• How to build a simple and inexpensive robot platform for under $30.
• Revised! A Short Introduction to the Modes of Operation for Motorola 68HC912B32 Evaluation Board (68HC912B32EVB)  The purpose of the article is to describe the four modes of operation of the Motorola 68HC912B32 Evaluation Board.  Assembly program examples are provided to illustrate the basic features of the EVB for programming the EEPROM and 32k of available flash EEPROM. In addition, the article covers the basics behind using the EVB in POD/remote BDM mode to program target HC12 MCUs (i.e. The Kevin Ross HC12 Boards).  Download Adobe PDF File  (200 KB).
• Just added a new article titled Controlling Servo Motors with Various Microcontrollers, an article that I started writing about 1.5 years ago, but never finished. The article isn't quite done yet either, but most of the important information is posted.
• An inexpensive infrared line sensor for the MIT Handy Board.
• A Simple Serial Interface for the Handy Board or BotBoard Microcontroller Packaged Inside of a DB9 Connector Housing
• RF Serial Communication for the MIT Handy Board or Motorola 68HC11 MCU
• A howto article on the Minibot's sonar sensor system  A short howto on how to build a homemade sonar system for your own robot project.  Article includes schematic and sample ASM code.
• A howto article on the Minibot's light sensor system  This article simply details the basics behind light sensors with sample code provided for those interested in adding light sensors to their robot projects.
• Modifying the Tower Hobbies Model TS-53 (http://www.towerhobbies.com) servomotor for continuous rotation.  Click here for .pdf version (335K)

Circuits

• Here's a photo of the connections between the Polaroid sonar sensor and the MIT Handy Board.  There are two interface methods: motor port or to the SPI port.   The figure shows both connections.
• Bipolar motor driver circuit for the Handy Board MCU.  See my notes on the Handy Board web site.
• Unipolar motor driver circuit
• H-Bridge motor driver circuit
• Infrared proximity sensor
• Infrared proximity using LM567 tone decoder and Radio Shack IR pair.
• Microphone sensor

• Sample Motorola assembly code for the Minibots  By request, I've posted a collection of assembly code for the Minibots for downloading.  ASM code is documented and some might have bugs in them, so compile with caution.  The *.s19 files should all work.  The code is provided to help those who are starting out with ASM programming.  If you are experienced, then this is not for you!  Click to download and here are the categories:
  • LCD      The zipped file contains source code for interfacing a 2x8 or 2x16 LCD display to the Botboard.
  • Sonar     Homemade sonar routines.  See the Minibot Sonar howto above.
  • Blink      A simple starter program that causes bits on PORT C to turn on/off.  Connect LED to see them flash!
  • Servo     Servo motor code.
  • Com      RF communication programs for the Minibots.
  • A2D      A/D example code.
  • Light      IR light code for the Minibots.  See the above article.
  • Example Interactive C Sumo robot code (Requested by U of U mechatronics students)

Links

Robotics Clubs

Seattle Robotics Society  This is a must visit site!!!  Tons of information about robotics.
Home Brew Robotics Club  The name says it all.
The Robot Group
Portland Area Robotics Society (PARTS)  Marvin Green's robotics site
Singaporerobotics Club (SRC)
Central Illinois Robot Club  Jim Munro and his group
DPRG--The Dallas Personal Robotics Group
The Phoenix Area Robotics eXperimentors' Web Site
The Rockies Robotics Group
The Machine Intelligence Lab (MIL) in Florida
Alaska Homebrew Robotics Club

HVW Technologies  A place to get cool kits and parts
The Robot Store  The name says it all!
The Robot Store in Hong Kong  MIT Handy Board distributor.
Sine Robotics  Bill Harrison's Sine Robotics.  Check out his Marvin Slyder robot kit.
The BotBoard Site  Marvin Green's BotBoard site.
Arrick Robotics  Cool robots and kits
Wirz Electronics  A cool place to get robot stuff
Mr. Robot  Want robot kits, microcontrollers, motors and sensors?  Check it site out!
Acroname  Another place to pick up robot parts and accessories.
Technological Arts  A place to get 68HC11 and 68HC12 microcontroller boards for robotics.
BecTec  Robot parts and platform supplier
Domestic Droids Website  Check out their Mowbot for mowing lawns!
Smallrobot.com
Mekatronix Homepage  Robotics kits and parts company
Smartrobot.com
Pete Miles Walking Robots website.

DVP Wirless Solutions
Linx Technologies  Wireless stuff
Ramsey Eelectronics  Source for wireless stuff and hobby kits.

Vultrax Electronics CAD software
ExpressPCB  A great place to have your PCBs made.  Easy-to-use software and fast shipping.
IVEX PCB layout software company

Tomi Engdahl's electronics info page.  Tons of information for GEEKS!
Resets, Interrupts and the 68HC11
Jeff Keyzer's Mailing List Archives for the MIT Handy Board
ET the Technology Interface  Great articles about computers, interfaces, etc.
Radio Shack Ultrasonic Tape Measure Modification and Hack for robotics.
Eric Wedaa's Robot Schematic site   Full of robot info
Ian Harries' Stepper motor control page.
Radio Control a two wheel robot from your PC
Interfacing the Serial / RS232 Port V5.0
Tom Dicken's Homepage  A site full of information related to robotics and 68HC11 microcontroller.
Karl Lunt's Homepage  Robotics guru!
ELMO autonomous robot with radio communication
Stretching a Basic Stamp 2 using PCF8574 I/O Expanders
Peter H. Anderson - Embedded Processor Control--Plenty of info about MCU and robotics.
Dennis's OK web site  Check out his 12C508 IR Obstruction Detector Howto
4QD  Great site for electonics and robot information
Don Klipstein's Web Site!  Wanna know about LEDs?  Check out Don's site.
The One Spot  Chris Hostetler's Robot Page.
Howie's Hierarchical Robot Page A site full of links to robot places and people.
Ron's Robot Lab  Ron's got some cool robotics ideas.
Ted's Robot Page
Androbot's Homepage
Angus Thomson's Homepage
Craig Peacock's Interfacing the PC homepage  Full of information about PCs
Octo's Domain
Mike's "little Chunk O' the Web"
Randy Sargent's Homepage  Robotics guru from MIT
John Cutter's Web Site Check out the Albert Project!
Johann Borenstein's Homepage of mobile robots, obstacle avoidance, positioning, etc.
David P. Anderson's Homepage  He's got some cool stuff about robots!
Bryan Andersen's Homepage of robots.
Check out Bugbot!
Matt Minnis's Homepage  Check out his robot and coldfire resources
Daniel's Hobby Page
Frank Scott's Hexapod Robots  Frank's got some cool legged robots!

The Motion Shop  Motion control supplier
W.M. Berg  Vendor for small parts such as belts, pulleys, couplers, gears, etc.
Micro Mo  Motor company
Maxon Motor Company  Great DC motor source
Herbach and Rademan--Great surplus vendor for motors and parts.
Edmund Scientifics  Great place to get robot kits, motors and parts.
Positive Logic Engineering  Servo motor controllers source
Hosfelt Electronics  Great place to get surplus stuff.

EAS Computers  Check out the FingerBoard MCU and other 68HC11 related info
The Homepage for Kevin Ross  Robotics guru
68HC11 Chips, microcontrollers, microprocessors, mcus
AWC Electronics  MCU vendor with cool Stamps stuff.

The Handy Board Microcontroller  One of my favorite sites.  The HB is an easy to use and very versatile controller for small robot projects.
Max Davies Website with great information related to the Handy Board
Daniel Kornhauser Eisenberg homepage--Great info on the Handy Board
Dinsmore Digital Compass modules starting at $15
Precision Navigation digital compass source  The Vector 2x module interfaces nicely with the HB and other MUCs
Index of /barry_detroit/  Sharp GP2D02 interface to the Handy Board info

Allied Electronics  Source of electronics products and parts.
Smart Vison Products  The name says it all.
Surplus electronics and computer parts  from EIO.
Timeline Inc  Great source for LCD displays (cheap!)
The Electronic Goldmine Web Site  A great place for electronics stuff.
Scott Edwards Electronics  Great source for LCD displays and robotics information.
Decade Engineering  Robotics stuff such as vision systems, etc.
Supercircuits Inc.  Microvideo related products.
B.G. Micro (Electronics, Kits, Surplus, etc)
Lab Electronics  Motor control boards for robots

Motorola MCU ftp site  Get tons of free software and info for Motorola's MCUs
P&E Microcomputers  HC11 assembler and simulator software
MSOE Resources HC11 Software
Introl Corporation  HC11 C crosscompiler
Cheap HC11 simlulator package from MIT
Software for HC11

National Semiconductor Search Product Catalog & Design Resources   A quick way to search for parts.
Sharp data sheets for IR detecting units.
Allegro Microsystems Inc.  Semiconductor parts vendor.

Robot Books site

Warning:  Use the following information at your own risk! We are not responsible for any damages, either physical or intellectual, that may result from the following information.