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Tue, 21 Apr 2009
New expansion board for SRV-1 Blackfin supports 20 servos, 16 analog in, 16 gpio and micro-SD
We have a couple of expansion cards in the works. One which we will discuss in a few days is intended for robot GPS navigation, while another, called the RCM, is designed to greatly expand the capabilities of the SRV-1 Blackfin Camera for robot control.
The RCM, short for "robot control module", creates a fully functional augmented microcontroller (video, audio and data streaming and control, wifi, comm. ports, multiple I/O and servo controllers) geared toward education and hobby robots that could replace embedded PC104 and mini-ITX computers. Inspiration for this project came from multiple years of participation in robotic competitions, the most recent (and most demanding) being the RoboCup Rescue Robot League.
Developers of the RCM wanted to create a system that fit well into the learning goals of a high school engineering program from LEGO; through the SHARP IRs, and R/C servo motors; on up to IFI Victor and Dimension Engineering Sabertooth motor controllers, and Hokuyo laser scanners. The result is an expansion board for the SRV-1 Blackfin that supports 20 servos, 16 12-bit analog input channels, 16 GPIO signals, additional I2C and SPI expansion channels, and a micro-SD memory card slot. Voltage level converters provide support for 5V devices, and an external 5V supply can be added to drive large numbers of servos.
The schematic for the RCM can be found here. The RCM is expected to be priced at $150 ($135 to education customers), and production volumes should be available in 4-6 weeks. For further information, please contact support@surveyor.com.
Posted Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:46 | HTML Link | see additional stories ...