcontrollers. Arduino and Picaxe hide that. Using any of them you just program your logic and see how it works. You need to be able to set the internal registers yourself, to write code in assembly (sometimes that’s the only way to get compact and fast code) and usually C is the industry standard, so you have to learn that too. It doesn’t matter that you’ll use AVR or PIC (or any other microcontroller), the principles are the same. If I were you, I would learn both.
Picaxe is perfect for beginners. Very easy to program, powerful enough for most things you might want to do, if you need more power there is always a bigger chip. I have started with a similar microcontroller, called Nemesis, from Kronos Robotics. I switched to Arduino because I could burn the firmware (bootloader in this case) myself and I could make my own boards without the need to import any part from the States (I lived in Romania). For University, you need to get a hardware programmer and blank PICs and learn to program in MPLAB (assembly and C).
Arduino is the new craze, it’s a universal board that has the advantage that is extremely customizable by adding specialized shields for almost any task you thing you may want to use it. Easy to make your own boards in any corner of the world, the parts are usually available in the electronics stores. Programming it’s fairly easy, all you need to do is learn the C language syntax and the plethora of libraries and sample code makes getting your project up and going a breeze. You have the advantage that you can plug assembly code snippets or set the registers yourself, so this seems like the perfect candidate to start your career in embedded programming. Most of the European Universities adopted Arduino especially because you can do anything with it, from high level (read: easy) to low level (read: hard) programming and because they can pull out the boards from projects and re-use them in class next semester.
