My friend Thomas Edwards, who was the founder of Dorkbot DC, and is now involved in Dorkbot SoCal, told me that he'd gotten a MAKE Controller Kit v2 to work with some of his networked physical computing projects. I asked him if he'd like to write a no-holes-barred review of the kit. Here's what he had to say. - Gareth Branwyn
I've programmed a lot of microcontrollers in my day: PICs, BASIC Stamps, Comfile CUBLOCs, and of course, Arduinos. But recently I've been working on networked physical computing projects that require Ethernet, motor drivers, and servo drivers. Rather than try to stack up a bunch of Arduino shields, I decided to take the plunge and try the MAKE Controller v2, which integrates all those capabilities.
What is the MAKE Controller Kit?
The MAKE Controller Board ($60 separate) is built on the Atmel AT91SAM7X256 microcontroller. This chip incorporates the ARM7TDMI ARM Thumb Processor, which has a 32-bit RISC architecture and a 16-bit instruction set. The chip has 256 Kbytes of internal high-speed flash memory for programs and 64 Kbytes of static RAM. It packs a lot of power.
In order to do anything interesting with the MAKE Controller Board, it needs a power supply and other support circuitry, so the board must be plugged into a support board. One support option is the Interface Board ($32.50, or $85 with MAKE Controller Board), which provides 35 digital input/outputs, 2 serial ports, TWI, CAN, SPI, Ethernet, and USB interfaces.,The other option is the Application Board ($52). The MAKE Controller Kit ($120 altogether) from Making Things is a combination of MAKE Controller Board and the MAKE Application Board.
The Application Board is about 3-¼" long by 4" wide, and when combined with the Controller Board, comes to about 5/8" tall. There are six screw holes for mounting.
Ins and Outs
The MAKE Controller Kit has eight analog inputs with 10 bits of resolution. The Kit can read input voltages from 0-3.3V, but is protected from damage if higher voltages are applied to the analog inputs.
The Kit also has eight high-current (1A) digital outputs. These are driven from two SN754410NE quad H-driver chips, and can be configured to drive eight individual digital outputs, drive four DC motors in forward or reverse using the H-drivers, control two stepper motors, or a combination of these options. These digital outputs can also be controlled with pulse-width modulation (PWM), for controlling DC motor speed, for example. There are four PWM signal generators available on the board, each one driving two of the digital outputs.
The analog in and digital outs utilize screw-down terminal connectors. You need to get a small (jeweler-size) screwdriver to effectively use these, but they're very convenient compared with having to solder header pins on wires to connect to an Arduino.
The Kit also has four connections to drive standard servos. Jumpers allow the V+ voltages for the digital and servo outputs to come either from the regulated 5V supply, or from an external DC power supply, if you need more current or a different V+ voltage.
The external supply for the servos is separate from the external V+ "main power supply" for the board. So, for example, you might want to drive your servos with an external 6V supply, but provide your digital outputs with 12V from the main board power to drive a DC motor. To add flexibility, each bank of four digital outputs has its own 5V/V+ jumper. Obviously, Making Things has been thinking deeply about real-world uses of this board.
The Kit has both mini USB and Ethernet interfaces. The USB connection can also power the Kit (although with a limited amount of output DC current). Other data interfaces include a hardware serial port and a Two-Wire Interface (TWI, aka I2C) bus. Four status LEDs are found on the Application Board, and a single status LED is located on the Controller Board.
The Kit can be powered with an external DC supply with voltage in a range of 5V to 24V. I ran it with a 12V supply and did not find any "hot spots" on the board (unlike my experience with the Arduino).
It should be noted that v2 of the Application Board has changed significantly from v1. No longer present is the 8-position DIP switch and trimpot, and the JTAG (used for on-chip debugging) and CAN bus connectors on the v1 Application Board are now just solder pads, available if you want to add connectors to them.
Read more |
Permalink |
Comments |
Read more articles in Computers |
Digg this!
On Mashable, math teacher Rebecca Zook weighs in on the whole Computer Engineer Barbie (aka Coder Barbie) "controversy" with "Why Computer Engineer Barbie Is Good for Women in Tech."
We are saddened to report that Robert Spinrad, father of MAKE Projects Editor Paul Spinrad, has died. From John Markoff's NYTimes obit:
