Arduino
- Why Arduino?
- Hardware Specs
- Software Specs
Robots
- Actual educational robots research
- Eurobot summary
Microcontrollers
- Pin Usage
- Microcontroller, DSPs & DSCs
- Advantages and Disadvantages of DSCs
- Comparison Table updated
Meetings
- Meeting with Gary Quinn, Sand Point HS
Post-it
Why Arduino?
For High School Kit…
- Simple and flexible design.
- Easy to use.
- Open architecture, open source.
- Cheap hardware, free software.
- Big community, therefore good support.
- Works on Unix machines and Windows machines.
- Has the characteristics we were looking for:
- More internal memory than Boe-bot or Sumo-bots.
- Good I/O capacity.
- Several communication protocols support.
Hardware Specs
- Programmable through USB, BT (Blue Tooth), RS-232 (Serial port) or ICSP (In Chip Serial Programming).
Those of Atmega168 in the Microcontroller table.
Software Specs
A language has been developed for it. It is oriented for microcontrollers and embedded processors (Like P-Basic). A free tool is used to download the program to the board. It is also programmable using the Atmel software (AVR Studio), also a free tool.
NOTE: It is also possible under some Atmel microcontrollers to compile BASIC language. The compiler is called BASCOM-AVR. Its price is $79.
Actual educational robots research
e-Puck
Their project: Open Hardware Educational Robot
Some of their goals: Cheap, flexible, User friendly
Project people: It's been developed by ten people split in four different groups that have developed
different modules of the robot.
Structure: simple, small cylindric shape, two wheels.
COMMENTS:
- Would be great to get to a robot like this, very upgradable, open architecture, "cheap", flexible, oriented to teach and learn from it.
- Different boards with different tasks mounted one on top of the other one.
- "Cheap" The final prize for this robot is 545 €, 685 $. It isn't cheap for High schools interests but it is consider cheap in the robot's market.
Microbótica
Most of the webpage in Spanish, if not all
Projects: Their idea was to build some microbots able to cooperate among them. The developed several different boards. Some of those are:
- A autonomous control system board.
- Artificial vision autoguide.
- Professional develop board (c-programmable).
They also focus in bots tournaments. Their products have been lately adapted to educational use in some Universities in Spain. Also used by secondary education schools (14 to 16 years old)
Structure: Different robots, most of them use wheels to move.
COMMENTS:
- Easy to use; not very flexible for higher level education; relatively old architecture: they still use a Motorola HC11 microcontroller.
- As the e-puck they also use the same board philosophy.
Evolution Robotics
Projects: Two different projects for two different levels.
ER1: capable of recognise objects, speech recognition, networking, remote control,autonomous mobility, gripper (arm) extra hook-up tool.
ERSP: Intended for advanced level and research It has a development platform with four primary areas of functionality: vision, navigation, interaction and architecture. The difference between ERC1 and ERSP is mostly the level of knowledge required to use them.
COMMENTS: Two different robots for different levels of use
Lego Mindstorms
Project: Bunch of sensors connected to a central unit display. Sensors can be installed into four different robots.
Structure: Different kinds of robots, bug, humanoid, arm, ..
more about Lego Mindstorms
K-Team
Project: some different robots, Khepera III is the most advanced (They also distribute e-puck)
Features: embedded Linux, IR sensors, ultrasonic sensors, wifi and bluethooth
The Khepera III is a new standard tool for robotic experiments and demonstrations such as:
Navigation , Artificial Intelligence, Multi-Agents System, Control, Collective Behavior, Real-Time Programming, Advanced Electronics Demonstration
Structure: cylindric like shape, Khepera III diameter is 13cm.
Sony Aibo
Link to links to robots
Eurobot summary
This are the ideas I came up with after going through the definitions of the Eurobot contests showed below
Ideas for the O.A.R.
- Be able to accomplish the last three mentioned trials
- Colour recognition
- Positioning. Field recognition. Go back a determined distance following back its steps
- Articulated arm
- Pull and push
- Collect objects
- Grab?
- Lift objects
- Object recognition?
Eurobot contests
Eurobot'98 – Football (Soccer)
The rules are very similar to a football match with more than one ball. On a totally flat track with 8 tennis balls all over it, 2 robots have to score as much goals as possible.
Eurobot'99 – Castles Attack
The track is divided in 2 by a ravine with 2 bridges. On each side, a castle made by wooden cylinders rises. Each team has to knock down the opposite castle by contact or by using the tennis balls which are on the playing ground. Each team starts the match behind its own castle.
Eurobot'00 – Fun Fair
On a hilly track divided in 2 sides, 10 balloons stand : 5 blue ones and 5 yellow ones. Each team has to blow up the opponent's balloons in the opposite side of the playing ground. The use of projectiles is forbidden and the maximum size of a robot does not allow it to burst the balloons from afar.
Eurobot'01 – Space Odyssey
Visitors from a faraway galaxy, Science and Technology have discovered a new star around which six planets orbit. This is a great opportunity for them to explore these new worlds! But Science and Technology disagree about how to explore them. Therefore, they make a deal: whoever conquers the most celestial bodies with its flags flying as high possible in 1 minute 30 seconds will have the right to impose its exploration method. Science on the left… Technology on the right… ready in their launch airlocks… 3… 2… 1… GO! And they're away for one and a half minutes of flat-out competition!
Eurobot'02 – Flying Billiards
On a flat playing field, 8 red balls and 4 black balls are randomly placed, complying to a central symmetry. Each robot starts from one end of the playing field and has to put the black balls in the pockets at its own side and the red ones at the opposite side. After 1min30s, the points are counted !
Eurobot'03 - Heads or Tails
The die is cast ! Our gamblers have one and half minutes to break the bank. Their goal is to place as much pucks as possible on the right colour. They will try every possible means : throw projectiles, catch the pucks, push them, stack them up…. After 1min30s, the points are counted !
Eurobot'04 – Coconut Rugby
This year, robots are gathering on a tropical island. Inhabitants of the island, wearing Hawaiian shirts and flowered collars, challenge the robots for a “ Coconut Rugby ”. The aim of the game is to collect coconuts and to bring them in the opponent’s in-goal (score a try) or to throw them between the two opponent’s coconut trees (drop goal) Natives will be particularly sensitive to the behaviour of the participants : fair-play, mutual aid, good mood…On “Coconut Island”, the most important thing is to have fun, exchange, learn and practice robotics : competition is only a foreground.
Eurobot'05 - Bowling
The team which will count the largest number of skittles of its colour laid down at the end of the match, will be the winner. But be careful: it seems easy and quick to lay down its own skittles, however this is also possible to set up the ones of the opponent. With one or two robots per team, this is probably were is the challenge… Which strategy your robot is going to choose ?
Eurobot'06 – Funny Golf
Two robots on a golf course! The team which inserts the most white balls in his holes at the end of the match will be the winner. But be careful, it is also possible to insert black balls in the opponent’s holes to prevent him from scoring !
Eurobot'07 Robot Recycling Rally
Waste, Sort & Win! The robot which sorts the most waste into correct bins will be the winner.
Other National contests to qualify for Eurobot:
- Speeding: Follow a black line on the floor as fast as possible, circuit like competition
- Trailing: To trail a black line as fast as possible, not circuit like competition
- "Scaping": Get out from a labyrinth as fast as possible. Without breaking down the walls
- Pin Usage
- Microcontroller, DSPs & DSCs
- Advantages and Disadvantages of DSCs
- Comparison Table updated
Pin Usage
This archive shows the pin usage.
pin_usage.odg - Need of openoffice.org to open this archive.
Microcontroller Research
From the article: The evolution of the digital signal controller
All of the operations that can be performed on a DSP can be performed on an MCU
Digital Signal Controller (DSC = DSP + MCU), include all of the features listed below
Microcontrollers: MCU
- Optimized to perform a wide array of logical, diagnostic, and arithmetic operations on almost any combination of input data from various sources.
- General-purpose capability.
- Control-orientated instructions, bit-manipulation instructions.
- Ability to manipulate data easily using the stack pointer.
- Inclusion of on-chip peripherals.
- Fast interrupt-handling capability.
Digital signal processors: DSP
- Very efficient at repetitive, numerically intensive tasks.
- Specific hardware to perform the multiply and accumulate (MAC) operation as well as guard bits in the accumulator.
- Ability to access multiple memory locations simultaneously.
- Address generation while instructions are being processed.
- Circuits used to manipulate register contents quickly in order to scale data.
Back to top
From the article: Control and signal processing: Can one processor do it all?
Unified architectures
- (A) Make it easier for designers to ease into signal processing with formerly control-only applications.
- (A) Immediate access to control and DSP functions under a single memory map and a single set of tools.
- (A) Reduce asynchronous threads.
- (A) Data and time dependencies are easier to see.
- (A) Simplify system integration.
- (D) Require higher clock rates, Therefore
- (D) Higher power consumption.
Dual-heterogeneous core systems
- (D) Are more complex than unified architectures.
- (D) Designers must obtain and learn two languages or variants as well as the idiosyncrasies of two tool sets.
- (D) No immediate access exists between the microcontroller and DSP.
- (D) Developers must build the interprocessor-communication mechanisms and protocols.
- (A) Enjoys a degree of autonomy between the instruction threads. Software changes on one processor may have little or no effect on the other processor. Changing the user-interface code in a dual-configuration system rarely impacts the signal-processing thread.
- (A) Independently clock each core at the rate the application requires.
Table comparing some of the architectures
| Key parameter | AT91SAM7S256 | Atmega168 | dsPIC30F6011A | AT91SAM7A3 | PIC24HJ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | ATMEL | ATMEL | Microchip | ATMEL | Microchip |
| Architecture (bits) | 32 MCU | 8 MCU | 16 DSP | 32 MCU | 16 MCU |
| Flash (Bytes) | 256K | 16K | 144K | 256K | up to 256K |
| EEPROM (Bytes) | - | 0.5K | 4K | - | - |
| SRAM (Bytes) | 64K | 1K | 8K | 32K | up to 16K |
| RTC/RTT | -/1 | yes/- | RTC for timer | -/1 | RTC for timer |
| ADC Channels | 8 (10bits) | 6/8(10bits) | 16(12bits) | 16(10bits) | up to 32 (10 or 12bits) |
| Peripheral DMA Channels | 11 | - | - | 19 | 8 |
| Max. RC Clock Speed (Mhz) | 3 - 20 | 8 | 7.37 | 22Khz - 42Khz | 7.37 |
| Max. Instruction Speed (Mhz) | 55 | 20 | Up to 60 | 60 | up to 80 |
| I/O Pins | 32 | 23 | 68 | 62 | 85 |
| Enhanced USART | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| USART/DBGU | -/1 | 1/- | 1/- | 3/1 | -/- |
| UART | - | - | 2 | 1 | 2 modules |
| SPI | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| TWI | 1 | yes | - | 1 | - |
| SSC | 1 | - | - | 2 | - |
| USB Device | FS | - | - | FS | - |
| PWM Controller | 4 | 6 | yes | 8 | up to 8 |
| High Current Pads | 4 | - | - | - | - |
| 32-bit Timers | - | - | 2 | - | up to 4 |
| 16-bit Timers | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 | up to 9 |
| 8-bit Timers | - | 2 | - | - | - |
| Period Interval Timer | 1 | - | - | 1 | - |
| Watchdog Timer | 1 | yes | yes | 1 | yes |
| Power-On-Reset | 1 | yes | yes | 1 | yes |
| Brown Out Detection | 1 | yes | yes | - | yes |
| On-chip RC Oscillator | 1 | On chip oscillator | with WDT | 1 | yes |
| Crystal Oscillator/PLL | 1/1 | On chip oscillator | ?/yes | 1/1 | both |
| Interrupts Internal/Ext Sources | ? | 26/26 | 36?/5 | 27?/5? | 61/5 |
| I/O Voltage Domain (V) | 3.3 | 1.8 - 5.5 | 2.5 – 5.5 | 3.3 | 3.0-3.6 Digital inputs 5V |
| PB Free Packages | QFN 64 LQFP 64 | TQFP 32, MLF 32, PDIP 28 | TQFP 80 | LQFP 100 | TQFP 64 or 100 |
RTC Real Time Clock, RTT Real Time Timer, WDT Watch Dog Timer, USART Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter, SPI Serial Parallel Interface, SSC Synchornous Serial Controller, TWI Two Wires Interface
Meeting with Gary Quinn, Sand Point HS
Scope of the class: One year HS class.
Actual tools: Right now they are using the parallax sumo bots.
Keep in mind they are high school students and teachers are HS teachers, probably not an expert in the subject.
Notes about the HW:
- Approximate size: 5 by 8 inches.
- Servo motors.
- Adapt robot to standards. For instance USB to connect robot to a PC; use 9Volts RC batteries.
- Need of a bread board to teach basic circuit theory.
- Include more than two wheels makes the programming/setting up difficult for HS students. A trail wheel is useful but can be tricky to program perfect turns.
- Easily manipulable and
- be sure that needed accessible part are accessible. For example servo motors, sensors, switches, etc.
- Protect weak or sensitive parts such as sensors.
Notes about the SW:
- Need of motor control.
- Sensors feedback.
- Debugging and diagnosis important, troubleshooting.
More info:
Small-bot Robot
Lake City High School Bot-R-Us
PBasic programming language pdf file
Microsoft Robotics Studio
Post-it-Note Brainstorming
Category 1(half): Outputs
- Opening case
- Exposed breadboard (to add components)
- LCD Display
- Colored LEDs to show processing
- Simple circuit wires that can be exposed
Category 8: Sensoring
- Voice commands
- Commands by recognition of cards or shapes
- Cover all human senses
- Two cameras for vision, like eyes
- Able to identify shapes
- Able to identify objects and say what the are
