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RP6 ROBOT SYSTEM - 5. Experiment Board
5. Experiment Board
There is an experiment expansion module for
assembling your own circuits available as a
seperate option. The module is supplied as a
kit. You will have to CORRECTLY insert and
solder the connectors by yourself. Pay special
attention to the correct polarity - check the
PCB's white silkscreen printing.
Assembling your own circuits with wired com-
ponents requires some experience in solder-
ing and basic knowledge of electronics. Of
course you must have a basic idea of what
you are doing.
Now let's see what kind of circuits could be assembled on the experiment board.
In the previous chapter we already provided two examples! You could add additional
I/O Ports or A/D Channels with the described Port-Expanders and A/D-Converters.
These can be used to interface with light sensors, IR-sensors, touch-sensors, LEDs,
and so on. Additionally the I²C Bus system enables you to interface with more com-
plex sensor modules, e.g. ultrasonic distance sensors, electronic compass modules,
gyro or acceleration sensors. Other interesting sensors are pressure-, temperature-
and humidity-sensors in order to build a small mobile weather-station.
Basically the system allows you to attach any number of expansion boards to the ro-
bot. You do not have to restrict it to a single board. Whenever you are planning to
design complex systems, you should consider to install another Microcontroller. RP6
Control M32 would be a suitable device, providing your system with an extra control-
ler, 14 free I/O lines (including 6 A/D converters). The I/O-lines are available on 10-
pin connectors. You may easily assemble some flat cables to connect the module to
your expansion boards.
There is also the M256 expansion module, which is equally suitable and can serve
very complex designs. It features over 60 I/O Ports, 16 A/D Channels, 12 PWM chan-
nels, two free UART/SPI Ports and other nice features such as a WIFI connection.
Of course, the robot's main board also provides 6 extension areas, which may be at-
tractive for sensors that need to be as low over the floor as possible (e.g. additional
IR-sensors). However, we advise you to start expansion-projects by working with the
experiment module before soldering parts to the main board as removal of compon-
ents will be easier if something goes wrong...
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