Hobby Robotics Make'n'Take Session

Posted August 23rd, 2008 by Royce
in

Thanks for attending folks!
I am planning on starting robotics club. If you are interested in joining please shoot me a note at royce.pipkins@gmail.com

Build your own fully autonomous robot at BarCamp!! If you'd like to get a hands on and guided introduction to hobby robotics, this is your session. We'll assemble, solder and program a fully autonomous robot that follows a line optically. The robot's constituent parts are very flexible and very expandable so you'll wind up with a great platform for all sorts of robotic experiments.



Click here to check out the kit!

The key parts are the Atmel AVR ATmega48 MCU and the Tamiya chassis. The AVR series of MCUs are fast, inexpensive, widely available and hobbyist-friendly. They have free programming environments in Assembly, C, C++, BASIC and Arduino under Windows, GNU/Linux, and Mac OSX. The Tamiya chassis parts are also inexpensive, widely available and can be easily reconfigured in an infinite number of variations

Although we are hoping for donations to offset the cost of the kit at the moment we must ask that you purchase a kit from the vendor, Wright Hobbies, in advance of BarCamp. UPDATE:
The kit order page is now offline so that Eddy can put the parts of the kits together and pack them up for transport to BarCamp. If you'd still like to build a kit, hang out with us at the Introduction to Hobby Robotics and see if there will be another time where you might be able to build one.

Folks interested in Arduino should be sure to review the comments below. There are a couple of issues to be considered.

Also, while we'll have some soldering irons and computers/latops available to solder and program your robot, you are very much encouraged to bring your own. (That way you'll leave with a working programming environment as well.)

Post a comment if you are possibly interested!

Lead Presenter: 
Royce
Second Presenter: 
Eddy
Prefered Session Time: 
Saturday - Afternoon (2-5)
Saturday - Evening (5-10)
Sunday - Morning (6-11)
Sunday - Afternoon (12-5)
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Kit Order Page is now Offline

On October 3rd, 2008 Royce says:

As noted in the update above the kit order page is offline. Eddy needs time to gather up the parts of the kits an pack them for transport to BarCamp. There may be another opportunity for a guided build sometime in the future.

CD? Cable?

raster's picture
On September 15th, 2008 raster says:

Sorry, more questions! The kit mentions a CD... can the software be installed without a CD? Also, the PDF says "The cable is now ready to be plugged into your PC’s parallel port" but I don't have a computer with a parallel port... just USB. So.....?

The Bascom DEMO software

On September 15th, 2008 Royce says:
  • The Bascom DEMO software can be downloaded.
  • I'll have a USB/SD-card with windows installers on it as well.
  • If you use linux, go ahead and get Wine rolling on your system so that you can take advantage of the example code. Bascom is rated silver.
  • If you are feeling tough you can go get avr-gcc instead. But the example code will be probably be only bascom.
  • Ardunio won't fit too well on the ATmega48, but the ATmega168 is pin-compatible, has plenty of flash and is $4 if you really want to use the Ardunio core.
  • For those folks without a parallel port I'll have eleven USB programmers that I can lend out. Its a slightly different procedure since you have to use avrdude to initiate the firmware transfer instead of the built-in Bascom programmer.The result will be identical, however.
  • I'll have a windows installer for avrdude. Grab the relevant package under linux.
  • USB programmers can be had for about $20-$30. Offical, Adafruit. Lots more out there.
  • Batteries would be great to bring, though I planned to pick enough for anyone signed up.
  • I will bring a test track to actually run the line follower on.
  • You can make a track yourself using white electrical tape and these black tiles that are sold at Home Depot.

Hopefully that covers most of it!

Arduino

dujoducom's picture
On September 16th, 2008 dujoducom says:

I'd love to use the Arduino compatible ATmega168 if possible (I think i would get more use out of it after the session and have been looking at buying something arduino based). Unfortunately I already ordered the kit, but maybe I could upgrade at barcamp if there are extras? If this is not possible, it doesn't really matter :)

Arduino

raster's picture
On September 16th, 2008 raster says:

I have some interest in the Arduino as well... I think Matt Gauger has one, we should ask him to bring it.

I talked to Eddy and he

On September 16th, 2008 Royce says:

I talked to Eddy and he added an option to order the kits with the 168 processor for 2 extra dollars. For you two, if you'll send Eddy $2 via paypal@wrighthobbies.com he'll swap your 48 processors for 168's. They'll be blank, but we can use one of my SPI programmers to drop the Arduino bootloader in.

Ardunio is a bit different than Assembly, Bascom, or C/C++ in that it provides what is known as a bootloader. The Arduino bootloader provides a mechanism that allows you to load a program into the flash memory of the device without using an SPI programmer.

By way of an explanation, SPI programmers (what Bascom/C++ guys would use) use hardware built into the chip to completely replace the memory of the chip with a new program. The Ardunio bootloader is a program that was originally placed onto a blank chip by an SPI programmer. Once that bootloader is running it uses the chip's TTL Serial port, instead of the SPI port, to allow you to partially replace the chips memory with your Ardunio program while leaving the bootloader intact and ready to receive another program later. I guess they felt novice folk would be more familiar with a serial port as opposed to an SPI port. SPI programmers typically have greater control over the chip's features but can be more complex to use and at one time were more expensive.

So, with Arduino, instead of (or in addition to) an SPI programmer you'll want to have either an RS-232 to TTL-Serial converter cable or a USB to TTL-Serial cable (virtual com port) to translate between your computer's serial port and the chip's TTL-Serial port. With that cable the Arduino development environment on your computer can talk to the bootloader on the chip and work with it to get your Arduino programs into the chip.

Here are a couple of each type of cable:

I'll have one RS-232 to TTL-Serial cable and a couple of USB to TTL-Serial cables that folks can borrow.

I will also suck it up and port the example code to Arduino. I've been meaning to write something in Arduino anyway just so I can help folks with questions about it. You can't hardly visit a tech blog theses days without seeing an Ardunio post, so an increasing number of folks seem to be interested.

Arduino here we come!

dujoducom's picture
On September 22nd, 2008 dujoducom says:

Great, I just sent the $2 upgrade fee as well!

Thanks!

raster's picture
On September 17th, 2008 raster says:

Thanks Royce, I just PayPal'd him the extra $2...

Thanks

raster's picture
On September 15th, 2008 raster says:

I'm totally new to this... I typically run Mac OS X, but will have my Xandros Linux running Eee PC at BarCamp (no Wine on it, though I can look into it, but command line doesn't scare me at all.) Hopefully the session will teach me a lot, and I'll walk away with a functioning robot.

AA batteries?

raster's picture
On September 15th, 2008 raster says:

Royce, it looks like we need to supply AA batteries for the kits.... anything else we might need? (Masking tape... dark and/or light in color?)

Which kit?

dujoducom's picture
On September 8th, 2008 dujoducom says:

Do you have a link to the exact kit to be purchased?

Sorry for the delay. Last

On September 15th, 2008 Royce says:

Sorry for the delay. Last week was pretty busy. The exact kit can now be ordered here: http://www.wrighthobbies.net/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=160

Soldering irons

raster's picture
On September 2nd, 2008 raster says:

Not sure if I'll participate (with my bad arm, I might not be able to) but I can probably provide 2 soldering irons if needed.

Possibly interested.

On September 2nd, 2008 DizzyD says:

Just curious, how many have signed up so far? Will we get a big turnout or is this going to be a small intimate group? Also, must we make the serial cable to plug in our computer to program the robot also or will one be provided? Will a computer be provided?

On Cables and Computers

On September 4th, 2008 Royce says:

The kit will come with a programmer that you must make. However, I will have a number of pre-made programmers that you can borrow so you can skip that part if you like. There will some computers available as well. Depending on turn-out and the number of folks with their own computers you might have to share one. (Edited)

To be honest, I don't know.

On September 4th, 2008 Royce says:

To be honest, I don't know. At the moment there does not seem to be a publicly exposed view of the sign-up nodes. Hopefully, in a few days I can talk one of the website owners in to making such a beast.

Signups

raster's picture
On September 4th, 2008 raster says:

Right now there is 1 person signed up. I'll see if we can publicly display the signups.

3 so far...

raster's picture
On September 15th, 2008 raster says:

Ok, I signed up, so there are three of us so far.

4 now

raster's picture
On September 22nd, 2008 raster says:

4 people signed up (not including Royce.)