Michael L. Belanger

Category: Hardware

  • Moore’s law of 8-bit computers

    Moore’s law of 8-bit computers

    A visual example of Moore's Law for 8-bit computers

    Here’s a visual example of where 8-bit computers came from and where they are now:

    On the bottom, a Commodore 64 home computer motherboard circa 1984, running at 1MHz. – original cost about $600.

    In the middle, an MIT Handyboard robotics controller circa 1995, running at 2MHz. – original cost about $200.

    At the top, an Arduino microcontroller circa 2010, running at 16MHz. – cost… about 30 bucks.

    But only one of them can play Tower Toppler.

  • RoboShield Prototype part 2

    RoboShield Prototype part 2

    The finished RoboShield prototype daughter-board for the Arduino microcontroller

    Here is the finished prototype of the RoboShield, a robotics daughter-board for the Arduino microcontroller. Here’s the tour:

    • upper-left – reset button
    • bottom-left – motor control h-bridge including 2 motor outputs and one motor power input
    • left above motor controller – piezo buzzer, RGB LED, and current limiting resistors
    • top-right – the Arudino’s 14 digital pins along with ground and 5v busses
    • bottom-middle – the Arduino’s power header
    • bottom-right – The Arduino’s analog inputs along with ground and 5v busses
    • center running vertically – patch bays that allow assignment of the motor control, LED, and buzzer lines to any of the Arduino’s digital pins.

    The empty space on the middle-right could be ued for servo motor connects. I’m still trying to decide if I need them.

    Because all the component control lines on the board are routed to patch bay headers you have complete control of which Arudino pins you use for what. Also if you’re not using a component it doesn’t need to be taking up any pins

    The ground and 5v busses spaced away from the input pins is an idea I borrowed from the MIT HandyBoard that was popular in hobby robtics several years ago (circa 1995). In many ways it was the progenitor of the Arduino

    Here’s a page that explains how to connect various sensors to the Handyboard (and now the Robo-Shield as well).

  • RoboShield Prototype part 1

    RoboShield Prototype part 1

    Here is the first set of components, connectors, and wire on the prototype RoboShield daughter-board for the Arudino microcontroller. The bottom-left quadrant of the board will be an h-bridge motor controller to drive two robot motors. Above that is a piezo buzzer and three-color RGB LED. The connector blocks on the uppper edge and the bottom right provide access to the Arduino’s input/output pins as well as ground and 5v buss lines to make interfacing sensors quick and easy. More on this soon…

  • RoboShield for Arudino – Component Layout

    RoboShield for Arudino – Component Layout

    RobotShield for Arduino Component Layout
    Laying out the components for a robotics shield for the Arduino microcontroller.

    Here is the first step in designing a robotics daughter-board (the RoboShield) for the Arduino microcontroller. I’m just laying out the components and marking things up in Sharpie to get a feel of how to use space on the tiny little board (it’s about the size of a business card).

    Once this is designed and tested it will greatly simplify building the Ard-bots we use for the Arduino Robotics class.