Quadruped/Hexapod - Arduino board selection

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi All,

I've shifted from PIC's 24HJ to Arduino for my final year project as part of my Electronic Engineering degree. Thus far the Arduino package seems to be dramatically simplified when compared to PIC. So, I'm new to this awesome product and its terrific community. Here's where I'm needing guidance/input: Which board should I be using - the Due or the Mega?

Project Specifications/Concerns:

  1. PWM control of 12 servo motors
  2. Ping ultrasound distance sensor (both CMOS and TTL compatible)
  3. Miscellaneous other sensor inputs (mainly external interrupts on digital pins)
  4. A single analog input

I have various concerns, but I'll raise those once this discussion is up and running. Thanks a stack!

2

Which board should I be using - the Due or the Mega?

The Mega is a more mature product. I'd go with that.

3

Here's a quick look at both:

http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/QuickRef

4

Thanks gents. I've had a look at each board's specs. It would seem there are no obvious reasons not to use the Mega.

5

The PIC24 has a good and free C compiler, but setting up MPLAB is much more of a
PITN than the Arduino IDE, plus you have to pretty much write everything yourself
for the PIC, whereas you have many pre-written libraries for Arduino. So development
goes much faster with the Arduino.

One good reason to use a Mega board over a smaller [eg, UNO/328] bd is the Mega has
multiple h.w. RS232 UARTs, so you can do development work easier while simultaneously
connecting other RS232 devices, such as RF devices like XBee. You'll not want your robot
tethered by a cable when in action.

You'll need to find some good shields that allow easy connection to the servos and sensors,
as none of the standard Arduino bds have headers for those kinds of connections.

Also, there is a section on Robotics on this forum you can post robot questions to.

6

Oric_dan,

Thank you for you insightful and helpful input, it is much appreciated. I am quickly discovering that development is going to go much, much quicker with the Arduino IDE. Having found the datasheet for the Atmel used on the Mega 2560 R3 board I fully comprehend the versatility and power of the package. I have had a closer look at the servo.h library - its fantastic!

You mentioned the robotics section of the forum - have you come across any specific instances where chaps have discussed 12 servo/quadruped walkers/movement dynamics and so forth? I haven't found anything along these lines in that section of the forum...YET.

Thanks again!

7

You'll need to find some good shields that allow easy connection to the servos and sensors,
as none of the standard Arduino bds have headers for those kinds of connections.

Take a look at: http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/SensorShield (Scroll down to MEGA version)