Installation

This is a short description on how to install EyeBot, hardware version MK4. The EyeBot system itself is already completely assembled, so you are able to start right away. Yellow dots in the drawing indicate pin no.1 of the corresponding connectors.

See here for version MK3.

Connectors

For Pinouts see Hardware section.

Camera
To work with EyeBot, the EyeCam CMOS digital color camera (80x60 in 24bit resolution) has been developed. The camera plugs into the camera connector on the back of the controller. Make sure you connect pin no.1 where indicated. The little plastic pin of the connector has to face upward.

It is also possible to connect one of the older style QuickCam Connectix/Logitech cameras.

LCD
The LCDisplay is already connected to the EyeBot. At the same time it can display text (8x16 characters) and graphics (64x128 pixels). On the back of the LCD is a potentiometer to adjust display contrast.

Power Supply
There are two pins for power supply, marked "+" and "-". Connect a power supply between 7 and 9 Volts (e.g. 7.2 V for rechargeable batteries with 6 cells).
The board is equipped with a reconstitutable fuse. However, selecting wrong voltage or reversing the voltage may damage the board.

Serial Connector
A standard 9-pin RS-232 extension cable can be used to connect EyeBot to a PC, Mac (with adapter) or workstation. Now you can download software to the EyeBot or upload experimental data from the EyeBot.

DC Motor and Encoder Connectors
There are 2 connectors for DC motors and encoders. Two motor drivers are integrated in EyeBot. The connectors are pin-compatible for motors from:

Servo Connectors
There are 12 connectors in which you can directly plug servos (motors controlled by PWM, like in model airplanes). Most standard servo connectors are pin compatible (see servo info):

Futaba
Hitec

Please note:

When using DC motors, servo connectors 1..6 cannot be used, since they are using the same TPU channels (0..5).
Some servo manufacturers use different pin-out.
A servo's maximum turning angle and turning direction can be set by software. E.g. for the HiTech HS81, the min. and max. angle is assumed for PWM pulses of 0.74 ms and 2.14 ms, so this is represented by HDT timing entries 740 and 2140. See HDT info for details.
If DC motors are used, then servo TPU channels 0 through 5 will be reserved for them.

Infrared Connector
There are 6 connectors for infra-red sensors. All control logic is included in the EyeBot. The connectors are pin compatible for infrared sensors from:

Sharp

Speaker Connector
There are two connectors on the front side of the EyeBot for either a piezo speaker (built-in) or an external standard 8 Ohm speaker. Using an external speaker improves the sound quality significantly. Speaker volume can be adjusted by an potentiometer located next to the speaker connector.

Microphone
A minature microphone is built-in on the front side of the EyeBot.

Extension Connectors
There are 2 separate connectors for adding additional I/O.

Digital input/output connector (8 inputs, 4 outputs, 16 pins)
Analog input connector (6 inputs, 10 pins)

Background Debugger
The Motorola 68332 allows debugging from a PC under DOS or Linux via the background debugger. The background debugger circuit is integrated in EyeBot. A 10 pin connector is used to link the "BDM" to the parallel port of a PC. The BDM allows to change the flash-ROM on the EyeBot, e.g. for upgrading the RoBIOS operating system.

Thomas Bräunl, 2002