Programmable robot car

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Cbuckley07
 
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Programmable robot car

Post by Cbuckley07 »

I currently have a whole bunch of Adafriut 3216 chassis and motor kits. I would like to make them into programmable robot cars that would be programmed to run a course. What should I get to run them a raspberry pi or I also saw a featherlight bluefruit? Thanks for your help and advice.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Programmable robot car

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I would like to make them into programmable robot cars that would be programmed to run a course.
It depends on what you mean by "run a course".

If you mean by remote control, then one of the Bluefruit options would be a good way to go since you could control it from most mobile-phones.
If you mean autonomously via 'dead-reckoning', then any simple microcontroller board would work. (Though I hope you are not teaching students dead-reckoning as it is a bad way to approach robot navigation!)
If you mean autonomously using sensors (e.g. line following, distance/obstacle sensing etc.) we'd need to know a bit more about the course.

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Cbuckley07
 
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Re: Programmable robot car

Post by Cbuckley07 »

My goal is for them to learn programming not so much robot navigation. Yes, I want the students to program the robot to run through a set course. Are there any microcontroller boards in stock currently? I just realized many are out of stock. Thanks

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Re: Programmable robot car

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

For the Mini Round Robot Chassis (#3216), you will need both a processor and a motor driver.

This guide shows a robot built on this chassis with a Crickit (which has the motor drivers) and a MicroBit. https://learn.adafruit.com/microbit-crickit-robot
We are out of stock on the Microbits at this time. But we do have a Crickit board for the Circuit Playground Express. Both these and the Circuit Playground boards are in stock.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3093
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3333

The distance sensor shown in the guide linked above is optional.

Another option would be the Motor FeatherWing - combined with any one of the Feather processor boards:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3243
https://www.adafruit.com/category/830

The Feather 328P is the most basic of the Feather boards: https://www.adafruit.com/product/3458

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