mY JoUrNEy ToWaRdS RoBoTiCs....

Things needed:

Copper board, Ferric chloride(anhydrous), Iron (normal iron used for pressing clothes), Acetone, Photopaper, Printer(Laser printer preferably), Drill(0.8mm dia drill bit)

Software Needed:

Express PCB.

Process:

-Make a simple circuit using Express PCB ( Free software ).

-Print the circuit on a sheet of paper.

-Get the circuit photocopied on the photopaper (gloss side has to be used for printing). This is only necessary if you don’t have a laser printer at home. If you have got a laser printer, just take the printout directly on the photopaper.

-Cut the copper board to the required size. Wash it using acetone.

-Get an iron (normal iron used for pressing clothes). Put the photopaper on the copper board (with the ink side facing the copper side). Now press the hot iron against the photopaper with some force. Do this till the photopaper gets yellow.

-Remove the photopaper slowly from the sides of the copper board when it is hot. The ink should stick onto the board.

-Put ferric chloride in water, till it becomes dark in color. Put the copper board in it and leave it for some time.

-Copper will now be removed from your board. The only place where copper is left is below the laser ink ( toner ). Wash the board using acetone. Remove the ink from the board using acetone.

-You got something which is known as a PCB. Drill holes wherever necessary, Put in the electronic parts and solder them.

Precautions:

- Do not touch ferric chloride solution with bare hands.

- Use a mask while cutting the copper board and during etching.

- Do not put ferric chloride solution in sink after use.

This bot was created by Raman and Me. The video explains its working. I should not go into detail.

Atmega16 or any other microcontroller cannot supply enough current needed to run even a 5V motor. Try running a 5V motor using any two pins of your microcontroller ( One pin's output being '1' and the other being at '0' ).
So for this purpose we can use an H-Bridge ( L293D IC ), but if you really want to cut down your cost and make your circuit even simpler, you can go for an NPN transistor ( You may of course use a PNP too ).
The circuit is given below for an NPN transistor. This circuit is very simple to understand if you have little knowledge of transistors. When you give a HIGH to the base, then the transistor's emitter-base junction being forward biased, it starts to conduct. So there is a current flowing through the motor and it runs. Main advantage here is that, base current being very small, can be easily provided by the microcontroller.

This is a demo video for the BCWorkshop yearly science and technology club.
BCWorkshops is an year long science and technology club that aims to motivate children to explore and invent.

Yes this method is quite simpler than making programs in MATLAB or C.

- YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A PROGRAMMING EXPERT FOR USING THIS.
- IT IS VERY VERY USER FRIENDLY.
- WITH JUST A SIMPLE CLICK OF BUTTONS YOU CAN CONTROL AN EXTERNAL DEVICE USING YOUR COMPUTER.

Download this program from the following link... It is Relais Timer.. And don't be afraid of downloading it. It isn't spam. I downloaded it too, and it works perfectly fine.
http://www.zoekelektronica.nl/software/relaistimer11.exe

Here is this IC(LM35). You can use this to measure surrounding temperature. It has an output voltage that is proportional to the Celsius temperature.
That is,
(the voltage given by the output pin of this IC) * 100 = Temperature in degree celcius..
The scale factor is .01V/^oC and covers a quite good range of 0 ^oC to +100 ^oC.
Just give +5V to the +Vc pin ( otherwise the range may be 4-30V ) and ground to the middle pin.












R_a = V_c /10^-6
Actually, it can range from 80 Kilo ohm to 600 Kilo ohm , but most just use 80 Kilo ohm.
You can connect the output of LM35 to to the ADC of your microcontroller and display it on an LCD.

Or you may use RS232 to get it displayed on your computer.