A robotics controller

[Nathaniel]

I was wondering, have you ever thought of making a dedicated M32 robotics cntroller? I mean like have an LCD port, a couple of on-board motor controllers, and a power bus behined every pin like a three pin connector(I/O,5V,GND). It would be a lot of help to some people instead of building seperate motor controllers and LCD mount. Or another possibility is to make a daughter board for the M32 dev-board. Maybe also a robot kit(not saying the TTBot isn't good) based around it or a mega32 Dev-board with some sensors like sonars or infrared proxmitty sensors and bumpers and light sensors? Think about it......
Nathaniel

[Ryan]

I agree. the only roadblock i consistently come across is the problem of not having like motor drivers etc. built in. the ttbot is good but a board with room for like a 4or 5 amp controller would be awesome. or even a daughterboard for the m32 with a h-bridge made for like 5 amps maybe with those infineon chips. just a thought.
Ryan

[Nathaniel]

Well chips like the ones on the pololu high amp motor driver would be nice.

[eddy]

The chips on the Pololu board would be difficult to hand solder. The have a pad on the back that needs to be soldered to help transfer heat.

The infineon chips would certainly work, but sourcing those in the future could be a problem. I'd love to find a similar chip that's through hole but still being produced.

The Toshiba drivers work well but are limited to 1.5A, not really enough power there...

Eddy

[Nathaniel]

How about the L298N chips? They are widely produced!

[Ryan]

They are indeed widely produced but horribly innefficient and a wierd footprint. i have found it easier to build my own transitor or MOSFET drivers than find a way to use the funny footprint than the L298 has. i'm sure there are plenty of chips out there, we just havent foudn the right one yet.