• 1
    The Idea

    We wanted to show the versatility of the Quantum system by showing that it is capable of replacing the raspberry pi in their own projects and is much simpler to program and wirelessly control.

  • 2
    Assemble the Circuit

    Start by following the instructions included with the Pi Car-S up until you need to start adding the wires, but DO NOT include the Raspberry Pi Board.

    If you do not have a manual, don’t worry. You can find a pdf copy of the manual in the files section of this documentation.

    For the circuit building, you will want to use the diagrams in the included instruction manual (pages 24 & 25 of the PDF attached below). We will be partially following these instructions.

    Use the supplied cables to do the following.

    • Connect the left motor to J2 on the TB6612 motor driver
    • Connect the right motor to J3 on the TB6612 motor driver
    • Connect the Motor Driver board (J4) to the PWM ports 4 & 5 on the PCA9685 Driver board.
      • The black wire connects to pin 4
      • The red wire connects to pin 5
      • Please note that the PWM ports are the yellow pins, not the red and black ones.
    • Connect J18 on the PCA9685 to J10 on the Robot HATS board
    • Connect the servo to PWN 0 on the PCA9685
      • Make sure the darker wire on the servo is connected to the black pin on PWM 0 and the lighter pin is connected to the yellow pin on PWM 0. Don’t reverse these.

    Now this is where we stray from their instructions. You will need to create terminal blocks to connect all the PWR and GND connections so we can attach them to the Quantum Builder Base later on. There are many ways to do this, but for simplicity and cleanliness we just cut part of a solderable bread board and soldered pin headers to create a GND and PWR rail that will make easy connections with the jumper wires. We then attached that to a piece of acrylic where we also mounted the Builder Base. See how we did it in the photo below.

    Now connect a 5 wire connector to J1 on the Motor Driver board and attach male-female jumper wires to the following:

    • Connect a wire from the black wire on the connector to the GND terminal block you just created
    • Connect a wire from the red wire on the connector to the PWR terminal block you just created
    • SKIP the red wire in the middle
    • Connect a wire from the yellow wire on the connector to PWM pin 7 on the PCA 9685
      • Remember, this is the yellow pin on the PCA board
    • Connect a wire from the white wire on the connector to PWM pin 6 on the PCA 9685

    Next, connect a 4 wire connector to J16 on the PCA9685 PWM board and do the following:

    • Connect the white wire on the connector to the SCL port on the Quantum Builder Base
    • Connect the yellow wire on the connector to the SDA part on the Builder Base
    • Connect the red wire on the connector to the PWR terminal block you made
    • Connect the black wire on the connector to the GND terminal block you made

    Now plug a 5 wire connector to J11 on the Robot HATS board and do the following:

    • Connect the black wire on the connector to the GND terminal block that you made
    • Connect the red wire next to it on the connector to the PWR terminal block that you made

    Lastly, connect the terminal blocks to their respective ports on the Builder Base:

    • GND to any GND port on the Builder Base
    • PWR to the 5v port on the Builder Base

    Now let's turn it on to make sure we did everything correctly.

    Flip the switch on the Robot HATS board and you should see the following lights turn on:

    • You should see both green LEDs turn on right behind the switch on the Robot HATS
    • You should see the status LED on the Builder Base turn on
    • You should see both green LEDs on the PCA9685 PWM driver board turn on

    If you don’t see all the light, check your connections. Sometimes jumper wires can’t be connected properly.

    If you see all 5 lights turn on, your circuit is now complete!

    **PLEASE NOTE: we will be controlling this car with the joystick so make sure you have connected a joystick and uploaded the firmware to a Builder Base. Linked are the documentation on how to set up the Joystick DIY Kit or a simple joystick.**

  • 3
    Pairing Your Clients

    Now that your circuit is complete, it’s time to pair your Joystick and Pi Car Builder Bases to your Q-Server. If you’ve already done that you can skip this step.

    First, make sure your Builder Bases are powered on and log into your Q-Server.

    Navigate to the Clients tab and select the “unpaired” tab. You will find a list of numbered devices.

    Click the 3 dots next to each device and select the “pair” option.

    Once you have pair both of the clients needed for this project you can go back to the “paired” tab.

    Pick a device, click the 3 dots next to it and then select “Identify”. You will see the status LED on the Builder Base start flashing red and green. This is to help you identify the builder base.

    Depending on which device blinked, click the 3 dots next to it again and select “edit”. Now you can give it a name and location.

    For this project we named our Builder Bases “Joystick” and “Pi Car”.

    Now that your Builder Bases are set up and paired, let’s create the firmware.