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Pololu Blog (Page 44)
Welcome to the Pololu Blog, where we provide updates about what we and our customers are doing and thinking about. This blog used to be Pololu president Jan Malášek’s Engage Your Brain blog; you can view just those posts here.
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New motor driver carriers for the BD65496MUV and MAX14870
We have two exciting new DC motor driver carriers to introduce, one for ROHM’s BD65496MUV and one for Maxim’s MAX14870:
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These drivers each offer wide operating voltage ranges, with the BD65496MUV operating from as low as 2 V up to 16 V and the MAX14870 operating from 4.5 V all the way up to 36 V. They can each supply over an amp to a single, bidirectional brushed DC motor. These are the highest-performing integrated motor drivers we know of short of substantially larger units such as the MC33926 and VNH5019. For more information on these drivers, click on the related products below:
New products: Hakko tools
Most electronics projects (and many Pololu products) require soldering. That’s why we’re excited to offer a soldering station and other accessories that we can wholeheartedly recommend! We are now carrying Hakko soldering and desoldering tools and Hakko hand tools (cutters and pliers). We use Hakko tools in our own manufacturing, and we believe they offer a great mix of reliability, performance, and price. Continued…
New distributors in South America
Continuing with our belated new distributor introductions, we are happy to welcome these six new Pololu distributors in South America:
See the full list of over 200 distributors to find one in your area.
Robot contest in Mexico to be held at 14th National Congress of Mechatronics
A contact at Mexican distributor Cosas de Ingeniería wrote to let us know about a contest he is helping organize in Juriquilla, Querétaro, Mexico. The Mexican Mechatronics Asociation (Asociación Mexicana de Mecatronica A.C.) will be hosting the 14th National Congress of Mechatronics (14º Congreso Nacional de Mecatrónica) 2nd Robotics Competition on October 15th through 17th this year. The three-day event will host several robotic competitions:
- Autonomous Vehicle Competition (based on the Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Competition)
- Insect Robot Race (insectoid robots try to be the first to travel 2 m over obstacles and uneven surfaces)
- Mini-Sumo Competition (autonomous robots, similar to the one pictured above and our Zumo robots, fight to stay in a designated area)
- Line Following Competition (autonomous robots follow a line-marked course as quickly as they can)
To keep up with the latest news about this competition, see the RoboticaAMM Facebook page, which also has dozens of pictures from the last competition.
Micro metal gearmotors now available with long-life carbon brushes
We are excited to introduce new versions of our high-power micro metal gearmotors with long-life carbon brushes in place of the standard precious metal brushes:
Micro Metal Gearmotor HPCB long-life carbon brushes (left) next to Micro Metal Gearmotor HP precious metal brushes (right). |
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So far, we only offer these on motors with HP windings, so the brushes being a lot more robust can just move the failure point if you try to push the motors too hard. However, if you use them at around 6 V and keep the continuous load under around 20% of the stall torque, the carbon brushes allow the HPCB motors to last several times longer than HP versions with precious metal brushes.
With the addition of this new HPCB motor variant in ten different gear ratios (10:1 through 1000:1), our selection of popular micro metal gearmotors now spans more than fifty options, giving you control over the motor winding, gearbox, and shaft arrangement:
Motor Type | Stall Current @ 6 V |
No-Load Speed @ 6 V |
Approximate Stall Torque @ 6 V |
Single-Shaft (Gearbox Only) |
Dual-Shaft (Gearbox & Motor) |
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high-power, carbon brushes (HPCB) |
1600 mA | 3000 RPM | 4 oz-in | 10:1 HPCB | |
1000 RPM | 9 oz-in | 30:1 HPCB | |||
625 RPM | 15 oz-in | 50:1 HPCB | |||
400 RPM | 22 oz-in | 75:1 HPCB | |||
320 RPM | 30 oz-in | 100:1 HPCB | |||
200 RPM | 40 oz-in | 150:1 HPCB | |||
140 RPM | 50 oz-in | 210:1 HPCB | |||
120 RPM | 60 oz-in | 250:1 HPCB | |||
100 RPM | 70 oz-in | 298:1 HPCB | |||
32 RPM | 125 oz-in | 1000:1 HPCB | |||
high-power (HP) (same specs as HPCB above) |
1600 mA | 6000 RPM | 2 oz-in | 5:1 HP | |
3000 RPM | 4 oz-in | 10:1 HP | 10:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
1000 RPM | 9 oz-in | 30:1 HP | 30:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
625 RPM | 15 oz-in | 50:1 HP | 50:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
400 RPM | 22 oz-in | 75:1 HP | 75:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
320 RPM | 30 oz-in | 100:1 HP | 100:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
200 RPM | 40 oz-in | 150:1 HP | 150:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
140 RPM | 50 oz-in | 210:1 HP | |||
120 RPM | 60 oz-in | 250:1 HP | |||
100 RPM | 70 oz-in | 298:1 HP | 298:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
32 RPM | 125 oz-in | 1000:1 HP | 1000:1 HP dual-shaft | ||
medium-power (MP) |
700 mA | 2200 RPM | 3 oz-in | 10:1 MP | 10:1 MP dual-shaft |
730 RPM | 8 oz-in | 30:1 MP | |||
420 RPM | 13 oz-in | 50:1 MP | |||
290 RPM | 17 oz-in | 75:1 MP | 75:1 MP dual-shaft | ||
220 RPM | 19 oz-in | 100:1 MP | 100:1 MP dual-shaft | ||
150 RPM | 24 oz-in | 150:1 MP | |||
75 RPM | 46 oz-in | 298:1 MP | |||
25 RPM | 80 oz-in | 1000:1 MP | 1000:1 MP dual-shaft | ||
low-power | 360 mA | 2500 RPM | 1 oz-in | 5:1 | |
1300 RPM | 2 oz-in | 10:1 | |||
440 RPM | 4 oz-in | 30:1 | 30:1 dual-shaft | ||
250 RPM | 7 oz-in | 50:1 | 50:1 dual-shaft | ||
170 RPM | 9 oz-in | 75:1 | |||
120 RPM | 12 oz-in | 100:1 | 100:1 dual-shaft | ||
85 RPM | 17 oz-in | 150:1 | |||
60 RPM | 27 oz-in | 210:1 | |||
50 RPM | 32 oz-in | 250:1 | |||
45 RPM | 40 oz-in | 298:1 | 298:1 dual-shaft | ||
14 RPM | 70 oz-in | 1000:1 | 1000:1 dual-shaft |
Bohlebots at the German Open in RoboCup Soccer 1v1
In March, I wrote a blog post about the Bohlebots robotics team winning the West German Robocup Soccer 1v1. Since then, the Bohlebots team has gone on to win first and third in the German Open Robocup Soccer 1v1 with their two robotics teams.
Bohlebots’ soccer robot. |
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Good job Bohlebots!
New product: 0.1″ low-profile male LCD header
We are now selling the low-profile 2×7 male LCD header included with the Zumo 32U4 robot kit.
Amanda's line following robot: Newbie
Many of the engineers and robot enthusiasts here at Pololu competed in the LVBots 2015 line following competition. (For house rules and details about how the competition was judged, see the LVBots line following rules page.) Unlike most of my peers this was my first competition at LVBots, so I thought it was fitting to name my robot “Newbie”. Newbie uses a servo to steer the front wheels, creating fluid movements in and out of turns. At least that was the plan; unfortunately, Newbie had complications. Continued…
New distributors in Europe
Continuing to catch up on our new distributor introductions, we are excited to welcome these new European distributors:
Now, here is that cool video of TME’s warehouse:
See the full list of over 200 distributors to find one in your area.
Wixel software now works on the Raspberry Pi
We have released a new build of the software for our Wixel Programmable USB Wireless Module that works on ARM Linux systems like the Raspberry Pi. This means that you can now upload apps to a Wixel from a Raspberry Pi, without needing a typical desktop computer. You can find the software download in the Wixel User’s Guide.
We have seen people use Wixels to help monitor blood glucose levels, create wireless quiz buttons, or wirelessly control servos. For a complete list of all the Wixel apps we know about, see the Wixel Apps list on our forum. We hope that the expanded software support for the Wixel will help people create new applications in the future.
Wixel programmable USB wireless module. |
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