Motor Control Board

Custom Designed 8-Bit AVR Motor CONTROLLER PCB

I first found out about the Husky Robotics Team by accident. I was attending a TEDx events on the campus and the various technology focused student groups had booths set up showcasing their work. My undergraduate college had never had the wide range of groups that the University of Washington had (with less than 1/10 the student body, it’s understandable) and I was amazed at the precision of the robot they had brought to display. I ended up chatting with the people at the booth for nearly half an hour and to my excitement found out that non-matriculated students could be eligible to join.

When I first applied to the group I had practically no formal electrical engineering skills (besides my hobbyist level projects), but the electrical engineering system—getting to build a circuit board from Scratch!—was so exciting to me I applied to it anyway. I was honest with the group, that I didn’t have the skills I would need to do it, but I was also confident that what I didn’t know I could learn, and I told them that as well. I explained my ability to learn independently and was able to assuage their fears that i’d be a burden. They took a chance on me and I’m proud to report that not only have I succeeded in my goals being a valuable ember of the team, I’ve managed to learn so much that I’m able to spend time helping other students on my team with their projects.

Through hundreds of hours of work, which included hours of research online, one textbook for reference, and reading the entire online manual of the advanced industry standard PCB board design software Altium Designer front to back, I’ve drawn up an original schematic for a complex motor control board for the control arm of the robot, picked and sourced component, and used that schematic to design a custom PCB layout that is currently being printed. In the next few months, I’ll be assembling and soldering the board together, testing it, revising it, and eventually incorporating it into the Husky Robotics entry to the Mars Society International Mars Rover Design Competition.

Besides just a micro-controller, the board has headers and systems for a potentiometer, rotary encoder, two limit switches, JTAG debugging, TX/DX, on board CAN transceiver, an on board external crystal oscillator, motor driver, 24v or 5v input, Motor PWM, an analog noise canceling circuit, and a whole array of systems to electrically protect the various lines including Zener diodes/fuses for over-voltage and over-current situations and decoupling capacitors on all major systems. Rather then just throw these systems in because I read about them online, I’ve made it a point to understand why and how each of these are used, allowing me to discuss critically with the leaders of the group the advantages and disadvantages of different systems and implementations, allowing me (even in my second quarter) to be an integral part of the electronics subsystem team involved and consulted in management level decisions.

With how far I’ve come in just a few months, i’m excited to see where I will be at the end of the year when the robot goes to competition.