Cover.

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Vol. 3 No. 2
SERVO MAGAZINE
RECYCLABLE ROBOT SOFTWARE
February 2005

Circle #106 on the Reader Service Card.

CoverInside.qxd 1/4/2005 9:42 PM Page 2

Remember when...
...electronics stores were stocked to the rafters

with every component imaginable and there was ALWAYS

a knowledgeable person there to help you?

Think those days are gone?

Well they’re not! 1-800-455-6119
You just need a little Jameco@Home.
Call for a FREE catalog today.

We have the electronic components and knowledgeable

Technical Support people who can help bring back the fun
in your electronics hobbies, inventions, and DIY projects.

Circle #60 on the Reader Service Card.

Be sure to visit our new website at Jameco @ Home
www.Jameco.com/nvb —where electronics is still fun!
Circle #32 on the Reader Service Card.
Full Page.qxd 12/9/2004 3:22 PM Page 3

Circle #81 on
the Reader Service Card.
TOC.qxd 1/4/2005 4:46 PM Page 4

Departments Columns
6 Publisher’s Info 6 Mind/Iron
7 Bio-Feedback 8 Rubberbands
44 New Products 12 Robotics Resources
50 Robo-Links 17 Assembly Line
62 Events Calendar 24 Brain Matrix
63 Robotics Showcase 43 Menagerie
70 SERVO Bookstore 64 Robytes
82 Advertiser’s Index 66 Ask Mr. Roboto
72 Lessons From the Lab
78 GeerHead
81 Appetizer

Take a Sneak Peek!

Thanks to Sozbots
(www.sozbots.com)
for the photo of RoboOne
on the cover!

SERVO Magazine (ISSN 1546-0592/CDN

W alk This W ay, Ey!
Pub Agree#40702530) is published monthly
for $24.95 per year by T & L Publications, Inc.,
430 Princeland Court, Corona, CA 92879.
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4 SERVO 2.2005
TOC.qxd 1/4/2005 8:13 AM Page 5

SERVO 2.2005VOL. 3 NO. 2

Features & Projects

19 Recycle Your Robot’s Code

by Steven Grau

26 Step Up and Get Motorvated!

by Peter Best

37 A Cut Above
by Michael Simpson

46 PIC Your Speed

by Dennis Volrath

51 The Core of the Atom, Part 2

by Kerry Barlow

57 Hats Off to RoboSapien

by Henry Pfister

SERVO 2.2005 5
JanPages6&7.qxd 1/5/2005 8:41 AM Page 6
Mind / Iron
I’ve seen creative writers refuse to
discuss their new work until it’s safely in
print. At races and car shows, I have
witnessed people acting as if their hoods
were hermetically sealed. Academics
often neglect to teach about a new
thought until they have safeguarded
their intellectual property. Yet, robot
builders will practically gut their
creations in order to show someone how
to replicate their builds. They publish
their code and parts lists online and in
the pages of this magazine.
This trait, at first, seems at odds
with the sentiments Dave Calkins writes
about in this month’s “Appetizer.” Dave
discusses the competitive programming
of the human race and, therefore,
robot builders. As I read Dave’s article,
I agreed with him wholeheartedly;
robotic events offer the best means to
learn, be inspired, and meet like-
minded individuals. I began to wonder
why — in such a competitive hobby as
robotics — the community remains so
open about the methods used to create
the prize-winning bots seen at these
events.
When you think about it, is
competition really at odds with the
open exchange of ideas? I don’t believe
it is. A true competitor will tell you that
winning only counts when the
challengers are evenly matched. Still, it
can’t be that simple; even in a relatively
young field — like robotics — skilled
competitors can be found.
Upon reflection, I believe that this
openness in the robotic community
stems from a common goal to further
the field. We all know that robotics will,
one day, revolutionize the world as we
know it and we want to be a part of
that wave of social and cultural
6 SERVO 02.2005
Published Monthly By
The TechTrax Group — A Division Of
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transformation. In order to accomplish Larry Lemieux
such a goal, the minds of the publisher@servomagazine.com
community have to share their
inspirations, failures, and successes. To ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/
VP OF SALES/MARKETING
paraphrase Marleen Barr, the noted
Robin Lemieux
critic of science fiction literature, only robin@servomagazine.com
by questioning the established
knowledge and practices of a MANAGING EDITOR
community can we ever hope to move Alexandra Lindstrom
beyond the present knowledge base alexa@servomagazine.com
and advance to the goals we all claim
to support and work toward. CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
Mary Descaro
That sentiment finds its validation subscribe@servomagazine.com
in the upcoming robotic generation.
Almost any given issue of SERVO WEB CONTENT/STORE
highlights the successes of those who Michael Kaudze
aren’t even old enough to vote, yet find michael@servomagazine.com
new ways to push the boundaries of
the field. In addition, the people behind PRODUCTION/GRAPHICS
Shannon Lemieux
High Tech High saw a need to open a
new campus in Los Angeles, CA, that COVER ART
caters to lower-income students who Michele Durant
would, otherwise, not be able to access
such an intensive eduction in robotics STAFF
and technology. Kristin Rutz
As a community, we see that Dawn Saladino
young minds which haven’t yet learned
OUR PET ROBOTS
what we say can’t be done are, in fact,
Guido
the basis of our future. As we share our Mifune
trade secrets, they will take us up on
the challenge of moving forward, using Copyright 2005 by
the knowledge and information that T & L Publications, Inc.
found its root in others. All Rights Reserved
When that day comes where the
robotics revolution has firmly taken All advertising is subject to publisher's approval.
We are not responsible for mistakes, misprints,
hold, it may be those who now look or typographical errors. SERVO Magazine
forward to being old enough to assumes no responsibility for the availability or
compete in FIRST who lead the way, condition of advertised items or for the honesty
but their inspiration and education will of the advertiser.The publisher makes no claims
be founded on what others shared for the legality of any item advertised in SERVO.
openly in an effort to create a well- This is the sole responsibility of the advertiser.
rounded community of equally Advertisers and their agencies agree to
indemnify and protect the publisher from any
matched and like-minded individuals
and all claims, action, or expense arising from
who are at the robot events today. SV advertising placed in SERVO. Please send all
subscription orders, correspondence, UPS,
overnight mail, and artwork to: 430 Princeland
Court, Corona, CA 92879.
JanPages6&7.qxd 1/5/2005 11:19 AM Page 7
Dear SERVO,
From what I have read, I think I like
SERVO Magazine better than Nuts &
Volts. I have never subscribed to N&V,
but I have purchased it from time to
time from a local Border’s bookstore.
SERVO Magazine seems more
appealing to me.
While I am not an active robotics
enthusiast, I do like controlling things
with embedded microcontrollers. That
is the reason for my main interest in
SERVO Magazine.
I am not particularly a BASIC Stamp
fan. I prefer the MC68HC11 and the
Atmel AVR breeds of microcontrollers
but, what information SERVO provides is
directly applicable to those other kinds
of microcontrollers, too.
Carl W. Livingston,
via Internet
Dear SERVO,
Great magazine and excellent
articles! I’m looking forward to some
Roomba hacks. I just hope you don't go
"tango uniform" like the other
magazines I used to receive.
Steven Canning
via Internet
Dear SERVO,
I enjoyed Jack Buffington's
“Rubberbands and Bailing Wire” article
regarding the addition of an LCD to a
robot (January 2005). It was well
written and had some good tips.
My biggest comment is simply that
these displays (parallel) are a pain in
the butt! Yes, they have a few good
points, which were mentioned in the
article. However, for the novice builder
using a display for the first time, I
would highly recommend starting out
with a serial display.
Granted, they are a little more
expensive, but they are much easier to
use and only take up one pin on the
PIC (or STAMP or whatever). If you
don't have an "official" serial port on
the processor, you can always do some
bit banging.
Keep up the good work.
Paul Kafig
via Internet
Dear SERVO,
I must say that I am a bit
disappointed in your coverage of your
much promoted and anticipated Tetsujin
competition. As an avid reader, I must
admit I was expecting a bit more than
Circle #70 on the Reader Service Card.
two pages of captioned pictures and a
vague promise of more to come (of
which I see nothing in the January issue).
The electrical engineering journal
we subscribe to at work covered the
event almost as well as you have (they
gave it a whole two sentences). I'm not
sure what else I expected from the
coverage of this event, but it was
definitely more than I've gotten from
your last two issues.
Thanks for your time.
Jason Urban
via Internet
Dear Jason,
In our goal to provide interesting
and informative reading for our diverse
audience, we decided to spread the
coverage of Tetsujin over several issues
rather than one. Future issues will
feature articles by or interviews with
the Tetsujin competitors. These articles
will contain details about their builds
and the successes and trials they found
along the road to Tetsujin. The
December issue of SERVO featured an
“Appetizer” column by Tetsujin winner
Alex Sulkowski as a forerunner of the
content to come.
— Editor
SERVO 02.2005 7
Rubberbands.qxd 1/3/2005 4:14 PM Page 8

by Jack Buffington

Bars and Batteries:

Displaying Your Robot’s Battery
Level on an LCD Display

Thisexpands
month’s column is a bit of a mixed bag. The first part
on last month’s column, which described how to
To create a special character, you will need to issue a
command to set the character generator RAM address.
communicate with an alphanumeric LCD display. This month, There are 64 bytes of character generator RAM. Each char-
you’ll learn how to create custom characters. Using these acter is built by using eight of those bytes, which represent
characters, you’ll learn how to draw bar graphs. The second the pixel rows in the characters. Only the lowest five bits
part of this column will use one of the bar graphs and a are used. If you set a bit high, its corresponding pixel
little extra circuitry connected to your microprocessor to will turn black when that character is displayed. To build a
allow you to monitor the battery voltage of your robot. character, you will specify the first character generator
Let’s dive right in and start with custom characters. A RAM address that you want to write to and then you
custom character is any character you might create that is will send data corresponding to the pixel rows for that
not part of the standard character set. As you can see in character. Each byte sent will represent a lower row of
Figure 1, there are plenty of different characters to choose pixels in the character.
from, but — if you can’t find the character that you want — Figure 2 shows a character and the data that you would
then the HD44780 can let you create up to eight special char- send to define it. If you sent a character generator address
acters of your own design to be displayed. These characters of zero and then wrote eight bytes of data, then you will
are mapped into the spots on the left side of the chart in have completely defined the first character. If you send an
Figure 1. Some potential uses for custom characters would additional byte, then you will have written to the top row
be to display things such as a square, diagonal arrow, Greek of the second character. You can change the character
letters, a moving clock icon, or bar graphs. generator address at any time, so you could choose to write
to the first character and
Figure 1. The standard characters of the Figure 2. A smiley face and the bytes that you then skip to the third char-
HD44780 and their character codes. can use to create it. acter, if you wanted to.
Our first example will
be to create special charac-
ters that will let you create
vertical bar graphs of any
height. To make this easy
to integrate into a program,
the bar graph code is imple-
mented in two subroutines
and one look-up table. The
look-up table holds
Figure 3. A look-up table for a vertical bar graph.
the bytes of data
used to initialize
const int8 vGraphBytes[] = {0,0,0,0,0,0,0,31,
0,0,0,0,0,0,31,31, the characters, the
0,0,0,0,0,31,31,31, first subroutine
0,0,0,0,31,31,31,31, writes those bytes
0,0,0,31,31,31,31,31, to the character
0,0,31,31,31,31,31,31,
0,31,31,31,31,31,31,31, generator RAM,
31,31,31,31,31,31,31,31}; and the second
subroutine draws
8 SERVO 02.2005
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Rubberbands and Bailing Wire

a bar graph for you.

The vertical bar graph routine will draw a bar graph up
to four characters high on the column that you specify. This
routine accepts an eight-bit value for its magnitude, which it
scales for you to the appropriate value that it needs. It makes
reference to a subroutine called lcdMoveTo(). You can find
details about this routine in last month’s column.
You can pack a lot of vertical bar graphs into an LCD
screen, but you can only display 32 different values this
way, so you may want to use a horizontal bar graph. With a
horizontal bar graph, you can display 200 different values.
This can give you a clearer indication of an eight-bit value.
Here are the look-up table and subroutine that draw a
horizontal bar graph.
So far, you have been shown how to draw bar graphs,
but nothing has been said about how you could go about
using them. Some ways that you could make use of a bar
graph could be as a sound level meter, a speedometer, a
graph of how many times something has happened over a
certain duration, or as a progress indicator for lengthy
calculations. If you used multiple vertical bar graphs,
you could build a strip chart to show the value of some
variable over time. The example shown here will be how to
use a bar graph to display the current level of your robot’s
batteries.
You might think that having your robot measure the
state of its own batteries would be a tricky process, but it is
actually quite simple. All that it requires is that you have one
free analog to digital (A/D) input pin and two resistors! The
example here shows how to measure the state of a 9 volt
battery, but other voltages can be measured using simple
changes to the circuit and program.
To create the circuit, you will take two resistors and
connect them together to create a voltage divider, as shown
in Figure 7. The PIC in the example is running at 5 volts. The
PIC can use its input voltage as the reference voltage for
its A/D converter, so — in this set-up — it will be able to
measure from 0 to 5 volts. In this example, the voltage level
of a 9 volt battery is being measured, so a voltage divider
that has two equal value resistors is being used. This will
void lcdMakeVbarGraphCharacters()
{ // vertical bar graph
int8 temp8;
output_low(RS);
output_low(RW);
output_high(E);
portB = 0b01000000;
delay_us(20);
output_low(E);
lcdBusy();
for(temp8 = 0; temp8 < 64; temp8++)
{
lcdPutChar(vGraphBytes[temp8]);
}
}
Figure 4. A subroutine that sets up the characters for
the vertical bar graph.
result in the voltage of the battery being divided in two,
which shifts the voltage into a range that the PIC’s A/D
converter can read. If you are using the circuit in Figure 7,
then you will start to lose accuracy as the battery voltage
drops near 5 volts. At this point, the voltage regulator will
start to output a voltage less than 5 volts, which throws off
the calculation. Still, if the voltage has dropped to 5 volts,
then the battery is very close to dead anyway.
Let’s look at how you can calculate and display the
battery’s voltage on your LCD display. The A/D value that is
read is an eight-bit value. Since the processor is running at
5 volts and the circuit is using a voltage divider that divides
the input voltage by two, the maximum voltage that can be
Figure 5. A subroutine that draws a vertical bar graph.
void vBarGraph(int8 magnitude, int8 column)
{ //draws a vertical bar graph. Magnitude is 0-255
int16 temp16;
int8 temp8;
temp16 = magnitude;
temp16 *= 32;
temp16 /= 255; // temp16 now contains 0-32

TECH TIDBIT for(temp8 = 4; temp8 != 0; temp8—)

{
Do you keep burning your table or workbench lcdMoveTo(temp8,column);
if(temp16 > 7)
with your soldering iron? Here’s an easy-to-make holder {
that you can build that works just like the ones in lcdPutChar(7); // solid block
expensive soldering stations. Go to your local craft temp16 -= 8;
or hobby store and ask for }
else if (temp16 > 0)
aluminum armature wire. You {
can get it in several diameters, lcdPutChar(temp16 - 1); // partial block
but 1/4” seems to work the best. temp16 = 0;
}
Wrap the armature wire around else
a broomstick or dowel rod to lcdPutChar(32); // space character
create the spiral and then bend }
the base by hand. }

SERVO 02.2005 9
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Rubberbands and Bailing Wire

read is 10 volts. If you divide 10 volts into 256 equal parts, writing the C code easy, since floating point automatically
then you will be able to resolve the battery’s voltage to within figures out the decimal point for you and you can simply use
.039 volts. That is sufficient for most things, but you could a printf() statement to get your result. To find the voltage,
also set up the PIC to read analog voltages with 10-bit you could simply use the following equation: read voltage =
precision, which would let you resolve your battery voltage (reading/255) * the maximum readable voltage. In this case,
to within .009 volts. That is overkill for this application, so the maximum readable voltage would be 10 volts.
eight-bit resolution will be used. The BIG downside of using floating-point math is that it
There are three ways that you can calculate your battery’s compiles into a gargantuan amount of machine code.
voltage. There is no right or wrong way to do it, but there are Floating-point may be perfectly fine on a desktop computer,
better and worse methods. Let’s look at the obvious first but — on a PIC with very limited resources — you will find that
choice, which is to use floating-point math. This makes using floating-point math is an option of last resort, since it
will run slowly and will take up
Figure 6. The look-up table and subroutine to draw a horizontal bar graph. much of the ROM space that
const int8 hGraphBytes[] = {16,16,16,16,16,16,16,16,
you could otherwise use for the
24,24,24,24,24,24,24,24, rest of your program.
28,28,28,28,28,28,28,28, A much faster and more
30,30,30,30,30,30,30,30, compact method of arriving at
31,31,31,31,31,31,31,31}; the battery’s voltage is to use
integer math. Figure 8 shows
void hBarGraph(int8 magnitude, int8 line) how you would convert
{ between your A/D value and a
int8 temp8a; value of 0 to 1,000, which repre-
int16 temp16a;
// draws a horizontal bar graph the width of the screen on the specified line sents 10.00 volts. This method of
// pass 0-255 in magnitude calculating the voltage is simple,
lcdMoveTo(line,0); compiles to a small amount of
code, and runs quickly. There is
temp16a = magnitude;
temp16a *= 100; one problem with it, though.
temp16a /= 255; // scale it to the range of 0-85 The variable ‘volts’ needs to be a
32-bit variable. This is because
temp8a = 0; you will get overflow errors in
while(temp16a >= 5) // draw in the solid bars first
{
the ‘volts’ variable as temp8a
lcdPutChar(4); goes higher than 65. Using a
temp16a -= 5; 32-bit variable may not be a
temp8a++; problem if you have lots of RAM
}
available, but — if you don’t —
switch(temp16a) // make the last character be the right number of vertical bars
{ there is a third method that
case 0: only requires a 16-bit variable to
lcdPutChar(32); // space calculate the battery voltage.
break; Figure 9 calculates the
case 1:
lcdPutChar(0); voltage without the need to
break; worry about overflow errors. In
case 2: this case, the code is multiplying
lcdPutChar(1); by the fraction 125/32, which is
break;
case 3: really a simplified version of
lcdPutChar(2); the first equation, where the
break; numerator and denominator
case 4: were both divided by eight. This
lcdPutChar(3);
break;
version will not overflow past
} the limits of a 16-bit variable.
temp8a++; You may still have a few
questions about why the A/D
while(temp8a < 20) // overwrite remaining characters in the row with spaces
{
reading was multiplied and
lcdPutChar(32); divided by the numbers that we
temp8a++; used. Let’s look at what these
} numbers are doing. Since Figure
} 8 is the unsimplified version of
10 SERVO 02.2005
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Rubberbands and Bailing Wire

the fraction, we’ll use it for this example. It might be simpler

to think of the order of operations as dividing the reading volts = temp8a;
by 256 and then using that value to multiply by a number volts *= 1000;
representing the maximum voltage. volts /= 256;
Let’s first look at how the value is divided by 256. This is
because the A/D reading divided by 256 will result in a value Figure 8. Calculating
the battery voltage
from 0 to 1 (actually .996 because the maximum A/D value using integer math.
is 255). If you multiply this value with another value that
represents your maximum measurable voltage, then you will
arrive at your answer. For example, in Figure 8, if 2,250 was volts = temp8a;
used instead of 1,000 on the second line, then that would volts *= 125;
volts /= 32;
represent 22.50 volts. You would need to adjust the values
of your voltage divider to output 5 volts when the input was Figure 9. Calculating
22.5 volts, as well, in order to measure up to 22.5 volts. The Figure 7. The wiring needed to the battery voltage
reason that the multiplication happens first is because — if measure your battery’s voltage. using a 16-bit variable.
you divide your A/D value by 256 — you will always have a
result of 0, since you are working in integer math. integer = 0;
You now are able to have your microcontroller figure while(volts > 99)
out its battery voltage. If you are simply using this figure for {
volts -= 100;
internal calculations, then you could stop here. If you want integer++;
to be able to display it on your LCD screen, then you will }
probably want to add a decimal point to the value so that it decimal = volts;
is more easily understood.
Figure 10 shows a chunk of code that lets you figure out hBarGraph(temp8a,1);
lcdMoveTo(2,0);
an integer portion and a decimal portion of the value and printf(lcdPutChar,”%u.%02u volts”, integer,decimal);
then print it out on the screen. It also prints out a horizontal
bar graph above the reading as a quick way that you can Figure 10. How to display the battery voltage.
visually read the battery voltage.
As a final wrap-up on this topic, here are two other ways by 57, you get 4.49, which is the voltage of your battery.
of measuring battery voltages. If you are looking to measure A 1 volt reference makes the calculation easy, but the
the voltage of a battery that does not power the processor, math isn’t too much harder if you use a different voltage
you just need to tie its ground to the processor’s ground. This reference.
will allow you to measure its voltage. If you are trying to This month’s column showed you how to draw bar graphs
measure the voltage of a battery that is powering your and how to measure your robot’s battery’s voltages. Now, you
processor directly without a voltage regulator between the can build robots that have an actual user interface and that
battery and the processor, then you will need to use a circuit can know when their batteries are getting low so that they
like the one shown in Figure 12. can seek out a way to recharge or at least shut down grace-
This circuit uses a fixed voltage reference as the input fully. This should give you quite a bit to play around with until
to the A/D converter. A voltage reference of 1 volt or some next month’s column, where we’ll show you how to give your
other low voltage will work fine. As your battery voltage robot speech output so
drops, the A/D reading will increase. Let’s say that that it can talk to you! SV Figure 12. Measuring the
you were using a voltage reference of 1 volt voltage when the battery
powers the processor directly.
and your A/D reading was 57. If you divide 256 Figure 11. The final result.

RESOURCES
www.ccsinfo.com
Source of the C compiler for PIC processors
used in this column.

www.digikey.com
Source for electronic parts.

www.mpja.com
Sells the LCD module used in this article.

SERVO 02.2005 11
RoboResources.qxd 1/3/2005 1:24 PM Page 12
Robotics Resources:
BEYOND THE
FIVE SENSES
by Gordon McComb
A robot without sensors is just a
fancy machine. If “clothes make
the man” (this applies to women,
too, of course), then sensors make
the robot. Many robots have basic
mechanical and optical sensors —
touch switches for detecting a collision
with an object, for example, or infrared
sensors that sense nearby objects.
In this column, you’ll find sensors
that extend beyond basic touch and
infrared. There’s a whole world of
unique sensors — originally designed
for medicine or industry — that can be
applied to robotics. These sensors
can be quite expensive and several
high-end variations are listed in the
sources that follow.
However, most of the resources
presented here are either on the
affordable end of things or offer con-
cepts (with data sheets and application
notes) that you can study as you learn
how the various sensor technologies
work.
Note that, while some sensor
manufacturers will sell directly to the
public, those that do often have
minimum order requirements. If you
see a sensor that you’d like to try,
consider contacting the manufacturer
and asking for a sample. Try their website
for a list of distributors and be sure to
check out the usual sources of elec-
tronics parts, including Jameco,
Mouser, Acroname, BG Micro, Digi-Key
and other advertisers in this magazine.
You’d be surprised what goodies you
can find if you dig deep enough.
Some sensor categories that aren’t
included are tilt and accelerometer (see
“Robotics Resources,” June 2003 in
Nuts & Volts Magazine). We’ll also skip
video vision sensors and incremental
encoders this time around, as these are
special types worthy of their own
future column.
General Sources for
Sensors
Here are sources for general
industrial sensors, which include
mechanical and electronic (usually
peizoelectric) gyroscopes, ultrasonic
sensors, inductive sensors, and impact
sensors. Most of these sources are
manufacturers and offer fairly high end
products for medical and industrial
applications (think $$$).
However, even if you can’t afford a
$450.00 gyro, you can read through
the application notes and spec sheets
for ideas.
Baumer Electric, Ltd.
www.baumerelectric.com
Baumer makes industrial sensors:
inductive capacitive, photoelectric,
retro-reflective, thru-beam, ultrasonic,
proximity, and rotary encoders. This
stuff isn’t cheap, but — if you need
quality — this is where you’ll find it.
The web page is in English and
German.
Carlo Gavazzi Holding AG
www.carlogavazzi.com
High end industrial automation
components. Sensors (proximity,
photoelectric), solid-state relays, and
motor controllers.
Crossbow Technology, Inc.
www.xbow.com
Crossbow is into industrial sensors.
Among their product line are inertial
and gyro systems, accelerometers,
wireless sensor networks, tilt sensors,
and magnetometers.
RoboResources.qxd 1/3/2005 1:26 PM Page 13

Davis INOTEK
www.inotek.com
Sensors (Omron proximity, others),
test equipment, and RFID.
Entran Devices, Inc.
www.entran.com
Manufacturer of strain gauges,
load cells, accelerometers, and
pressure sensors — not cheap. The
website is in English, French, German,
and Spanish.
Honeywell International, Inc.
www.honeywell.com
Honeywell is a manufacturer of
automation and control products.
Several of their products are available
through distributors. The company also
sells some products direct.
Measurement Specialties, Inc.
www.measurementspecialties.
com
Measurement Specialties makes
and sells sensors, particularly peizo
sensors using Kynar plastic. These
sensors can be used for such things
as ultrasonic measurement, touch or
vibration sensors, and as accelerome-
ters. The company provides online
buying, but the minimum order is
$100.00. Some of their products are
also sold by other distributors.
ROBOTICS RESOURCES
module can be connected to almost Sunx Sensors USA
any computer or microcontroller www.sunx-ramco.com
and provides real time, continuous Specialty miniature sensors for
distance measurements using industrial control applications: photo-
ultrasonics. The measurement values electric, fiber optic, inductive proximity,
are sent as digital signals and are micro-photo, laser beam, color and
selectable between microseconds, mark detection, ultraviolet, ultrasonic,
millimeters, or inches. pressure, and vacuum. Spec sheets are
in Adobe Acrobat PDF.
SensComp
www.senscomp.com Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.
Ultrasonic sensors, including www.vishay.com
(what were) the Polaroid electrostatic Vishay is a leading manufacturer
transducers and driver boards. of all sorts of electronic components,
SensComp bought out the Polaroid including motion sensors, optical
division that made these transducers sensors, conductive plastic rotation
and is now the source for these sensors, and more. Their website lists
excellent products. the major categories of products —
complete with PDF data sheets. Spend
Sensors, Inc. a few hours browsing and you’re sure
www.sensorsincorporated.com to find some interesting stuff!
Sensors, what else? Online retailer/
distributor for Hohner (encoders), GPS Sensors
Carlo Gavazzi (proximity), Cutler-
Hammer, SICK, and others. GPS stands for global positioning
satellite, a system of special communi-
SICK, Inc. cations satellites used to pinpoint loca-
www.sickoptic.com tions on the ground. Though once
SICK is a manufacturer of high strictly for use by the military and
end industrial sensors and electronic select commercial applications, GPS
measurement systems, including laser systems are now routinely available for
proximity scanners, barcoders, and 2-D consumer use. Several GPS receivers
laser radar. Technical white papers are come ready-made for connection
available on the site. directly to a computer, which — with

Murata Manufacturing Co.

www.murata.com
Makers of pyroelectric infrared
sensors, peizoelectric gyroscopes,
yEngineering
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SERVO 02.2005 13
RoboResources.qxd 1/3/2005 1:29 PM Page 14
ROBOTICS RESOURCES
proper software — can interpret the
positioning signals. GPS receivers can
be used with outdoor robots to give
them a sense of exactly where they are
in the world.
Garmin, Ltd.
www.garmin.com
Garmin is a major manufacturer
of GPS systems, including OEM
modules. A popular GPS unit that is
used in robots is the eTrex miniature
GPS handheld.
You can buy accessories (data
cables, mounting brackets, etc.) from
Garmin, but the GPS units themselves
are only sold through resellers. Online
resellers include GPS City, GPS
Discount, and others.
GPS City
www.gpscity.com
Sells GPS units for all occasions.
Among many products, they sell the
Garmin GPS 35 OEM sensor, which
can be connected to any PC or micro-
controller through an RS-232 serial
interface.
Lowrance Electronics, Inc.
www.lowrance.com
Lowrance is in the business of GPS
and sonar devices. Check out their GPS
Tutorial.
Magellan/Thales Navigation
www.magellangps.com
Manufacturer of GPS systems.
National Marine Electronics
Association (NMEA)
www.nmea.org
A technical association that helps
set standards for marine electronics.
One such standard of importance to
amateur robot builders is NMEA-
0183. This is a voluntary standard
followed by many manufacturers of
global positioning satellite receivers. It
allows the GPS module to interface
with other electronics, such as a
computer.
Navtech Seminars and GPS
Supply
www.navtechgps.com
Navtech is a reseller of global
Circle #25 on the Reader Service Card.
14
positioning satellite (GPS) equipment,
including receivers, antennas,
differential GPS modules, OEM GPS
kits, and books. They also provide
seminars on GPS.
Synergy Systems, LLP
www.synergy-gps.com
OEM and board level GPS
systems, using Motorola modules. Sells
starter kits for quick prototyping
and developing.
Optical Sensors
Optical sensors use light to detect
objects. Depending on the sensor
technology used, it’s possible to use
light to not only determine if an object
is near (proximity), but also how far
away an object is (distance).
These resources specialize in
optical sensors, which include infrared,
passive infrared (like the kind used in
motion detectors), and ultraviolet.
Each variation has its own unique
applications.
Glolab Corp.
www.glolab.com
Glolab manufactures and sells
multi-channel wireless transmitters and
receivers, along with encoder and
decoder modules (to permit controlling
more than one device through a
wireless link).
They also provide pyroelectric
infrared sensors and suitable Fresnel
lenses. An amplifier and hook-up
diagram for the PIR sensor are available
on the site.
Hamamatsu Corp.
www.hamamatsu.com
The main Japan office is listed;
the web page is provided in many
languages and local offices are in many
countries, including the US, France, the
UK, Germany, and Italy.
Provides: photonics detectors,
flame detectors, photo-multiplier
tubes, imaging systems, and optical
linear arrays. Products are available in
limited sample quantities and are sold
through distributors. Some items of
particular interest are (app notes
provided for many sensor types): flame
RoboResources.qxd 1/5/2005 10:47 AM Page 15

sensors (UV TRON), CdS photoconductive cells, infrared
detectors, and photo ICs.
Leica Disto
www.disto.com
Manufacturers of handheld laser range finders. The cost
isn’t exactly cheap, but reasonable for a high end bot. Part of
the worldwide Leica Geosystems group (address provided is
for the US office); products are available from distributors
or online.
RFID Sensors
RFID stands for radio frequency identification, which is
a kind of sensor that is similar in purpose to barcodes, but
is meant to operate over longer distances, and even
through other objects. (Implantable biochips — like the
kind used for pets and now people — are miniature RFID
units.)
Applications in robotics are both obvious and numerous:
you can use RFID for robot-to-robot identification, robot-to-
human identification, navigation, beacon systems, and much
more. A benefit of RFID is that the sensitivity of the reader
electronics can be varied, so that you can directly control
maximum working distances. In this way, a room could be
full of RFID elements, yet your robot will only “see” the one
closest to it.
As yet, there are few RFID systems within affordable
reach of most amateur robot builders; still, it’s an interesting
technology and it’s only a matter of time (perhaps just
months) before affordable entry-level solutions become
available. If nothing else, you can use the resources to learn
more about this technology.
ROBOTICS RESOURCES
RFID, Inc.
www.rfidinc.com
Makers and sellers of RFID receivers and transponder
tags. Offer relatively inexpensive starter kits with sampler
tags and receiver.
Strain Gauges and Load Cells
Strain gauge sensors — and their close cousin, the load
cell — are used to measure a variety of physical attributes,
including pressure, torque, tension, and bending. They are
routinely used in commercial products, such as bathroom
scales and automotive digital torque wrenches.
Though industrial strain gauges and load cells are
quite expensive (upwards of $500.00 for even a basic
unit), there are a number of sources for low precision
sensors that are quite well-suited for robotics. These
and other sources for strain gauges and load cells are
provided here. (However, note that possible minimum
order requirements exist.)
Interlink Electronics, Inc.
www.interlinkelec.com
Touch sensors and pads for laptop mice. The touch
sensors use strain gauge (they call it a force sensing resistor)
technology. They sell developer’s kits online (though they’re

CopyTag Limited
www.copytag.com
Makers of RFID receivers and tags (transponders).

Microchip Technology
www.microchip.com
Microchip makes a broad line of semiconductors,
including the venerable PICmicro microcontrollers. Their
website contains many data sheets and application notes on
using these controllers and you should be sure to download
and save them for study.
The company is also involved with RFID, selling readers
and tags, as well as developer’s kits.

OMRON Corp
www.omron.com
Omron is a multi-talented company, manufacturing a
wide array of sensors and semiconductors. Of note are their
RFID tags and readers and machine vision products:

RFID — www.omron.com/card/rfid/
Machine vision — http://oeiweb.omron.com/machine-
vision.shtm
Circle #37 on the Reader Service Card.
15
RoboResources.qxd 1/3/2005 1:31 PM Page 16
ROBOTICS RESOURCES
a bit expensive) and provide free
literature on how it all works. The
company also manufacturers and sells
(via their online store) consumer prod-
ucts, including keyboards and mice.
Measurement Systems, Inc.
www.measurementsystemsinc.
com
Manufacturer of joysticks and
miniature joysticks.
OMEGA Engineering, Inc.
www.omega.com
Omega makes sensors and data
acquisition equipment. Of primary
importance to us robo-builders are
their line of low cost, general-purpose
strain gauges. These miniature sensors
can be used to indicate stress or strain
on an object, like the pad of a foot in a
walking robot.
The sensors are sold in packs of
10 and their per-piece cost is $5.00
to $8.00 for many sizes. This is
considerably less than the average
strain gauge that is designed for
super-precise industrial measurements.
The company website provides copious
amounts of data sheets, app notes,
and engineering articles.
FIGURE 1. TAOS provides a variety of unusual (yet reasonably priced)
imaging and color sensors.
16 SERVO 02.2005
Semtech Corporation
www.semtech.com
Makers of encoders for “pointing
stick” style laptop strain gauge
pointing devices. The website offers
data sheets and application notes.
Items are available in sample quantities
and from distributors.
Miscellaneous
Sensors
The following are makers and
sellers of miscellaneous sensor types,
such as optical mouse sensors, mag-
netic sensors, and toxic gas sensors.
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
www.semiconductor.agilent.com
Makes and sells unique optical sen-
sors for use in desktop computer mice.
Banner Engineering Corp.
www.bannerengineering.com
Manufacturer of industrial photo-
electric and fiberoptic sensors.
Dinsmore Instrument Co.
www.dinsmoresensors.com
Dinsmore manufactures inexpensive
digital and analog compass sensors.
The popular 1490 outputs eight digital
compass positions (N-NE-E-SE-S-SW-W-
NW). The 1525 sensor outputs a
continuous analog sine/cosine signal
capable of being decoded to any
degree of accuracy.
Figaro USA, Inc.
www.figarosensor.com
Makers of toxic gas and oxygen
sensors.
PNI Corp./Precision Navigation
www.pnicorp.com
PNI makes compass, radar, magne-
tometer, and inclinometer sensors.
TAOS
www.taosinc.com
TAOS manufactures low cost
optical array and colormetric sensors.
Their linear sensors can be used in such
applications as line following, pattern
recognition, and odometry. The color
sensors detect the color of objects and
can be used for rudimentary object
recognition. Parallax (www.
parallax.com) packages the TAOS
TCS230 color sensor on a convenient
project board for use with the BASIC
Stamp and general robotics projects.
Xilor, Inc.
www.rfmicrolink.com
Check out their ZOFLEX ZL series
material — a pressure-activated conduc-
tive rubber. According to the website,
the resistance change with pressure is
very drastic. The material is at high
resistance (30 Mohms) when pressure
is below the actuation pressure.
Resistance drops to 0.1 ohms or less
when the material is at or
above the activation pressure. The
pressure required is too much for a
“soft touch” sensor, but other
applications are possible. SV
About the Author
Gordon McComb is the author of
several best-sellers about robotics. In
addition to writing books, he
operates www.budgetrobotics.com
which is dedicated to low-cost
amateur robotics. He can also be
reached at robots@robotoid.com
AssemblyLine.qxd 1/3/2005 1:17 PM Page 17
Part Inspection — Round # 1:
The Miniature Components
L
ast time, we examined the five
requirements for the Uno robot
design — an update of a 1950s
light-sensing, collision-detecting robot.
Two of the five requirements devel-
oped for the Uno robot project are
listed in Table 1. These two require-
ments both utilize miniature electronic
components.
One source of electronic compo-
nents is Jameco Electronics
(www.jameco.com). Jameco’s online
catalog makes it easy to locate any
item in their large inventory. Table 2
shows the Jameco information for the
miniature components identified in
Table 1.
Figure 1 shows the actual size of
the two components. Their miniature
nature suggests that care should be
used when working with them. This
includes handling (dropping them or
bending the leads excessively),
construction (lead soldering time and
temperature must be limited), and
operation (proper amount of biasing
current).
When the parts arrived in the mail
from Jameco, it was too tempting to
resist playing with them. In particular, a
series of tests was performed on the
photocell, all designed to watch its
resistance change in relation to the
amount of light presented.
A digital ohmmeter was connected
across the photocell and the photocell
was placed 6 feet from an ordinary 40
by James Antonakos
W light bulb. With the surface of the construct the photocell is receptive to
photocell facing the light bulb, the the photons that make up light. More
resistance measured 7.6K ohms. photons mean more energy, which
Leaving the photocell alone, the 40 W leads to more current flow (and, thus,
bulb was replaced with a 100 W less resistance).
bulb. The new photocell resistance With all lights off, the photocell
measured 4.4K ohms. The resistance measured 300K ohms. As we might
dropped due to an increasce in the now expect, the dimmest light has
light intensity. produced the largest resistance. Table
Grabbing a very bright flashlight 3 summarizes these intensity results.
and shining it directly into the photocell The initial intensity results from
from only inches away caused the Table 3 show what we might expect
photocell resistance to drop to 150 to see as a maximum range of opera-
ohms. Again, the brighter the light tion for the photocell. Remember that
intensity, the smaller the resistance. Uno will be in a room with at least one
This is because the material used to bulb illuminated, so we will never
Requirement Uno Component
A photoresistor for sensing brightness.
Seek a light source An analog-to-digital converter will digitize
the intensity level.
Tilt switch used to detect the bump of a
React when encountering an obstacle
collision with an obstacle.
Table 1. Two miniature-sized components used in Uno’s construction.
Component Part Number Description Price
CDS (Cadmium Sulfide)
Photocell 202366 Photocell 90 mW, 150 $1.69
Vp. 0.3 M min dark
Switch,Tilt,Vibration
Tilt Switch 235926 sensor SPDT 0.5 A, $1.49
24 VDC
Note that Jameco refers to photocells and not photoresistors,
but that these two terms are interchangeable.
Table 2. Jameco Electronics catalog information.
SERVO 02.2005 17
AssemblyLine.qxd 1/4/2005 12:59 PM Page 18

THE ASS EMB L Y L INE

Light Intensity Photocell Resistance

Dark room 300K ohms
40 W bulb at 6 feet 7.6K ohms
100 W bulb at 6 feet 4.4K ohms
Flashlight from inches away 150 ohms
Table 3. Initial intensity versus resistance test results.
Figure 1.To the left of the dime is the tile switch sensor.
On the right is the CDS photocell. 6 feet during the test. biasing circuit so that the maximum
Table 5 shows the results. power delivered to the photocell is
approach the dark resistance of 300K Clearly, light must fall directly on always less than 90 mW. If we limit the
ohms. the photocell to have the greatest power to 45 mW (operate at half-load
A second test was performed on effect. It was interesting to see that — to extend the device’s life), we can
the photocell to see how resistance even with the photocell facing totally solve the power equation backward to
changed as a function of distance. In away from the 40 W bulb — there was find the maximum voltage allowed
this test, a single 40 W bulb was used. still only 23 K ohms of resistance, much across the photocell (for its 100 ohm
The photocell was moved to various less than the 300 K ohms when there operating point at high intensity):
distances and its resistance was is no light at all.
recorded. These values are shown in One more aspect of the photocell V = √P•R = √45 mW•100Ω = 2.1 V
Table 4. requires investigation. Recall from
The nice spread of resistance Table 2 that the rated power for the Knowing the limits, we can then
indicates that we will easily be able photocell is 90 mW. Let us think about design the biasing circuit in a way that
to sense when the light intensity is what this means. Suppose you want to protects the photocell while still leaving
changing. put the photocell into a 5 volt biasing it sensitive to light.
The last test performed on the pho- circuit and the design allows all of the The tile switch is a fascinating
tocell checked its response to the angle 5 volts to develop across the photocell. device. If its body is tilted above the
of light rays striking its surface. Here, Furthermore, suppose we are shining horizontal axis, its internal switch closes
the photocell was moved so that light a bright light on the photocell and there is a low resistance (around
struck it at 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°. when there is 5 volts across it. The low 1 ohm) between the device terminals.
A 40 W bulb was kept at a distance of resistance of the photocell (100 ohms, However, tilt the body of the device
see Table 4) will cause 250 mW of down so that its axis is below the
Photocell power to be delivered: horizontal and the switch opens up.
Distance
Resistance (Ohms) Thus, we have a straightforward binary
V2 5V2
P= = = 250 mW condition: Tilted = Closed, Not-tilted =
2 inches 100 R 100Ω Open. The leads of the tilt sensor are
1 ft 675 springy. This will allow us to mount
That will surely do a nice job of it so that any collisions will cause it
2 ft 1.1K burning up the unfortunate photocell, to temporarily spring into the tilted
which is only rated for 90 mW, maxi- position, then spring back to its
3 ft 2.5K
mum. Thus, care must be used in our normal, untilted position.
4 ft 3.6K Next up will be the motors and
Angle (Degrees) Photocell Resistance the microcontroller and all of the
5 ft 5.8K required interfacing. When the
6 ft 7.8K 0 5K ohms hardware interface is finished, the
software design will take over. SV
7 ft 8.7K 30 5.1K ohms

8 ft 10.7K 45 5.8K ohms ABOUT THE AUTHOR

9 ft 11.3K 60 6.2K ohms James Antonakos is a Professor in
the Departments of Electrical
10 ft 13K 90 9.5K ohms Engineering Technology and Computer
Studies at Broome Community College.
20 ft 35K 180 23K ohms You may reach him at antonakos_j@
Table 4. Resistance change for each foot Table 5. Effect of angle of incidence on
sunybroome.edu or visit his website at
of distance from photocell. photocell resistance. www.sunybroome.edu/~antonakos_j

18 SERVO 02.2005
Grau1.qxd 1/3/2005 3:03 PM Page 19
by Steve Grau
W hen it comes to building hobby robots, there are many
great resources and products you can rely on for the
mechanics and electronics that will become your robot.
Whether it’s a chassis, wheels, motors, a compass, a range
sensor, or a controller board, there is no shortage of
products to choose from. However, when it comes to the
software that will form your robot’s intelligence, the choices
are much more limited. Few plug-and-play software compo-
nents exist. Without pre-built software components, you
must either write all of your robot’s control software from
scratch or cobble it together by modifying and integrating
various snippets of code others have published.
With the advent of several object-oriented programming
languages — Java™ and C# (pronounced C sharp) — the
software industry has made great strides in moving toward
industry-wide reuse of pre-built components. Both of these
languages provide the ability to build and package software
components that can be used in a wide range of applications
without modification.
This is the first in a series of tutorials on building reusable
robotics software components. In each article, we will
develop new components that add to the intelligence of a
robot named the RidgeWarrior II. A few of the interesting
components we will develop are: a shaft encoder to measure
wheel rotation using an infrared photoreflector sensor,
an odometer to keep track of a robot’s position, and a
navigator to successfully move a robot from place to place.
We will strive to make the components reusable, so you can
put them to use in other robotics projects.
The Robot Platform
The focus of this series is building software components;
therefore, we will use an off-the-shelf kit — the IntelliBrain™-
Bot kit from RidgeSoft (www.ridgesoft.com) — as the
chassis and controller for the RidgeWarrior II, rather than
delving into the
Figure 1
mechanical and electronic aspects of building robots. An
assembled IntelliBrain-Bot is shown in Figure 1.
The IntelliBrain robotics controller will provide the
brain-power for our RidgeWarrior II robot. This controller will
allow us to implement software using a modern, object-
oriented programming language — Java. In addition to its
object-oriented nature, Java has built-in support for
multi-threading and floating point arithmetic — both features
that will facilitate creating interesting robotics software
components that are reusable.
A Little Background
The RidgeWarrior II robot we will be developing is a follow
-up to the original RidgeWarrior robot, which was modeled
after the Rug Warrior robot discussed in the book Mobile
Robots: Inspiration to Implementation by Jones, Flynn, and
Seiger. The Rug Warrior robot was based on the Motorola
68HC11 microcontroller and the Interactive C programming
language to implement a behavior-based robot. The original
RidgeWarrior robot used the MIT Handy Board controller,
also based on the 68HC11 microcontroller, but it was
programmed in Java using the RoboJDE™ robotics software
development environment instead of Interactive C.
For the RidgeWarrior II robot, we will use the IntelliBrain
robotics controller, which is similar in functionality to the
Handy Board, but is based on the Atmel ATmega128
microcontroller. The IntelliBrain controller has significantly
more computing power and memory than the Handy Board,
which will allow us to take greater advantage of Java’s
object-oriented programming and multi-threading features.
The IntelliBrain-Bot kit is the combination of the Parallax
Boe-Bot™ chassis and the IntelliBrain robotics controller. As
we program the RidgeWarrior II, we will build on software
SERVO 02.2005 19
Grau1.qxd 1/3/2005 3:05 PM Page 20
Creating Reusable Robotic Software Components
components that already exist in the RoboJDE library and we
will create our own new software components.
Creating Reusable Software
Components
Our goal is to create software components that are both
useful and easy to reuse in future robotics projects without
modification. Three keys to achieve this goal are:
1. Creating components that are cohesive and provide useful
functionality.
2. Creating the components such that they have minimal
interdependencies — in other words, they are loosely coupled
to the rest of the system.
3. Designing generic interfaces to components that promote
interchangeability.
The hobby servo is a wonderful electromechanical example
of a reusable hardware component exhibiting these three
characteristics. A motor, gears, electronics, and packaging
form a cohesive component: a servo. It provides a very useful
function — a controllable means for converting electrical
energy to motion. While the servo packs a lot of functionality
into a small package, it does so in a way that allows it to be
loosely coupled to the rest of the robot. Furthermore, servos
implement a simple, generic interface to other components of
the system: three wires for power and control, a rectangular
case with four mounting tabs, and an output shaft with
splines. The simplicity and utility of this interface has facilitated
a multitude of interoperable and interchangeable products.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many robotics software com-
ponents that hobbyists can incorporate into their projects as
easily as they can incorporate hobby servos and other popular
mechanical and electronic components. To date, many of
the most popular robotics software development tools and
languages have lacked built-in features to facilitate creation
and reuse of software components. Fortunately, Java does!
Java and Software Reusability
Java was designed from the ground up to support object-
oriented programming, a software development paradigm
that is ideal for developing cohesive software components
and loosely coupled software systems. In addition to being
object-oriented, Java supports multi-threading, making it much
easier to implement multi-tasking, real time systems — such as
a robot — with minimal coupling between components.
Java has a built-in mechanism for defining and using soft-
ware interfaces, allowing a variety of software components
that implement an interface to be used interchangeably.
Java also provides a means to share pre-built software
components without dependencies on vendor specific develop-
ment tools — like a compiler or assembler — or dependencies on
a specific microcontroller. Instead, pre-built components can
20 SERVO 02.2005
be built once, packaged, and shared without end users
needing to be concerned about any of these things.
Enough Theory!
Okay, you’re probably ready to get on with creating some
components. We will skip over the robot assembly and other
“getting started” steps, as these things are described in detail
in the IntelliBrain-Bot Assembly Guide, the IntelliBrain User
Guide, and the RoboJDE User Guide, all of which come on CD-
ROM in the IntelliBrain-Bot kit and are also available on
RidgeSoft’s website. Throughout this series, we will develop a
number of interesting software components for the
RidgeWarrior II robot. Let’s start by developing a few compo-
nents to create a user interface framework. By developing the
user interface framework first, we will be able to use it through-
out the project to test and debug other components we build.
User Interface Requirements
As with anything, there are many ways to implement a
user interface. For this project, we will implement our user
interface based on the following requirements:
1. Display output using the IntelliBrain controller’s two line
LCD module.
2. Provide for multiple screens displaying different groups of
data.
3. Allow the active screen to be selected using the IntelliBrain
controller’s thumbwheel while the program is running.
4. Periodically update the currently displayed screen without
interfering with what the robot is otherwise doing.
5. Allow the robot operator to select one of several pre-
programmed functions for the robot to perform.
The RoboJDE class library — which contains foundation
software components (Java classes) — provides a class named
“Display.” This class interfaces to the IntelliBrain’s LCD display
and provides a method for printing text strings to either of the
two lines of the display. We need to add the ability to create
multiple screens. Each screen must have the ability to display its
data on the screen when it is told to update the display. To
accomplish this, the screen interface only needs one function
— or “method,” as they are typically called in object-oriented
programming languages. We will name this method “update”
and create the following generic definition for a “Screen” class:
public interface Screen {
public void update(Display display);
}
With Java, the source code for a class or interface is nor-
mally stored in its own file with a “.java” extension. Therefore,
our newly defined interface should be in its own file, named
Grau1.qxd 1/4/2005 2:02 PM Page 21

“Screen.java.” We can create this file with RoboJDE using the a division of Edmund Optics

Yo ur
FY ings!
File->New Class menu item and entering the name “Screen”
as the class name. One other thing we have to do is let the
N I v
Java compiler know where to import the Display object from.
MAtGical Sa
Op
We do this by adding an import statement at the beginning
of the file. The complete code for the class is:
!
import com.ridgesoft.io.Display; NEW
public interface Screen {
public void update(Display display);
}

Now that we’ve defined the Screen interface, it’s time to

create a class that implements it. Let’s create a screen class that
just displays two lines of unchanging text. This will enable us to
have the program display its name and version number. We can
do this by again using RoboJDE’s File->New Class menu item
and creating the “StaticTextScreen” class, as follows:
import com.ridgesoft.io.Display;
public class StaticTextScreen implements Screen {
private String mLine1;
private String mLine2;
public StaticTextScreen(String line1, String line2)
{ Tel:1-856-573-6865 Fax:1-856-546-1965 E-mail:cust_srvc@AnchorOptical.com
mLine1 = line1;
mLine2 = line2;
}
public void update(Display display) {
display.print(0, mLine1);
display.print(1, mLine2);
} class, which is part of the base Java class library. This
} will allow the screen updating code to be implemented
Because this class declares that it implements the
“Screen” interface, it is required to implement the “update”
method defined by the Screen interface. Our update method
simply prints predefined text strings to each line of the
display. In addition to the required method, our class also
defines two member variables:
private String mLine1;
private String mLine2;
which refer to each of the strings and a constructor:
public StaticTextScreen(String line1, String line2)
{
mLine1 = line1;
mLine2 = line2;
} to declare that the ScreenManager extends the Thread class
which allows an instance of a StaticTextScreen to be created
and initialized.
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screens and allow selection among screens to display while
the program is running. We will create a Java class named
“ScreenManager” to do this. We will extend Java’s “Thread”
independent of other portions of the program.
Running different parts of a program on different
threads really makes it much easier to create components
that are loosely coupled and easy to reuse. Java’s threading
system takes care of scheduling when each thread runs and
allows higher priority threads to preempt lower priority
threads. In a single threaded system, we would need to write
code to manage the scheduling and prioritization of the
robot’s activities. We would also need to write the program
in such a way that screen updates wouldn’t interfere with
other more important and time critical tasks, like avoiding
running into a wall. Instead, we will just give the
ScreenManager thread a low priority, so it will only execute
when there isn’t anything more important to do.
We will need to create the ScreenManager class, similar
to how we created the StaticTextScreen class. We will need
as follows:
public class ScreenManager extends Thread

Managing Multiple Screens We also need to create member variables to keep track
of the Display object, the list (array) of screens that can be
Our next step is to create a class that will manage several displayed, and the input that will be used to select which
SERVO 02.2005 21
BrainMatrix.qxd 1/3/2005 3:30 PM Page 24

budget digital multimeters

Pr
od

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B&K Precision DMM
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Mini-Pro Multimeter 2405A 600 2 600 2.9 10 A 3 N/A N/A 20 Mohm N/A

Digital Multimeter M-1700 600 0.9 600 1.9 10 A 1.5 10 A 2.5 20 Mohm 20 µF
Elenco
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Digital Multimeter M-2785 750 0.5 750 1 20 A 1 20 A 1.5 200 Mohm 200 µF

MV110 MultiView Series MV110 1,000 0.5 750 0.8 2A 1.2 2A 1.8 200 Mohm N/A
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RadioShack 29 Range Digital 40 Mohm

22-813 600 0.8 600 1.2 10 A 1.5 10 A 2 N/A
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42 Range Digital
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µF

24 SERVO 02.2005
BrainMatrix.qxd 1/4/2005 12:48 PM Page 25

by Pete Miles

Upcoming topics include SBCs and H-bridges, sensors, kits, and actuators. If you’re a manufacturer of one of these items, please send
your product information to: BrainMatrix@servomagazine.com Disclaimer: Pete Miles and the publishers strive to present the most accurate data
possible in this comparison chart. Neither is responsible for errors or omissions. In the spirit of this information reference, we encourage readers to check with
manufacturers for the latest product specs and pricing before proceeding with a design. In addition, readers should not interpret the printing order as any form
of preference; products may be listed randomly or alphabetically by either company or product name.

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)
Test Leads, Battery,
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Thermal Couple

SERVO 02.2005 25
Best.qxd 1/5/2005 2:45 PM Page 26

Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Moto

 Best.qxd 1/5/2005 2:47 PM Page 27

p to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator.

STEP
Up to the
Motorvator by Peter Best

riving a stepper motor with a microcontroller is pretty much old

D hat these days, as there are a multitude of Internet entries that
tell you exactly how to make that happen. That’s great if just wildly
turning the shaft of the stepper motor is all you want to do. If you plan
to use the stepper motor in an application that requires precision con-
trol of the angular motion generated by the stepper motor, you’ll have
to add a bit more code to those basic sequence-oriented motor driver
routines that you downloaded from the net. In addition to writing some
pretty hairy stepper motor driver code, you’ll have to put on your high-
voltage-high-current-analog-digital hardware designer’s hat, as well.

For precision applications, just driving a MOSFET or transistor switch circuit for each
stepper motor winding with basic stepper motor sequence code won’t cut it. You’ll need
some extra external hardware to make sure the stepper motor goes where you want it to go
and stops where you want it to stop. Also, you’ve got to do this without burning up the
motor windings or smoking your motor drive electronics. The burden of designing an X-Y
stepper motor driver system is doubled as your application is running both X and Y axes,
which requires two motors, two motor drivers, plus the common driver firmware, and the
microcontroller or pair of microcontrollers to oversee it all.
If precision positioning in two dimensions is your goal, chances are you’ll need a
minimum of two stepper motors, which dictate the use of the equivalent of a pair of stepper
motor drivers. For those of you out there who have visions of home-brew precision X-Y
tables, getting past the electronic hardware design can be just as tough as writing the
firmware for your mechanical X-Y table design. I can’t help each of you with the unique
mechanics of your particular X-Y table design, but I can “step” you through the design and
realization of a dual microstepping stepper motor driver based on a pair of Allegro
Semiconductor’s A3977SED Microstepping DMOS Driver/Translators.

SERVO 02.2005 27
Best.qxd 1/3/2005 2:36 PM Page 28

Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Moto

The A3977SED
Although the bulk of the on-chip A3977SED analog and
digital subsystems are important support structures for
driving the A3977SED’s pair of internal low rDS(on) DMOS
H-bridges, the A3977SED translator subsystem puts the
A3977SED in a stepper motor driver IC class of its own. The
A3977SED translator subsystem eliminates the need for
additional microcontroller firmware and I/O lines that must
be incorporated to realize complete control of motor step
and direction when using other stepper motor driver ICs.
Without a translator, the stepper motor driver designer
must incorporate DACs (Digital to Analog Converters),
comparators, and various low-pass filters to regulate and
control PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) current flow to the
stepper motor being driven. Incorporating the A3977SED
into your stepper motor design virtually eliminates the need
for the external components and circuitry I just mentioned. A
simple low-to-high logical transition applied to the
A3977SED’s translator STEP input pin results in a single step
or microstep of the bipolar stepper motor under tow behind
the pair of A3977SED DMOS H-bridges.
Changing the stepper motor’s rotational direction using
an A3977SED is just as easy. Clockwise or counterclockwise
motor rotation is achieved by presenting a logical high or
logical low to the A3977SED’s translator DIR input pin. The
A3977SED logic subsystems can be powered by voltages in
FIGURE 1. This is a simplified block diagram of the A3977SED internals.
It looks busy until you understand what everything really does.
the range of +3.0 VDC to +5.5 VDC and draw very little
current. That makes the A3977SED compatible with most
any microcontroller you want to include in your stepper
motor driver design.
Being able to easily drive your stepper motor in full step
mode has advantages in certain situations. However, the ability
to microstep your stepper motor is an absolute necessity if
you want to move an axis of your X-Y table with extreme
precision. So, in addition to being capable of driving a
stepper motor in its native full step mode, the A3977SED
translator provides a pair of microstepping inputs (MS1 and
MS2) that — when stimulated with a predetermined pattern
of logical input voltages — force the bipolar stepper motor
being driven to operate in full-, half-, quarter-, or eighth-step
modes. The microstepping truth table for the MS1 and MS2
translator inputs is shown here:
MS1 MS2 Resolution
L L Full Step
H L Half Step
L H Quarter Step
H H Eighth Step
The A3977SED translator is also capable of shutting
down the DMOS H-bridge outputs and setting itself to a
known state, which is referred to as the home state in the
Allegro documentation. This is done by applying a logical low
to the translator’s RESET pin.
While in the RESET mode
(RESET pin held low), the trans-
lator’s HOME output signal
CP2

CP1

LOAD SUPPLY
goes low and all STEP inputs are
VREG

2V
ignored. The A3977SED HOME
REGULATOR VCP signal is not really a physical
VDD
UVLO AND FAULT CHARGE PUMP
BANDGAP “position,” but is a unique state
VBB1
in which the stepper motor coil
REF
DAC
SENSE1
positive phase currents are
DMOS H BRIDGE balanced evenly. HOME is also
+

the logical starting point for the

VCP

RC1
STEPPER MOTOR
translator. Changes to step
4
PWM TIMER OUT1A mode can be made while in the
STEP
OUT1B
HOME state, as doing so will
TRANSLATOR

DIR

RESET not disrupt the integrity of the

CONTROL LOGIC

MS1
driving current waveform.
GATE DRIVE

MS2

HOME SENSE1
The rest of the A3977SED’s
VBB2 tweakable knobs are linked
SLEEP

SR
directly to its internal control
ENABLE logic subsystem. An active low
PFD
ENABLE input enables all of the
OUT2A

PWM TIMER OUT2B

DMOS H-bridge outputs. Since
RC2
the ENABLE input is under con-
4 trol of the A3977SED’s control
logic subsystem, all of the trans-
DMOS H BRIDGE
lator motion control inputs
+

SENSE2
DAC
(STEP, DIRECTION, MS1, and
MS2) are active, even when the
ENABLE pin is presented with a
28 SERVO 02.2005
 Best.qxd 1/3/2005 2:38 PM Page 29

p to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator.

logical high, which disables the DMOS H-bridge outputs.
By allowing the disabled state to coexist with an active
translator state, you can step the stepper motor to a particular
point in the physical X-Y axis movement program and then
reenable the DMOS outputs at that point. In addition to the
ENABLE input, the control logic subsystem is responsible for
initiating SLEEP and WAKEUP states for the A3977SED’s inter-
nal logic. An active low SLEEP input to the on-chip control logic
subsystem gives the stepper motor driver designer full control
of the SLEEP and WAKEUP features of the A3977SED.
Probably the most important job the control logic
subsystem has is the management of the sequencing of the
individual DMOS devices. This sequence management
process is called synchronous rectification and is enabled by
presenting a logical low to the control subsystem’s SR input
pin. In most cases (including the design we will be discussing PHOTO 1. The Motorvator PCB includes pads for external
in this article), synchronous rectification eliminates the need current steering diodes and a fully pinned out PIC18F8520
for external current steering diodes. for those that want to walk on the wild side.
There are many other A3977SED internals we need to
talk about and the best way to describe them is to examine than its fixed-voltage cousins. The A3977SED is designed to
them as we assemble some A3977SED-based stepper motor drive a stepper motor from incoming motor voltages as high
driver hardware that I call the Motorvator. as +35 VDC at motor currents up to ±2.5 Amperes. With
input motor voltages ranging from +8 VDC to +35 VDC, a
Designing and Building the pair of filter and bypass capacitors along with a couple of 1%
Motorvator tolerance resistors are all that you need to set the output of
the LM317 at a rock-solid +5 VDC.
The Motorvator is centered around a PIC18F8520 that The LM317 is capable of delivering up to 1 A of current
holds court over a pair of Allegro Semiconductor A3977SED to a load, when properly heatsinked. The Motorvator’s
stepper motor driver ICs. The PIC18F8520 is a member of LM317 is mounted on a heatsink pad on the Motorvator PCB
Microchip’s 80-pin high-performance microcontroller family. (printed circuit board). The PIC18F8520, the pair of
Running at 40 MHz and packing
32K of program Flash, the FIGURE 2. The idea here is to convey that the step angle of the phase currents has
PIC18F8520 has more than absolutely nothing to do with the step angle of the stepper motor shaft.
enough I/O, data memory, analog-
RADIUS = 1
to-digital converter inputs, and
timers to control and even pick sin(0°)=0.0
up after the pair of A3977SED cos(0°)=1.0 0.0°
0.0°

stepper motor drivers. sin(45°)=0.7071067811

45.0°
Home State = 45°
As most of the motor cos(45°)=0.7071067811 45.0°
driving work will be done by the
sin(90°)=1.0 90.0°
A3977SED ICs, the PIC18F8520 cos(90°)=0.0
will be primarily concerned 90.0°

with providing logic levels to PHASE 1

CURRENT
the A3977SED subsystems and (cos)
acting as an interface between
external controls (switches,
potentiometers, etc.), the step-
per motor driver ICs, and the
stepper motors.
Power for the A3977SED
PHASE 2
logic and the PIC18F8520 is pro- CURRENT
vided by an LM317 adjustable (sin)

voltage regulator, which receives

its raw input voltage from the
motor power supply. The LM317
was chosen because of its ability
to handle higher input voltages
SERVO 02.2005 29
Best.qxd 1/3/2005 2:40 PM Page 30
Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Moto
SLOW-DECAY MODE
BVB
A B
A = OFF B = OFF A = OFF
C D
C = OFF D = ON C = OFF
SENSE
Toff Toff
Tfd
Itrip Itrip
SLOW DECAY MIXED DECAY
FIGURE 3. You can clearly see here that the slow-decay mode ripple is very low
when compared to the fast-decay mode current ripple. The A3977SED uses
the best of both decay worlds to produce a sinusoidal current drive to the
stepper motor attached to its pair of H-bridges.
A3977SEDs, and all of the Motorvator’s LEDs and voltage
dividers don’t even come close to taxing the LM317’s current
output capacity. During testing of the Motorvator, I found
that — at low input voltages (+12 VDC to +18 VDC) —
the LM317 never got much more than warm to the touch. The
same goes for the A3977SEDs, which are heatsinked by the
massive amount of ground plane area on the Motorvator PCB.
The A3977SEDs are attached to the PCB heatsink/ground-
plane by 12 internally grounded heatsink pins.
A look at my Motorvator in Photo 1 reveals the
PIC18F8520, the 40 MHz oscillator, the LM317 logic power
supply, and the 10-pin Microchip ICSP programming/debug-
ging socket sandwiched between an identical pair of
A3977SED stepper motor drivers designated logically as Driver
A and Driver B. The four six-pin right-angle header assemblies
closest to the quartet of 10-turn trimmer pots form a micro-
controller input portal for all of the external control inputs.
External control inputs can be just about anything the
user deems necessary to gain control of the movement of the
stepper motors via the PIC18F8520. Motor and logic input
power is obtained from the center pins of either of the single
six-pin right-angle stepper motor interface headers that
surround the LM317 voltage regulator. A single ULN2003
Darlington array is used instead of discrete transistor
switches to drive the Driver A and Driver B, HOME LEDs, and
an auxiliary SPDT +5 VDC coil relay.
I’ve supplied a full schematic depiction of the
Motorvator. However, to help make things a bit clearer as
I describe the details of the Motorvator hardware
and firmware, I suggest downloading the A3977SED data
30 SERVO 02.2005
sheet (www.allegromicro.com)
FAST-DECAY MODE
and using it to supplement the
BVB
A3977SED information that I will
provide for you in this discussion.
A B
B = OFF Within the A3977SED data sheet,
you will find some familiar concepts
that we’ve already discussed, such as
C D
the translator and the control logic
D = OFF subsystems. With that, follow along
using the A3977SED functional
SENSE
block diagram in Figure 1 as I
continue to describe the remaining
Toff design points we’ll need to cover to
bring the Motorvator to life.
At power-up or with the initiation
Itrip
of a reset via the RESET pin, the trans-
lator uses its pair of four-bit DAC con-
trol lines to force the output of the
pair of DACs into the home state.
Motor phase current polarities for
FAST DECAY
each motor phase are also set to their
home state conditions and the current
regulators for both of the motor
phases are set to mixed-decay mode.
The idea here is to step the
motor as smoothly as possible. This
smooth stepping action is achieved
when the motor is driven with a sinusoidal current waveform.
Within the A3977SED, this sinusoidal waveform is quadrature
in nature, meaning that the phase current waveforms are 90°
out of phase. I’ve put together a graphic in Figure 2 that
gives you a feel as to how the motor phase currents relate to
each other and the A3977SED HOME state.
If you visualize the phase current waveforms as sine and
cosine functions and relate that to what the A3977SED
calls the HOME state, the math in Figure 2 says it all. HOME
state is defined as a point in the sinusoidal phase current
waveforms where both motor phase current levels are
70.71% of the maximum phase current value. Check our
math against the A3977SED data sheet and you’ll find that
HOME state is located at the 45° position of each of the
phase current waveforms. Don’t confuse the 45° position
with an angle on the motor shaft. This position is an angular
position in the phase current waveforms. For instance, if we
move 45° positively away from HOME position, the PHASE1
CURRENT level is at 0 while the PHASE2 CURRENT level is at
100% of the maximum phase current.
Since the HOME position is the translator’s beginning
point in a step sequence and 360° constitutes a full cycle, it
would be safe to say that we’ll end up at the 45°, or HOME
position, at the end of one full cycle.
In full step mode, a two-phase stepper motor requires
four steps to complete one full phase cycle. That’s 90° per
step. If the stepper motor is running in half-step mode, the
number of steps required to move from HOME position to
the next HOME position is eight steps. Get the idea? A
stepper motor running in eight-step mode needs 32 steps to
 Best.qxd 1/3/2005 2:40 PM Page 31

p to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator.

traverse the 360° between adjacent HOME positions in the
phase current waveform.
The A3977SED automatically employs mixed-decay
mode, which results in a motor current waveform that closely
approximates the ideal sinusoidal current waveform we need
to smoothly power our stepper motor. Mixed-decay mode is
the product of slow-decay mode and fast-decay mode. Decay
is defined as the time it takes to get the recirculating current
out of a motor winding. The weird noises you hear coming
from stepper motors are caused by distortions in the sinu-
soidal current waveform. The distortion is caused by the
improper selection of a decay mode during a particular angular
time within the sinusoidal current flow. Let’s take a look at
what decay is and how it is handled by the A3977SED.
Figure 3 depicts typical H-bridge configurations with VBB
representing the incoming motor power. To apply current
across the motor winding, the DMOS devices are activated
diagonally. For instance, by turning on the A and D DMOS
devices, current can flow from the VBB source through the A
DMOS device, which has shorted out its body diode, through
the coil and across DMOS device D, which has also shorted
out its body diode through the SENSE resistor to ground.
The current can also flow in the same manner — but in the
opposite direction — by energizing DMOS devices B and C.
The A3977SED H-bridges are driven by a fixed-off-time
PWM current control circuit. The load current limit (ITRIP) is
also controlled by the PWM current control circuit. Another
look at Figure 1 shows us that the A3977SED DAC output
voltages and the voltages across the H-bridge current-sense
resistors are fed into current-sense comparators that report
to the A3977SED’s PWM generators. When the voltage
across the sense resistor equals the voltage that is being
generated by the DAC, the PWM latch within the PWM Timer
subsystem is reset.
At this point, the H-bridge enters one of the decay
modes. The motor current will recirculate and decrease until
the fixed-off time expires. The act of automatically routing
the recirculating motor winding current using the DMOS
device’s body diodes and one of the decay modes is synchro-
nous rectification. When the A3977SED’s translator SR input
pin is presented with a logical low, synchronous rectification
is automatically performed by the logic within the A3977SED.

SCHEMATIC 1. The PIC18F8520 has much more I/O, program memory, and data memory than a basic Motorvator needs.
The good news is that there are plenty of microcontroller resources left for you to do with as you please.

+5VDC
+5VDC J5
C19 C14
1 .1uF
MCLR 2
R10
3 1 8
4 NC VDD .1uF
10K
PGD 5 40MHz
6 4 5
C20 PGC 7 GND CLKOUT
D9 8
.1uF
CURLIMBA

1N5819 9
ENABLEA
CURLIMB

RESETA

10
SLEEPA
HOMEA
RELAY

STEPA
AUXO

MS1A
MS2A

ICSP
DIRA

SRA

U2
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
64
63
62
61

+5VDC
1 60
R10 - R21
STOP STOP
RE2
RE3
RE4
RE5
RE6
RE7
VDD
RH1
RH0

RD0

RD1
RD2
RD3
RD4
RD5
RD6
RD7
RJ0
RJ1
VSS

START 2 RH2 RJ2 59 START

CONST 3 RH3 RJ3 58 CONST
REV1 4 RE1 RB0 57 REV1
5 RE0 RB1 56 UND1
+5VDC 6 RG0 RB2 55 AUTO
7 RG1 RB3 54 UND3
8 RG2 RB4 53 UND2
9 RG3 RB5 52 UND5
10 MCLR PIC18F8520 RB6 51 UND4
11 RG4 VSS 50 LS1
12 VSS OSC2 49 +5VDC LS2
UND1 13 VDD OSC1 48
RF7 VDD
C16
.1uF
AUTO 14 RF6 RB7 47
C15
10K PULLUP RESISTORS
UND3 15 RF5 RC5 46 ENABLEB
UND2 16 45 DIRB .1uF
UND5 17 RF4 RC4 44
RF3 RC3 HOMEB
+5VDC UND4 18 43 MS1B
AVDD
AVSS

LS2 19 RF2 RC2 42

VDD
RH5
RH4

VSS

RC1
RC0
RC6
RC7
RA3
RA2
RA1
RA0

RA5
RA4
RF1
RF0

RJ4
RJ5

LS1 20 RH7 RJ7 41

RH6 RJ6
ROTARY MOTION SPEED
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
RESETB 35
STEPB 36
37
SLEEPB 38
39
40

+5VDC
+5VDC
VBB VR1 +5VDC
MS2B
SRB

C18 LM317
.1uF 1 3
VIN VOUT
+ C21 R13
ADJ

R11 10uF 470

.1uFC17 C22 240
LINEAR MOTION SPEED .1uF
2

COMMON PWR LED

U3
HOMEB 1 IN1 OUT1 16 HOMEB_LED K1
2 IN2 OUT2 16 4 NC R12
3 14 +5VDC 5 715
IN3 OUT3 6
4 IN4 OUT4 13 NO
AUXO 5 IN5 OUT5 12 AUXO_PIN 1
RELAY 6 IN6 OUT6 11 3
HOMEA 7 IN7 OUT7 10 HOMEA_LED
8 GND CLMP 9 RELAY SPDT

SERVO 02.2005 31
Best.qxd 1/3/2005 2:44 PM Page 32
Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Moto
Slow-decay mode is entered when the source drivers (A
and B) are turned off and the sink driver D is turned on. The
current in the motor coil is dissipated slowly by being forced
to recirculate through the resistances offered by the coil itself
and the body diode of DMOS device C. If you’re wondering
if DMOS device C can be energized and conducting in this
mode, the answer is yes, but it’s not necessary, as the DMOS
device C body diode allows the current to circulate through
the motor winding. Since back EMF from the motor winding
can override the operation of slow-decay mode on the falling
slope of the current sine wave and cause distortion of
the current waveform (which causes the motor to chatter),
slow-decay mode is employed on the rising quadrants of the
sinusoidal current waveform.
Turning off all of the DMOS devices puts the H-bridge
into fast-decay mode. Fast-decay mode allows for the rapid
dissipation of the latent motor winding current. As you can
see in Figure 3, the body diodes of diagonal pairs of DMOS
devices form the escape path for the recirculating motor
current. Fast-decay mode produces much more current ripple
than slow-decay mode and, thus, heats the motor a bit more
than slow-decay mode does.
The ideal situation would be to have the power to mix
the slow-decay and fast-decay modes to fine-tune our
sinusoidal current waveform that is driving our stepper
motor. This condition would produce a tradeoff between the
high and low ripple currents and provide enough recovery
speed to help drive the stepper motor with a pretty accurate
sinusoidal current waveform. The good news is that we do
have the power and the resultant mode is called mixed-decay
mode. As you have already surmised, mixed-decay mode is an
optimal mixture of slow-decay mode and fast-decay mode
and — eventhough mixed-decay mode is automatic with the
A3977SED — we have some control over how it operates.
Let’s begin by determining the value of the H-bridge sense
resistors, which directly affects the maximum ITRIP current
value. Since the A3977SED can handle a maximum of ±2.5A,
let’s set up our H-bridge current sense resistors to meet the
maximum current value that the A3977SED can process. The
value of the sense resistors is computed as follows:
Rs = 0.5/ ITRIP max
Where: Rs = sense resistor value
ITRIP max = 2.5A
Rs = 0.2Ω
The only “gotcha” to watch out for is to make sure you
select a sense resistor that has very low inductance. I’ve spec-
ified a suitable resistor for the Motorvator in the Parts List.
Now that we’ve chosen a sense resistor value, we can
use a voltage divider consisting of a standard 10-turn 10K
ohm pot to provide a voltage to the A3977SED REF pin that
will dial in our desired amount of current limiting that can be
less than, but not greater than, our ITRIP max value of 2.5A.
The desired current limit reference voltage is calculated using
32 SERVO 02.2005
the following transconductance function:
ITRIP max = VREF / (8Rs)
Substituting a value of 2.5 A for ITRIP maximum and a
value of 0.2 ohm for Rs yields a maximum value of 4.0 volts
for VREF. If you’re wondering where the eight multiplier for
the sense resistor value comes in, take a look at Figure 1. The
voltage applied to the A3977SED REF pin is divided by 8
before being handed to the DACs.
Take another look at the Figure 2 graphic. The phase
current sine waves appear to be smooth. In reality, there are
very tiny steps all along the phase current sine waves that
represent a function of the DAC output voltages versus a
percentage of the ITRIP max value. The ITRIP current at each
step along the way of the phase current sine waves can be
calculated with the following formula:
ITRIP = (%ITRIP max/100) x ITRIP max
A table of ITRIP max percentages versus their appear-
ance in the phase current sine wave is provided in the
A3977SED data sheet.
Let’s get back to exercising our little bit of control over the
decay mode process. Another quick look at Figure 3 shows us
that the fixed-off time of the PWM current control circuitry is
defined as TOFF. The PWM fixed-off time is determined by an
external RC circuit tied to a one-shot within the PWM current
control circuitry. A minimum fixed-off time of 30 µS is specified
by the A3977SED data sheet. To meet that minimum fixed-off
time, I mounted a pair of RC circuits to the A3977SED’s RC1
and RC2 pins. I determined the values of the components you
see in the Motorvator schematic with the following formula:
TOFF = R2C2 for RC1 and TOFF = R4C4 for RC2
Do you recall my mention of additional low pass filtering
that would be needed if we were not going to implement the
A3977SED? The A3977SED gets around having to include a
filter between the sense resistor and the current sense
comparator by blanking the output of the current sense
comparator when the current control circuitry switches the
outputs. The blanking function is dependent upon the value
of the capacitor in the fixed-off time RC circuitry and is
approximated as follows:
TBLANK = 1900 x (C2 or C4)
TFD in Figure 3 represents the fast-decay time of the
mixed-decay mode. As you can see in the mixed-decay graphic
portion of Figure 3, TFD is the time within the PWM current
control fixed-off time that the fast-decay mode will be invoked.
Fast-decay mode begins when the ITRIP threshold is reached
and remains in effect until the voltage on the RCx pin decays
to the voltage presented at the PFD pin. Once the fast-decay
time is depleted, the decay mode switches to slow-decay mode
for the remainder of the PWM current control fixed-off time.
 Best.qxd 1/3/2005 2:47 PM Page 33

p to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator.

TFD is a function of the PWM current control fixed-off and their resultant component values. The remainder of
time and a voltage applied to the A3977SED’s PFD input pin, the A3977SED’s supporting components are specified in
which feeds both of the PWM timers. The setting of the PFD the A3977SED data sheet and are reflected in the
voltage depends on how you want to run your stepper Motorvator schematic. So, let’s write some HI-TECH PICC-18
motors. So, to provide an easy means of adjusting the TFD C code to put all of that stepper motor driver theory
timing threshold, I’ve placed another 10-turn 10K ohm pot and hardware to work.
across the PFD pin. The following formula, actual voltage,
and component values I used on my version of the The Motorvator Firmware
Motorvator will give you an idea of what my Motorvator TFD
value looks like: Writing the Motorvator firmware was loads of fun. I’ve
written some code to demonstrate some of the concepts we
TFD = R2C2(ln(0.6Vcc/VPFD) discussed in the early stages of this article. I’m not going to
post all of the code I wrote here, but will instead provide it
Where: R2 = 30K Ω to you as a download from the SERVO website (www.servo
C2 = .001 µF magazine.com). However, I will give you a jist of what I did
Vcc = 5.0 VDC and show you how to use the HOME position output signal
VPFD = 2.5 VDC to back-up what I told you about how the translator uses the
HOME state.
TFD = 5.47 µS The very first thing I did was to assign a meaningful C
name to each of the A3977SED interface pins. I then related
That does it for things that we can control using formulas the names of the A3977SED pins to the pins that they

SCHEMATIC 2. This is a schematic of the A-side motor driver. All of the components that support the A3977SED
in this depiction match those found in the B-side motor driver schematic.
MG1
BIPOLAR STEPPER MOTOR
+5VDC OUT1A 1
OUT1B 2

DRIVER A
LED1

OUT2A 3

OUT2B 4
U3 HOME A
1 16
2 IN1 OUT1 16 +5VDC VBB
3 IN2 OUT2 14
4 IN3 OUT3 13 C6 10uF C12 100uF
IN4 OUT4 R9
5 12 332
6 IN5 OUT5 11
+

7 IN6 OUT6 10 C9
IN7 OUT7
8
GND CLMP
9 C5 C13 D1-D8 NOT MOUNTED WHEN SR IS ACTIVE
C23 .1uF .1uF .22uF C11 .22uF
.1uF VBB

U1
16

43
VBB1 25

36

37

38

D2 D4 D1 D3
C10 .22uF
VBB2

VCP

CP1

CP2
VDD

4 32
RD1 5 HOME VREG
RD0 26 DIR
RD6 27 SR 6
RD7 31 RESET OUT1A 18
+5VDC RD4 41 STEP OUT2A 40
RE7 42 *ENABLE A3977SED OUT1B 28
PFD RD2 20 *SLEEP OUT2B
R1 10K RD3 19 MS1 3
RD5 9 MS2 SENSE1 21 D6 D8 D5 D7
C1 10 PFD SENSE2
C2 14 RC1
2 GND
44 GND
GND

12 GND
13 GND
GND

23 GND
24 GND
GND

34 GND
35 GND
GND

.1uF R2 15 REF
.001uF 30K C4 RC2 C8 R8 C7 R7
R4
11

22

33

.001uF 30K .1uF .02 .1uF .02

1

+5VDC

R5
20K

RH1
REF
R3 10K

C3
.1uF

SERVO 02.2005 33
Best.qxd 1/3/2005 2:48 PM Page 34

Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Moto

attached to on the PIC18F8520. For instance, Driver A’s In a similar manner, the RESET function of the A3977SED
RESET pin is designated as pRESETA and defined as LATD7, can be simplified with the following code:
while Driver B’s RESET pin is identified as pRESETB attached
to LATC1 on the PIC18F8520. Any C reference that begins #define RESET_A pRESETA = 0; \
Delay_ms(50); \
with a “p” denotes that the reference is actually a physical pRESETA = 1;
pin on either the PIC18F8520 or the A3977SED. To keep
things from getting too confusing, I used the actual #define RESET_B pRESETB = 0; \
A3977SED data sheet pin names in my descriptions where I Delay_ms(50); \
could. pRESETB = 1;
Once all of the pin assignments were defined, I went
about putting together simple macros that used the pin I needed a delay source for both the RESET and STEP
definitions to form functional blocks of code. For example, functions. So, I implemented a millisecond timer using
pRELAY is attached to LATE6 of the PIC18F8520. A logic high the PIC18F8520’s TIMER0. At 40 MHz, each instruction
applied to pin 6 of the ULN2003 drives pin 11 of the cycle accounts for 100 nS of time. That means that every
ULN2003 low and provides a ground path for the relay microsecond of delay time I need requires me to expend 10
coil. The following code definitions can be used in your instruction cycles. One millisecond is 1,000 microseconds.
application code to control the relay: So, I need to expend 10,000 instruction cycles for every
millisecond of delay I need in my routines. By dividing or
#define RELAY_ON pRELAY=1; prescaling the timer clock cycles by 16, my multiplier for
#define RELAY_OFF pRELAY=0; 1 millisecond of delay time is 625.

SCHEMATIC 3. Here’s a schematic depiction of the B-side motor driver. Note the differences in the PIC pins
that drive the A3977SED and the U3 drive for the HOME B LED. Every other component is identical
to the ones used by the A-side motor driver.

+5VDC MG1
BIPOLAR STEPPER MOTOR
OUT1A 1

DRIVER B OUT1B 2
LED1
U3 HOME B
1 16 OUT2A 3

OUT2B 4
2 IN1 OUT1 16 +5VDC VBB
3 IN2 OUT2 14
4 IN3 OUT3 13 R9 C6 10uF C12 100uF
5 IN4 OUT4 12 332
6 IN5 OUT5 11
+

7 IN6 OUT6 10 C9
IN7 OUT7
8 GND CLMP 9 C5 C13 D1-D8 NOT MOUNTED WHEN SR IS ACTIVE
C23 .1uF .1uF .22uF C11 .22uF
.1uF VBB
U1
16

43
VBB1 25

36
37

38

D2 D4 D1 D3
C10 .22uF
VBB2

VCP
CP1

CP2
VDD

4
RC3 5 HOME VREG 32
RC4 26 DIR
RF0 27 SR 6
RC1 31 RESET OUT1A 18
+5VDC RC0 41 STEP OUT2A 40
RC5 42 *ENABLE A3977SED OUT1B 28
PFD RC7 20 *SLEEP OUT2B
R1 10K RC2 19 MS1
RC6 9 MS2 SENSE1 3 D6 D8 D5 D7
C1 10 PFD SENSE2 21
C2 14 RC1
2 GND
44 GND
GND

12 GND
13 GND
GND

23 GND
24 GND
GND

34 GND
35 GND
GND

.1uF R2 15 REF
.001uF 30K C4 RC2 C8 R8 C7 R7
R4
11

22

33

.001uF 30K .1uF .02 .1uF .02

1

+5VDC

R5
20K

RH0
REF
R3 10K
C3
.1uF

34 SERVO 02.2005
 Best.qxd 1/4/2005 4:52 PM Page 35

p to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator.

The PIC18F8520 timers count positively and overflow to HOME state.
zero. My delay routine simply puts enough counts into
unsigned int stepcount;
the timer to allow it to count up the desired number of void main(void)
milliseconds and overflow. I watch for the overflow using {
the TIMR0IF (TIMER0 Interrupt Flag) bit, which signals the unsigned int j; //used for a breakpoint position
end of my selected millisecond timing period. Here’s what
the delay code looks like: T0CON = 0b10000011; //start Timer0 with a 1:16
//prescaler
INIT_3977(); //init the A3977
void Delay_ms(unsigned int mticks) EIGHT_B; //enable eighth-step mode
{ ENABLE_B; //enable the Driver B H-bridge
//use with prescaler set for 1:16 DIRB_CW; //turn the motor clockwise
WRITETIMER0(0xFFFF -(mticks * 625)); stepcount=0; //zero the step counter
TMR0IF = 0; do
while(!TMR0IF); {
} STEP_Bms(1); //step every 1 millisecond
++stepcount; //increment the step count
}while(pHOMEB); //look for the HOME signal to go
I then integrated the delay timer function into a STEP //low
function. The basic STEP macro looks like this: ++j; //stop here with a breakpoint
}
#define STEP_Ams(x) pSTEPA = 1; \
Delay_ms(x); \
pSTEPA = 0; \
When the motor stops and the breakpoint is reached,
Delay_ms(x); you’ll find that the variable stepcount contains the value
of 32. Replacing EIGHT_B with FULL_B will result in a final
#define STEP_Bms(x) pSTEPB = 1; \ stepcount value of 4.
Delay_ms(x); \ My VEXTA stepper motor steps in 1.8° increments.
pSTEPB = 0; \
Delay_ms(x); Thus, it would take 1,600 steps to complete one shaft
revolution using the eight-step mode. Here’s what should
happen when you compile and run the code below. The
As I alluded to earlier, a low-to-high transition on the Driver B HOME indicator LED will be dark following the
STEP input pin produces a single step or microstep. The initialization routine indicating that the A3977SED
speed of the motor is determined by the length of the delay. translator has put the driver into HOME state. Once the
The A3977SED’s maximum step rate is commanded with an steps start, the HOME indicator LED will blink off as it
interstep delay of 2 microseconds. passes through every successive HOME state (every 32
Here’s a bit of code that counts the number of steps steps). When the 1,600 steps have been taken, the stepper
between successive HOME states. Recall that a stepper motor shaft will have traversed one revolution and the
motor stepping in eighth-step mode will take 32 HOME indicator LED will again go dark indicating that it has
steps between a starting HOME state and the following returned to a HOME state.

w
e
N
KHR-1 Robo-One Robot Kit
These awesome kits are the latest craze in Japan.
Robot has 17 motors for fluid movements.
Programed and Controlled via PC.
Upgradable to Bluetooth wireless.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY WWW.SOZBOTS.COM

Circle #63 on the Reader Service Card.
SERVO 02.2005 35
Best.qxd 1/4/2005 4:54 PM Page 36

Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up to the Motorvator. Step Up

void main(void) DIRB_CW; //turn the motor clockwise
{ while(1){ //do forever
unsigned int i,j; //use j for a breakpoint posi- for(i=0;i<1600;++i) //step 1 full shaft revolution
//tion {
STEP_Bms(1); //step every 1 millisecond
T0CON = 0b10000011; //start Timer0 with a 1:16 }
prescaler if(pDIRB) //check the direction bit and
INIT_3977(); //init the A3977 pDIRB = CW; //reverse the direction
EIGHT_B; //enable eighth-step mode else
ENABLE_B; //enable the Driver B H-Bridge pDIRB = CCW;
DIRB_CW; //turn the motor clockwise }
for(i=0;i<1600;++i) //step 1 full shaft revolution }
{
STEP_Bms(1); //step every 1 millisecond
} Stepping Out
++j; //stop here with a breakpoint
} Before I go and leave you to build your own Motorvator,
I’ve got one more trick I want to show you. Recall that we can
A slight variation on the full shaft rotation code uses the use the voltage at the A3977SED REF input to limit the maxi-
resultant state of the pDIRB translator pin to reverse the mum current we deliver to a stepper motor. With the addition
direction of the stepper motor after one full shaft rotation. of a single resistor and one PIC18F8520 I/O pin, we can dump
a dormant motor into low-current hold and instantly return to
void main(void)
{ our original maximum current value when stepping resumes.
unsigned int i; //use i as a loop counter I placed a 30K resistor in series with the REF pot and
attached a PIC18F8520 I/O line at that junction. When the
T0CON = 0b10000011; //start Timer0 with a 1:16 PIC18F8520 I/O line is an output and is at a logical high,
prescaler
INIT_3977(); //init the A3977 +5 VDC is supplied as usual to the REF pot and the REF pot
EIGHT_B; //enable eighth-step mode voltage divider controls the voltage presented at the
ENABLE_B; //enable the Driver B H-bridge A3977SED REF pin. Transitioning the PIC18F8520 I/O line to
an input state allows the 30K resistor to become part of the
REF voltage divider. This results in a lower voltage presented
to the A3977SED REF pin, which results in a lowered ITRIP
max value. I’ll leave you with the current limit macros:
2005
March 6–10, 2005 #define CURLIMA_OFF TRISH1 = 0; \
pCURLIMA = 1;
Austin Hilton Austin, TX
THE PREMIER #define CURLIMB_OFF TRISH0 = 0;
pCURLIMB = 1;
\

#define CURLIMA_ON TRISH1 = 1;

GLOBAL EVENT #define CURLIMB_ON TRISH0 = 1;

IN POWER For those of you who want to experiment with your own
Motorvator, the PCB and all of the associated parts are available
ELECTRONICS from EDTP Electronics, Inc., at www.edtp.com As always, if
Visit the conference you have any questions or comments, I’m always available to
web site below for you via Email peterbest@cfl.rr.com. See you next time ... SV
continual updates
www.apec-conf.org SOURCES
A3977SED, ULN2003, Allegro Microsystems
www.apec-conf.org
The MicroMouse Contest www.allegromicro.com

Monday, March 6 starting Motorvator printed circuit board, EDTP Electronics, Inc.
at approximately 8:00 PM www.edtp.com

SPONSORED BY HI-TECH PICC-18 Compiler, HI-TECH

www.htsoft.com

PIC18F8520, Microchip
www.microchip.com

36 SERVO 02.2005
Simpson.qxd 1/3/2005 1:02 PM Page 37

by Michael Simpson

I
was working on a book project and needed to create several
walker robot prototypes with several small, curved parts of var-
ious shapes and sizes. I have a large band saw, but it was just too
difficult to cut the small curves and details needed and there was
no way to make the inside cuts required for many of the pieces.
Several years ago, I had a small 15” scroll saw and tried to cut
acrylic, but just could not achieve a smooth cut. The plastic
would melt and fuse back together behind the blade.
Recently, at a local tool show, I managed to talk some of the
scroll saw exhibitors into letting me cut some scrap plastic I had
with me. After a few tips, I was cutting expanded PVC and
acrylic like a pro.

SERVO 02.2005 37
Simpson.qxd 1/3/2005 1:08 PM Page 38

let’s take a look at each saw

and see how all of them
performed the task.

The Ryobi SC164VS.
I decided it was time to look into purchasing a scroll saw
and visited a few local retail stores in my area. After a bit of
research, I found that the following three saws represented a
good mix of what was available for $400.00 or less:
• Ryobi SC164VS 16” scroll saw
• Dremel 1800 18” scroll saw
• Dewalt DW788 20” scroll saw
I decided to purchase all three and give each a whirl. I
also picked up several blade types so I could see which ones
would work best for this project. Scroll saw blades come 12
to the pack and are rated by the number of teeth per inch.
With three saws and 480 blades, I decided to build three
complete bots on each saw. This would get me past the
learning curve and help me get a real feel for the saw and its
capabilities.
Two of the bots would be made from 1/8” Baltic birch
plywood — the kind you get from craft stores. This plywood
has no voids and finishes up very nicely. It is lighter and
firmer than expanded PVC and is more heat resistant. Even if
you plan to build a robot in expanded PVC or acrylic, I
recommend using the Baltic birch plywood for the prototype.
I also cut the parts for a walker bot out of expanded
PVC. I did enough parts for one bot on each saw. Now,
The custom birchwood insert.
Ryobi SC164VS
This was the least
expensive saw I tested.
While it worked okay and I
was able to build the three
walker bots, I found myself
constantly at odds with this
saw.
The removable key lock
The Dremel 1800. is a nice feature if you have
small children running
around the shop. The saw is also the lightest and the easiest
to transport. Unfortunately, these are the only nice things I
have to say about this saw.
The blade tension is adjusted at the rear of the saw. I
found this irritating, as I had to reach around the saw to
tension the blade. I don’t like saws where the power and
speed controls are located under the table. This makes them
difficult to reach in an emergency shutdown.
There are three problems that stand out with this
particular saw:
1. There is very little room under the table to access the blade
clamps and thumb screws. This makes blade changes very
difficult.
2. The table was very rough. No amount of waxing could
smooth it out. This makes turning tight corners difficult. I
eventually made a top out of waxed 1/8” plywood and
attached it with double-sided tape. While this is not the only
solution to the rough surface, it worked quite well for me.
3. The rubber knob that tightens the table tilt mechanism is
very easy to break. The knob on this saw broke with only one
use. Thereafter, I had to use a wrench to loosen and tighten
the table. This was not much of a problem, since you won’t
be tilting the table with
The Dewalt DW788. most robotic projects.

This saw repre-

sents the low-end class
for scroll saws. You will
find saws in this class
that are very similar in
size, shape, and design.
Many of them may
have been built in the
same factory. I just
can’t see these or other
low-end saws holding
up to everyday use.
38 SERVO 02.2005
Simpson.qxd 1/3/2005 1:10 PM Page 39

Dremel 1800
Dremel calls this an 18” Scroll Station. While the included
5” disk sander is an added feature, you won’t be using it
much on your robotics projects. I did not use it once on the
three walker bots I built using this saw. You would be better
off purchasing the optional flex shaft and using one of the
Dremel sanding drums. The disk is somewhat of a pain to get
on and off, so you will have to choose one or the other.
Like the Ryobi, this saw will accept both pin and plain-
end blades. There is a hinged access drawer that makes
changing the blades a bit easier than with the Ryobi. The saw
has almost twice the weight of the Ryobi and, with this, it The open design of the Dewalt.
vibrates much less. The table is polished cast iron and only
took four layers of paste wax to get to a silky smooth surface. saw is right for you.
For blade storage, there is a small drawer under the The Dewalt scroll saw has a $399.00 street price and
table, but I don’t recommend it for serious users. Most is the closest thing to the high end saws that I could find
blades are impossible to tell apart, so I suggest some type of locally. The saw is actually manufactured in Canada by the
sorting tubes for your blades. same company that manufactures the Excalibur (high end)
The controls are all up front, on top of the saw, so it’s line of scroll saws.
very easy to access them. One really nice feature is a small All scroll saws vibrate; it’s just a matter of how much.
LED light located on the saw. While it won’t illuminate your From the $60.00 saw to the most expensive $3,000.00 saw,
work surface, it will keep a beam on your saw line. it’s the nature of the beast. The saw’s mass will affect vibra-
The saw has a flexible air tube that puts out quite a bit tion; the heavier saws don’t vibrate as much as the lighter
of air that will keep your saw line free of sawdust. However, weight saws. You can also lower the vibration by bolting the
when I cranked the RPMs up past 1,000, the vibration caused
the flex tube to eventually drop to the table surface. Using a
scroll saw stand or bolting the saw to the table will help
alleviate this problem. STEER WINNING ROBOTS
Another area that is of concern to me was the large
blade insert. It had very large blade grooves and did not sit WITHOUT SERVOS!
flush with the table surface. Luckily, the design was simple
and, by tracing the insert on to 3 mm birch plywood, I was
able to create an insert that I could wax and then drill a very
small hole for blades. This was perfect for the small pieces I
cut for my walker bot projects.
The saw has small vinyl covers on the power and light
switches. These are used to keep dust out of the switch
mechanisms. They both eventually came off during use and I
found it made using the switches much easier.
The saw weighs in at over 50 lbs, so you won’t be toting
it around the shop, but there is a handle on the top just in
case you feel up to it.
I liked this saw. It worked very well on wood, expanded
P erform proportional speed, direction, and steering with
only two Radio/Control channels for vehicles using two
separate brush-type electric motors mounted right and left
PVC, and acrylic. Dremel also makes a 16” scroll saw with a with our mixing RDFR dual speed control. Used in many
cast iron table and a 45 degree tilt both ways. It’s about successful competitive robots. Single joystick operation: up
$80.00 less, so you may want to look into that one if you goes straight ahead, down is reverse. Pure right or left twirls
want something a bit smaller and less expensive. vehicle as motors turn opposite directions. In between stick
positions completely proportional. Plugs in like a servo to
your Futaba, JR, Hitec, or similar radio. Compatible with gyro
Dewalt DW788 steering stabilization. Various volt and amp sizes available.
The RDFR47E 55V 75A per motor unit pictured above.
A high end scroll saw can cost you well over a www.vantec.com
$1,000.00. Are they worth it? Well, that depends upon your
use of the saw. If you use it once or twice a year, it may be Order at
better to purchase a smaller, less expensive saw. If, on the
other hand, you plan on using the saw everyday, a high end
(888) 929-5055
SERVO 02.2005 39
Simpson.qxd 1/3/2005 1:11 PM Page 40

the fact that the saw weighs in at over 70 lbs and you get a
very smooth running saw.
The Dewalt is the epiphany of simplicity. Things just
don’t get simpler. The open design under the table means
you can access and change a blade in a matter of seconds. If
you check out other high end saws, they all seem to have this
open design. The Dewalt is so open that they have actually
added a small guard in front of the clamp mechanism. This is
to keep you from accidentally pinching a finger while the saw
is running.
Blade clamps are in a fixed position so they are easy to
tighten and loosen. This also means less blade deflection.
The dust blower is sturdy and does not change position
during operation. The table is cast iron and was so smooth
that I only needed two coats of paste wax. The table has a
Clip lights are inexpensive and make your work easier. small hole for the blade, which is perfect for the small pieces
you will be cutting. You won’t have to worry about making a
saw to a heavy table or stand. Design can affect vibration, as new insert.
well. For instance, on the Dewalt, the pivot points for the All controls for the saw are up front and, with this
arms are up front near the blade. This provides for less design, you can adjust the blade tension while the blade is in
moving mass and yields much less vibration. Couple this with motion. The tension lever is also indexed, so you can get
the exact same blade performance each time
MATERIALS you remove and attach a blade — which is very
important for inside cuts.
The three materials I tend to work with the most when building Of the three saws I tested, the Dewalt was
my robots and prototypes are wood, expanded PVC, and acrylic. the only saw with no dust collection port. This did
On occasion, I have also cut softer metals. not bother me, as I had not planned on using a
connected dust collector with any of the saws.
Wood Scroll saws have small blowers that keep the
I used 1/8” Baltic birch plywood for most of the bots in this
project. You can purchase 12” x 24” sheets for $4.00 at most craft Steps to making an inside cut.
and hobby stores.
You can also cut up to 2” thick pine with ease. Hardwoods, such
as oak and maple, will start to get more difficult as the thickness
increases and you will need to use a larger blade.

Expanded PVC
Expanded PVC is very easy to work with. When this material is
cut, the edges will yield a dull, coarse surface. While the finest blade
will create an ultra smooth surface, you will never get the glossy
type finish as you do on the flat surface of the plastic. I use a #1
blade when cutting 1/8” and 1/4” stock. When stacking expanded
PVC greater than 1/4”, you will need to use a #4 or larger blade.

Acrylic
You cut acrylic much like you do expanded PVC. The surfaces of
the acrylic must be covered. When purchased, the surfaces are nor-
mally covered. You can also use masking tape for this. On 1/8”
stock, I use a #1 blade. On 1/4” stock, you have to move up to a #4.

Metal
To cut metal on a scroll saw, you must use special hardened
metal cutting blades. I prefer to use the smaller, thinner blades like
a #0 metal cutting blade. Just slow the saw down and take it slow.
I have cut up to 1/8” aluminum with these blades.

40 SERVO 02.2005
Simpson.qxd 1/3/2005 1:14 PM Page 41

scroll line clear, so they tend to

blow a bit of dust in the air.
The simplest and most effec-
tive solution for dealing with
the airborne dust is to use a
small window fan with a filter
taped to the front of it. This
tends to capture all the air-
borne dust and is fairly quiet.

Saw Choice
Conclusions
The fit and finish on all Sample shape transition pieces. No adhesive required!
three saws was very nice. All
three saws had no problems cutting the wood, plastic, and Techniques
acrylic needed for my walker bots. However, there was no
way my boss (wife) was going to let me keep all three saws, Inside Cuts
so I had to choose only one. Making an inside cut with a scroll saw is very easy:
I decided on the Dewalt saw, mainly because I see myself
using the saw on just about every robot project in the future. Step 1:
This saw features full ball bearings and less overall mainte- Lay out your cut. In this case here, we are cutting a servo
nance than the other saws. Factor this with the ultra low mount.
vibration and my choice was made for me. Had the cost been
more of a factor, I would have chosen the Dremel 1800. Cutting multiple pieces saves time.
If you decide to purchase a scroll saw, here are some of
the features to look for:

• Table finish.
• Variable speed
• Plain-end blade support
• Ease of blade change
• Blower for clearing stock line

You will also want to pick up some sort of light. I like the
inexpensive $7.00 clip-on lights. You can add as many as you
want. Use a 40 watt bulb to keep the heat down.

SCROLL SAW BLADES

Scroll saw blades come with plain-end and pin-end
configurations. Most high end scroll saws
only use the plain-end type. There are many
more types of scroll saw blades available in
the plain-end configuration. Generally,
pin-end blades should be easier to change;
however, on the saws I tested, I found this to
not be true. The Ryobi and Dremel accept
both types of blades, but are a bit more
complicated because they accept both the
blade connectors.
Once you decide on the blade end
configuration, there are many types of
blades available in various widths and tooth
patterns. These range from skip tooth to reverse tooth
types. There are even spiral blades that will cut
in any direction.
There is a universal number system used to
reference plain-end blades. Most manufacturers
use it and it’s a good guide when selecting the
finish type and cutting radius of a scroll saw
blade. The smaller the universal number, the
thinner the blade and the more teeth per inch.
I have found that a #1 blade works very
nicely in 1/8” plywood or plastic. It leaves a
very fine finish and requires no clean-up. You
can just about turn in place to cut extremely
tight corners.

SERVO 02.2005 41
Simpson.qxd 1/3/2005 1:16 PM Page 42

Step 2: transition to a horizontal piece. In this case, we are making a

Drill a small hole in one of the corners, just touching two of the bot leg that will be connected to a servo. We could apply
sides. This hole should be large enough to insert the saw blade. heat and bend the leg, but bending is not an option in many
As an option, you can drill four holes, one in each corner. situations. For instance, with expanded PVC, it would yield a
leg that’s just not rigid enough to support the weight of the
Step 3: bot. If you are using plywood, heat alone is not enough to
Unclamp the blade at one end. Insert the blade through the bend the leg.
hole and then clamp the blade back in place. You can release In this case, I cut two pieces with slots where the pieces
the top or bottom of the blade; it does not matter. will overlap. The slot is half the length of the overlap. The
width of the slot is the thickness of the stock. Once cut, the
Step 4: pieces are joined together by sliding the slots into each other.
Cut the stock. Once cut, unclamp the blade and remove the This makes for a very strong and rigid leg. In most cases, you
stock. In this case, I drilled the holes with a drill press. won’t even need to use an adhesive to hold them together.
While this technique works well for both wood and
Shape Transitions expanded PVC, it is a bit more difficult when using acrylic.
Acrylic is a little more brittle and will break if the slots are too
There are times when you want a vertical piece to tight. In this case, you are better off cutting the joints a bit larger
and laying down a bead of hot glue.
Saw Model Ryobi SC164VS Dremel 1800 Dewalt DW788
Size 16” 18” 20”
Cutting Multiple
Speeds (SPS) Variable 400-1,600 Variable 500-1,700 Variable 400-1,750
Pieces
There are times you need to cut
Blade Size 5” 5” 5” multiple pieces that are the same shape.
Blade Types Plain, Pin Plain, Pin Plain To do this, stack several of the pieces
together using thin strips of double-
Blade Stroke 3/4” 3/4” 3/4” sided tape. Carpet tape works nicely.
Cutting Capacity 2” 2” 2” If you are cutting expanded PVC or
acrylic, you will also want to coat the top
Table Tilt Right 45 Deg 45 Deg 45 Deg with masking tape. Not only does the
Table Tilt Left N/A 5 Deg 45 Deg
tape aid in the cutting of the stock, but
it also gives you a surface to transfer
Shipping Weight 33 lbs 53 lbs 73 lbs your pattern onto. Once the pieces are
cut, you can do all your sanding while
Motor Amperage 1.2 A 1.6 A 1.3 A
they are still connected.
Motor Voltage 120 V 60 Hz 120 V 60 Hz 120 V 60 Hz There are some disadvantages to
bulk cutting. If you make a mistake, you
Vibration Good Good Excellent
will ruin all your pieces — not just one.
Table Material Aluminum Cast Iron Cast Iron Also, you will have to use a coarser blade,
which will yield a rougher cut. To cut the
Table Surface Poor Good Excellent
stock shown here, I had to use a #4 blade
Blade Insert 3” 3” N/A verses the #1 I normally use. SV
Blade Change Poor Good Excellent
Tension Adjustment Good Excellent Excellent
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dust Collection Port Yes Yes No Michael Simpson has been an
avid woodworker for 20 years. He
Air Blower Good Good Excellent
runs the MGS Woodworking site at
Light No Yes Option www.mgsweb.com/woodworking
Disc Sander, Blade Full Ball bearings, He also runs the Kronos Robotics
Other Features Includes six blades drawer, Includes Low maintenance, website at www.kronosrobotics.com
12 blades Includes two blades
Kronos Robotics caters to beginner
Street Cost $87.00 $239.00 $399.00 electronic enthusiasts, as well as
COMPARISON CHART seasoned engineers.

42 SERVO 02.2005
Menagerie.qxd 1/5/2005 8:34 AM Page 43

Send us a high-res picture of your robot with a few

descriptive sentences and we'll make you famous.
Well, mostly. menagerie@servomagazine.com

Roverbot
Orestis Kalantzis

Roverbot is an autonomous robotic platform that moves on wheels and

has the ability to be self-guided or remote-controlled (locally or via a wire-
less LAN or the Internet).
Its basic principles are two independent motor wheels (and a third one
— a smaller, free-turning wheel — for support). The speed divergence of the
wheels makes Roverbot turn just like a tracked vehicle, eliminating the need
for the use of a steering gear and, therefore, facilitating spatial placement.
I also found it necessary to use a PC instead of any other computer
system (microcontroller-based or PLC) due to the wide range of developing
software, operating systems, networking capabilities, and peripherals in
general.

Characteristics:

Dimensions:
Length: 22.5 in
Height: 15 in
Width: 22.5 in

Weight: about 88 lbs

Cost: about $864.00 (expected to reach $2,000.00).

History:
I started designing Roverbot in 1992. I wanted to experiment and
acquire some real experience in robotics, but also to build a platform for fur-
ther experimenting in self-direction, automated map-making, and other
applications of Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks.
Simulation appeared to be an alternative course, but one I had to reject
because of the obvious danger of being driven to wrong or non-applicable
conclusions (due to its inevitable distance from reality), but also because it
would deprive me of the chance of designing/developing electronic and
mechanical hardware.
Beside the subsystems of stepper motors and their drive circuits that I
designed (and built as prototypes) in 1996, all the rest was manufactured
between May and October of 2002.
For more information, please visit http://roverbot.netfirms.com
where you can find photos, videos, VRML 3-D models, and more.

SERVO 02.2005 43
FebNewProducts.qxd 1/4/2005 12:44 PM Page 44
New Products
New Products
MOTORS
Smart Servos Put It All Together
G arage Technologies, Inc., has
announced that AI Motors are
now available in the US. AI Motors
combine a serial bus control inter-
face, modular mechanical connec-
tions, and position and loading read-
out. As true robotics motors, they
provide the functionalities of a servo,
gear motor, wheel encoder, and
motor interface. Special capabilities include:
• Simple serial interface (RS232 at TTL levels) — no need for
a multi-channel PWM interface. Up to 31 motors can be
placed on a single four-wire bus.
• Position readout — no need for a position encoder.
• Current readout. Motor current provides a reading propor-
tional to mechanical loading. Each motor also provides
overload protection by shutting down in the event of
over current.
• In addition to commanding position and speed, you can set
over current limits, motion limits, and control-algorithm
coefficients individually for each motor.
• Full 360° rotation mode under software control — no need
Need a small, full-featured robot controller? Meet Orangutan:
Want to build a small robot that doesn’t look like a PCB on
wheels? Orangutan is small enough for integrating into a small
robot, rather than being the small robot. With motor drivers,
buttons, display, and buzzer, all you need to add is your own
chassis, sensors, software, ... you know, the fun stuff.
Atmel MEGA8/168
microcontroller
1.85”
dual bidirectional
motor driver
2.00”
Find out more at www.pololu.com
or by calling 1-877-7-POLOLU.
Circle #111 on the Reader Service Card.
44 SERVO 02.2005
to modify servos for wheeled platforms.
• Modular mechanical connection — front and side axle
attachments and side and rear mounting points.
Each motor incorporates a microprocessor to support
these capabilities with an easy-to-use interface. Each
motor includes two cables for daisy-chaining and 11 differ-
ent mechanical links. Innumerable configurations are pos-
sible, such as two-wheel platforms, dogs, and humanoids
with few or no additional mechanical parts. Both motors
operate from 5 to 10 VDC and offer three software-
configurable range/resolution modes:
• 332° at 1.3° resolution
• 166° at 0.65° resolution
• 360° continuous rotation at 15 different speeds.
At 9.5 V, the AI-701 provides 7 kg*cm stall torque and
a maximum of 80 RPM and the AI-1001 provides 10 kg*cm
torque and 60 RPM. Configuration GUI and example source
code are available for free download. The AI-701 is priced
at $65.00 each and the AI-1001 at $90.00. Complete eval-
uation and humanoid robot kits are also available.
For further information, please contact:
93 Norton Ave.
Garage San Jose, CA 95126
Technologies, Tel: 408•347•0556
Inc. Email: jroberts@garage-technologies.com
Website: www.Garage-Technologies.com
Circle #124 on the Reader Service Card.
(actual size)
programming
8x2 LCD connector
buzzer
three
pushbuttons reset
button
power
switch
two motor
ports power LED
trimmer pot
12 I/O ports with power and LED on I/O line
ground for easy sensor connection
FebNewProducts.qxd 1/5/2005 8:37 AM
ROBOT KITS
Binary Player Robot
O WI introduces the
second generation
of its binary navigat-
ing robot kit.
Binary Player
Robot is a very
predictable two-
wheeled robot. An
internal program stored on
a memory disk created by the
user ascertains its predictability.
Therein, however, lies the fun. Binary
Player Robot is easily re-programma-
ble by the controller ... you.
Binary Player Robot is controlled
by black and white patterns on a disk,
which are read by an infrared sensor.
Particular patterns activate either of
two wheels to turn left, right, for-
ward, or pause. These on/off com-
mands illustrate the basic principles of
binary coding. To change a move-
ment program, the operator simply
creates a new disk pattern and/or
changes the speed variation on the
three-speed gearbox.
This is a good beginner’s robot.
The battery-controlled kit can teach
the basic principles of robotic sensing
and locomotion. It features a
pre-assembled printed circuit board
(PCB), hardware, and mechanical
drive system that can be handled
by almost anyone. Only basic hand
tools are required for assembly. An
infrared sensor and PCNB controls the
robot.
Easy-to-assemble, this OWIKit
beginner building level robot makes a
great entry for robotic competitions,
science fair projects, robotic work-
shops, science enrichment camps,
and classroom activities. The suggest-
ed retail price is $34.95.
For further information, please
contact:
17141 Kingsview Ave.
OWI, Carson, CA 90746
Inc. Tel: 310•515•1900
Fax: 310•515•1606
Website: www.owirobot.com
Circle #135 on the Reader Service Card.
Page 45
Take Education Off
Road
R o g u e
Robotics
introduces
the new Rogue
ATR ERS™ (ATR — All
Terrain Robot, ERS — Educational
Robotics System) robot kit. This system
is the first of its kind for high school
classrooms and hobbyists, providing
robotics, electronics, and object-orient-
ed programming in one system, while
offering unparalleled all-terrain mobility.
Rogue ATR ERS features an 8”
base with rubber tracks, Rogue’s uni-
versal sensor mount system, dual DC
gear motors, extra level capability for
expansion, and a 1.1 A dual H-bridge
module, extra level capability for
expansion, a 7.2 V NiCad battery, and
an OOBoard™ educational develop-
ment board as its brain. The Rogue
ATR ERS is made from the same laser-
cut, powder-coated aluminum as the
popular Rogue Blue robot base.
The kit is bundled with a curricu-
lum text full of experiments, a parts
kit, and a plastic storage box to house
the fully assembled robot neatly in a
classroom or under your workbench.
Powering the Rogue ATR ERS is
the OOBoard, with an embedded
OOPIC® object-oriented processor,
which can be programmed in C,
Java™, or Basic syntax. The kit includes
a CD ROM that contains the program-
ming editor for the OOBoard, as well
as samples and curriculum materials.
The Rogue ATR ERS is the SUV of
Educational Robots; small objects,
uneven floors, and cables are not bar-
riers for this robot. The Rogue ATR
ERS robot kit sells for $324.95 and
the OOBoard sells for $119.00.
For further information, please
contact:
103 Sarah Ashbridge Ave.
Toronto, ON M4L 3Y1
Canada
Rogue Tel: 416•707•3745
Robotics Fax: 416•238•7054
Email:
info@roguerobotics.com
Website:
www.roguerobotics.com
Circle #148 on the Reader Service Card.
SERVO 02.2005 45
Volrath.qxd 1/3/2005 2:23 PM Page 46
Build a PICChip
Electronic Speed Control
odern electronic speed controls
M (ESCs) incorporate very versatile
microcontrollers — a microprocessor
type of device that is entirely self
contained. This project describes an
ESC that uses the Microchip 16F873
The PICChip and connections.
In-depth Info on the ESC Mode
The ESC mode includes the following
items:
1. Reduction of maximum available
motor power levels on low battery
condition.
2. Switching speed of 2,500 Hz (cycles
per second).
3. Linear motor POWER versus trans-
mitter stick operation for propeller
drive.
4. Motor power down on wrong signal
from RC receiver.
5. Automatic calibration of the low
and high transmitter throttle positions.
6. Nine volt doubler circuit for the
HEXFET gate driver circuit.
46 SERVO 02.2005
by Dennis Volrath
microcontroller. This device includes
five analog inputs and two pulse
width modulation (PWM) outputs.
The ESC firmware listing is available
through the SERVO website
(www.servomagazine.com) and is
somewhat unusual; it includes
eight different functions, as
described in the Sidebar below.
This ESC is designed for the
higher power cobalt brush type
motors, although any of the can-
type motors can also be used.
The total cost of all parts —
excluding the circuit board — is
about $35.00. The ESC function
can be built in several different
voltage ranges. The standard
range is 7 to 15 NiCad cells (8.4-
18 volts). By exchanging diode
D1 for a resistor, R13, it allows
operation from 16 to 21 NiCad
7. Error counting at the rate of 30
counts per second to a maximum of
65,000 for receiver errors. (Binary
error output is on pins 15 and 16.)
8. Receiver Battery Elimination Circuit
(BEC) for 7 or 8 cell operation.
9. Output 0 or 5 volt signal on pin 19
for an optional brake function (not
covered).
10. Valid receiver monitor indicator on
pin 27 that reads 0 volts DC for no
signal or wrong signal and 5 volts for
valid radio signal.
11. Output on pin 28 that will read 0
volts and will change to 5 volts DC
after the PICChip is “armed.”
12. Pin 21 changes to 5 volts DC on the
cells (19.2-25.2 volts). The 7 to 21 cell
versions will handle 35 amperes contin-
uously, with a peak capacity of 50
amperes for 60 seconds. The final ESC
measures 1.9 by 2.5 by about 1/2 inch
and weighs about 1-1/4 ounces without
lead wires. With the addition of several
more components and component
changes, this ESC can be constructed to
handle 40 NiCad cells (48 volts) with a
maximum current rating of about 35
amps. The addition of heatsinks for the
FETs will allow substantially higher
maximum current ratings.
Build the ESC
The three ExpressPCB circuit
boards (board layouts are at
www.servomagazine.com)each
have two ESC boards for a total of six
ESC circuit boards. The boards must
1,200 Hz beep.
13. Pin 22 changes to 5 volts DC on the
middle beep.
14. Pin 23 changes to 5 volts DC on the
high beep.
15. Pin 24 changes to 5 volts DC after
an accumulated loss of radio signal of
about 10 seconds.
16. Pin 25 changes to 5 volts DC after
an accumulated loss of radio signal of
about 2 seconds.
17. Pin 26 changes to 5 volts DC after
an accumulated loss of radio signal of
about 1/2 second.
(These status pins can drive an LED
through a 680 ohm resistor.)
Volrath.qxd 1/3/2005 2:24 PM Page 47

Build a PICChip Electronic Speed Control

be cut in half before assembly. The

simplest way to cut them is to lightly
clamp a steel edge to the middle of
the circuit board. Then use a small
coping saw with a thin blade to cut
against the steel edge to separate the
two ESCs from the board. Make
absolutely certain that the steel edge
is placed such that no copper foil
patterns are cut.
Next, the ESC will be constructed.
Load the “Connections plus
parts.pcb” (at www.servomagazine
.com) into the ExpressPCB program.
Refer to the photograph and parts lay-
out drawing for the location of all
parts. First, insert all parts, installing
the four transistors last. Be especially
careful with the orientation of the
transistors, diodes, and capacitors. Download the “Connections plus parts.pcb” for the PICChip.
The 3 amp diode is “standing on
end.” Switching the 2N2904 (NPN reversed. For the record, a reversed that whatever transistors are used are
switching transistor) with a 2N2906 tantalum capacitor may not fail until configured as “Emitter-Base-Collector”
(PNP switching transistor) or installing months after construction of this project. and are of the TO-18 type.
these transistors backward will cause Note that the 2N2904 and 2N2906 Next, install the HEXFETs. Note
all sorts of troubleshooting problems. transistors have been discontinued. that they have the two outside lead
Also note that the various diodes RadioShack has equivalent transistors wires soldered. The center lead is not
and capacitors must not be accidentally available in bulk. Just make certain used. The two outside HEXFET leads

The schematic for the PICChip Speed Controller.

SERVO 02.2005 47
Volrath.qxd 1/3/2005 2:25 PM Page 48
Build a PICChip Electronic Speed Control
are soldered through the circuit
board. The third connection is
through the four 4-32 screws, lock
washers, and nuts that hold the
HEXFET to the circuit board. Note that
the negative motor lead is connected
directly to one of the four 4-40 screws
that secure the HEXFETs to the circuit
board. If this ESC is going to be used
in a poorly ventilated area, heatsinks
should be inserted under the HEXFETs.
A small piece of aluminum — a few
inches wide — will suffice.
Lastly, note that the layout drawing
calls for either a small jumper wire or
a small switch for “turning off the
ESC.” This same switch will also turn
off the battery elimination circuit
(BEC) if the ESC is so configured. This
switch completely turns off the ESC
and will result in zero battery drain.
Remove all flux from both circuit
PICChip’s Built-in Programs
The different modes of operation have
also been assembled on the popular
RadioShack perf boards listed in the parts
list. The wiring and connection diagrams
are all available through the SERVO
website (www.servomagazine.com).
The PICChip has the following eight
programs built in:
1. Standard ESC with low battery motor
power-down and receiver error detection.
2. Receiver error monitoring with one
PICChip, one ceramic resonator, and one
or two other parts.
3. Battery voltmeter with LCD display with
a range from 6 to 20.46 VDC with 0.02 volt
resolution.
4. Servo DRIVER, allowing the PICChip to
provide the signals to operate a servo. This
function has an optional LCD that directly
displays the servo output signal with a
range from 0.85 to 2.12 milliseconds.
5. Servo DRIVER configured for 0.01 to 2.55
milliseconds. This mode was used to
design the ESC. (Be careful when using
the 0.01 to 2.55 millisecond configuration
with a servo. It will run the servo past its
48 SERVO 02.2005
boards with pure alcohol or appropriate
solvent. Pay particular attention to
the connections around the crystal
resonator and pins 9 and 10 of the
PIC. Any water or solder flux residue in
this area can prevent the crystal from
starting, preventing operation of the
microcontroller. Shake off all solvent
and blow the board dry with the out-
put of a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer.
NOTE: This ESC will be susceptible to
moisture. If it is to be used in a float
plane, take precautions against water.
Use the following procedure to
check out the ESC microprocessor
board. Remove the PIC from the board.
Next, connect a 9 volt alkaline battery
to the ESC red and black battery lead
wires. Connect a DC voltmeter
between the battery black wire and pin
mechanical stops.)
6. Read-back functions with LCD display that
read the error log from items 1 and 2.
7. The LCD displays the receiver pulse
width measurement and the receiver
pulse width output from 0.01 to 2.54
milliseconds with 0.01 millisecond resolu-
tion.
8. Servo test mode with LCD display with
left, center, and right repeated tests, along
with three different servo ramp-up and
ramp-down rates to test servos.
These different modes are configured
by the input voltage to three of the PICChip
inputs during power-up. Items 4 through 8
are constructed on one “Hole board” from
RadioShack. The different functions are set
up with those little PC shorting blocks, also
available from RadioShack.
The PICChip used in this project can
be programmed with the PICSTART PLUS
programmer, available from Digi-Key.
The PIC16F873 has a set-up configuration
bit file for the PIC16F873 device. This
configuration file must be set up where the
Oscillator function “XT” and everything
else is turned off or disabled.
2 of the PIC. Adjust trimmer resistor R1
to set this voltage to 3.3 volts DC. (The
PIC will not allow the voltage on pin 2
to exceed 5.5 volts DC, appx.) The
voltage between the battery minus
and both pins #1 and #20 of the PIC
should measure 5.0 volts DC. If the
BEC is being used, check for 5 volts
between the black and red wire of the
servo connector. Disconnect the battery
and install the PIC. Do not install the
PIC upside down. Reconnect the 9 volt
battery and verify that the ESC current
drain is about 12 mA.
If all looks well, connect the ESC
microcontroller board to the receiver.
If the ESC does not include the BEC
connection, connect a four cell NiCad
pack to the R/C receiver. Power-up the
transmitter, receiver, and ESC. Check
for 9 volts between the motor battery
negative black wire and test point “Z.”
This ESC controller was
designed for use with high per-
formance model airplanes pow-
ered by electric motors. The typ-
ical motor used involves an
Astroflight Cobalt 40 size motor
with a gear box that can be run
on 22-2.4 Ah NiCad cells at cur-
rent levels of 40 A. This is a very
significant amount of power;
the Astroflight motor will turn a
13 inch (10 inch pitch) propeller
at about 7,800 RPM. Be aware
that this can cause significant
injury to the unwary.
Because of this, this ESC
requires an “Arming” process
each and every time the ESC is
powered down and powered
back up by battery power. The
ESC verifies proper receiver
signal on power-up. After about
1 second of valid signal with the
throttle set at less than 50%,
the ESC sends a 1,200 Hz very
low power “beep” to the
motor. (If the throttle is over
50%, nothing will happen!)
After this, quickly move the
throttle to full throttle, wait for a
medium pitched motor beep,
then move the throttle to mini-
mum and wait for a high pitched
Volrath.qxd 1/3/2005 2:26 PM Page 49

Build a PICChip Electronic Speed Control

motor beep. The ESC

has just memorized the
PIC 877 Speed Control Parts List
high and low throttle Part ID Part No. Quantity
positions. The next FET (7 to 21 cells) IRL3705N-ND HEXFET (Price reduction at 10 pcs) 4
throttle movement will 5 V REG LM2940CT-5.0-ND 1 A low drop reg 1
run the motor. This C1 272-1029 220 µF cap 1
whole process takes less C2, C4, C5 P2022-ND 2.2 µF cap 3
than 10 seconds. C3, C7 272-134 0.047 µf 1
This ESC was C6, C8 272-123 100 PF cap 1
designed to power an D1 276-1101 1 amp diode (7 to 15 cells) 1
D2, D3 SD103ACT-ND 400 MW 40 V Schottky diode 2
electric motor under pro- D4 (7 to 21 cells) 1N5822-ND 1N5822 3 amp Schottky diode 1
peller loads. The horse PCB Per ESC article
power to turn a propeller PIC PIC6F873-04/SP-ND PICChip (Must be programmed!) ** 1
is related to the RPM Q1, Q2, Q4 2N2904 2N2904 (RadioShack 276-1617) 3
ratio raised to the third Q3 2N2906 2N2906 (RadioShack 276-1604) 1
power. The PIC uses a R1 CT94W203-ND 20 K 10 turn pot 1
look-up table for the R13 470 QBK-ND 470 ohm (16 to 21 cells) 1
pulse width modulation
R2, R12 22K EBK-ND 22 Kohm 1/8 watt 5
output that accounts for R3, R10, R11 47K EBK-ND 47 Kohm 1/8 watt 5
the propeller effect. If R4, R5, R6, R7 150 EBK-ND 150 ohm 1/8 watt 5
this ESC is to be used for R8, R9 10K EBK-ND 10 Kohm 1/8 watt 5
other purposes, the look- XTL PX400MC-ND 4 MHz resonator ** 1
up table can be modified SOCKET 276-1999A 14-pin socket (two end-to-end) 2
to provide any throttle 1
verses power output. Digi-Key (All -ND parts) Remaining parts from
Note that the ESC does 701 Brookes Ave South RadioShack and
Thief River Falls, MN 56701 local hobby shops
not provide motor
800-344-4539
reversing. The web page
includes a linear assem- Resistor Note: Digi-Key minimum order on 1/8 watt resistors is five pieces. ** DO NOT SUBSTITUTE!!
bly file for drives not
involving propellers.
Next, connect the ESC, fully many different functions in robotics the limits are only defined by your
charged motor battery, and motor and other hobbyist applications; imagination. SV
without a prop per the ESC wiring
diagram. Connect a DC voltmeter
between the motor battery black
wire and pin 2 of the PICChip. Adjust
the trimmer resistor R1 to set this
voltage to 3.3 volts DC
The final step is to securely
mount the motor and prop, fire up
the radio and ESC, and run the motor
battery down to about 0.9 volts DC
per cell. Then, adjust R1 so that the
motor battery stays at 0.9 volts per
cell or the low battery voltage of your
choice. The ESC will shut off drive
power to the motor when the
PICChip pin 2 is less than 2.30 VDC. It
allows full power to the motor when
pin 2 is over 2.50 VDC. Between
these two voltage levels, the ESC
allows 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80%
power output.
In conclusion, this project has

Circle #75 on the Reader Service Card.

SERVO 02.2005 49
Robolinks.qxd 1/5/2005 1:17 PM Page 50

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6 Analog & 8 Digital Inputs. Adv.
(Electronically Speaking, Gateway’s Got It!) O/S & Development Environment.
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For the finest in robots, parts, and services, go to

www.servomagazine.com and click on Robo-Links
to hotlink to these great companies.

50 SERVO 02.2005
Barlow2.qxd 1/3/2005 4:27 PM Page 51

— BY KERRY BARLOW —

I n last month’s article, I spoke about many features of the

Atom and I began to talk about how I used the Atom in
my robot (pictured here). This month, I will go into further
detail on code that is specific to the Atom microprocessor
(see Figure 1). I encourage you to download my program
examples from the SERVO website or from my own website
(see the Resources sidebar).
The Program
After spending much time, making many additions to my
code, and watching the code grow larger with every revision, I
am extremely happy I
chose the
Atom processor. To give you some idea of what my program
is doing before I go into detail on the Atom specific code, a
diagram of the program is in order. I encourage readers
to download the full program and keep it on hand while
reading this article. It is not my intent to describe the full
robot program here, just the sections pertinent to the Atom.
The following code summary is laid out exactly as it is
written in the full program:
Hardware Interrupts initiated and set running in
background
Main Loop
Check for Interruptflag
If the Hardware Interrupt has been activated,
branch to object detected.

SERVO 02.2005 51
Barlow2.qxd 1/3/2005 4:28 PM Page 52
THE ATOM 24-PIN MICROPROCESSOR
FIGURE 1
Read four SRF04 Sonar and store values into sonar
variables
Branch to four subroutines and store values into sonar
variables.
Read GP2D02 and store value in variable
Decision statement if range is too low
Check if GP2D02 has returned a short range.
Set up sonar flags into a binary truth table using IF
statements
If Ldist <= 10, then Lflag = 8.
Stop tracks if Sonar returns any detection.
If Lflag = 8, c1flag = 4, c2flag = 2, or Rflag = 1, then
gosub stoptrack.
If any flags are set, then gosub StopTrack.
Add all binary values together for Sonar sensors
Objectflag = Lflag + c1flag + c2flag + rflag.
Check Light sensor
Gosub lightincenter and perform subroutine functions.
Check for robot being trapped
If the robot becomes trapped, it may swivel around for
awhile looking for an opening. In this case, gosub back-
up and find the proper direction to turn.
Do Binary calculation for direction subroutines
If objectflag = 0, then gosub forwardtrack.
If objectflag = 1, then gosub left15.
Additional IF decision lines ...
Return to Main
Hardware interrupts disabled
Interrupt Loop
The reader should note that, at the same time the main
loop is running, the hardware interrupts are also running. At
any time while the program is within the main loop and an
IR edge sensor outputs a 0, then the hardware interrupt pin
will initiate an interrupt to the main loop and send control to
a special subroutine. In this subroutine, I stop all motors and
search for an opening around the robot. Once an opening is
found, I resume the interrupt subroutine and continue with
my main loop’s code. I wish to emphasize that this interrupt
occurs in hardware and is much more reliable than software
solutions to implementing interrupts.
52 SERVO 02.2005
It should be noted that Basic Micro states that the
hardware interrupts will occur between lines of code. This
means that, if you have something like a pause 5000 (5
seconds), the hardware interrupt will not be processed
during this pause routine. A long sound statement or some
similar line of code that takes extra time to run will also cause
the interrupt code to wait while it executes this line.
This is not normally a problem if a person is aware of it
and designs the main loop code to avoid such problems.
For example, if you do need a long pause, then — instead
of a pause 5000 — break this down into a small for-next loop,
such as:
for I = 1 to 50
pause 100
next I
The Atom interrupts would then be active on each of the
three lines of code and only a pause 100 (.1 second) would
then cause the interrupts to be disabled.
As far as speed of execution, I cannot say empirically
how fast the Atom is compared to other processors. On
paper it is, indeed, faster (33 K instructions/second), but I am
sure the readers would like some real world proof. All I can
say to this is that, after reading four SRF04 sensors, detect-
ing a GP2d02, checking a light sensor, and making decision
statements, I notice no lag in object detection whatsoever.
Lag or detection in a program such as this is going to be
hard to measure because, sometimes, it is unknown whether
an object simply was not detected or the robot drove past an
object before its code could detect it. For the hardware inter-
rupts, I test them while the robot is moving by holding a narrow
yardstick in the robot’s path. As far as I can tell, the instant I
place the yardstick within range of an edge sensor, I have
detection and the robot code stops the tracks. I know this is
not scientific, but it is my real world observation.
The final and working version of the robot has the
following hardware installed. The program is available online
at the SERVO website or from mine.
• Four SRF04 sonar range finders using a 4502 multiplexor
(see Figure 2).
• One GP2D02 range I/R finder.
• Three CDS light sensors using the A/D input (see Figure 3).
• One PIR heat sensor: currently not working.
• Six I/R wall edge sensors, interrupt controlled.
• One speaker.
• One LCD.
• One rotating sensor head.
• Dual motor track drive.
Program Detail
Let’s go into detail on sections of the program that are
unique to the Atom. A few of my program routines may be
hard to understand, so I will also review sections of the code
that need explanation. The main loop has been detailed
Barlow2.qxd 1/3/2005 4:29 PM Page 53
previously, so I will not belabor that point again. I cannot talk
about all of the sections of my program at this time. If
anyone has questions on the complete robot program, please
feel free to write me or post a question on the Nuts & Volts
Forum (www.nutsvolts.com select Bulletin Board).
4052 Multiplexor and SRF04 Code
As readers may have guessed by now, I was running out
of I/O lines quickly. When I decided to use four sonar
sensors, I had to make a design decision. I could have used
the modern SRF08 sensor on the Atom’s I2C bus; however, I
could not afford the additional price of the sensors. I did not
have enough I/O lines to waste on four sonar sensors, either.
The 4052 is a four-channel analog chip controlled by two
logic lines. This was made to order for my application (see
Figure 2). The connections are straightforward and I am sure
all readers will be able to follow the schematic easily.
Simply put, the four channels are connected to the input
channels, depending on binary logic applied to their A and B
control lines. For example, if a low or 0 is placed on both the
A and B control lines, then the Y and X lines are connected
internally to the Y0 and the X0 lines. In my schematic, this
would be SRF04 sensor 1 enabled. Software code then
would call the SRF04 normally. The 4052 chip will come with
a logic truth table for its four states.
The code to implement an SRF04 on an Atom is a bit
different than the code on a BS2. The code will bring the Init
line high and then low to initialize the SRF04, then the echo
THE ATOM 24-PIN MICROPROCESSOR
may be read in using the pulsin command. A pause 10 is used to
ensure that the echo is received properly and to prevent ringing
of the transducers. For an example of using the multiplexor
with the SRF04 sensors, please download the SRF04 program.
Servo Code
Using a servo with the Atom is very straightforward. This
was a feature I was very happy to find out about after
purchasing the Atom. The entire servo command consists of
three statements on one line:
SERVO PIN, ROTATION, REPEAT
SERVO PIN is the I/O port on the Atom that you want the
servo connected to. ROTATION is a variable or degree you
wish the servo rotated to (-1,200 to 1,200) and REPEAT is the
number of times you wish the command repeated internally.
All servos will be different. On my servo, a command of servo
15, 0 will drive the servo on pin 15 to center. This is all that
is necessary to drive a servo on the Atom processor. To move
the servo a full clockwise rotation, use the command servo
15, 750.
GP2D02 CODE
The Sharp GP2D02 code is identical to that of the BS2.
Bringing the Sharp’s clock line low will enable the sensor to
take readings. The Atom’s Shiftin command is then used to
FIGURE 2
SERVO 02.2005 53
Barlow2.qxd 1/3/2005 4:30 PM Page 54
THE ATOM 24-PIN MICROPROCESSOR
CODE 1
'CODE1.BAS 10/4/2004 'NOTE higher value is darker loca-
tion
tempax0 var word
tempax1 var word
tempax3 var word
clk con 2
main
adin ax0,clk,ad_ron,tempax0 'a/d port 1
adin ax1,clk,ad_ron,tempax1 'a/d port 2
adin ax3,clk,ad_ron,tempax3 'a/d port 3
debug ["one ", dec tempax0, " two ", dec tempax1, "
three ", dec tempax3,13]
goto main
read in the information:
shiftin datainput,cl,MSBPOST,[val02]
Datainput is the Sharp’s output pin and CL would be
the Sharp’s clock input pin. MSBPOST will tell the Atom what
format to read in the data. In this case, sample the bits after
a clock pulse and put this into the variable called val02.
A/D CODE
The special built-in hardware-driven A/D code is quite
easy to use. Basic Micro has a nice demo program in their
documentation. Refer to Code 1 to see my example of using
a CDS light sensor. Refer to Figure 3; you can see how
simple the CDS cells connections to the Atom’s A/D pins are.
Code 1 will read all three light sensors and output the
value to the Atom’s debug screen. Pin names for the three
inputs are called ax0, ax1, and ax3. This can be confusing at
times. Pin ax2 can only be used as an I/O port, but — if you
wish — you may reference it as ax2 in your software and
enable one extra I/O port on your Atom. This is digital I/O —
no A/D on ax2. Simply call this pad ax2 instead of a different
pin name — such as pin 1 — as you normally would.
The command to read a CDS cell may be shown in a
single line, as follows:
ADIN pin, clk, adsetup, var
FIGURE 3
54 SERVO 02.2005
In my program, you will see that I have used names for
the command fields as follows:
adin ax0,clk,ad_ron,tempax0
Ax0 refers to the port for A/D. The Clk option sets the sam-
pling time for the A/D conversion. The name ad_ron is used
to set up the options available with the ATOM hardware; this
is described in the Atom documentation. In my example, I
have chosen right justified input to give a real number output
that is easier to read in my program. Tempax0 is a variable
name I have chosen to store my CDS value.
Hardware Interrupt Code
As mentioned previously, the Atom has several interrupt
sources, which can occur from internal or external sources.
External sources:
EXTINT: An external interrupt may be detected on Pin 0,
either through a high to low change (used in my program) or
through detecting a low to high change.
RBINT: Upon change, an interrupt can occur on P4, P5,
P6, or P7. This interrupt will trigger if a pin state changes
from low to high (or high to low).
Internal sources:
Internal interrupts have many variants. These are exten-
sively documented by Basic Micro. Some of these are:
TMR0INT, TMR1INT, TMR2INT: An interrupt occurs whenever
a timer overflows; this is useful for creating a real time clock
on the Atom. There are three internal timers that may be set
in the Atom.
ADINT: ADInt interrupt occurs when A/D conversion finishes.
It is used in conjunction with the ADin command.
RCINT: RCInt interrupt occurs when a byte is received by the
Hardware USART.
TXINT: TXInt interrupt occurs when a byte finishes transmitting
from the Hardware.
USART: This interrupt is disabled if you are using
HSERIN/HSEROUT.
CCP1INT, CCP2INT: CCPInt interrupt occurs on
Capture/Compare/Period match.
EEINT: EEInt interrupt occurs when a byte is finished writing
to the onboard EEPROM.
Basic Micro provides a few examples of interrupt usage in
their documentation. One of these examples is a real time
onboard clock. In my robot, I used an interrupt on pin 0 for my
edge detectors. Interrupt code must be written in the correct
Barlow2.qxd 1/3/2005 4:31 PM Page 55

THE ATOM 24-PIN MICROPROCESSOR

manner as prescribed by Basic Micro or they say you can have

stack overflow. I can attest to the fact that this is true. I spent
quite awhile initially debugging my robot program and could
not figure out why I was getting resets after 30 seconds of run
time. An astute person on the Atom forum was able to
diagnose my problem and correct it for me. To start using an
interrupt, three lines of code are necessary to enable hardware
interrupts. One line of code is used to disable interrupts below
a certain point in your program. The actual subroutine branch
point and a resume command are the final lines of code
necessary to use External Interrupts. These code lines are:

Oninterrupt interrupt source, label

Oninterrupt is an operator used to tell your program where
to go if a specified interrupt occurs. Interrupt source specifies
what type of interrupt to act on. Label is used to specify the
FIGURE 4
place to jump to in a program if the interrupt occurs.
Enable interrupt is used to turn on the interrupt system.
SetExtInt mode If no interrupt is given, all interrupts set up using ONINTER-
SetExtInt sets the external interrupt pin to input and sets RUPT are enabled. Enable interrupt can be used to turn on
the state that will cause an interrupt (EXTINT must be specific interrupts.
enabled). Mode is the setting that will trigger the actual
interrupt. There are two choices available: Your program code goes here ...
EXT_H2L = Will activate when pin is pulled low (from high).
EXT_L2H = Will activate when pin is pulled high (from low). disable extint ‘ Disable interrupt can be used to turn off
Enable {Interrupt Source} specific interrupts or all interrupts at once. If no interrupt is

Circle #87 on the Reader Service Card.

SERVO 02.2005 55
Barlow2.qxd 1/5/2005 10:43 AM Page 56
THE ATOM 24-PIN MICROPROCESSOR
given, all interrupts are disabled.
Your subroutines and additional user program code ...
ProgInt ‘ This is the subroutine that the interrupt branches
you to.
User code ’ This does whatever you wish your subroutine to
do inside this code.
resume ‘ This returns you to main program flow where the
interrupt occurred.
In my robot program, the code is written as follows:
Oninterrupt Extint, Progint ‘ Extint tells the Atom that I will
have an interrupt occurring on pin0. Progint is the subroutine
I jump to if an interrupt occurs.
SetExtInt EXT_H2L ‘ This will generate an interrupt if pin 0
goes from high to low.
Enable Extint ‘ This enables interrupts from this point down
in the program. This line is necessary to actually turn on the
interrupt function of the Atom.
Main ‘ The start of your main loop.
while 1
The main loop code of your program goes here ...
56 SERVO 02.2005
wend
disable extint ‘ Disable interrupt can be used to turn off
specific interrupts or all interrupts at once. If no interrupt is
given, all interrupts are disabled below this line.
User Subroutines ‘These are the additional program codes
and all of your subroutines.
ProgInt ‘ This is the subroutine branched to after an inter-
rupt occurs.
low motora1 ‘ Turn off all my track motors.
low motora2
low motorb1
low motorb2
resume ‘ Note that this is a special command to tell the
Atom to resume from where the interrupt occurred.
You may do anything you wish after an interrupt has
occurred. In this particular program, I set an interrupt flag that I
check after returning to my main loop. If this flag is set, then I
branch to my object detection subroutine and process the code.
Future Plans
There is a lot more that can be done with this robot. I still
have many unused functions on the Atom. Future plans include
better sound functions to show what is actually happening to
the robot for debug purposes. The LCD display is good, but
hard to read while the bot is moving around. Morse code
or a voice output chip would solve this problem. Onboard
temperature reading is planned for the I2C bus of the Atom.
I hope to someday get a working PIR sensor installed.
Additional sonar and I/R sensors need to be added. I cannot
emphasize this enough: In my experience, you can never
have too many sensors on a robot. There need to be
additional forward sensors, as well as rear side sensors and
more aft sensors. This may require the addition of another
processor or an extra multiplex chip. I hope these articles
have shown you some of the many capabilities of the Basic
Micro Atom 24-pin microcontroller and all the possibilities
that using it opens up. SV
RESOURCES
I/R receiver
www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=350-00014
SRF04, PIR Sensor, and GP2D02
http://acroname.com
SN754410 and CD4052
www.mouser.com
A/D wiring, Program, and Author Contact
http://mntnweb.com/hobby/bolo/
Atom 24 and Manual
www.BasicMicro.Com
SERVO Magazine
www.servomagazine.com
Pfister.qxd 1/3/2005 4:23 PM Page 57
Smart Hat for a Stylish RoboSapien
M y wife gave me a RoboSapien as
a birthday gift in June, 2004. She
found it at Fry’s Electronics in
California shortly after they became
available. After playing with it, I was
convinced it was not just another cute
remote controlled toy. It could form
the basis for a low cost autonomous
mobile robot.
Like many other electronic hobby
experimenters, in the past I have
destroyed a great many devices by
trying to make them work better, so I
was reluctant to experiment on the
RoboSapien. Then the August issue
of SERVO Magazine announced the
Hack-a-Sapien contest. I decided to
take a chance and build an
autonomous controller for the robot.
The controller would have sensors
to inform the robot, a processor to ana-
lyze the sensor data, and a command
generator to control the RoboSapien in
performing autonomous tasks. This
evolved into a Smart Hat that is put on
the robot to let it achieve autonomous
operation.
At first, I planned to mount every-
thing inside the robot body by making
extensive changes to the mechanics,
sensors, and wiring. This was a huge
effort and I feared this approach had
the potential of joining my growing
collection of partially finished projects.
Instead, I considered following a small
set of design goals for the contest
also suits my philosophy of value engi-
neering for low cost experiments,
which translates into “make it cheap
entry: and cheerful.”
• Make no permanent modifications or The Parts
internal changes to the RoboSapien.
For the microcontroller, I used a
• Use only a simple autonomous micro- Kronos Robotics preassembled Dios
controller programmed using a PC. circuit board that has proved successful
on many other small projects. This PCB
• Use only off-the-shelf sensors and is small (2.5 x 3 inches), lightweight,
actuators — no custom electronics or low power, and very easy to program
mechanics. from a PC serial port. It has a very
impressive 10 Mips PIC microcontroller
• Use only the remote IR optical input with built-in analog to digital
to the robot for send-
ing commands. Figure 1. Smart Hat has side IR sensors, a front servo
mounted ultrasonic sensor, and a programmable
controller while keeping the face visible.
• Make the final result
look good and be in
the style of the
RoboSapien design.
As always, I chose
to salvage existing
parts from other proj-
ects rather than buy
or build anything new.
This meant I would
use components that I
was familiar with from
other applications. It
SERVO 02.2005 57
Pfister.qxd 1/3/2005 4:24 PM Page 58
SERVO Magazine Hack-a-Sapien Second Place Winner
Figure 2. Parts for the Smart Hat — Dios processor, IR sensors, and batteries.
conversion, serial communication, and function and looks. I had been using
many other features, such as only it mounted on a standard size hobby
requiring a 9 volt battery to operate servo to scan a 180 degree field
autonomously. of view and was confident in its
The controller choice drove the performance.
size of the add-on to the robot. It was By going to a smaller and lighter
a bit too big to be placed inside the micro servo, I could mount it on the
body without major modification. I robot, but this would require another
experimented with both a backpack battery pack for the servo power — and
and a waist pack for mounting, but more weight. One night, I dozed off
these displaced the center of gravity pondering different designs. I needed a
and limited the walking agility of the good idea for mounting the controller,
robot. To preserve the existing robot sensors, servo, and batteries. I woke up
motions, the center of gravity would the next morning with the concept of
have to be carefully maintained and removing the robot head and replacing
was a definite mechanical constraint it with a new one. Unfortunately, this
on the possible design choices. violated my first design rule.
For sensors, I planned to use two The simple solution was that I
Sharp GP2D12 IR range sensors that would not remove the head, but add a
interface easily to the microcontroller. hat to the robot instead: a smart and
These give a reasonable range read- stylish hat with sensors, batteries, a
ing using an analog signal that is very servo, and a controller that only
reliable. My first thought was to sits over the robot head with no
mount them on the front of the connections other than an optical IR
robot, but I had one more sensor I transmitter LED for command output.
wanted to use. It would mount directly over the
This is an SRF08 ultrasonic ranging robot’s center of gravity and would
sensor from Devantech that uses an I2C have only a minor effect on the
interface bus available on the Dios motion of the robot.
microcontroller. It was a perfect choice
for the front of the robot, both in The Hat Design
Figure 3. Plastic parts for the Smart Hat with a For a while, I have
CAD drawing and paper fit test. wanted to use Pololu
Corporation’s plastic
laser cutting design serv-
ice, just to see how it
works. This was my
chance; since I already
had all of the other
parts, it was not a big
investment to buy some
58 SERVO 02.2005
custom-cut plastic parts. I began to
experiment on part layouts using my
favorite free CAD program, CadStd,
to produce some potential designs.
I looked at other laser cut
projects and plastic parts and began
to simplify my concept. Curved
surfaces were out. I would concen-
trate on a simple, open box style with
four sides and a top. I tried a few
designs, printed them out, and then
cut out paper models to test the fit,
look, and feel. In the end, the CAD
design was reviewed and a $16.00
cost quoted by Pololu. It was cut
once, air mailed in two days, and fit
perfectly. This may be the first time I
have ever had anything I designed
work on the very first try.
The Smart Hat design is a box cut
from 1/8 inch ABS plastic. White
colored ABS often has brown edges
from the laser cutter, so Pololu suggested
using black stock with a smooth side
and a textured side. The top is recessed
to mount the PCB, the servo battery
pack of four AAA cells, and the 9 volt
battery for the PCB; in addition, it
provides rear access to the serial port
and a power connection.
All hat parts are symmetric so that
either the smooth side or the textured
side can be used as the outside surface
of the hat. The accuracy of the laser
cutter is about 0.01 inch and provides
a very tight fit with no loose joints. The
back of the hat extends into the neck
slot of the robot and the front extends
down to the chest with holes for
mounting screws.
A major control problem is that
the RoboSapien rocks from side to side
up to 30 degrees as it moves. This
makes the side-looking IR range sensor
measurements very inaccurate. The
solution was to use a mercury switch
to detect the upright position of the
body and to only do the side range
measurements during the upright time
period. The front-looking ultrasonic
sensor is not as subject to errors from
the rocking motion, but it can also use
the upright detection data to trigger
the sensor operation.
In the final design, connector pins
to the Dios ultra board mount to a
RadioShack prototype circuit board.
Pfister.qxd 1/3/2005 4:25 PM Page 59

SERVO Magazine Hack-a-Sapien Second Place Winner

This board holds the micro servo, the Rubberbands can be

SRF08 ultrasonic sensor, a mercury placed under the arms to
switch tilt sensor, an IR LED for commu- provide a solid, stable
nication to the robot, and connectors mounting. The hat does
for the GP2D12 IR sensors. The Dios not touch the robot
board rests on the top plastic panel head and the front hole
with a four cell AAA battery pack lets the robot face and
attached by screws and a 9 volt logic eyes see the world.
battery for the Dios controller. The
GP2D12 IR range sensors are mounted The Program
at the top of each side panel.
The circuit for the Smart Hat consists In 1977, the IEEE
of connecting interface pins to sensors held the first micro
and actuators. No external digital logic mouse contest in New
or analog interfaces are required. York, where the goal
Inputs to the Dios board are two was to produce an
analog channels from the IR range sen- autonomously controlled
sors and a digital line from the mercury robot mouse to find its
switch tilt sensor. Outputs from the way through a maze. By
board are one control line for the using the simple rule of
servo and one control line for the IR hugging the left wall, a
transmitter LED. A logic power plug is mouse can get through
provided along with a screw type inter- a simple maze. This is to
face for the servo battery pack. be the first autonomous
Communication with the ultrasonic test program for the
range sensor is over the built-in I2C bus Smart Hat: to simply
that uses two wires for clock and data. emulate the historic
The final Smart Hat weighs 400 robot mouse. Many Figure 4. Circuit connections to the Dios processor
grams. The robot weighs 900 grams more complex behaviors for the Smart Hat board.
for a total of 1,300 grams or just under will follow, but this first
three pounds. The hat batteries are one is a necessary step for learning 1. Start up and initialize the program and
rechargeable NiMH and last for about about the control characteristics of the activate robot.
an hour with proper sensor manage- robot. 2. Detect if the robot is active by reading
ment. The hat is attached to the robot The structure of the program is the mercury switch.
by sitting in the back neck slot and rest- a simple repeating loop with the 3. Measure the side range distances with
ing on adjustment screws on the front. following steps: the IR sensors.

SERVO 02.2005 59
Pfister.qxd 1/3/2005 4:26 PM Page 60
SERVO Magazine Hack-a-Sapien
Figure 5. Robot controller and a simple TV remote
with receive and transmit test circuit.
4. Rotate the servo beginning from left
to a start angle.
5. Read the ultrasonic range for the rota-
tion angle.
6. Move the servo and repeat step 5 until
end of rotation.
7. Based on side ranges and forward
obstacles, choose a command.
8. Send a command to the robot using
the IR transmitter LED.
9. Wait for a brief period of time and
sample tilt switches.
10. Repeat, starting at step 3.
This program is implemented
using the Dios programming lan-
guage. The language provides an
extensive library of built-in functions
for the I2C bus, IR modules, servo
control, LEDs, and switches. A large
amount of sample code is provided to
make program construction a very
easy task.
I estimate my programming time
to be 10 times faster than with C and
100 times faster than with assembly
language. As in all object-oriented soft-
ware systems, there is a learning curve
The Sources
Kronos Robotics
P.O. Box 4441, Leesburg, VA 20175
www.kronosrobotics.com
Pololu Corporation
6000 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 5-E,
Las Vegas, NV 89119
www.pololu.com
Devantech, Ltd. (Robot Electronics)
Unit 2B Gilray Road, Diss, Norfolk,
IP22 4EU, England
www.robot-electronics.co.uk
60 SERVO 02.2005
Second Place Winner
and a rigid syntax. In
addition, your design has
to be compatible with the
real time constraints
imposed by the system.
In the case of the
Smart Hat, no severe real
time constraints exist and
the Dios language
provides an easy program
development for robot
control. Best of all, it is provided free
for use with the Dios products.
The Operation
My RoboSapien fitted with a
Smart Hat is being tested to determine
how well it moves on both carpet and
wood surfaces. This requires sensing a
sidewall, detecting any front obstacles,
determining the command to transmit
to the robot, and then transmitting this
command continuously. The Smart Hat
monitors the movements of the robot
and updates the commands as
required.
When it detects a movement
anomaly, it halts the program and
stores a diagnostic readout in the
EEPROM memory for future PC
analysis. In general, the robot moves
slowly on carpet and faster on smooth
surfaces. It can turn and maintain a
fixed distance from a sidewall and can
detect and avoid large, fixed obstacles
in its path. The Smart Hat is now ready
to autonomously control a robot
and to be programmed to do many
Visit the Smart Hat website for
demonstration programs, mpeg
movies, and detailed technical infor-
mation for design and construction.
www.sosrobots.com
CAD Standard drawing program by
John Apperson
www.cadstd.com
Robo-Hoops 2004 at Penn State,
Abingdon on December 4, 2004
www.ecsel.psu.edu
other useful things.
The Future
I have some future plans and ideas
for using the Smart Hat RoboSapien. A
simpler first project will be to add a
standard TV remote IR receiver, as
shown in the circuit diagram. This will
allow the use of a much simpler
remote, such as my favorite — the
six button RadioShack model
URC-1030B01. This will let someone
control the Smart Hat robot motions
without having to master the complex
controller supplied with the
RoboSapien. This interface can also be
used to provide low rate, low power,
and limited range wireless computer
communications.
Another intriguing project is to
make a second Smart Hat RoboSapien
and then program the pair to compete
and cooperate, similar to the MIT
6.270 student autonomous design
competition class. I plan to use a pair
of proven IR beacon kits from Pololu
for mutual robot location.
Another robot contest is Robo-
Hoops 2004, held at Penn State,
Abingdon in December of 2004. They
had a special innovation challenge using
a RoboSapien that is autonomously
controlled. It must dunk a four inch
foam ball in a 10 inch hoop, located
12 inches above the ground.
One definite experimental research
objective of the Smart Hat is to
develop behavior-based autonomous
robot control programs. The goal is to
allow the implementation of modern
computing concepts on a PC and
transmit the programs to the Smart
Hat for embodied operation. Some
concepts include finite state machines,
fuzzy logic, neural networks, and
other machine learning techniques for
intelligent robotics.
In summary, the combination of a
RoboSapien for under $90.00, along
with a Smart Hat for under $100.00
and a PC can provide an experimental
autonomous robot system with great
capability. At this low cost, multiple
robots can be used to cooperate
and compete in a wide range of
experimental environments. SV
Full Page.qxd 1/5/2005 7:56 AM Page 61

"The resounding success of the 2004 conference

Profiting from the is an indication that there is a growing new market
1st New Industry for personal, service and mobile robotics. From its
academic and research nascency, robotics technology
of the 21st Century is moving into a number of diverse consumer and
business-to-business applications."
Colin Angle, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, iRobot

SECOND ANNUAL

Conference and Exposition

The Nation’s Premier Business Development Event
for Mobile Robotics and Intelligent Systems

May 10-11, 2005

Hyatt Regency Cambridge
Cambridge, MA
www.roboevent.com
Produced by: Premier Sponsor Corporate Sponsors

Media Sponsors

RoboticsTrends

Association Sponsors

SERVO 02.2005 61
Events.qxd 1/3/2005 3:54 PM Page 62
Send updates, new listings, corrections, complaints, and suggestions to: steve@ncc.com or FAX 972-404-0269
Have you been thinking about participating in the
DARPA Grand Challenge this year? If so, don't forget that
February 11 is the deadline for teams to complete part one
of the five-part application process. Basic team information
and certification of funding must be completed by the 11th.
The deadline for the next part of the process is March 11th,
when vehicle specifications and a video must be submitted.
If you're not up for the Grand Challenge, don't worry.
There are plenty of smaller robot events scheduled for the
coming months.
— R. Steven Rainwater
For last minute updates and changes, you can always find
the most recent version of the complete Robot Competition
FAQ at Robots.net: http://robots.net/rcfaq.html
F e b ru a r y 2 0 0 5
4-6 Robotix
IIT Khargpur, West Bengal, India
Organized for students of IIT Khargpur, this
contest includes events for both autonomous
robots and radio-controlled machines.
www.robotixiitkgp.com/
19 DPRG Table Top and Fire Fighting Competitions
The Science Place, Dallas, TX
The DPRG is combining their spring Table Top
robotics event with the regional Trinity Fire Fighting
Robot Competition this year. The Table Top contest
offers a variety of events for small autonomous
robots.
www.dprg.org/
March 2005
6-10 APEC Micromouse Contest
Hilton Hotel, Austin, TX
This will be the 18th annual APEC Micromouse event.
www.apec-conf.org/
11-12 AMD Jerry Sanders
Creative Design Contest
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
62 SERVO 02.2005
The design problem for this contest is new and
different each year. Check the website for the latest
news and details.
http://dc.cen.uiuc.edu/
19-20 Manitoba Robot Games
Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
A variety of events, including sumo, a robot tractor
pull, and Atomic Hockey.
www.scmb.mb.ca/
24-27 ROBOlympics
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Lots of events, including sumo, BEAM, Mindstorms,
FIRA, and robot combat.
www.robolympics.net
A p r il 2 0 0 5
9-10 Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot
Contest
Trinity College, Hartford, CT
Could the fire have been set by a robot builder
frustrated with the voluminous rules?
www.trincoll.edu/events/robot
12-14 DTU RoboCup
Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen,
Denmark
Imagine your typical line following contest. Now
add forks in the line, ramps, stairs, gaps in the line,
shifts from indoor to outdoor lighting, reversals of
the line shading (white to black), and 50 cm "gates"
though which the robot must pass.
www.iau.dtu.dk/robocup/about_robocup.html
15 Carnegie Mellon Mobot Races
Wean Hall, CMU, Pittsburgh, PA
The traditional Mobot slalom and MoboJoust
events.
www.cs.cmu.edu/~mobot/
16 UC Davis Picnic Day Micromouse Contest
University of California at Davis, CA
Every year, UC-Davis has a campus-wide event
Events.qxd 1/5/2005 12:02 PM Page 63

Machine It Yourself &

known as Picnic Day. Every
Picnic Day includes the annual
micromouse contest. The
event follows standard micro-
mouse rules.
w w w. e c e . u c d av i s . e d u /
umouse/
23 RoboFest
Lawrence Technological
University, Southfield, MI
A competition and exhibition
of autonomous LEGO robots.
Designed to spur students’
interest in science, engineer-
ing, programming, and tech-
nology.
http://robofest.net/
27-29 Singapore Robotic Games
Republic of Singapore
An amazing assortment of
events, including pole balanc-
ing, legged robot obstacle
course, legged robot
marathon race, wall climbing
robot race, micromouse,
sumo, robot soccer, robot
gladiator competition, and
the robot colony competition.
http://guppy.mpe.nus.edu.
sg/srg/
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SERVO 02.2005 63
Robytes.qxd 1/4/2005 12:54 PM Page 64
Robytes
everal weeks ago, shortly
S before Godzilla’s induction to
the Hollywood Walk of Fame
(coincidence?), Dave Calkins
disappeared, leaving behind only a
box of LEGOs, a blown-out pair of
K-Mart headphones, and half a
case of Guiness. Sensing the
gravity of the moment, the SERVO
staff shifted into emergency mode
and promptly drank the remaining
stout. Later, possibly still under the
influence, they recruited me to fill
in for Dave. To submit related press
releases and news items, please
visit www.jkeckert.com And good
luck, Dave, wherever you are.
— Jeff Eckert
AUV Travels from Woods
Hole to Bermuda
The Spray ocean glider.
Photo courtesy of Scripps
Institution of Oceanography.
The Spray ocean glider. Photo courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
64 SERVO 02.2005
In a voyage that ran from
September 11 until early November of
last year, an underwater robot traveled
from about 100 miles south of
Nantucket Island, MA, to Bermuda.
Developed by scientists at the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (at the
University of California, San Diego)
and the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, with support from the
Office of Naval Research, the “Spray”
autonomous underwater vehicle
(AUV) is a 6 ft long ocean glider with
a 4 ft wingspan.
A perceptive reader will note that
no external means of propulsion is
visible and, in fact, it needs none.
Spray glides up and down through the
water on a preprogrammed course by
pumping mineral oil between two
bladders, one inside the aluminum hull
and the other outside. This changes
the volume of the glider, making it
denser or lighter than the surrounding
water and the vehicle floats up and
sinks down while using its wings to
provide lift and forward motion.
Batteries power buoyancy change,
onboard computers, and other electron-
ics. In a typical cycle, it might descend
1,000 m (3,300 ft) and travel 5 km (3
mi) laterally in about 10 hrs. Between
cycles, it spends about 15 minutes on
by Jeff Eckert
the surface to relay its position and
information about ocean conditions
such as temperature, salinity, and pres-
sure via satellite back to the home base.
In theory, Spray has a range of
6,000 km (3,500 mi), which would
allow it to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This
means that it can remain at sea for
months, allowing scientists to observe
large-scale changes in the ocean
environment that might otherwise not
be detected. The vision is to build a fleet
of AUVs that can be equipped with cus-
tomized arrays of sensors that measure
such things as dissolved oxygen, carbon
dioxide, alkalinity, salinity, turbidity, and
nutrients in the water. For details, visit
spray.ucsd.edu
Robo Dog Gets Video
Capability
The AIBO®.
Courtesy of Sony Corp.
So let’s say you’re planning a
romantic evening with Paris Hilton.
You’ve actually taken a shower, put
on something nicer than the stained
cut-offs and Budweiser-soaked Elvis
T-shirt, and slid something in the oven
that doesn’t say “Hungry Man” on it.
The game plan includes candles, soft
music, and a box of fine sangria. It
suddenly occurs to you: there’s no one
to hold the video camera to prove to
your friends that you are capable of
finding a date!
Robytes.qxd 1/3/2005 2:52 PM Page 65
Never fear! The latest upgrade to
Sony’s AIBO® canine robot includes —
among less important things — video
recording capabilities. Using a combi-
nation of the new AIBO Entertainment
Player (AEP) and AIBO MIND 2 (a soft-
ware application on 32 MB Memory
Stick® media), you can actually choose
among several customized recording
modes — continuous, time lapsed,
motion-activated, and sound-activated.
The MIND 2 upgrade is available
to existing AIBO owners for about
$100.00. If you don’t already have the
digital dog, you can buy him for about
$1,900.00.
And, yes, he responds to voice com-
mands, dances, plays digital music files,
and so forth. I can’t help but wonder,
though. If AIBO lifts his leg, do drained
batteries come out? The answer may be
available at www.sonystyle.com
Affordable Motion Control Products
Robot Building
Blocks
Motor Speed
Control
PID Motor
Position
Control
Solutions Cubed
Phone 530-891-8045
www.solutions-cubed.com
Swarm Intelligence
Symposium Scheduled for
June
A perpetual objective in robotic
technology has been to expand on
the machines’ ability to operate
autonomously. However, if your inter-
ests lie with the little insect-like robots,
you may instead be thinking in terms
of how large numbers of extremely
simple “bugbots” might interact to
solve complex problems, much like
swarms of virtually brainless creatures
in nature somehow pool their mental
resources to build sophisticated nests,
coordinate mass migrations, establish
schemes for division of labor, and find
their ways to *NSYNC concerts.
If so, check out the 2005 IEEE
Swarm Intelligence Symposium, sched-
uled for June 8-10, 2005 at the Westin
Hotel in Pasadena, CA. Co-sponsored
Circle #94 on the Reader Service Card.
Robytes
by the IEEE Computational Intelligence
Society, the IEEE Communications
Society, and the IEEE Robotics and
Automation Society, with cooperation
from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it
will, “focus primarily on theoretical
foundations of swarm intelligence,
models and analysis of collective
behavior in natural societies, and
design, control, and optimization of
collective artificial systems based on
principles of swarm intelligence.”
There will also be two panel discus-
sions focused on, “growing commercial
interests in swarm intelligence applica-
tions and research funding opportunities
in government.” (Translation: How to
sell this stuff to industry and suck up
more federal bucks.) Participants will
also have an opportunity to tour the Jet
Propulsion Lab. For more information,
visit www.ieeeswarm.org SV
3
Solutions
SERVO 02.2005 65
MrRoboto.qxd 1/3/2005 2:56 PM Page 66

Our resident expert on all things

robotic is merely an Email away.
roboto@servomagazine.com

Tap into the sum of all human knowledge and get your questions answered here! From
software algorithms to material selection, Mr. Roboto strives to meet you where you
are — and what more would you expect from a complex service droid?

by
Pete Miles

Q .I was wondering if Lithium Ion or Ni-MH cell phone

batteries are of any use to power robots?

— Marcu Knoesen
South Africa
built into them to limit charging and discharging rates. You
should use these circuits if you use these batteries.
Most Lithium Ion cell phone batteries have a 3.6 volt
output and some have a 7.2 volt output. Ni-MH cell phone
batteries have a wider variety of voltages: 4.8, 6.0, 7.2, and
9.6 volts. This requires you to use some sort of a voltage

A .Cell phone batteries happen to be a rather popular

choice for powering smaller-sized robots because of
their size and higher energy densities when compared
to Ni-Cd and Alkaline batteries. Many times, these batteries
are taken apart and their sub-cells are placed in robots that
fit in the palm of your hand.
First off, you need to determine if the batteries work
properly. Most cell phones are discarded because their
batteries no longer hold a good charge. Lithium Ion batteries
are very poplar (to the manufacturing community) because
of their smaller size and the fact that they have a finite shelf
life of around 2 to 3 years.
Ni-MH batteries are more durable than Lithium Ion
batteries, but they are larger and heavier. These batteries
can tolerate heavy current drains and can tolerate rapid
recharging better than Lithium Ion batteries. Lithium Ion
batteries require special charging circuits to safely charge.
Most Lithium Ion cell phone batteries have special circuits
regulator/conditioner to supply the proper voltage to your
robot’s electronics. To get a good idea on how many
different types of cell phone batteries there are, just visit
eBatts.com (www.ebatts.com). They sell hundreds of differ-
ent cell phone batteries and they also provide a set of simple
specifications for the batteries.
The main drawback to using cell phone batteries is that
you will have to make a custom battery holder for them
because the batteries are designed to fit inside specific cell
phones. They don’t have any simple physical attachment
points or electrical connections. You can take them apart to
get to the core battery, but they are still difficult to work with
because they won’t fit in traditional battery holders.
Though cell phone batteries may be difficult to use,
they do make good batteries for the smaller-sized robots,
especially when they are disassembled and placed inside the
robot’s small compartments.

Thickness

1/24” (0.042”)
1/16” (0.062”)
oz/in2

0.267
0.394
gm/cm2

1.173
1.731
10 cm Mini
Sumo
117
173
20 cm 3 kg
Sumo
469
692
Part No. for a 12”
square sheet
9032K111
9032K112
Q .I saw a couple of people
cutting lead sheets to make
weights for their mini sumo
robots at last year’s PDXBot. What I
really liked about this was that it was
3/32” (0.094”) 0.597 2.623 262 1,049 9032K113 a large sheet and it was custom-cut to
shape with scissors. Do you know
1/8” (0.125”) 0.794 3.489 349 1,396 9032K114 where I can get this stuff?
3/16” (0.188”) 1.194 5.246 524 2,098 9032K115 — Josh
Portland, OR
1/4” (0.25”) 1.588 6.978 698 2,791 9032K116

66
1/2” (0.50”) 3.176 13.955 1,396 5,582 9032K117

Table 1. Available lead sheets from McMaster Carr and their impact on sumo robots.
SERVO 02.2005
A .I like to use these lead sheets in
my sumo robots. This stuff is
pretty amazing and easy to
MrRoboto.qxd 1/5/2005 9:42 AM Page 67

work with. Table 1 shows a list of different thicknesses that

are available from McMaster Carr (www.mcmaster.com),
along with masses per unit area in English and Metric units.
The table also includes a couple of columns that give an idea
on how a single layer of the lead will increase the weight of
the sumo robot if the sheet covered the maximum area of
the robot. Lead’s density of 6.352 oz/in3 (10.99 gm/cm3)
makes it an ideal material for adding weight to a sumo
robot.
I purchased a 12” square piece of the 1/24” thickness
for $5.99 several years ago and I am still using it for my
robots. These sheets can be purchased for sizes from 12”
square up to 4’ x 6’. The thinner sheets (1/8” or less) can
easily be cut with regular scissors, the 1/8” to 1/4” thick
sheets can be easily cut with tin shears, and you will
probably want to use a saw to cut the 1/2” thick sheets. This Figure 1. Cutting out lead to make a disk to fit inside
lead can be cut, drilled, bent, folded, and twisted to fit any a mini sumo wheel.
opening inside your robot. For fine-tuning, an X-acto knife
can clean things up. Thickness Ounces Grams
While writing this, a really cool idea came to mind.
1/24” (0.042”) 1.059 30.0
Why not use these lead sheets to make disks that fit inside
the popular mini sumo wheels that most people are using? 1/16” (0.062”) 1.563 44.3
There is a recess that is about 0.10” deep on both sides of 3/32” (0.094”) 2.370 67.2
these wheels. Filling this recess with lead can greatly
increase the weight of the mini sumo and put all the Table 2. Mini sumo wheel weight changes due to adding
weight where it counts the most — on the wheel that is lead disks to their insides.
in contact with the sumo ring, which helps to improve
traction. circuit using a BASIC Stamp 2 from Parallax (www.parallax
Table 2 shows the weight impact of using three of the .com) that I use and it works quite well. The program
different lead sheet thicknesses and Figure 1 shows a photo listing shown in Listing 1 is what I use for controlling the
of the disks being made. Double these values when placing directions of the motors. There’s not much to it.
them on the inside of both mini sumo wheels. Depending Now, with that said, you need to be aware that the
on how much weight you need to reach the maximum L293D does transmit current back to the Stamp through the
weight, you could use different thicknesses or you could input lines when the motor directions are suddenly changed.
make smaller diameter disks. What makes this approach I have measured voltage spikes when there shouldn’t be any.
attractive is that it doesn’t take up any space inside the Every now and then, the Stamp would reset. I don’t know if
robot body and it is out of the way of any maintenance the resetting was due to the voltage spikes or a drop in the
operations.
Figure 2. Motor direction control using an L293D and a BASIC Stamp.

Q .I’ve been think- +5V

ing of using the

L293D H-bridge Vdd 3
IC to control two DC 4
motors for both forward 5
and reverse. Will a
ENABLE 1
BASIC Stamp be able to 0 +V LOGIC
BASIC
drive the IC without any STAMP INPUT 1 INPUT 4
1
other components? Will 2
OUTPUT 1 OUTPUT 4
I be able to go straight 2

from an I/O pin to an 15

input of the L283D? MOTOR GN L293D GN MOTOR

— John Ringenary 470 ohm OUTPUT 2 OUTPUT 3

via Internet Vcc

INPUT 2 INPUT 3

A .The short answer

is yes. Figure 2
shows a simple
+V MOTOR
ENABLE 2

SERVO 02.2005 67
MrRoboto.qxd 1/4/2005 4:50 PM Page 68

voltage supply to the Stamp (yes, the voltage supply to shown up when I take the Enable line low prior to any
the motor was a different source). This problem has never motor direction change and then take it high after the motor
direction has been set.
Listing 1 I have never heard of anyone damaging their
Stamps when using the L293D, but you should be
‘ {$STAMP BS2} aware that it might happen. If you are really concerned
‘ L293D Motor Control Demonstration Program
about protecting your BASIC Stamp, then you
M1_Enable CON 0 ‘ Motor 1 Enable pin, pin 1 on L293D should consider using an Optical Isolator circuit between
M1_Pin1 CON 1 ‘ Motor 1 Input 1, pin 2 on L293D the Stamp’s I/O lines and the L293D. Figure 3 shows
M1_Pin2 CON 2 ‘ Motor 1 Input 2, pin 7 on L293D
M2_Enable CON 3 ‘ Motor 2 Enable pin, pin 9 on L293D
how to do this. Again, I have used the L293D to
M2_Pin1 CON 4 ‘ Motor 2 Input 3, pin 10 on L293D drive small motors for years by directly attaching them
M2_Pin2 CON 5 ‘ Motor 2 Input 4, pin 15 on L293D to my BASIC Stamps and have never damaged them.
HIGH 15 ‘ LED to show that the Stamp to

Q
‘ indicate that the Stamp is on
Init: ‘ Put the motors in a known state .The latest listing of popular gear motors for
GOSUB M1_Stop robotics use was interesting. However, can
GOSUB M2_Stop someone address the issue of units on torque?
Main: ‘ Cycle the motors, forward, reverse, Specifically:
GOSUB M1_Fwd ‘ and stop
GOSUB M2_Rev 1. I’m assuming 1 in/lb torque rating means that it
PAUSE 2000
GOSUB M1_Rev
should be able to lift 1 lb if suspended from a string
GOSUB M2_Fwd wrapped around a pulley 1” in radius. Is that correct?
PAUSE 2000
GOSUB M1_Stop 2. If that is true, is 1 ft/lb = 16*12 oz/in? Obviously, an
GOSUB M2_Stop
PAUSE 2000 oz/in would be much less than a ft/lb, but what’s the
GOTO Main proper conversion factor?

M1_Fwd: ‘ Motor 1 Forward 3. Can you give a decent rule of thumb for how
LOW M1_Enable ‘ Disable Motor before changing directions
HIGH M1_Pin1 much torque is needed for a given robot? Glossing over
LOW M1_Pin2 friction, if I have a 3” diameter wheel on a 6 lb robot and
HIGH M1_Enable ‘ Enable motor to move forward I want it to be able to go over “small” bumps (1/4” or
RETURN less and handle carpet), what torque range would be
M1_Rev: ‘ Motor 1 Reverse reasonable?
LOW M1_Enable
LOW M1_Pin1 Assuming I have two drive wheels and a third castor,
HIGH M1_Pin2
HIGH M1_Enable
I could take a wild guess that each wheel supports
RETURN approximately 2 lbs (more or less). If torque is force x
distance, would I want 3 in/lbs (1.5” radius x 2 lbs dead
M1_Stop: ‘ Motor 1 Stop lift) in each of the drive motors?
LOW M1_Enable
LOW M1_Pin1 I’m guessing the real world isn’t nearly that easy to
LOW M1_Pin2 quantify. So, again, is there a simple rule of thumb for
RETURN how much torque is needed?
— John M.
M2_Fwd: ‘ Motor 2 Forward
LOW M2_Enable via Internet
HIGH M2_Pin1

A .Your understanding for torque is correct.

LOW M2_Pin2
HIGH M2_Enable
RETURN
Technically, torque is defined as the movement
created by a force acting on a body where the
M2_Rev: ‘ Motor 2 Reverse perpendicular distance between the line action of
LOW M2_Enable the applied force and the center of rotation is
LOW M2_Pin1
HIGH M2_Pin2 multiplied by the perpendicular component of the
HIGH M2_Enable applied force. When it comes to wheels (or pulleys), it is
RETURN simplified to force multiplied by the distance of the axle
(in this, case the wheel/pulley radius) to the applied
M2_Stop: ‘ Motor 2 Stop
LOW M2_Enable force.
LOW M2_Pin1 The unit of torque is force multiplied by distance —
LOW M2_Pin2 such as ounces, pounds, and newtons — multiplied by
RETURN
inches, feet, centimeters, and meters. Many times,
68 SERVO 02.2005
MrRoboto.qxd 1/4/2005 10:27 PM Page 69

motor torque is represented as gram-

+5V L293D POWER
centimeter and kilogram-centimeter.
Though technically incorrect, since it is a
mass multiplied by distance (as opposed to
the proper force multiplied by distance), it is 1K

commonly used because converting these

numbers to newton-meter yields a very
large number. STAMP I/O PIN
Table 3 is a conversion table that will 1K

help convert the units of torque from one

system to another. For example, to convert a
L293D LOGIC PIN
5 kg-cm torque motor into inch-pound,
multiply the 5 by 0.8680 (the number under GENERIC
the in-lb column that intersects the same row OPTICAL ISOLATOR
i.e. PS2501-2
as the kg-cm) to get 4.34 in-lb.
Estimating how much torque you will
need for your robot to move always proves
STAMP GROUND
to be more challenging than you think. L293D GROUND

First off, any wheeled vehicle must have

friction to move. Without friction, the Figure 3. Optical isolation circuit.
wheels will just spin in place. The first thing
that you should decide on is whether you want the wheels required to go over a bump is a fairly complicated process
to stall if the robot runs into an immovable object. If you and a good understanding of physics is needed, but here are
allow to wheels to stall, then the motor current draw will couple of general rules of thumb:
be at its maximum and chances of burning out the motors
and the motor controller are very likely. However, this 1. A wheel won’t self-drive over a bump whose height is
stall condition does tell you a lot about your robot’s more than 30% of the wheel radius. Self-drive means that
performance. the wheel is pulling itself over the bump.
Next, estimate how much weight will be on each wheel
(including casters). Your assumption of evenly dividing the 2. If the motor’s stall torque is greater than 70% of the
weight distribution across the wheels and caster is good to robot’s weight on that wheel multiplied by the wheel radius,
use for quick and dirty estimating. The next thing I like to then it will be able to drive over bumps with heights up to
do is assume that the coefficient of friction between the 30% of the wheel’s radius.
wheel and ground is 1.0. This simplifies the calculations
and, in most cases, it represents a worst case situation. A worst case torque estimate (robot weight divided
Thus, the stall motor torque will just be the robot’s weight by the number of wheels in contact with the ground and
on that wheel multiplied by the wheel radius. In your case, multiplied by the wheel’s radius) will enable the robot to go
the 3 in-lbs (1.5” wheel radius x 2 lbs dead lift) is a good over rough terrain. A lower motor stall torque will still
estimate. allow a robot to move around, but smaller bumps will be
Now, if you chose a motor that had a greater stall able to stop the robot much more easily. The motor specs
torque than this, then the wheels will spin if the robot ran shown in the November 2004 issue of SERVO Magazine
into an immovable object. Keep in mind that, as long as the represent the stall torque. If you need more stall torque from
wheels are spinning, you will not be drawing the maximum a motor, then you will have to increase the applied voltage
motor current. Having a motor with more torque than to the motor. SV
this does not improve its pushing ability
or how well it will move, other than oz-in in-lb ft-lb g-cm kg-cm N-m
accelerating faster.
Now, if the motor’s stall torque is oz-in 1 0.0625 0.0052 72.008 0.0720 0.0071
less than this, you will probably stall the
in-lb 16 1 0.0833 1152.1 1.152 0.1130
motors when your robot runs into some-
thing. Remember, all robots will move ft-lb 192 12 1 13826 13.826 1.3558
just fine along flat, smooth surfaces
with motors whose stall torques are g-cm 0.0139 0.0009 0.00007 1 0.001 0.0001
significantly less than the wheel stall
kg-cm 13.887 0.8680 0.0723 1000 1 0.0981
torque described here. I personally use
this as my rule of thumb for sizing N-m 141.61 8.8507 0.7376 10197 10.197 1
motors.
Estimating how much torque is Table 3. Torque unit conversion factors.
SERVO 02.2005 69
BookstoreFeb05.qxd 1/4/2005 1:02 PM Page 70

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LessonsFromTheLab.qxd 1/4/2005 10:16 PM Page 72

// castling bonuses
B8 castleRates[]={-40,-35,-30,0,5}; A
bi-month

LESSONS
column ju ly
//center weighting array to make pieces prefer
//the center of the board during the rating routine
B8 center[]={0,0,1,2,3,3,2,1,0,0}; st for
//directions: orthogonal, diagonal, and left/right
kids!
from orthogonal for knight moves

FROM THE
B8 directions[]={-1,1,-10,10,-11,-9,11,9,10,-10,1,-
1};

//direction pointers for each piece (only really for

bishop rook and queen
B8 dirFrom[]={0,0,0,4,0,0};
B8 dirTo[]={0,0,0,8,4,8};

LABORATORY
//Good moves from the current search are stored in
this array
//so we can recognize them while searching and make
sure they are tested first

— PART 7 —
The Final Spex Check by James Isom

W hen we last left “The Spectacles”

from the San Rafael Community
Center, it was mid-October and they
were preparing for their FIRST LEGO
League (FLL) local tournament. As I
write this, almost two months have
passed, their first local tournament has
come and gone, and a lot has changed
in both their strategy and the overall
robot design.
Before I let you know how they did
in their tournament, let’s take a look at
some of the ideas and strategies they
had during the course of this season.
We’ll start with a recap of their robot
design and then take a look at how
they addressed some of the challenges.
Changing the Specs
on Spex
In any competition where there are
objectives in fixed locations, it is impor-
tant for a robot to hit its mark — to be
able to go where you need it to reliably
without error. The Spectacles were very
excited with their new “uber chassis”
that they called “Spex” (profiled in the
December 2004 issue of SERVO).
Alas, their design had one fatal
flaw in that it couldn’t go straight for
long. This can be a problem with LEGO
robotics; a weak motor, a lack of sym-
metry, or a mistake in programming
can cause your robot to drift off course.
As fate would have it, Spex quickly
became Spex 1.0-CrisisBot and a mas-
sive change to the design took place
just after the last article went to press.
So, the boys from team #8 would
like to say, “Thanks for building our
robot from the last article, but we
didn’t end up using it. Sorry.” For infor-
mation on how to build their new
design, please go to their website at

Some of the team analyzing the problem with Spex 1.0. A couple of Spex 2.0 chassis without the RCX.

72 SERVO 02.2005
LessonsFromTheLab.qxd 1/3/2005 3:40 PM
http://robotics.megagiant.com/fll/
The new design — Spex 2.0 — is a
wider robot that has four wheels
instead of three; more importantly, it
can hit its mark quickly and accurately.
To best describe Spex 2.0, I give
you the words of one of its designers —
Greg: “Our newest chassis has less
than half of the pieces of Walker’s Spex
1.0. This chassis was designed on the
theory that a new bot should have easily
removable motors in case one motor
began to spin slower than another. This
was a problem we had with Spex 1.0 in
that, despite its overall symmetry, it still
couldn’t drive in a straight line.
“In previous seasons, we have used
a rotation sensor to measure the
amount of rotations a motor spins over
a certain number of seconds. We use
the RCX data logging feature along with
Robolab Investigator to make a graph of
the motor speeds so that we could find
matching motors. The removable motor
idea proved to be a good one and this
chassis will be used at the competition.”
With the chassis crisis over, the team
found itself in mid-October without a
solid strategy for the game. The team
organized itself into work groups. Each
of these groups replicates the chosen
chassis design for use in developing
their part of the overall game strategy.
Formulating a strategy is tricky; it
takes careful planning and methodical
execution to combine the nine objectives
of this year’s challenge into the five pro-
grams the RCX can hold. They will only
be able to use one robot at the competi-
tion, so they spend quite a bit of time
during chassis development making sure
there are ample places to connect their
attachments for each objective. A major
design change in the middle of objective
development can throw the team into
serious turmoil: a lesson learned from
past seasons. Their goal is to reach the
end of the season and have each group’s
attachment connect perfectly with the
chassis through this common interface.
Once the work groups completed
their individual chassis, the team sat
down and plotted out the likely order in
which they wanted to complete each
Page 73
The motors were tested in a small jig made from a few bricks and a rotation sensor.
We could then review the graph of how many rotations each motor made over
5 seconds and match the motors with the closest values.
objective. The outcome was five work into the white ring in the center of the
groups, each of which were assigned one basket.
or more of the nine challenge objectives.
Work groups were comprised of 2. CD and Glasses — Move the CD from
one to three team members each and its holder into the CD case area of the
were responsible for the building and playing field and return to base with
programming of their chosen objec- the glasses.
tives. As you will soon see, some of the
objectives were completed quickly and 3. Bus Stops — Knock down the white
yet others dogged the team all the way bus stop sign without knocking over
into their first competition. either of the red signs.
The Challenges 4. Cereal Delivery — Deliver the cereal
to the table.
The FLL challenge is comprised of
three or more rounds that are 2-1/2 min- 5. Pet Food Delivery — Open the gate
utes long. Most challenges consist of and get to the top of the stairs.
objectives that deliver an object to or
from a place on the playing field. Each For more information on this year’s
round, the robot starts from within the challenge, visit www.firstlegoleague.
base — a square in one corner of the org
playing field. While in base, teams are
allowed to touch their robots, change Play Ball
attachments, and run different pro-
grams. Once the robot leaves base, the This was chosen as the first objective
team is not allowed to touch it without because getting the ball in the center
incurring a penalty. The playing field ring is worth 50 points (the highest
itself is a 4’ x 8’ rectangle.
Two teams compete at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge 2004 — “No Limits.”
same time in two back-to-
back playing fields with one
shared objective. This year,
it’s “Play Ball” — a basket
straddles the field edge. The
Spectacles’ strategy for the
2004 challenge was organ-
ized by program number and
execution order and was:
1. Play Ball — Deliver a ball
SERVO 02.2005 73
LessonsFromTheLab.qxd 1/3/2005 3:42 PM
The genius of the Play Ball block diagram is in its simplicity.
individual point value of the challenge)
and, since there is only enough room
for one ball in the center ring, our team
wanted to be there first. This one came
pretty easy.
Greg built a tower the height of
the basket with a lever mechanism
similar to something they had used in
previous seasons. It consisted of two
axles running parallel to one another to
hold the ball in place while a vertical
The CD and Glasses block diagram is more complex.
74 SERVO 02.2005
Page 74
axle and a touch sensor served as
the trigger. A couple of well-placed
rubberbands provided tension to the
mechanism, allowing it to return to its
original state after dropping the ball
off into the basket.
The program for this objective is
pretty simple. Go forward until you hit
the basket and then back up into base.
This program could be repeated over
and over again as necessary to fill the
basket with balls; additional balls on
your side of the basket are worth five
points each at the end of the round.
The strategy was to run the program
until the ball was placed in the center
and then continue on to other objec-
tives, returning to it for additional ball
drops at the end of the round, as time
permitted.
Strengths:
1. Simple mechanism.
2. Simple program.
3. Fast.
4. Repeatable.
Weaknesses:
1. Not always accurate. Slamming into
the basket to drop off the ball can
cause problems when dropping the
ball off or coming back to base.
2. Takes time to attach and detach the
mechanism.
CD and Glasses
The CD and Glasses team went
through a variety of ideas
before settling in on their final
design. The objective is to
remove the CD from a holder
just outside of base and put it
into a graphic of a CD case a
short distance away on the
mat. This is followed by a
grasping maneuver on the
eyeglasses before the robot
returns to base.
Zach and Jake first built a
forklift that lifted the CD and
placed it on the CD case. This
particular design went
through several variations and
met with some success. Its
biggest drawback was that it
became difficult to control the
CD once it was lifted off the
holder. Sometimes, the CD
would get caught up and flip
off the forklift before they
LessonsFromTheLab.qxd 1/3/2005 3:43 PM Page 75

needed it to and, at other times, it

was difficult to slide the CD off
the forks once they reached the
drop point.
The second design addressed
this problem by wrapping a cage
around the forks to control the CD
more precisely. Despite its early
success, two things led to the
abandonment of this particular
design. First, it was slow; all that
lifting, dropping, and maneuvering
was taking up too much time.
Second, what about the glasses? The Bus Stop challenge presented some difficulties.
This one program had to accom-
plish both objectives in a single run and 2. Depending on the robot’s approach, designed to flip down the bus stop sign
— despite their best efforts — the boys there is a slight chance that the glasses is very simple, although it has gone
were having difficulty placing the forks can slip through the latch mechanism. through many radical changes.
into the eye holes of the glasses. “The flipper started as a long
Sometime during all this head Bus Stops beam with sliding pieces on the bot-
scratching, one of the team members tom and a rack gear on the top. A
floated the idea of popping the CD off Three bus stop signs sit in a line on motor with a 24-tooth gear would spin
the holder and onto the CD case. This top of one of the 2” x 4” edges that and push the beam outward when a
inspiration came from a wayward robot make up one side of the playing field. light sensor sensed white. It was
that had been maneuvering on the Two are red and the other is white. The placed on the top of the RCX. The sen-
field and accidentally ran into the CD, objective is to find the white bus stop sor was stuck on another long beam;
flipping it across the table. sign and knock it off its vertical default this one on the bottom of the robot. It
After several ideas were played position without knocking over either was placed just beyond the wheel, so
with, a sliding plow with two forks was of the red signs. The trick is that the the beam would have enough time to
settled upon. It worked pretty much white sign is placed in one of the three move outward and flip down the sign.
from the start, once a bit of tweaking positions randomly by a judge at the “This worked, but — after almost
to the program was done. To grasp the start of each round. To explain the never-ending problems with the sliding
glasses, Zach built a one-way latch mechanism used in this challenge, I beam system — I went to a much sim-
made from a rotating axle and lever. give to you the words of one of its pler and more reliable design: just a
He used a fixed pin that allowed the creators — Gabe: “The attachment I few beams stuck together to form a
glasses to enter the latch, but not
exit. His program was designed to Jake tackled the Food challenge.
simply run into the glasses hard
enough that they would be caught
behind the latch and carried back to
base.

Strengths:
1. Attaches and detaches quickly.

2. Simple, solid design that performs

both objectives well.

Weaknesses:
1. The program relies solely on timing
and doesn’t have any sensor feedback.
If the robot gets off course, it is off
course for the whole run. Saving the
off course robot can incur penalties.

SERVO 02.2005 75
LessonsFromTheLab.qxd 1/3/2005 3:45 PM
Spex 2.0 in action at FLL.
long lance. The lance was again stuck
to the top of the RCX, but facing
forward this time — the direction the
robot was driving.
“The robot would drive out of
base, far from the wall, and make a
right turn when it sensed the white
sign, flipping it down with the lance as
it turned. It then just drove straight
back into base without hitting any
other signs.
“Once I had the final idea, it was
very easy to create a program around
the attachment; it probably took about
an hour. The final attachment and
program works very consistently and
very well.”
Strengths:
1. Attaches and detaches quickly.
2. Uses a light sensor to find the objec-
tive. More accurate than just using
timed steps.
3. Simple and fast program.
Weaknesses:
1. Occasionally overturns and runs into
the table on its return trip due to the
high speed and width of the chassis.
Cereal Delivery
Just outside the base sits a small
table surrounded by three chairs. The
objective of this challenge is to deliver
a small tray of LEGO pieces (simulating
food) to the top of the table without
spilling it. Jake took this one on almost
76 SERVO 02.2005
Page 76
from the beginning and stayed with it
throughout the season.
The mechanism he designed is
similar to the one used in “Play Ball” in
that there is a place to put the tray with
a trigger hanging below. The idea is
to drive into the table and push the
trigger lever in to drop the food off.
The mechanism as a whole doesn’t
bend very much — just enough to start
the bowl and tray to slide. The momen-
tum of the food and tray, combined
with the robot backing up, is just
enough to gently slip the bowl and tray
onto the table.
This did not come easily at first.
The tray would often get caught up on
a chair, resulting in the bowl of food
sliding off the table and onto the floor.
The team eventually decided to
approach the table at an angle in order
to bypass the chair.
Strengths:
1. Attaches and detaches quickly.
2. Simple and fast program.
3. Stable delivery mechanism.
Weaknesses:
1. Can easily get caught up on the
chair or the table.
2. If the forward momentum or
approach is even slightly off, the food
is thrown to the floor.
If you are familiar with Robolab,
you will notice that Jake set the power
levels for each motor at 2 (the maxi-
mum is 5). This setting and the timing
provide just the right amount of
momentum to deliver the food to the
table without mishap.
Pet Food Delivery,
Gate, and Stairs
The team knew from day one that
this would be the most difficult of the
programs to complete. It involves three
objectives and the most maneuvering
out of all the programs this season.
The first of these three objectives is to
deliver food (three round LEGO pieces)
to a dog and a cat at the far end of the
playing field.
These pets are enclosed in an area
surrounded by a stationary fence and a
large gate. The gate itself is the second
objective in the sequence. For full
points, the gate needs to be opened
completely so that a small latch catches
the door. The final objective is to drive
the robot off the playing field and onto
a set of steps. For full points, the robot
needs to be all the way on the top step
at the end of the round.
The initial strategy was to build a
device similar to the mechanism used
in both the “Play Ball” and “Food
Delivery” objectives. The trigger mech-
anism was attached to the end of a
long assembly of axles and would run
into the fence and drop the food into
the pet food area.
The robot would then make a right
turn, slamming the axle assembly into
the gate door, popping it open, and
then back up and turn so that it could
drive to the top of the stairs. All this
involved a lot of precision movement.
In order to get where the robot
needed to go, the team decided to use
a rotation sensor. A rotation sensor is a
bit like a measuring tape. You can
roll the robot to a destination, note
the number of rotations it took, and
program the robot accordingly. They
would simply count the number of
rotations to each waypoint — in theory,
that is.
Unfortunately for the team, they
LessonsFromTheLab.qxd 1/3/2005 3:46 PM
were never able to get this one to work
the way they wanted it to. Their first
problem was that the robot was just
too fast to execute turns accurately.
This problem was made worse by the
long axle assembly sticking out in front
of the robot that often acted as a large
pendulum, swinging it around too far
in the direction it was turning.
On those occasions when it did
work and managed to move on to
hitting the gate, the axle assembly
wasn’t heavy enough to open the gate.
To make matters worse, the axle
assembly would get in the way as the
robot attempted to climb the stairs.
Dozens of variations were devel-
oped and tested all the way up to the
day of the competition. The lack of
success with this approach at the
competition put this idea to rest once
and for all and the team actively began
working on a new idea while there.
However, these things take time and it
wasn’t quite ready to serve them con-
sistently at the tournament. They are,
however, still working on a solution
and will post the results of their labors
to their website when it is finished.
The Tournament
FLL competition day is always a big
day for the team. This is their third local
competition. They have never made it
to the state competition in previous
Page 77
seasons. The competition consists
of much more than just the game
itself. There is a presentation to be
made and interviews with judges on
programming and robot design.
The team keeps a journal of their
activity over the season. Each member
takes turns interviewing fellow team
members on their accomplishments
and existing problems at the end of
each practice session. Close to the com-
petition day, they take this material and
form it into a story board of sorts so
that other teams, judges, and onlook-
ers can see what the team has been up
to during the competition season.
This year’s board was dominated
by their approaches to the challenges,
along with information on all their
chassis designs: Why they built them
and why they abandoned them. All
together, the team did an incredible
amount of design and analysis this
season and it surprised them when
they built this year’s board.
At the Contra Costa local tourna-
ment, they were amazed and awed at
some of the other solutions teams had
come up with. Overall, they played
the game well, coming in fifth overall:
a personal best in their book. However,
where they really shined was in
interviews with the judges.
All those problems that had
cropped up and all that thinking and
testing was enough to earn them their
first Best Robot Design Award. Team
#8 from the San Rafael Community
Center finally made it to the state final
competition.
I would just like to say, as a coach,
that FIRST LEGO League is a fantastic
program for 9 to 14 year olds. Join or
— better yet — start a team in your area
today. You won’t regret it. You can go
to www.firstlegoleague.org for
details about next year’s challenge.
I would like to congratulate my
team and also the rookie year girls’
team from Miller Creek Middle School
that I helped mentor with eighth grade
science teacher Kim Asso. They made
it to the state tournament, as well.
Go RoboChicks!
The state tournament is looming. To
see how it all turns out, be sure to visit
the Spectacles at their website http:
//robotics.megagiant.com/fll/ SV
AUTHOR BIO
James Isom is a part-time robotics teacher
and general all-around geek. He
has taught robotics to children and
teachers in the US and abroad. His
website with additional
goodies (including the
MLCAD file of this robot)
can be found at ww.the
roboticslab.com He can
be reached at james
@megagiant.com
SERVO 02.2005 77
Geerhead.qxd 1/3/2005 3:22 PM Page 78

by David Geer
geercom@alltel.net

Paparazzi catches Koolio

taking a stroll. Notice the Koolio poses with creators
unassuming look on his face Brian Pietrodangelo and
and his casual style with Kevin Phillipson — three
cap and dreadlocks. buds just being Koolio.

Koolio — Hip Bot, Drink Haven, and Mobile Butler

oolio is a fully autonomous mobile
K bot with an ice-cold refrigerator
for innards. Brian Pietrodangelo and
Kevin Phillipson, students in the
Machine Intelligence Lab (MIL) at the
University of Florida at Gainesville
created Koolio to service the third floor
of the school’s Benton Hall, where the
lab, classrooms, and professors’ offices
are located.
Not the least of Koolio’s impres-
sive characteristics are the facial
78 SERVO 02.2005
expressions he can muster from
beneath his long, black dreadlocks.
Koolio’s personality beams across a
19” LCD monitor screen on which he
can be programmed to smile, keep a
straight face, or demonstrate other
moods.
What’s a Thirsty
College Kid to Do?
All that studying, glued to the
books, no time to run down the hall
to drop quarters in the machine, even
less time to run down the street for a
six pack. What’s a college kid to do
when he or she needs a cold pop
or beer? Necessity — in this case,
perhaps desire — made invention its
offspring.
If you’re a college student and
you get thirsty, it’s good to be
an engineering major, so say Brian
and Kevin.
Geerhead.qxd 1/3/2005 3:25 PM Page 79

GEERHEAD

Koolio Illustrated Koolio can find his docking station

Using Dr. Nechyba — Brian’s and
Kevin’s professor in the Machine
Intelligence Lab at UF — as a sample
consumer, let’s walk through Koolio’s
routine on the third floor of Benton
Hall.
Let’s say Dr. Nechyba is chained to
his desk with work. He can’t afford
to let it go long enough to get a pop
from down the hall. He has another
alternative. He logs on to the network
via the computer at his desk and
signals Koolio to bring him a pop.
Koolio hears via wireless card and
responds. Koolio determines which
room houses the computer that the
message came from. He leaves his
docking station and finds his way
down the hall. This is done using a
variety of sensing equipment.
Upon delivering the pop to Dr.
Nechyba, Koolio leaves to return to his
docking station. There, he recharges
while waiting for his next request.
Neat Notion’s
Nitty-Gritty
Koolio is a mobile, fully
autonomous bot that doles out drinks
or food to the third floor around the
clock and fills up on juice himself at his
own, private docking station.
Koolio hangs at his dock when
he’s not needed for anything, just
kickin’ and taking in a jolt of volts.
from anywhere on the third floor
and returns when he feels short on
electricity.
Koolio’s Fame and
Future
Koolio’s service to human
kind has not gone unnoticed or
unrewarded; this beverage-hauling
bot has garnered loads of exposure
from the press and tons of praise
from a growing fan base. Why?
Everybody wants one! Someday,
they may get their wish.
The two academic roboticists
have a start-up company called
RASTA Robotics — Robotic &
Automated Systems Technical
Associates. Though there are no
immediate plans to mass-produce
Koolio’s “sleeping on the dock of the
Koolio, the possibility is very much station, watching his eyes just roll away”
alive. or something like that.
Kevin and Brian are on the
look-out for companies ready to display floors of chains or outlets or
license Koolio and bring him to the to offer him up by some other
RESOURCES
The Koolio website — http://mil.ufl.edu/~brian/Koolio/Koolio.htm
From the page above, you can go to a section for the press where you
will find videos and information about Koolio.
The RASTA company website — www.rastarobotics.com with other
projects by Kevin and Brian.

TALKING TECH ON KOOLIO’S SPECS

Koolio may sound simple, but he
is the result of careful, logical design,
using the following hardware
and software. Koolio uses a Kontron
Embedded PC/104+ Board for
onboard vision processing — detecting
objects and reading room numbers.
The board controls the hosting
behind a local website that select
users can access.
An Altera Max 3000 and Atmel
Mega 128 chip make up Koolio’s
brains. The Altera CPLD uses VHDL
algorithms to keep the control in
the Atmel chip simple. The CPLD is
better equipped to handle big data
and to do it fast. Left to itself, the
Atmel would be in over its head,
slowing performance.
Koolio, a big fan of open source
code, runs the Red Hat Linux version
9.0 operating system. Other compo-
nents include a 266 MHz Pentium
MMX processor, 128 MB DRAM
(RAM), and a Cisco Aironet 350
wireless card to communicate with
the network.
The fridge is a Koolmate40,
which can carry 52 cans of pop or
beer. Sensors include a Sharp
GP2D12 IR distance measuring
sensor, which detects ranges
between 10 and 80 cm, and a
Devantech SRF08 Ultrasonic Range
Finder, which determines ranges
between 3 cm and 6 m. The bot
also employs a CMPS03 magnetic
compass. Its eye is a Creative Video
Blaster II web cam.

SERVO 02.2005 79
Geerhead.qxd 1/4/2005 12:51 PM Page 80
GEERHEAD
Koolio is racing down the hall to answer
someone’s call. Kind of reminds you of
Batman answering the Bat Signal, except
that Batman wasn’t outfitted with a
Cisco wireless card.
means. Koolio could well follow in
the footsteps of Roomba, serving
homeowners and fitting seamlessly
into their lifestyles.
Koolio could go into the ad
business, starring in commercials for
canned and bottled beverage compa-
nies. He could also be distributed
commercially as the new mobile
Coke, Pepsi, or other beverage
machine that comes to you instead of
waiting down the hall or in the break
WHAT YOU GET FROM GETTING INVOLVED
Book learning only goes so far.
You get an introduction to some-
thing, but you don’t necessarily
become consumed by it. When you
build your own robot, you are invest-
ing yourself with the goal of success.
By getting involved, you learn
why analog technologies are still
important, why circuits, electronics,
power, resistors, capacitors, and
inductors still matter. You learn why
it’s important to know computer
science, digital logic, and the gambit
80 SERVO 02.2005
It’s bottoms up as we get a shot from the
floor to the ceiling of Koolio and creators.
room for you to come to it.
Hello Class, My Name
Is Professor Koolio
What can we learn from the
Koolio project? Lesson one — modular-
ity: By taking a look at the larger
project and breaking it up into
proposed modules or perhaps
components that can be easily concep-
tualized, understood, designed, and
of electrical engineering.
Every roboticist will commit
errors now and then; what counts is
finding and correcting the source of
those errors. The Machine
Intelligence Lab at the University of
Florida provides a great deal of
hands-on experience for its students.
It’s highly recommended that serious
roboticists find a club or engineering
lab they can be a part of to get the
thrill of that hands-on activity in a
project they can relate to.
produced, you keep the larger
project much simpler.
By verifying the success of
each individual module, you
assure the success of the
whole. If something goes
wrong, you know which
module to deal with and you
only have to deal with that
module, often simply by
replacing it. This kind of
approach enables direct and
logical troubleshooting and
debugging.
Lesson two — practice
makes ... Koolio: Koolio was
the result of putting an
education in engineering
into practice. Getting your
hands dirty and actually con-
structing a project based on
your new-found knowledge,
teaches you the practical
applications of what you have
learned.
Adaptations
Koolio can serve schools, homes,
offices, factory workers — you name
it. As long as he doesn’t face the
challenge of climbing stairs or similar
obstacles, he’s good to go. Koolio
keeps you from being inconvenienced,
waiting on you day and night as no real
butler could do.
Koolio may someday be used to
serve those who are sick or disabled,
as well. SV
ABOUT THE INVENTOR
Brian Pietrodangelo went on
to at least two additional projects
after Koolio — an autonomous
submarine called the Subjugator —
www.mil.ufl.edu/subjugator/ and
an independent contract for a
doctor in Tallahassee, FL.
Having graduated from the
University of Florida, Brian intends
to go to graduate school.
Appetizer.qxd 1/3/2005 1:21 PM Page 81
We Compete Because We’re
Programmed to Compete — and
That’s a Good Thing!
lot of people ask me why I put on
A robot events. Most presume it’s
to make money. (The sad truth is that I
know of no event that actually makes
money; it’s a question of how much
money an organizer can afford to lose.)
Event organizers put on robot events
because they love robots. Certainly,
that isn’t the only reason, though. No,
most of us put on robot events because
we love people — especially kids.
When it comes down to it, the
people who enter their creations at
robot events do it because of an internal
drive. Robot builders are pre-
programmed to want to come with
their robots. Like geese flying south for
the winter, we are driven by internal
programming. This programming
comes down to three basic points.
Competition
It’s more than the governing
philosophy of capitalism and sports; it’s
part of what makes us human — and
ergo, one of the things that separates
us from robots. One reason that I don’t
think robots will take over the world
is that they’ll simply never be able
to emote on a level which includes
that form of competition. They may
function on a level of survival, perhaps,
but not fear-based survival which
inspires them to compete for space
with us carbon types. But I digress.
We humans are arrogant crea-
tures. We love to show-up the other
guys. If I buy a car, I want my car to be
faster than yours. Or I want it to haul
more stuff. Or be more fuel efficient
by Dave Calkins
than yours. Or I want to have gotten a
better deal on it. At work, we all want
to make a bit more than the other guy,
work a bit less, and have a bit more
power. It’s part of our competitive
nature. Of course, to every rule there is
an exception, so I know that not every-
one fits into the description above — but
the great majority of humankind does.
What does this have to do with
robots? Darn it, Dave, your topics
wander more than a line follower with
a bad CDS cell! It has to do with robot
competitions! Competitions like
Tetsujin, for example. The prize money
was sweet and it was certainly a big
pull in getting people to enter; however,
I’d bet that if the prize money had
been cut in half — or even by 90
percent — SERVO would have gotten
just as many entries.
Oh, yes, we would have! I talked
to all the competitors. Not one of them
said that they came “for the money” as
their first answer when asked why they
were there. Oh, it was always number
two or number three, but what they
all really craved was to be the best
engineer at the show — the smartest
ones on the block.
As Tetsujin winner Alex Sulkowski
put it, “I often lack a specific, achievable
goal and timeline to motivate me to
complete my projects. Entering robot
competitions provides this structure and
direction; in addition, it provides an
incentive, knowing that others will be
struggling to solve the same problem.”
I cut my chops building mini sumo
robots — the 500 gram ones (1.1
pounds, if you haven’t been paying
attention). For the record, my most basic
goal on the first bot I built was to learn
PIC programming. However — like a
great many bot builders — I arrogantly
presumed that I could figure out the
basics. My real goal was to build a better
mini sumo than the other ones I saw.
I had to study up on servos and
motors and gears — and learn that
(golly!) not all servos are created equally,
so I should buy the better ones. Then,
I learned that if I doubled the voltage I
put into a servo, I squared the power!
Hey! This was neat! Soon, using a few
simple tricks — and burning out a few
PICs and servos — I had a really good
little robot.
While a gift certificate from robot
store.com is a nice benefit, taking first
place is a far better thing. In addition,
there’s nothing more humbling than
spending a couple hundred dollars to
fly up to Seattle, only to get creamed
by a 12-year-old with his own home-
made bot.
That, however, is why robot
competitions have become so popular.
Most builders want to see how they
measure up against their peers.
Education
A very close second to beating the
other guy is seeing what everyone else
is doing that’s new. I think that the
best thing that came out of
ROBOlympics 2004 was seeing the
jaws of US builders drop as they saw
Robo-One robots for the first time.
You can make that in your garage?
Yes, Virginia, do-it-yourself androids
SERVO 02.2005 81
Appetizer.qxd 1/3/2005 1:23 PM Page 82
really do exist.
One of my favorite things about
any robot competition is seeing all of
the new stuff that builders come up
with. Ted Larson and Bob Allen decided
to see if they could top Dean Kamen by
building Bender — a self-balancing
robot similar to a Segway, only at
about a 1/100th of the cost. It does
the same thing as the more expensive
Segway, only they built it themselves.
Bob and Ted’s excellent robot was
the first of its kind — but now several
people have made similar bots (see
Francisco Lobo’s project in the July
2004 issue of SERVO).
I don’t think it would occur to
most people to just up and build a self-
balancing, two-wheeled vehicle, but —
upon seeing Bob and Ted’s — lots of
people’s mental light bulbs went off.
The joy of education was transferred
and our pre-programmed lust for knowl-
edge kicked in. Keeping in the spirit of
the competitive sub-routine, Trevor
Blackwell went and built a self-balancing
unicycle! Sure, a lot of people would
call all of the self-balancers copy-cats,
but most of human knowledge is copy-
cat data — just creatively re-applied.
“Rubberbands and Bailing Wire”
author Jack Buffington likes to compete
because, “it allows me to try out new
things without risking failure on a paid
project.” It also forces him to learn, as
it, “sets a deadline for trying out new
things. Without a deadline, I’m just not
as motivated.”
Most of the real learning goes on
with the kids, of course, but not always
in the way you might think. At a typical
show, just as many adults are inspired
by the robots that kids design and build
as there are kids being inspired by
adults’ robots. Kids have the wonderful
privilege of not being as programmed
All Electronics Corp. ....................................63
Anchor Optical Surplus ..............................21 Lemon Studios .............................................22
APEC 2005/MicroMouse Contest ..............36 Lynxmotion, Inc. ...........................................45
Budget Robotics ...........................................56
CrustCrawler .................................................14
E-Clec-Tech ....................................................15 Pololu Robotics & Electronics ....................44
Electronic Goldmine ....................................49 ROBOBusiness Conference & Expo ............61
Hobby Engineering ......................................13
82 SERVO 02.2005
as we adults are. They have a much
cleaner slate and, as such, don’t
have tiny subroutines going on in the
backs of their heads, telling them what
cannot be done.
In judging for FIRST LEGO League,
I’m always amazed at the robots that
kids build. When I look at some of the
more radical designs, I tend to think
about how it can’t work. I’ve clearly
been programmed to restrict myself to
certain designs. However, the kids are
good at hacking my internal software
and corrupting those old files. They do
it by making wild designs that work —
things that I would never have thought
up and things that many older bot
builders would not have tried. They
also become the educators, while I
become the student.
Social Programming
No matter how geeky the builder
is, we can’t just sit at home. The
friends of most robot builders think
that we’re a little nutty. While they like
playing with our creations, they just
don’t get the obsession.
“It’s a great way to meet other
builders,” says Jack. It’s true; you don’t
tend to meet too many robot builders
while shopping at the local strip mall.
I think half of the friends I talk to
regularly are people I’ve met at robot
events. Be it a small club meeting
or a world-wide competition like
ROBOlympics, events for combat robots
or LEGO Mindstorms bots, the people I
meet at robot events are just more
interesting and have more to offer than
the ones I meet at the pub (which isn’t
to knock hanging out at the pub — man
does not live by bots alone). When we
have guests for dinner these days, they
tend to be robot builders. It’s not so
Advertiser Index
Jameco ..........................................................83
Net Media .......................................................2
Parallax, Inc. ...................................Back Cover
PCB123/PCBexpress ......................................3
ROBOlympics ...............................................77
that I can schmooze my way into a
robotics job, but just because they
seem to have much more in common
with me and my wife. Our conversa-
tions tend to last long into the night as
we discuss the future.
And so it goes at robot events. The
greatest success of competitions like
ROBOlympics and Tetsujin is getting
builders from two different robot classes
to start talking (say a combat robot
builder and a Robo-One builder or a
sumo robot creator and a Mindstorms
hacker). You’d be amazed at how
much they start learning from each
other. Heck, they are amazed by how
much they learn from each other.
Just Do It
Yeah, yeah, yeah — I’ve become a
sneaker billboard. But if you’re a robot
builder and you haven’t gone to a robot
competition, that needs to change!
There is the “Events Calendar“ listing of
robot events every month in SERVO.
Even if you’ve never built a robot
before, go to a show and get inspired.
Compete against the people there.
You can build a better bot! Learn from
the people who show up. They are
your very best resource for building
robots. Meet new people. You already
have something in common!
Whether you go to a local monthly
meeting with five guys showing off a
half-completed robot or you fly to San
Francisco, CA, to see ROBOlympics,
robot competitions are already in your
design. That database between your
ears has far too many empty rows. Fill
up your personal database and then
put it to use.
And then watch as my mini sumo
kicks your mini sumo’s batteries to
the curb. SV
Robotics Group, Inc. ....................................55
Rogue Robotics ..............................................7
Smithy.............................................................63
Solutions Cubed ...........................................65
Sozbots..........................................................35
Technological Arts .......................................59
Vantec ...........................................................39
Zagros Robotics ...........................................63
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Circle #32 on the Reader Service Card.
Cover.qxd 1/5/2005 4:20 PM Page 84

Vol. 3 No. 2
SERVO MAGAZINE
RECYCLABLE ROBOT SOFTWARE
February 2005

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Circle #106 on the Reader Service Card.