We just like to make stuff Booklet
We just like to make stuff Booklet
We like to share the projects that we have been working on and we have produced this little give-away booklet
to give you a reference in case you want to replicate anything that we have done.
We also have a website that contains the same information www.binaryfive.com.
Chess Boards ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Rope Making Machine .......................................................................................................................... 4
Electronics............................................................................................................................................. 5
Robotics ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Robotics competitions........................................................................................................................... 6
First Lego league............................................................................................................................... 7
Student Robotics ........................................................................................................................... 7
Micro-mouse ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Line Following .............................................................................................................................. 8
Drag racing.................................................................................................................................... 8
Line following time trial ............................................................................................................... 8
Making your own robot .................................................................................................................... 9
Breadboard ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Strip-board ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Kit Contents .................................................................................................................................... 12
Suppliers ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Programming your shrimp .............................................................................................................. 13
How the programmer will work ...................................................................................................... 13
ATMEGA programming using an arduino as a programmer ......................................................... 14
CP2102 UART ................................................................................................................................ 15
Sensors :White Line Following Circuit .......................................................................................... 16
Motor control .................................................................................................................................. 17
Chassis ............................................................................................................................................ 17
Steering ........................................................................................................................................... 17
Page 1 of 17
We just like to make stuff Booklet
Chess Boards
After competing in RobotWars Series 5 on 2001 we carried on meeting on a Friday night and playing chess.To
add a bit of plavour we started to play fifferent games all with a chess theme.
I have included some picture below but we concluded that the game we recommend is hexagonal chess. It
retains enough of the normal FIDE game to be recognisable but is different enough to
Reduce the advantage that an experienced player (Dave) has over a less experience one (Bob)
I began by marking up a piece of plywood with a soldering iron but as this proved bulky to take to the pub I got
one printed on some beer resistant material.I hunted around for a printer for a long time but eventually found
that my local Kall-kwik printer could produce one on the plastic-canvas material that banners are printed on. I
did toy with the idea of selling the games but prefer just to tell people about it. Incidentally I created the extra
pieces by buying lots of sets from Poundland. Their stock varies though and not all sets are that nice to play
with.
Games we particularly enjoy
4 player chess
Laser chess :khet
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Martian chess
We just like to make stuff Booklet
3D chess
Star Trek 3D chess
Indian chess :chatarunga
Shogi : Japanese chess
3 player chess
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
Rope Making Machine
This is something I wanted to try after visiting the Chatham historic dockyard many years ago. I have seen
several semi automated versions at the model engineering show but this one is home-made just o demonstrate
that it can be done.
Pulley wheel
A more substantial turner
Flat bar shank held on
with nut
Another
smaller
bolt
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Handle
goes
through
all three
Rotating
gimble
Ring bolt
through block
of wood 2x4
Move
traveller by
hand
weight
We just like to make stuff Booklet
Electronics
Flashing Neons
The cool thing about this circuit is the way that a neon bulb that requires a high Alternating Current in order to
work can be run from a 9Volt DC battery.
It also demonstrates some useful Physics principles with simple electronics.
The 9V is fed into a little 2 transistor circuit that produces an alternating current. This is also called an Astable
circuit. This is then fed into a step up transformer. Normally, a transformer is plugged into a wall socket to
convert the 240V AC current into a low voltage DC current to power a radio or some other small piece of
electronics.
So , using the back to front by feeding in a low voltage will produce a high voltage coming out .
Transformer circuit
Flashing Neons
15V
10k
240V
10mF
47K 68K
180µF
10nF
2N222
BC441
Step up
transformer
oscillator
Neon bulb circuit
1 µF e-
Wire leg neon
Page 5 of 17
Voltage
doubler
Neon
assem
blies
We just like to make stuff Booklet
Robotics
Dave has been into robotics for many years ,competing in an early robot wars event as well as
Micromouse in 1980. In 1999 we decided to have a go and developed ‘the dome’. These robots are heavy and
expensive to make but we learned a lot and it was fun to meet on a Friday night in the pub to ‘design and build ’.
To get on the telly meant not losing in 2 battles held off camera so what is shown in the show are effectively
quarter finals. Anyway we lasted for almost a compete minute before getting flipped and left like a dying beetle
but there you go.
After quite a long respite (but still going to the pub  ) Dave wanted to resurrect his interest in robotic. Having
less money these days we decided to enter the Micromouse competition in 2013.
This is Dave in 1980
This is Dave in 2013
Robotics competitions
Below I have described three different robotics competitions that are run nationally and which serve as a great
way of using and developing robotics and electronics skills. I describe them in order of robotics experience
needed to compete.
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
First Lego league
This is another competition for schools that I have been involved in. It combines the outreach desires of an
american charity with the commercial support of Lego and its Mind Storm product range. A good competition
that encourages team work and problem solving. The robotics is only one quarter of the competition and uses
equipment that can be used by the non-technically experienced.
Student Robotics
This is a competitions that is great for schools with some technical help on hand. It involves some great
creativity to solve the arena tasks that are changed each year. Have a look at www.studentrobotics.org
Micro-mouse
Micromouse is a competition that began in the late 1970’s and still runs in venues around the world.
In the UK there is an annual competition run in Birmingham.
There are two types of competition aimed at development of autonomous robotic mice. The main one is maze
solving and is taken very seriously by teams around the world.
Maze solving
The ‘mouse is placed at the start of the maze and has to find its way to the centre as quickly as possible.
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
Line Following
The second type of competition under the Micro-mouse banner is for Line following mice and as it is less
sophisticated it is an ideal fun way to develop robotics and electronics skills.
With the introduction of the Raspberry Pi and arduino microcontrollers this is the competition that is most
easily accessible to the current generation of mice builders.
Drag racing
Te most basic competition in which the mouse has to follow a straight line down a course and stop at the end.
Line following time trial
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
Making your own robot
For the ambitious but uninitiated I thought that I would provide a few notes as teasers to look at instructions on
the internet.
We are both Advanced amateur radio license holders and I run assessments for the electronics and amateur
radio society at the university where I work as a technician. Being struck by how good the ham radio electronics
exercises were at introducing electronics I wanted to incorporate this into the robotics competitions that the
society runs as a scrapheap challenge once a year.
A really excellent way of learning practical electronics that incorporates modern microprocessors is to build a
robot controlled by the ATMEGA328 microprocessor chip found in the Arduino development system. To really
get the most of this approach we build arduino ‘shrimps’ that use the same chip as the arduino and I include an
overview later in this booklet
To see what other groups are doing with the arduino shrimp take a look on the internet and in particular
http://shrimping.it/blog/
Breadboard
The easiest way to start circuit building is by using breadboard. This lets you assemble components without
having to learn to solder as well.
This is a very good video showing the build on a bread-Board.
http://www.notesandvolts.com/2012/12/fun-with-arduino-arduino-on-breadboard.html
Page 9 of 17
We just like to make stuff Booklet
Strip-board
Once you understand how your breadboard circuit works you can try building it on stripboard. This is often also
called veroboard or proto-typing board and the components are soldered to it.
I drew the following layout using the indestructables website as a starting point. It is good because it is very
compact: ideal for small mice
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
1
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
9V input
2
X
X
X
X
X
X
Gnd
3
X
X
100µF
X
X
100µF
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
5V
LED
4
X
5
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
100nF
X
1 reset
X
X
26 A4
X
X
6
X
X
2 D0 Rx
X
X
27 A4
X
7
X
3 D1 Tx
X
X
26 A3
8
X
X
10KΩ
X
4 D2
X
X
25 A2
9
X
X
5 D3
PWM
X
X
24 A1
X
X
10
X
X
6 D4
X
X
23 A0
X
X
11
X
10µF+
X
X
100nF
X
22pF
X
7 VCC
X
X
22 GND
X
8 Gnd
X
X
21 AREF
9 Xlat1
X
X
20 AVCC
X
100nF
X
100nF
X
12
13
X
16MHz
X
1KΩ
X
X
X
X
X
14
X
X
10 xlat
2
X
X
19 D13
X
X
15
X
X
11 D5
X
X
18 D12
X
330Ω
X
16
X
X
22pF
12 D6
X
X
17 D11
pwm
X
X
17
X
X
13 D7
X
X
16D10
pwm
X
X
18
X
X
14 D8
X
X
15 D9
pwm
X
X
19
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
LED
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
Parts List
7805
100µF
100nF
10KΩ
100pF
22pF
16MHz
LED
1KΩ
330Ω
x1
x2
x2
x1
x1
x2
x1
x1
5V
5V to gnd
reset to Vcc
xlat
Kit Contents
This kit has been provided as a donation to the EARS society. If you would like to contribute to its cost and
allow someone else to benefit then please pass the donation to an EARS committee member
Mini breadboard
ATMEGA328
28pin DIL Socket
7805 5V voltage regulator
16MHz crystal
100µF capacitors
100nF capacitors
10KΩ resistor
100pF capacitor
22pF capacitor
16MHz crystal
LED
1KΩ
330Ω
Infrared Emitter & Detector Pair
Battery Clip PP3-end Entry 200mm
Total
£3.95
£2.25
£1.33
£0.40
£0.2
£0.1
£0.1
£0.1
£0.1
£0.1
£0.1
£0.1
£0.1
£0.1
£1.58
£0.17
£10.78
Suppliers
Cpc
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/bespoke/bespoke1.jsp?bespokepage=cpc/en_CC/support/help/faq.jsp
Rapid-online
http://www.rapidonline.com/
tayda
https://www.taydaelectronics.com/
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
Programming your shrimp
You can develop your code to control the shrimp by using the Arduino IDE which is downloaded from the
Arduino website http://arduino.cc/en/main/software
Once completed the code is then transferred to the chip using a ‘chip programmer’
How the programmer will work
SPI is used to send serial data from a microprocessor to another one, or a peripheral, for example an LCD
display, a temperature sensor, a memory (SD) chip, and so on.
http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/SPI
Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) is a synchronous serial data protocol used by microcontrollers for
communicating with one or more peripheral devices quickly over short distances. It can also be used for
communication between two microcontrollers.
With an SPI connection there is always one master device (usually a microcontroller) which controls the
peripheral devices. Typically there are three lines common to all the devices:



MISO (Master In Slave Out) - The Slave line for sending data to the master,
MOSI (Master Out Slave In) - The Master line for sending data to the peripherals,
SCK (Serial Clock) - The clock pulses which synchronize data transmission generated by the master
and one line specific for every device:

SS (Slave Select) - the pin on each device that the master can use to enable and disable specific devices.
When a device's Slave Select pin is low, it communicates with the master. When it's high, it ignores the master.
This allows you to have multiple SPI devices sharing the same MISO, MOSI, and CLK lines.
All this means that the Arduino can be programmed by using these pins. On an arduino board the pins can
easily be found as pins 17 18 amd 19.
They are also connected internally to the USB connector so that the arduino board can be controlled by your
desk PC or laptop. To make it easier for shields to be controlled the pins are also collected together in what is
called the ICSP header .
This stands for In-circuit Serial Programming and is a way of programming the microprocessor chip once it has
been installed in a circuit. On an Arduino Uno for example the ATMEGA328 microprocessor chip has been
installed on the Uno board and the header is used to load the bootloader at the arduino factory
Page 13 of 17
We just like to make stuff Booklet
We can use this functionality to program our shrimp.
ATMEGA programming using an arduino as a programmer
Steps
Tools>board Uno
Tools > serial port
File >examples>Arduino as ISP
Build the circuit opposite
10 1
11 17
12 18
13 19
Tools> program bootloader
File example> blink modify blink rate to 500
Shift upload > to program slave
Tools program ATtinypro.
File examples blink. Reset arduino blinks on pin
13
This programmer can now be used to load or re-load a bootloader program onto the chip or programs that you
want to run.
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
CP2102 UART
However once you have developed you code and fitted the chip into a circuit there is another way of
programming the chip. This is by using the serial line. A UART ( universal Asynchronous Receive transmit) is
a device that takes the signal that a computer is sending down a USB lead and converts it into a sequence od
read and write signals that the target can understand. There is one build into the Arduino board so that it can be
connected to a PC or laptop. The ATMEGA chip does not have this ability so a specialist interface is needed.
This is the CP2102.
Note that the CP2102 is not the right part to burn a blank AVR chip. USB to serial adapters are for uploading
sketches to AVR chips that already have the Arduino bootloader installed
This diagram is from the shrimping it forum and I recommend it as a source of information.
The circuit looks a little different to the one you will build but the purpose of robotics 101 is to enable you be
able to say what is different and why.
http://shrimping.it/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2012/09/shrimp_breadboard.png
the 4 connections are +5V and gnd so that the pc
powers the shrimp !disconnnect any other power
such as batteries from the shrimp!
The Tx and Rx line are connected .
To prepare the chip it hs to be reset.Many shrimp
circuits include a reset button so that chip pin1
Can be connected to ground.To ensure that this
happens an extra lead can be fitted to the CP2102
and as they have become so popular there is a
hole already prepared.
NB It is perfectly possible to connect the tx and
rx lines from an arduino board and use the ide
and arduino usb connection to program the slave
but to do this you must remove the arduino chip
first !!
The rest of the robot
Once the controller is understood it will be time to build the rest of the mouse.The functional parts that will be
learnt are
Power
Motor control
Sensors
Page 15 of 17
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Sensors :White Line Following Circuit
Sensor circuit schematic
5V
100r
Right detector circuit
Analogue
inputs
Right detector circuit
Light source
to illuminate
line
Left detector circuit
Gnd
Line Detector circuit
5
V
3V
Led indicator
Detector
diode
Analogue
Pin
68K
transistor
gnd
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We just like to make stuff Booklet
Motor control
Motors are controlled directly using a PWM signal through a transistor. As experience grows you will be able to
construct more sophisticated motor controllers. A PWM signal basically turns the motor on and off in pulses so
the more pulses it receives the faster it goes.
Basic motor control
5
V
motor
Pwm pin
Gnd
The ATMEGA328 chip can only supply 40mA and a motor is likely to draw (demand) more than this.The
transistor is a switch turned on my the processor that allows the motor to draw current from a larger power
supply.
Chassis
The chassis is the part of the mouse that carries everything else i.e. the wheels, motors, batteries and shrimp. In
order to keep everything as simple and cheap as possible we recommend the use of cardboard and hot glue!
Steering
On your first shrimp steering will be made by differential control ogf the motors. More sophistication can be
added as you experience grows.
Page 17 of 17