We’ve recently started seeing the flurry of activity that marks when teams building for the upcoming national robotics competitions start shopping. Since we stock a very large selection of robot parts, finding what you need can be a bit daunting at first. To assist builders, we’ve launched our FIRST Starter Page to help get people pointed in the right direction. Within it we’ve listed the most popular items we see flying off the shelves every competition season, laid out in an easy to navigate manner. If you or someone you know is looking for parts for their competition entry, point ‘em this way!
We love the smell of fresh circuit boards in the morning! We’re always adding new gizmos and robotic goodies, but here’s a few items we’ve added recently that might be of interest to you tinkerers out there!
From Phidgets we have the return of the 8/8/8 Interface Kit w/ USB Hub. This is a heavy duty 6 port USB Hub, supplying 500ma per port to allow daisychaining of multiple Phidgets devices.
We’d also like to introduce the new Bipolar 1 Motor Stepper controller. Stepper motor controllers can be difficult to find at times, Phidgets makes it easy with this USB board and their reknowned API and software support behind it!
Our buddies over at Sparkfun, the next-gen Radio Shack of our times, continue to amaze us with the amount of neat electronic gadgets they pump out at insane speeds. Joining our Arduino and Atmel line up are the Arduino Pro and Arduino Pro Mini. Both are a minimalist approach to the popular Arduino microcontrollers, allowing you to add headers and wires as you see fit.
And last but certainly not least, the Axon Microcontroller is back in stock! This board initially sold quicker than Society of Robots could make them, but we’re glad to say we’ve finally got them back in stock. These Atmel 640 based power-horse microcontrollers are a roboticist’s dream, boasting 55 I/O ports, a built in USB compiler, and a impressive software library. Pick yours up today!
This robot is wicked cool. And tiny. And for a pile of PCB, wheels, LCDs, and various components, it’s pretty darned cute too. Our friends over at Pololu came up with the 3pi Robot, and the amount of features they packed into this tiny robot is truly amazing.
At only 3.7″ in diameter it moves at up to 3 feet per second, boasts an Atmega 168 C programmable microcontroller, 5 reflective sensors, an LCD screen, 2 precision gear head motors, push-buttons, a buzzer, and room for expansion using your own sensors! If you’re looking for a serious platform to get started in programming the very popular AVR’s from Atmel, this is the robot for you! Our starter kit comes with the 3pi Robot, an Orangutan USB AVR Programmer, and an mini USB cable- everything you need to get started.
Here’s an introduction video explaining how to get started using the 3pi Robot!
We’ve got you covered. The Acroname 84 Channel USB Servo Controller allows you to control an almost absurd amount of servos making this the perfect board for any over-achiever’s robotics project. Now if controlling 84 servos wasn’t enough, get this: Each of the 84 channels can be set to Digital Input, Digital Output or Servo Output. Additionally, 36 of the channels can act as 10-bit Analog inputs. That makes this one of our most versatile I/O boards yet!
We’re always on the lookout for useful and inexpensive gadgets to add to our Robotics Lab, and while searching around for a small, inexpensive Wifi (as in 802.11) camera for use in Mech Warfare I finally settled on the Airlink 101 SkyIPCam250w Part #AIC250W. Personally I found mine at a local Fry’s Electronics for about $105, but we also sourced them online here.
Here is my quick review here on the forums of this camera:
Image quality is mediocre, but good enough to view things at a max of 8-10 feet. Frame rate is 30+ and response time is in the 50ms range running the camera at 320×240.
Main board is 10cm x 5.5cm. Camera board is 5.5cm x 3cm and attaches to the main board at a right angle. It appears to be a 1mm spaced header pin port, so it could easily be extended for custom mounting solutions. Entire camera unit stripped down and including antenna weighs 91 grams. The antenna is a u.FL connection, so this could be replaced with a custom solution if needed.
Overall a solid little camera for the price. If you’re on a budget, this is about as good as it gets. Keep in mind for ‘competition’ performance, you’ll need to run it at 320×240, but that can be stretched. Image quality is enough to pilot and aim I would say, but I wouldn’t expect to read text with it. Definitely usable for Mech Warfare within 10-15 feet though. Oh and the IP web interface uses Java and/or Active X, so you could pull the control from it and add it into a custom form easily.
Here are some pictures! (click to enlarge)
Since we don’t care about the bulky exterior casing, here’s what it looks like stripped down:
You probably have heard the term thrown around, but many out there might not know what an Accelerometer does exactly. They are used in a variety of modern machines and gadgets, and a necessity for dynamic balancing in walking robots. Here is a quick tutorial video that we put together, explaining the basics and application of Accelerometers.
Hiding behind bushes in a monster costume and jumping out to scare would be trick-or-treaters is sooo 1995. That and it can earn you a beat down from an unsuspecting parental guardian. Here’s a way to do it while you’re safely hiding within your house.
Parallax Motor Mount and Wheel Kit with Position Controller
Click thumbnails to see high-res versions.
Anybody can slap together some motors and wheels, bolt a mounting block on there, and call it a drive module. However, it takes a company like Parallax to do it properly. These things are beautiful, really. They’re not meant for junkbotters who want to build everything on the cheap. You’re looking at the Mercedes Benz of drive modules. The drive modules incorporate motors, pneumatic tires, custom-machined hardware, and a smart encoder board. The encoder on its own is pretty ingenious. It can be used to track the motion of the wheels, reporting speed and position back to the robot’s brain; AND it can be used as a bridge between your robot’s brain and your motor controller, actively controlling the power going to the motors to ensure that they’re doing precisely what you commanded them to do. Cool stuff.
Arduino Nano. Same great taste, half the calories.
The Arduino Nano is the newest incarnation of everybody's favorite little blue development board. Designed in response to the popularity of other miniature Arduino development boards, Nano is the smallest fully functional Arduino with a built-in USB port! This little beast can be powered through the USB port's 5V line, or by an external 7-12V power supply. Its small footprint and 1/10" pin spacing make it ideal for breadboarding. Just like its predecessors, it uses an Atmel ATmega168 microcontroller, and is programmed using the Wiring language. For more info on programming for Arduino, or for more general Arduino info, check out Arduino.cc.
We recently got a batch of these neat little TTL-controlled laser modules in stock. Needless to say, we did what what we always do when we get a new toy. We played with it and took some pictures! It was super easy to wire up, and it can be switched on and off with any TTL logic signal. It draws a miniscule amount of current (26 mA on our meter). It has a pretty good output, too. Don’t expect to see it a mile away, but when we shined it at a white wall in direct sunlight at a distance of about 12 feet, it projected a bright, sharp dot.
American Twenty-five cent piece shown for size comparison.
The thing is freaking tiny, too. Slim and sleek.
It’s as thick as a nickel! Would have used the quarter from the last picture, but we couldn’t get one to stand on its edge. Yep. So far this post has cost me thirty cents.
As we’ve mentioned, wiring it up and controlling it is a cinch. To use it with the Phidgets 8/8/8, we used the power and ground connections on one of the analog connectors and one digital output to switch it on and off.
Three wires are all you need. Power, ground, and digital control.
Here’s our test setup. Laser module is connected to the 8/8/8 with jumper wires from SparkFun.
