Build a Real Robot – Episode 15 – New Modules

We are back in the workshop with DB1 and today we will take a peek at three new custom boards I’m wiring up for the project.

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There has been a bit of a lull in the DB1 robot project over the summer, but that’s about to change. In preparation to finish the base unit and get DB1 moving, I’ve designed three new boards to be used on the robot.

I’m still prototyping the boards, so this is a bit of a “sneak peek”. In the upcoming episodes, I’ll go over the wiring and coding of each board individually.

The Motor Controller board is getting a redesign, this time based upon ATmega328 chips instead of Arduino Nanos. There is also another chip on board to handle the emergency stop requests, as well as some pushbuttons and LEDs.

The Sensor Distribution node is a small board that will take the buffered I2C, emergency stop, and I/O signals and send them out to the sensor modules. Two of this style are being built, one for the front and one for the rear of the robot.

The Corner Sensor is, in my humble opinion, a work of art! Four of these highly-populated boards will be mounted on the bottom corners of the robot. Each unit has two ultrasonic sensors, two infrared collision sensors, and a very big RGB LED. The board is powered by an ATMega328.

I’ll also give you a quick demo of the infrared collision sensors, just in case you’re not familiar with them. And the hDB1 code is almost ready on GitHub, I’ll update you on that as well.

Over the next few episodes, we’ll focus on getting these modules built and installed. So keep tuned in to the YouTube channel and also the forum, where we discuss robots and electronics every day. Join us at https://forum.dronebotworkshop.com/ today!

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