The Propeller Robot Module is up!

Comments

• Bill Henning Posts: 6,445

  2009-07-23 17:45 edited 2009-07-23 17:45

  Looks good!
  

  Brandon C. said...
  The Propeller Robot Module is a robot control board with 8 servo I/O and 8 sensor/general purpose I/O. has been tested by me with 7 servos running at once without a problem (I do have 9 servo's but the other 2 are in use right now so I only tested it with 7). also has an on-board LCD and 3 buttons for UI.
  
  PRM (GadgetGangster)
  
  Top view:
  
  
  
  
  Bottom view (Propeller side)
  
  
  
  
  I/O Pins:
  
  
  
  
  
  Let me know what you think!
  
  
  Brandon C.

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• Nick McClick Posts: 1,003

  2009-07-23 21:42 edited 2009-07-23 21:42

  Good photos! It's a really easy to put together kit, too.
  
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• Brandon C. Posts: 106

  2009-07-23 22:24 edited 2009-07-23 22:24

  Good! I was afraid it might be a little confusing to put together.
  
  Brandon C.
  
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  No purchase necessary. See back panel for more details.
  
  Tired of the same old robot brains? not enough processing power? Get the Propeller Robot Module now!!
  
  
• Vaati Posts: 712

  2009-07-23 23:26 edited 2009-07-23 23:26

  Wow--that is some project.... Very nice soldering job, by the way.
  
  So, what does the lcd display...?
  
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• Brandon C. Posts: 106

  2009-07-24 00:32 edited 2009-07-24 00:32

  Hi Vaati!
  
  Thanks, I got better after ruining my other BossBoard. I think I learned from my mistakes ...
  
  the LCD displays information when debugging. e.g. you want to display the status of a sensor or the position of a servo. or you can just write whatever you want!
  
  Brandon C.
  
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  No purchase necessary. See back panel for more details.
  
  Tired of the same old robot brains? not enough processing power? Get the Propeller Robot Module now!!
  
  
• SRLM Posts: 5,045

  2009-07-24 00:49 edited 2009-07-24 00:49

  A suggestion: you may want to bring the crystal as close as you can to the Propeller pins. Longer traces increase the chance that the frequency will be distorted by radio waves.
• hinv Posts: 1,255

  2009-07-24 01:58 edited 2009-07-24 01:58

  Another suggestion: you may also want to put some tantalum decoupling capacitors between ground and 5V real close to the chip. I am not sure what the servos will need(I'm no expert), but it doesn't look like you have as much capacitance as a protoboard and it is only meant to drive 4. Also the capacitor is closer to the servo connections on the protoboard. I am not sure if this is necessary for servos, but it couldn't hurt.
  
  Just putting in my 10 bits.
  
  Doug
• Microcontrolled Posts: 2,461

  2009-07-24 14:16 edited 2009-07-24 14:16

  Nice module!
  
  What happened to pin 17 on your Propeller??
  
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• Brandon C. Posts: 106

  2009-07-24 15:13 edited 2009-07-24 15:13

  LOL - glad you asked!
  
  my propeller has been through allot. lets put it that way.
  
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  No purchase necessary. See back panel for more details.
  
  Tired of the same old robot brains? not enough processing power? Get the Propeller Robot Module now!!
  
  
• JonnyMac Posts: 9,379

  2009-07-24 15:32 edited 2009-07-24 15:32

  The next time you build one of those modules you may want to use a socket. The stack of the socket and chip is shorter than the 2.1mm barrel connector so you shouldn't have any space constraints.
• Brandon C. Posts: 106

  2009-07-24 15:54 edited 2009-07-24 15:54

  I was going to but there was no where I could get one locally and I did not want to make another order.
  
  Brandon C.
  
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  No purchase necessary. See back panel for more details.
  
  Tired of the same old robot brains? not enough processing power? Get the Propeller Robot Module now!!
  
  
• JonnyMac Posts: 9,379

  2009-07-24 19:33 edited 2009-07-24 19:33

  This is [noparse][[/noparse]one of the many reasons] why I love LA -- have a company called ECI (pricey, but convenient) right here in Burbank and All Electronics is just a few miles down the road. Since you're a Propeller head you might want to order a few extra sockets for your projects; I did that with my last Mouser order.
  
  BTW, I have a few objects in the ObEx that might be useful: jm_debounce (for buttons), jm_lcd4_ez, and jm_servo8.
• Brandon C. Posts: 106

  2009-07-24 19:41 edited 2009-07-24 19:41

  All I have is a bunch of radioshack's near me. they're convenient but don't always have the item i'm looking for in stock. I really hate ordering, but I have no other choice sometimes. The next time I order I will get a whole bunch of sockets. I just made an order from Digi-key a week ago and was planning on buying some sockets but completely forgot.
  
  Thanks for the propeller objects! I already have an object for servo control and the LCD, but nothing for buttons yet. i'll be sure to check it out sometime.
  
  Brandon C.
  
  ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
  No purchase necessary. See back panel for more details.
  
  Tired of the same old robot brains? not enough processing power? Get the Propeller Robot Module now!!
  
  
• JonnyMac Posts: 9,379

  2009-07-24 20:52 edited 2009-07-24 20:52

  Based on my experience with high-current servo use in the props (as in movie props) and special fx industries I do servos differently than others. My object will only do eight servos as it uses a "walking" pattern with only one servo pulse being processed at a time within the frame; this cuts down on noise in the system. I'm working to incorporate this into a friend's animation system (see www.socalhalloween.com) so I recently added a flag so that you don't update positions in the middle of a servo frame -- this is important for maintaining synchronization in the system.
  
  Are you going to post the code you're using with your project on G/G? The hardware is usually the easiest part -- for the project to be useful to others they'll need your firmware.
• Brandon C. Posts: 106

  2009-07-24 21:11 edited 2009-07-24 21:11

  I am working on some demo code for it right now. will be up soon! I kinda have it working but I need to check for bugs and add some comments to make it easier to read.
  
  
  Brandon C.
  
  ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
  No purchase necessary. See back panel for more details.
  
  Tired of the same old robot brains? not enough processing power? Get the Propeller Robot Module now!!