Can you add a second deck to the boe bot?

brownsfan11

I am about to buy a boe bot, but I want to know if you can add a second deck or expansion board so that you can add sensors not available on parallax.

Mike Green

You could certainly add a 2nd deck if it's not too heavy. Best way to do it would be to use the AppMod connector to get access to the Stamp's I/O pins and power. There may still be some AppMod devices in Parallax's on-line store and you could use their pictures as a guide. They can be mechanically braced using additional spacers and screws. www.selmaware.com has some pictures of an xBee adapter for the AppMod connector. I've used that with a spacer to hold it mechanically with one of the existing mounting holes.

Prettybird

Just a newbee but APP boards the way to go. You just have to design the I/O to parallax standards pin by pin. You only have 16 I/O but they have expansion for that too. Remember a BS2 is a primitive micro. It can do alot with little memory. From what I see it is very user friendly and alot of support. Good luck.

The more you learn, the more you find you don't know. It is neverending. Confucous 550 BC

Mike Green

The LCD AppMod documentation (www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/prod/appmod/29121-LcdAppMod-v1.2.pdf) has dimensions for the connector and mounting hole as well as the connections for the AppMod connector.

brownsfan11

Where would I find just the App board and the second deck?

Mike Green

You would have to build a second deck yourself. There's no product. Most hardware stores would have spacers that would fit.

Similarly, you'd have to build your own AppMod board. Like I said, the dimensions are given in the documentation for the LCD AppMod. Selmaware's xBee board is another example.

So much depends on what kinds of sensors you want to use. The BoeBot already has provisions for IR emitter/receivers and a PING ultrasonic distance sensor with a servo bracket.

You could just cut a piece of aluminum sheeting or blank printed circuit board to match the Board of Education and drill 4 mounting holes to form a 2d deck, then glue a breadboard to the top of it for additional sensor circuitry. It would be easy enough to buy a 10+10 pin double male plug that mates with the AppMod socket and solder jumper wires to that. The other end of the wires would insert into the top breadboard. That would bring power and I/O pins to the top deck.

brownsfan11

Thank you so much! This is my first robotics project ever and I now know to come back to Parallax for expertise.

LoopyByteloose

The BOEbot is quite wonderful for adding whatever comes to mind. The aluminum chassis is unlike a lot of others - it has holes and slots that make it very easy to adapt it to what ever you which to add on. Mine has tank tracks and is painted with camo colors.

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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?

aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

Humanoido

With BoeBot, it is possible to add three more decks using
Parallax boards. This is a robot in my collection with a multideck
design based on Parallax boards. It handles the extra boards
perfectly and gains many new functions.

humanoido


This BoeBot has multiple
decks which add multiple
functions.

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Stamp SEED Supercomputer
Basic Stamp Supercomputer
Three Dimensional Computer
Penguin with 12 Brains
Penguin Tech
StampOne News!
Penguin Robot Society

Post Edited (humanoido) : 6/29/2009 6:33:24 PM GMT

brownsfan11

One more thing, I read about·a similar·robot that uses the Basic stamp 2 controller, and it said to add an expansion board all you need to do is solder a 40 pin connecter board to the perf (expansion) board, and that the basic stamp 2 also had a 40 pin connector board and you used a 40 conducter flat cable to connect the two. Will this work on the boe bot?

Mike Green

No

The expansion connector on the Board of Education is the 20 pin AppMod connector. There aren't enough signals to make up a 40 pin connector anyway. There are only 16 I/O pins plus power (Vin = unregulated + input / Vdd = +5V / Vss = ground).

You can simply solder a 20 pin connector to the expansion board and use a 20 pin flat cable to connect the expansion board to the Board of Education. It's easier to do than a 40 pin version anyway ... only 1/2 the number of wires / pins.

If you follow the AppMod scheme, you can stack expansion boards several high and don't need the flat cable.· humanoido's example shows physically how it works.
·

Tom C

brownsfan11,

You might want to consider this: http://www.bluebelldesign.com/CoP_Bd_kit.htm

I have built two of them and they have come in very handy when the need arises for more I/O and ADCs when working with the BOE or the Stamp Super Carrier.

Regards,

TCIII

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If you are going to send·a Robot·to save the world, you·better make sure it likes it the way it is!

SRLM

I've used the basic boards from Gadget Gangster and really like them. The full size is the same size as the BOE and with standoffs can fit right on top.