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A project log for Tote

Affordable spider robot

dehipudeʃhipu 01/15/2017 at 11:342 Comments

As I wrote in the previous logs, I'm going to be upgrading Tote to use some more expensive, but more powerful and easier to use components. But what about the poor students? If you are really concerned about the budget, the original Tote is almost what you need. Almost, because you would still need to order the PCB for it. Or would you?

Of course not! The PCB doesn't have anything you can't easily reproduce on a vero/strip/perma board! Here's one example of a Tote on a strip board:

Sure, you will need to remap the pins in the code, but that should be quite easy. Yes, I went wild in Fritzing, and it's barely readable. Here's a clearer picture of the strip board you will need to make:

It even has the voltage divider for monitoring the battery. Oh, right, and don't use alkaline batteries like on the picture. Use a LiPo from a quadcopter or from an old cellphone.

I have to admit that one thing they say about Fritzing is true: it sucks for making schematics:

I wonder if I should fork this version off the main Tote, and keep a repository with the Arduino code for it, with remapped pins and so on...

Discussions

tsmspace wrote 01/18/2017 at 06:57 point

I think you should duplicate tote onto an uno. you could just mount the uno to a perfboard like your idea, but everyone will want to use their uno. Keep your tote project as is, because the Uno will not be correct and people will want to follow the physical engineering you have already done,, 

but so many people won't be ready for that part and WILL be ready to use an uno. (which will possibly lead them to investing into a dedicated robot parts, or for very many people what they want the most won't see that level of investment, but will see them take steps that will still matter). 

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deʃhipu wrote 01/18/2017 at 08:10 point

UNO is a bit too large, but I think I could do it with a Nano or a Pro Micro.

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