Al's Robotics....

A.R.M. Robot Mixer Deluxe

PRM2D

Operation:

The idea of a mixer is to take your two signals from the receiver for steering and speed and convert them to work on two motors, which each have there own speed controllers and are arranged in "tank style" steering. As you would normally have two sticks both going forwards and backwards on your transmitter, but with a mixer you control your robot like a RC car, so you have one stick going up and down for speed and the other from left to right for turning.
The mixing of the two channels is all done by a 8 bit PIC MCU, so virtually your robot will have computer power onboard with this mixer installed in it.

The PRM2D also suports steering flip by an optional third input. this is used pertically in combat robots for when they get flipped over, by the flip of a switch on your transmitter you can invert the steering. This thired input also has it's own independant programmable dead zone.

Specs:

• 8 Bit RISC MCU
• 4 MHz MCU
• Proportional control
• Optional status outputs
• Ready made
• Preprogrammed PIC available on it's own
• Very small size (only 75 x 40 x 20mm or less)
• Light weight
• Operates from your receiver battery
• Compatible with Hitec, Futaba and other radio sets
• Voltage input range from 3.5 to 5.5 Volts so it can be connected straight to a 4.8 Volt rechargeable RC receiver battery
• Programmable dead zone (via a PC using the RS232 port)
• Information reporting such as the status of the settings for the dead zones, how many times the unit has been turned on since it was made.

Fail safe:

If the signal from the receiver is lost all PWM outputs are turned off, disabling the drive.

The PRM2D Mixer is fully plug and play, so you just stick the input leads into the receiver and plug your speed controllers into the mixer and off you go with the defaultt settings loaded by unit or the settings you program into it. A ready programmed PIC is also available with the mixer code on so you can make your own board up for it or incorporate it into your own design.

Programming

Programming the unit is very simple, all you need is a PC with a RS232 port and a RS232 cable. Plug the RS232 cable between your computer and the PRM2D robot mixer. To set-up the centre dead zone enter a "P" you will then be prompted to enter a low value (under 1.5ms) this should be under 88. after this you are promoted to enter a high number (above 1.5ms) this should be over 90. The default settings are 86 and 91 these are the optimum settings. To verify the dead zone settings enter "R" the low and high dead zone settings will then be displayed. To find out how many times the unit has been turned on since it's manufacture enter "T"

All prices exclude P&P, P&P to UK mainland is £2.95 (please contact me for shipping to other destinations)

Operation / control:

No signal in from receiver = no signal out from PRM2D Mixer

Notes for the above:

"Stop or Forwards", this depends on how far you push your transmitter sticks, as you wouldn't want your robot to do a fast spin when your going fast forward and want to turn to the left or right. So you can only do a fast spin on the spot when the forwards and reverse stick on your transmitter is centred and your right and left stick is push over to one side. I found it better to do this as it gives better steering control when your going fast forwards or backwards. The above aslo applies for the "Stop or Reverse" in the table.

By buying a PRM2D Robot Mixer from Al's Robotics you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions.

• YOU are fully responsible for the actions of your robot whilst the PRM2D Robot Mixer is fitted to your robot and operational.
• No returns will be accepted if the PRM2D Robot Mixer has been tampered with or is not working due to your misuse of it.
• All of the firmware within the PIC is copyright, so you can not copy it.

For ordering details or more information please contact me using the e-mail address below.

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admin@rapidrobux.co.uk