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Experimental circuit board modules can be made quickly and fairly easily. They have the advantage of being more than twice as fast to build than a custom circuit board. They are also easy to test in a breadboard. The modules detailed here are ones I have made using various Picaxe microcontrollers.
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Signing UpStep 1Picaxe Project Modules
Pic2 shows a few of the Picaxe modules that I have built and tested that use the Picaxe microcontroller. They are designed to be modular so that they can be plugged into different robots that are being worked on. It takes a lot of time to create a new robot and they often have many of the same basic circuits and programming of a previously built robot. If simple modules that easily interface with each other are built, new robot ideas and configurations can be more quickly tried out.
2a- An infrared receiver that can receive and output numbers from a remote control or Picaxe based robot.
2b- An infrared receiver that outputs sounds such as beeps and buzzes. The little square in the lower left hand corner of the board is a speaker that is actually quite loud.
2c-A 20x-2 Picaxe microcontroller. This is my favorite Picaxe as it can run at 64 mh and it does not require resistors at the inputs to keep it stable.
2d- A music visualizer that flashes when words are spoken. It connects directly to an 8 ohm speaker or mp3 output.
2e- A picaxe 08m using four of its outputs which are charlyplexed to LEDs to output 0-9
2f-An RGB voltmeter using an 08m which produces different colors for different voltages. For schematic and some details see here: http://www.inklesspress.com/picaxe_projects.htm
2g- a smaller version of the 20x-2 Picaxe which uses a SOIC version of the microcontroller.
2h- A picaxe 28x-2 which is crystal controlled and has access to all inputs and outputs.
2i- A live bug version of the 08m which has surface mount resisters mounted on top so the microcontroller can be plugged into a breadboard or socket.
2a- An infrared receiver that can receive and output numbers from a remote control or Picaxe based robot.
2b- An infrared receiver that outputs sounds such as beeps and buzzes. The little square in the lower left hand corner of the board is a speaker that is actually quite loud.
2c-A 20x-2 Picaxe microcontroller. This is my favorite Picaxe as it can run at 64 mh and it does not require resistors at the inputs to keep it stable.
2d- A music visualizer that flashes when words are spoken. It connects directly to an 8 ohm speaker or mp3 output.
2e- A picaxe 08m using four of its outputs which are charlyplexed to LEDs to output 0-9
2f-An RGB voltmeter using an 08m which produces different colors for different voltages. For schematic and some details see here: http://www.inklesspress.com/picaxe_projects.htm
2g- a smaller version of the 20x-2 Picaxe which uses a SOIC version of the microcontroller.
2h- A picaxe 28x-2 which is crystal controlled and has access to all inputs and outputs.
2i- A live bug version of the 08m which has surface mount resisters mounted on top so the microcontroller can be plugged into a breadboard or socket.
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"The 10k/22k resistors must be included for reliable operation.
DO NOT leave the serial in pin floating as THE PROGRAM WILL NOT RUN!"
You are quite right. You cannot leave the serial-in pin floating or there will be problems. If you look closely at the first pic you can see that all of my circuit modules have a 100k resistor from serin to ground to keep it from floating. Some of them are mounted on the back side.
I attach the 10k and 22k resistors in the correct configuration permanently to the serial programming cable. The 100k resistor added to this when programming does not interfere with the download. This means the minimum circuit for each Picaxe module only requires one resistor.
I have been doing this for several years and have had no problems with any of my Picaxe projects.
I suggest you start with the 08m Picaxe to see if you like programming a microcontroller. You can get a starter kit with everything you need to program an 08m from HVW for about $15. It comes with a CD which contains very good manuals on how to hook Picaxes up and program them. The manuals also explain the chip designations and can be downloaded for free. The link for the starter kit is here: http://www.hvwtech.com/products_list.asp?CatID=90&SubCatID=249&SubSubCatID=252&CurPage=2
It requires a PC with a serial port. If you do not have a serial port you will have to get a USB to serial cable to be able to program the Picaxe.
The Sony remote control code is built into the Picaxes which allows them to send and receive infrared control signals. The code is proprietary.
I havn't found the 20x-2 surface mount version in the US. I had to order it from the creators of the Picaxe in the UK: http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/
As apburner says, the Picaxe forum has a ton of good information and can probably answer many of your questions.