SRS Labs SRS Robot Level 1 Kit manual Prepare Boards, Controller, Solder Components

AVR Robot Controller 1.1 Assembly Instructions

Prepare Boards

The PCB comes with a serial adapter and a programming adapter that need to be detached. First break the long line of holes. You might find it easier to break if you run a razor knife along the top and bottom of the line of holes. Then snap the two smaller boards apart. Finally, if you want, you can sand or file the rough edges smooth.

Controller

The control board has been designed with oversized holes to facilitate hand assembly and disassembly. The problem is that components will fall out when the board is turned upside down. If you assemble from shortest to tallest components, then it is possible to load several parts onto the board, cover it with a piece of conductive foam or cardboard and turn it over. Still, parts will tilt and move about. The trick is to solder one pin of each part into place, turn the board over and re-position the parts by re-heating the soldered pin while pushing on the other side with your finger. When all the parts are positioned to your satisfaction, then turn the board back over and finish soldering the rest of the pins.

The picture on the right shows the completed ARC board for the SRS Level 1 Robot Kit. The “front” of the board is at the top of the picture. This refers to how the board will be mounted on the robot, and is used to describe locations in the instructions below.

Solder Components

Part locations are labeled on the board, but some labels are incomplete due to solder pad location, and some parts have changed. Please read the instructions to ensure that parts are installed correctly.

The following list is in order of shortest to tallest component. All the components in each section can be soldered at one time, or each component can be soldered in separately.

‰Resistors and diode

The picture on the right shows the locations for:

ƒ3 - 180 ohm resistors (brown-gray-brown)

ƒ3 - 4.7k ohm resistors (yellow-violet-red)

ƒ2 - 1k ohm resistors (brown-black-red)

ƒ2 - 680 ohm resistors (blue-gray-brown)

ƒ1 - diode

Important: Note the locations for the 180 and 4.7k resistors at the top of the picture. They are installed in locations marked 680 and 33k, respectively. (R3 and R8 remain 680 ohms, as shown at the bottom of the picture.) These resistors are selected to work well with the Fairchild QRB1134 phototransistors (light sensors) in the kit. For more information, read the section titled “Left, Center, and Right Floor Sensor Inputs.”

Orientation of the resistors is not important. Resistors do not have “polarity,” so it does not matter which end goes into each hole on the board.

The diode is inserted with the band toward the end of the arrow on the board. If you know what you are doing and want

maximum power you may omit the diode, replacing it with a short piece of wire. This will remove the reverse battery protection that prevents destruction of the H-Bridge chip and/or attached servos. The voltage regulator protects the rest of the board from battery reversal.

6 11-3-2005