Welcome to the DSpace robot board version 2.0 build docs.
This project builds an Arduino compatible robot controller, it has an Atmel ATMEGA168 CPU, an L298 dual H-bridge DC motor controller to drive two motors, it has a USB serial input for Arduino programming and 4 general purpose input/output sensor connectors. With the exception of one component (already soldered to the board) this is intended to be able to be built by a beginner who has not soldered before.
This is essentially the DSpace beginner's badge kit mashed together with DSpace's badge base kit
One of the main problems with the current platforms used for Robocup conmpetitions is cost - a robot costs $500 or more, a soccer team more than $1000, this puts competing beyond the reach of many low decile schools. Our main goal here is to provide electronics that can be used to build robots for under $100.
Being a Makerspace we also stongly believe in teaching kids to make stuff themselves, providing a cheap, open platform that can be modified and extended.
Build instructions for the rev 2.0 board are now available on its own build page
Instructions for loading the open source software for programming the board is now available here
Documentation for the software support libraries is also here
A brief description of how the board hardware is wired together is available
The systems page talks about how to build systems that the board can be installed in
We've tried to keep the cost of the boards down to the very minimum - we're selling them at our cost (plus GST), since the boards and components are imported their prices are at the mercy of exchange rates, future prices will change.
We're trying to make a project that's easy to build and hard to fail with - we would really appreciate any feedback, critcism, complaints, or wonderfull suggestions are all valid - also for this first run of 100 boards we're making a special offer - if you've built your kit carefully, tried hard to get it right, followed the instructions - and it still doesn't work - send it back, we'll make it work for you, we want to find out why boards are hard to build, what sort of problems people are running into so we can make the next kit run better. Please contact Paul: paul@taniwha.com
The first kit run is 100 kits, we'll try to pass them out to as many different people as we can, if you want a big order please let us know in advance, lead times for new production runs are upwards of a month so please give us plenty of notice.
Boards are now available by mail - we're charging $26 (GST inclusive) each to cover postage (costs more than we thought) and the parts cost. Kits can be ordered from:
Robot Kit 4 Alison Cres Belleknowes Dunedin 9011
Make cheques payable to "Moonbase Otago" - our policy is to not cash cheques until kits have been mailed. If you need a pre-invoice drop Paul a note. What you will get will be a somewhat boring plastic baggy full of bits, nothing fancy, all the build instructions are available here.
The robot board is open source hardware, it is released under the Gnu Public License (GPL) - this means you are free to take the design, change it, make it your own - the only limitation is that if you distribute your design (sell it, give it away, etc) you must also release your version under the GPL, and you must publish your changes. We encourage you to share the cool things you do with the boards with everyone else.
The associated software (the robot library) is released under the LGPL - that means that any software that you write that uses the software doesn't have to be released, but again we encourage you to share - feel free to wait until after you've competed.
No one does this alone, the great thing about open source is that we all get to stand on the shoulders of giants