FILE: cherupakha.media.mit.edu:pub/6270/howtoget.boards DATE: Thu Mar 2 08:33:03 1995 Original document by Fred Martin mods by Randy Sargent Fri Jul 29 14:54:12 1994 -------- P.K. Oberoi (pkoberoi@delphi.com) sells 6.270 board kits and completed/tested boards. I (Randy Sargent) strongly recommend buying pre-built and tested boards, as we find that around 50% of those people build from scratch don't work and must be fixed. See "catalog" in this directory. -------- CIRCUIT BOARD FABRICATION CO. (CFC) announces unit and small quantity availability of the Revision 2.21 MIT 6.270 Robot Controller Board system. CFC is a large, commercial circuit board manufacturing facility located in Waltham, Massachusetts. They have manufactured boards for MIT's 6.270 project for the past four years, and are pleased to be able to offer copies of the current revision 2.21 board to the general public, under the terms of MIT's free licensing policy. The Rev 2.21 board set includes five discrete boards (which must be ordered as a set): 1. 6811 MICROPROCESSOR BOARD, with 32K battery-backed static RAM, four 1600 mA DC motor outputs, 40 KHz modulated high-current output for infrared transmission, 8 digital inputs, 4 analog inputs, 4 motor current monitoring channels, plug and play 14-wire LCD interface, LCD contrast knob, 2 user pushbuttons, and expansion bus. 2. EXPANSION BOARD, providing two additional 600 mA DC motor outputs, 20 multiplexed analog inputs, 4 DIP switch inputs, two 100mA LED driver outputs, one user input "frob knob," and a general-purpose DIP prototyping area. 3. BATTERY CHARGER BOARD, suitable for charging lead acid or nickel cadmium batteries, with input voltage rectifier, LED charge indicators, and two charge output ports, each with dual charge rate capability. 4. INFRARED BEACON BOARD, holding eight infrared LEDs in a circular pattern, each with a visible LED (for visual operation indication) and current-limiting resistor in series. 5. MOTOR SWITCH BOARD, for manual control of four DC motors (using same connector style as main boards), with optional current-limiting circuit to simulate operation of electronic motor drivers. Introductory pricing for the board set is as follows: no. of sets ordered price per set ------------------- ------------- 1 $95.- 5 45.- 10 27.- plus $5 shipping and handling per order. Note that these prices are for -blank boards only-. Further discounts are available for larger quantities. [Note: The unit pricing is obviously kind of steep, but if a steady stream of orders trickles in, CFC plans to print up stock in advance of actual orders, and thus be able to offer a lower price for unit quantities.] For ordering information, contact Perette Sweeney at (617) 890-1878. CFC is located at 179 Bear Hill Road, Waltham MA 02154, and may be reached via fax at (617) 890-7098. ----- The 6.270 Robot Controller Board system was designed by Fred Martin and Randy Sargent and has been subsequently maintained by Karsten Ulland, Matt Domsch, and Anne Wright. The 6811-based Robot Controller Board runs Interactive C, a multi-tasking language system developed for MIT's 6.270 LEGO Robot Design Competition project. Documentation for the board set and distributable copies of Interactive C may be obtained via anonymous FTP to cherupakha.media.mit.edu (18.85.0.47), in directory pub/6270. ADDITIONAL NOTE: CFC IS A SUPPLIER OF THE _RUG_WARRIOR_ 6811 ROBOT BOARD DESCRIBED IN THE FLYNN/JONES "MOBILE ROBOTICS" BOOK. Contact them for pricing/availability.