Forum user Erich created a custom Zumo Robot Chassis PCB to use with our Zumo chassis kit. The board is designed to accept a large number of plug-in modules, such as a DRV8835 dual motor driver carrier, encoders, and voltage regulators. Sensors that can be mounted on the robot include a Zumo reflectance sensor array, some distance sensors, and an ultrasonic sensor, and it also supports several wireless communication modules. Instead of an Arduino, it uses a Freescale FRDM-KL25Z as the microcontroller board.

You can follow his robot’s progression by visiting these forum posts:

March 2013: Zumo Robot with FRDM-KL25Z Board

September 2013: Zumo Robot with Pololu Plug-in Modules

October 2013: Zumo Robot with Pololu Plug-in Modules, assembled.

We are overhauling our RC Switch family of products, starting with a new and long-awaited addition, the Pololu RC Switch with Relay. This RC relay board makes it easy to control large loads within radio control (RC) systems. Here is an example setup with a typical RC receiver controlling the switch:

The Pololu RC Switch with Relay has advanced features not present in earlier RC switch products, including a safe-start mode and configurable input direction and threshold.

In addition to the assembled version shown above, a partial kit is available for specialized applications such as custom connectors or alternative relays:

Pololu RC Switch with Relay (Partial Kit).

For more information about the Pololu RC Switch, see the product page.

Related posts:

• Our RC Switch overhaul is complete
• New product: 4-Channel RC Servo Multiplexer
• New product: RC Switch with Medium Low-Side MOSFET

LVBots held a mini-sumo competition at Pololu on September 19. With a total of 19 robots participating, we got to see a lot of different strategies, from passive to aggressive to deliberately misleading. Sensing technology was of key importance, with robots using everything from sonar and optical rangefinders to accelerometers. See the range of designs for yourself in this video compilation from the contest:

Do you live in Las Vegas, or are you passing through? Stop by this evening to see the robots in person! You can find out more about LVBots or sign up on our Meetup page.

Featured link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biiSHoyjBzY

Forum user Jim Remington has been working on getting the Talkie speech synthesis library to run on an Orangutan robot controller. The Talkie library, written by Peter Knight for the Arduino, has its roots in a Texas Instruments speech synthesis system that dates from the 1970s and was used in the Speak & Spell educational toy.

When we read about what Jim was doing on the Pololu Forum, we wanted to try it ourselves. We modified Jim’s Orangutan LV-168 code to work on the Orangutan SV-328, and we discovered that the Orangutan’s motor driver could be used as an improvised audio amplifier. This video demonstrates the result:

(Yes, those numbers are a little implausible, but they’re a good way to show off Jim’s number-to-speech routine.)

Our version of Jim’s demo, converted to an Atmel Studio 6 project for the Orangutan SV-328, can be found in this post. To read more about Jim’s work and download his code, see his forum topic.

Related products

Orangutan SV-328 Robot Controller

We now carry the Arduino Robot, the first official Arduino on wheels, which includes a pair of ATmega32U4-based platforms that control two motors, sensors, and more. From the Arduino blog post about it:

Designed in cooperation with Complubot, 4-time world champions in the Robocup Junior robotics soccer, the Arduino Robot promises endless hours of experimentation and play. It is a self-contained platform that allows you to build interactive machines to explore the world around you.

You can use straight out of the box, modify its software, or add your own hardware on top of it. You can learn as you go: the Arduino Robot is perfect for both the novice as well as those looking for their next challenge.

For more information about the Arduino Robot, see the product page.

We’ve just released a new USB-to-serial adapter based on the Silicon Labs CP2104 USB-to-UART bridge. This tiny, inexpensive board makes it easy to connect a logic-level serial device to a PC, offering access to all of the data, control, and GPIO pins on the CP2104 while measuring only 0.6″ × 0.95″, including its Micro-USB connector. The adapter’s versatile pinout allows it to be used in a number of different ways, including on a breadboard or as a six-pin FTDI cable replacement.

And in case you don’t have a compatible cable lying around, we now also carry Micro-USB cables in two varieties: a standard cable that works with high-speed USB devices, and a thinner version that is lighter and more flexible but limited to low- and full-speed USB.

We saw a tweet from Atmel that Qtechknow’s Fuzzbot—a robot based on a Zumo that helps clean floors by dragging a dust cloth around while avoiding obstacles—won the New York 2013 World Maker Faire Educator’s Choice award. Qtechknow was recently featured in a Popular Science article.

Related post: Fuzzbot

Our 170-point solderless breadboards, which we already offer in black, red, green, blue, and white, are now available in orange. Add some color to your next electronics project!

For more information, see the product page. For other options, you can take a look at our full selection of solderless breadboards.

In this video, forum user Dev255 controls a standard (HD44780 parallel interface) 4×20 LCD display with a Mini Maestro 24-Channel USB Servo Controller and displays the value of the potentiometer (converted to a percentage) on the screen. You can find out more about his project and see his Maestro script in his forum post.

Featured link: http://forum.pololu.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7402

We are now carrying the V4 revision of the RoboClaw 2×60A motor controller from Orion Robotics. This new revision is similar to the original 2×60A version but has a new board design and some new features like USB connectivity. We expect to have an updated datasheet soon.

Read more on the product page.