Spinner Project Page

(This document and Robot are a work in progress)

Spinner

Break each PCB out into it's own page, names

Spinner_PCB_Motor.html
Spinner_PCB_LED.html
Spinner_PCB_Drvr-Brd.html
Spinner_PCB_RoundIRBoards-BC.html
Spinner_PCB_RoundIRBoards-BL.html
Spinner_PCB_RoundIRBoards-BR.html
Spinner_PCB_RoundIRBoards-FL.html
Spinner_PCB_RoundIRBoards-FR.html

After breaking them out into boards, describe the connector cables for non directly attached cables. Cables that are directly attached to the boards like the ones on the Drvr-Brd, will be described as their pinout at the end of the cable.
List the colors of LEDs for each of the LED boards produced.

Overall Design Notes

Overall Robot Design Parameters

Shape	Circular, just over 8" in diameter with a domed top
Motive Means	Differential Drive from two geared down servo motors with integrated quadrature resolvers for dead reconing inputs.
Controller Type	Multi processor with communication over a common bi-directional serial link.
Sensors	Current Sensors Touch Sensors ringed around the perimeter of the robot. IR Remote type whiskers arranged two forwards, two to each side, and two backwards. There are also two mounted crosswise for detecting the presence of an object in the ball catch area. Future plans Stereo video inputs. Other that location for placement of the cameras, not details have been worked out as of now.
Logic Power Supply	6 Cell NiCD pack for logic supply.
Motor Power Supply	12 Cell NiCD pack for motor supply. Pack is laid out as two 6 cell packs in series. Future plans call for NiMH battery packs due to their higher capacity. I don't need the high draw rates possible from NiCds.
Battery Charging	Initially an external charger powered by 25 VDC supply with tempeture and end voltage sensing. Future plan is to have internal chargers with tempeture and end voltage sensing. One for each battery pack. Power for the internal chargers will come from a semi-regulated 7.5 Amp 25 VDC supply that the robot will be able to dock with. Estimated recharge time will be 40 minutes for NiCD packs and 80 minutes for NiMH packs.

Communication between different boards in Spinner is done over a RS-485 electrical spec link with IRDA like signal pulse format and timing with 2 start bits, 8 data bits, and one stop bit like RS-232.

I'm using the RS-485 link electrical specs because it provides a multi drop communications link that is widely supported electrically, and it affords a degree of signal electrical tolerance not available with normal logic levels or RS-232 links.
I chose to use IRDA bit timing formats due to some nice features it allows when used over a RS-485 link.

I can do collision detection in software by monitoring loop signal level at standard input logic levels.
I can gather data baud rate on the fly on a byte by byte basis. This allows me to receive bytes of data without worrying about what the baud rate they are sent at. The receiver can accurately determine the baud rate as it's receiving the start bits of a byte.

With a Scenix SX-28 CPU I've successfully sent and received at random baud rates from 100 to 115k bits per second without dropping or mangling a single byte. Of course this was with an otherwise unloaded CPU. The proof of my algorithms is if they work with the rest of the control code running.
Self monitoring of the loop logic level also allows for a bit of electrical noise created error detection.

Assemblies

Motor Control Board

Headers

Reset

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	NA	NA	GND
2	NA	NA	Switch Return

Jmp / Prog

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	out	HCMOS	Clock Osc
2	in	HCMOS	Clock Osc1
3	in	HCMOS	Clock Osc2
4	na	power	Vcc
5	na	power	GND

Power

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1,4	na	power	GND
2,3	na	power	Vcc

LED 1

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	na	power	Vcc
2	out	CMOS
3	out	CMOS
4	out	CMOS
5	out	CMOS
6-10	na	power	GND

LED 2

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	na	power	Vcc
2	out	CMOS
3	out	CMOS
4	out	CMOS
5	out	CMOS
6-10	na	power	GND

Motor 1

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6-10	na	power	GND

Motor 2

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6-10	na	power	GND

Quad 1

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	na	power	Vcc
2	out	CMOS
3	out	CMOS
4,5	na		N.C.
6-10	na	power	GND

Quad 2

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	na	power	Vcc
2	out	CMOS
3	out	CMOS
4,5	na		N.C.
6-10	na	power	GND

Parts List

Source	Q	Part #	Description	Use
Mouser	1	SX-28	Scenix SX-28 CPU	Brains
stock	1		50 MHz Clock Oscillator
stock	1		1x5 0.1" pin header	Jumper / Programming
stock	1		0.1" jumper	Above Header for run state.
stock	1	MAX487E	Low draw RS-485 interface chip or similar with the same pin out.	Communications interface
stock	2		1x4 0.1" pin header	Power hookup header Communication Header
stock	1		1x2 0.1" pin header	Reset switch header
stock	7		2x5 0.1" pin header	Motor Control 1 Motor Control 2 Quadrature 1 Quadrature 2 LED Motor 1 LED Motor 2 General LED
stock	2		0.1uF Decoupling Capacitor	SX-28 MAX487E
stock	1		10k Ohm Resistor	Reset pull-up

Motor Driver Boards

Left and Right Boards. Separate boards for left and right sides are used because of space constraints. The board is formatted to fit down by the motors in the cavities left by the motor's shape, and the shape of the area where the motors are placed.
They are roughly mirror images of each other. Component placements are mirrored, but the circuit trace layout is individual for each. Differences are due to component pin outs.
Connectors

Motor 1

J1: Controller Header

Pin #	Direction	Signal Type	Description
1	IN		Direction
2	NA	NA	GND
3	IN		Brake
4	NA	NA	GND
5	IN		PWM
6	NA	NA	GND
7	OUT	Analog	Current
8	NA	NA	GND
9	OUT		Thermal
10	NA	NA	GND

J2: Quadrature Header

Pin #	Direction	Signal Type	Description
1,3,5,7	NA	NA	GND
2	NA	NA	Vcc
4	out	CMOS	Quadrature ?
6	out	CMOS	Quadrature ?

J3: Power

Pin #	Direction	Signal Type	Description
1	NA	NA	Motor Battery Positive
2	NA	NA	Motor Battery Negative

Motor 2

J1: Controller Header

Pin #	Direction	Signal Type	Description
1	OUT		Thermal
2	NA	NA	GND
3	OUT	Alanlog	Current
4	NA	NA	GND
5	IN		PWM
6	NA	NA	GND
7	IN		Brake
8	NA	NA	GND
9	IN		Direction
10	NA	NA	GND

J2: Quadrature Header

Pin #	Direction	Signal Type	Description
1,3,5,7	NA	NA	GND
2	NA	NA	Vcc
4	out	CMOS	Quadrature ?
6	out	CMOS	Quadrature ?

J3: Power

Pin #	Direction	Signal Type	Description
1	NA	NA	Motor Battery Positive
2	NA	NA	Motor Battery Negative

Parts List

Source	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use
Digi-Key	2	LMD18200	H-Bridge Driver Chip	22.00/1	44.00	Motor driver
stock	2		2x5 contact 0.1" pin header			Motor Power and Quadrature encoder header
stock	4		0.01uF			Bootstrap capacitors for H-Bridge chips
stock	2		10 conductor ribbon cable (Note leave last 11th conductor off.)			Motor Control header
stock	4		2x5 connector IDC plug			Motor Control Header Quadrature Header
stock	2		7 conductor ribbon cable.			Quadrature Header
	1		PCB pair (One each side)

LED Indicator Boards

Generic LED indicator board. Can be jumpered to light the LED on high or low input signals. (Note: I should come up with a bi-color LED version.)
At the moment I see use for two of these boards for indicators of Motor status.

Motor 1 Indicator Board

LED #	Use	Color
1
2
3
4

Motor 2 Indicator Board

LED #	Use	Color
1
2
3
4

Board is electrically single sided, but can have the component side done as a ground plane.
One mounting hole on roughly the mid line of the board at each end.
Connector pin out

Pin #	Direction	Signal Type	Description
1	NA	NA	Vcc
2,4,6,8,10	NA	NA	GND
3	in	HCMOS	LED1
5	in	HCMOS	LED2
7	in	HCMOS	LED3
9	in	HCMOS	LED4

The jumper / strapping blocks are separated into two groups. Group one (J2) handles setting LED1 and LED2's on state. Group two (J3) handles LED3 and LED4's states.

Strapping is done from the center row to one or the other outer side. Depending on which side is chosen, determines if the LED will be on for a HIGH or LOW input signal.

Parts List (each)

Q	Description	Use
4	270 Ohm Resistor	R1, R2, R3, R4
4	LED, 20mA forward current	RED
1	74HC86 Quad 2 Input XOR	IC1
2	2x3 contact 0.10" pin headers	J2, J3
1	10 Conductor Ribbon Cable	J1
1	10 Conductor 2x5 Contact IDC Plug	J1

J1 is a assembly of a ribbon cable and the plug connector for it's far end.
The pin headers for J2 and J3 can be omitted, and jumper wires used in their place.

Power Supply

The power supply sub system is made up of multiple sub assemblies.
Sub-Assemblies

Logic Supply

National Semiconductor Simple Switcher Power Supply.
5 VDC
500mA
Parts List

Source	Page	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use

Parts List

Logic Battery Pack

6 Cell NiCD pack
10k Ohm NTC Thermister
Connector, 2x5 contact 0.1" pin header.

Pin #	Use
1,2,9,10	GND
3	Thermister A
8	Thermister B
4,5,6,7	Vcc

Parts List

Source	Page	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use

Logic Batter Charger

Thermal Rise / Voltage Slope charge end.
2C Charge rate for NiCD battery packs, and 1C charge rate for NiMH packs.
Parts List

Source	Page	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use

Motor Supply

Simple switch is all that is used to condition / control the motor supply.
As a note: the motor controller chips have an internal cutoff that doesn't let them work with supply voltages below 10 VDC.
Parts List

Source	Page	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use

Motor Battery Pack

12 Cell NiCD pack
10k Ohm NTC Thermister
Connector, 2x5 contact 0.1" pin header.

Pin #	Use
1,2,9,10	GND
3	Thermister A
8	Thermister B
4,5,6,7	Vcc

Parts List

Source	Page	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use

Motor Battery Charger

Thermal / Voltage slope charge end.
2C Charge rate for NiCD battery packs, and 1C charge rate for NiMH packs.
Parts List

Source	Page	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use

Charger Power Supply

Use a surplus unregulated 24 VDC power supply.
Run the output through One or more 5 Amp Adjustable voltage regulators to get 22 VDC for the chargers.
Design an easy to hook up polarized contact.

Use something like the Flat spring contacts used for battery packs on cellular phones. Multiple contacts can be used for both positive and negative. To allow for imperfect alignment, have each contact on the robot have a diode pair behind it to allow it to either work as a positive or negative contact. The base can have a strip of alternating positive/negative contacts on it.

Parts List

Source	Q	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use
AX-Man	1	7.5 Amp 24 VDC unregulated power supply	17.95		Charger power supply.
AX-Man	1	Heat Sink	?		Dissipate heat from regulators
Digi-Key	2	5 Amp Adjustable Regulator, TO-220	$3.01/1	$6.02	Regulator power to a level that the charger circuitry can handle.
Digi-Key	?	Robot side spring contacts			Charger Power hookup.
Digi-Key	?	Base side spring contacts			Charger power hookup.

Parts List

Source	Page	Q	Part #	Description	Price/Per	Total	Use
stock

IR and Touch Sensor Assemblies

IR Controller Board

Connectors

Front Boards Connector Set

The two connectors on the boards are brought together via a harness to hookup to three connectors on the IR sensor board. The lines for the external sensors are on two of the connectors (one connector each side). The lines for the internal looking sensors are merged onto one connector. The reason for this is to simplify connecting up for the gripper functions.
Left Side External Looking (FL)

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Right Side External Looking (FR)

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Both Sides Internal Looking (FL+FR)

Side Boards Connector Set

Left Side (BL)

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5

Right Side (BR)

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5

Rear Board Connector Set (BC)

Left Side

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Right Side

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

IR Sensor Boards

Common features of IR Sensor boards

Electrical communication back to the IR Controller Board is via Ribbon cables which are soldered at the Sensor board, and use IDC type headers on the IR Controller board end.

Left Front IR Sensor Board

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	in	CMOS	Front Side IR LED (High = on)
2	in	CMOS	Front Right IR LED (High = on)
3	out	CMOS	Front Right IR Remote Signal
4	out	CMOS	Front Side IR Remote Signal
5	na	power	Vcc
6	out	CMOS	Left
7	in	CMOS	Cross Front IR LED (High = on)
8	in	CMOS	Cross Rear IR LED (High = on)
9-16	na	power	GND

Right Front IR Sensor Board

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	in	CMOS	Rear IR LED (High = on)
2	in	CMOS	Front IR LED (High = on)
3	out	CMOS	Ball IR Remote Signal (No Pullup Needed if resistor installed on board)
4	na	power	Vcc
5	out	CMOS	Front Side IR Remote Signal
6	out	CMOS	Front Right IR Remote Signal
7	in	CMOS	Front Right IR LED (High = on)
8	in	CMOS	Front Side IR LED (High = on)
9-16	na	power	GND

Left Side IR Sensor Board

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	in	CMOS	IR LED (High for on)
2	na	power	GND
3	out	CMOS	IR Remote Signal (May need pullup resistor)
4	na	power	GND
5	na	power	Vcc

Right Side IR Sensor Board

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	out	CMOS	IR Remote Signal (May need pullup resistor)
2	na	power	GND
3	na	power	Vcc
4	na	power	GND
5	in	CMOS	IR LED (High for on)

Rear IR Sensor Board X Side

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	na	power	Vcc
2	na	power	GND
3	out	CMOS	IR Remost Signal (Needs pullup resistor)
4	na	power	GND
5	in	CMOS	IR LED (High = on)

Rear IR Sensor Board X Side

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1	in	CMOS	IR LED (High for on)
2	na	power	GND
3	na	power	Vcc
4	na	power	GND
5	out	CMOS	IR Remote Signal (Needs pullup Resistor)

Touch sensor inputs.

Connectors

Group A

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Group B

Pin #	Direction	Signal type	Description
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

8 micro switches mounted around the circumference of the AL Base Plate. They are Actuated when the Perimeter Ring is pressed in.

Parts List

Accelerometer / Compass Assemblies

Common attributes

Accelerometers of choice are the Analog Devices ADXL150 and ADXL250. They are a 1 axis and 2 axis respectively +/-50g units with about 12 bits of effective resolution. I should get further information on other makseof accelerometers. Motorola is supposed to have many different models.

Mount them so there is an axis in each of the X, Y, and Z directions at each wheel. This will take and ADXL150 and ADXL250 at each wheel. From this I should be able to get quite reasonable accuracy.
Use a 4 channel simultainious sampling ADC to sample all the axises at once to provide better accuracy. Maxim has a part that will do this. I'll be wasting 5 channels at each sensor set, but that is minor in relation to getting accurate results. Another option is to use one converter per channel, and simultainiusly trigger them. This uses a bit more overhead, but may be worth it as I may be able to differentialy hook the signals up.

Accelerometer Integration Controller (TBD)
Accelerometer Wheel Boards

They will be located just outside of the wheel locations with the mid line of the sensor inline with the axle line.
Details of the rest of the assembly TBD.

Accelerometer Side Jolt Integrator (TBD)
Gravity Direction Board (TBD)
Compass Board (TBD)

Chassis

Base AL Plate

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