Category Archives: Electronics

Beaglebot – A BeagleBoard based robot

Posted on January 3, 2012 by bengalvin

Over the last 6 months or so I’ve been working on a BeagleBoard based robot. The motivation for this was to build a general robotics platform to try out some ideas I have on Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and robust sensor … Continue reading →

Posted in BeagleBoard, Electronics, I2C, Linux, Microcontrollers, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

Hot-Air Soldering QFN packages

Posted on August 19, 2011 by bengalvin

QFN (Quad Flat No leads) packages are the devil’s work. As the name implies there are no leads, just tiny pads on the bottom of the chip where it’s almost impossible to get a soldering iron or test probe to.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Switched Mode Power Supply for the BeagleBoard

Posted on July 24, 2011 by bengalvin

I had a couple of options to consider when creating a power supply for my BeagleBoard based robot: a simple linear voltage regulator (eg the LM7805) or a fancy switched mode power supply. Normally I’d go straight for the linear … Continue reading →

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Interfacing the BeagleBoard with an ATtiny85 Microcontroller over I2C

Posted on April 12, 2011 by bengalvin

The next part of my project involves connecting a dozen or so sensors and actuators to the BeagleBoard, ideally in a modular, extensible way. The obvious way to do this is use some  microcontrollers, and interface them with the BeagleBoard … Continue reading →

Posted in BeagleBoard, Electronics, I2C, Microcontrollers | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Programming an ATtiny85 Microcontroller with the AVRISP mkII

Posted on April 8, 2011 by bengalvin

The ATtiny85 is an 8 pin microcontroller, complete with 8KB of flash, and 512 bytes of EEPROM and SRAM. It also has some hardware support for I2C (otherwise known as TWI), which makes it ideal for my current project. Here … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics, Microcontrollers | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Interfacing the BeagleBoard with an SRF08 Ultrasonic Ranger over I2C

Posted on April 7, 2011 by bengalvin

The SRF08 is an ultrasonic ranger with a 3cm-6m range, and an I2C interface. It’s fairly straightforward to hook it up to a BeagleBoard using the I2C bus exposed on pins 23 and 24 of the expansion header (see page … Continue reading →

Posted in BeagleBoard, Electronics, I2C | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Surface Mount Soldering Made Easy(ish)

Posted on April 5, 2011 by bengalvin

I’ve been playing around with electronics for a while, making do with my trusty breadboard for prototypes, and occasionally some veroboard if I wanted something more permanent. Unfortunately times are changing, and fewer and fewer interesting components are being made … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronics | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments