Here I will list and document
      our non robot specific PIC projects along with photos, schematics
      and code listings. All code for all projects listed here written
      with the CCS C compiler and programmed with MPLAB IDE from Microchip.
Click on thumbnails for the full article:
 
Sharp GP2D12
      Sensor - Linearizing the distance measurments over the full range
      for use in robot sensing and mapping.
 
24 hour
      Data Log Recorder. Records both brightness and temperature for
      24 hours, every 15 minutes. Powered by the amazing 12F1840 processor,
      and runs for a long time on a 9v battery.
 
A Bargraph
      display external temperature monitor for viewing in the security
      web cam remotely. A powerful 40 pin 16F887 PIC running at 20MHz
      multiplexes 22 tri color LEDs to display the outside temperature
      on a sealed probe 3 feet away mounted outside through a access
      panel in the wall. The temperature reads out with three colors
      as well, indicating the numerical range of each digit.
 
An automated
      plant light using LED technology. Turns on at dusk for 4 hours,
      then waits till daylight to search again for night time to run
      the cycle again. LED's match the spectral needs of plants with
      red and blue high intensity lamps.
 

      

An
      adjustable RGB flashlight with 3 watts of output power. I was
      able to use the very inexpensive PIC12F675 chips and no external
      crystals for an inexpensive but potent project. Runs on two 9v
      batteries and is a blast outside in the dark!
 
A color
      sensor for the robot. Ill try to make several different types,
      but for this first attempt I use separate Cadmium Sulfide photocells
      and some gel filters. The processor is a PIC16F876a but can be
      any new type with 10 bit converters.
 

      

A
      thermistor based temperature readout with an LCD and flashing
      LED for reading remotely with your security web cam. Uses a 16F876a
      processor and radio shack thermistor.
 
A Continuous
      rotation servo controller using a serial interface. This is the
      first version of several servo drivers, this one uses the very
      inexpensive 12F629 uController and yeilds 6 speeds for controlling
      your small robot.
 
A stepper
      motor controller chip for mobile robotics applications. Parallel
      interface and adjustable speeds and other parameters.
 
A very
      important project for me, a stand alone compass chip to take
      the data from the complex Adafruit triple axis magnetometer,
      and convert to a bearing with two decimal places. This is sent
      serially to the main processor - thus off loading all the code
      and libraries to another separate chip and leaveing tons of room
      on the main processor for other tasks....
 

      

A
      robot sound generation chip using a PIC16F628a addressed from
      the main processor using RS232 single byte commands at 9600kb.
 

      

High Precision RS232
Sonar Chip
9/3/15
A
      remote sensing high accuracy sensor chip for the SRF04 sonar,
      which sends serial 9600kb data to a main processor to off load
      the processing overhead. Very accurate - reads distances to .01"
      over an 80 inch range.
 

      

Automotive Compass
6/12/15
Not
      only a demonstration of the Adafruit 3 axis magnetometer, but
      a very useful addtion to the car or truck for navigation around
      town!
 

      

TTL to RS232
PC to Micro converter
4/5/15
A
      really useful project, for use with the microcontrollers. This
      allows the robot or PIC project to communicate directly with
      Hyperterminal on the PC.
 

      

High Precision
Servo Driver Box
1/14/15

      
This project will
      be used as a bench test component for setting up servos in other
      projects, including robots, and other moving devices. The knob
      is read with a 10 bit A/D and converted to a .5 to 2.5mS output
      pulse to drive a standard servo with an attachable digital display
      (used for other bench tests as well) for four digit accuracy
      in pulse width settings. This was my first major project written
      entirely in C. :o

      
Click the thumnail
      to see full specifications.



      

10 speed robot
motor driver chip

      
This project will
      be for upcoming robots, a DC motor driver which allows a serial
      input at 9600 bps, and independently of the main processor sets
      the motor speeds from zero to maximum with 5 steps in each direction.

      
Click the thumnail
      to see full specifications.



      

Moisture Computer
For Plants
3/6/15
A
      step in the direction of automated robotic plant maintainence.
      This computer measures the soils moisture content and sends it
      to a display.




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