Hexabot: Build a heavy duty six-legged robot!

Step 17 Wire it all up

I used a Proto Shield from Adafruit Industries to interface the everything with the Arduino. You can also use perfboard, but the shield is nice because you can drop it right on you Arduino and the pins are instantly connected.

Before you begin wiring, though, find something to mount the components in. The space you have inside the enclosure will dictate how things are arranged. I used a blue project enclosure that I found in the CMU Robotics Club.

You'll also want to make the Arduino easy to reprogram without needing to open you enclosure. Since my enclosure is small and packed to the brim, I couldn't just plug in a USB cable to the Arduino, otherwise there would be no room for the battery. So, I wired a USB cable directly into the Arduino by soldering wires to the underside of the printed circuit board. I recommend using large enough box so you don't have to do this.

Once you have your enclosure, wire the circuit. You may want to to periodic checks by running test code from the Arduino every so often to make sure things are hooked up correctly. Add your switches and buttons, and don't forget to drill holes in the enclosure so they can be mounted.

I added a lot of connectors so the whole electronics package could be easily removed from the chassis, but it is entirely up to you if you want to do this or not. Making direct connections for everything is perfectly acceptable.