Vanadium Labs - MINI Robocontroller

The MINI robocontroller is designed for small robots. It incorporates a powerful AVR microcontroller, XBEE wireless radio, dual motor drivers, and 3-pin servo-style headers for IO.

The board includes all circuitry needed to control a small differential drive robot. It can also easily control up to 4 servos.

See the user manual here.

RoboController Specifications

16MHz AVR microcontroller (ATMEGA168).
20 I/O, 6 of which can function as analog inputs.
Servo style 3-pin headers (gnd, vcc, signal) on all 6 analog inputs, and 4 of the digital IO
Dual 1A motor drivers, with combined motor/encoder header.
XBEE radio sold separately. A typical setup will require 2 XBEE radios and an XBEE explorer to be able to wirelessly control your robot from your computer.
This board requires either an FTDI cable or ISP. We recommend the Sparkfun FTDI breakout.
2.4”x2.4” with mounting holes in each corner.

Software

The MINI is compatible with the Arduino environment right out of the box. In addition to standard Arduino libraries, we have developed a suite called RoboControllerLib, which includes:

Motors - a library for using the motor drivers.
Encoders - A library for using quadrature encoders.
A number of libraries for various sensors, such as IR and sonar ranging sensors.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I use the FTDI cable at the same time as an XBEE?
A: No, you will have to remove the XBEE for the FTDI cable to work properly.

Getting Started

Install the Arduino IDE - The first step is to install the Arduino IDE, which will allow you to program your MINI.
Install the RoboController Library - which allows easy usage of the motors, encoders, and many sensors.
Configure ISP for Download - The final step of setup is to configure for an In-System Programmer, if you are using an FTDI cable, you're already done with setup, just select "Arduino Diecimila, Duemilanove, or Nano w/ ATmega168" as your board type and skip to step 4.

Make sure that the Arduino IDE is not running, then open your preferences.txt file. Edit the line that says upload.using= to:
- upload.using=avrispv2 if using the older Pololu ISP
- upload.using=usbtinyisp if using the USB Tiny ISP
If using a Pololu ISP, you'll also need to add these lines to the programmers.txt file:
```
        avrispv2.name=AVRISP V2
        avrispv2.communication=serial
        avrispv2.protocol=stk500v2
            
```
Read the Manual- to learn how to connect other hardware to the MINI.
Learn:

There are a number of sites with Arduino-related information. The Arduino website has a large amount of documentation about using the Arduino and embedded programming. Documentation for the RoboController library can be found here. The Trossen Robotics Forum can be a great resource for finding information and trouble shooting once you've got the basics down.