Alfred 1.0 Construction Continues

Alfred 1.0 showing breadboard area.

The construction of ALFRED 1.0 continues with the addition of a rear holder for the main MCU and Pololu motor shield.   Additionally, there is a breadboard area for prototyping and testing additional circuitry.  There is plenty of room for an LCD display and the ultrasonic range sensor.  

Compartments open to allow access to battery and extra space for future expansion and modules.

The Freedom KL25Z CPU board and the Pololu motor shield mount in the rear.   Velcro holds MCU boards and bread board area in place.

Battery compartment area

Rear view showing vertically mounted MCU and motor shield.

Modular design allows access to battery and electronics

Freescale Freedom KL25Z with HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Range Finder

I recently began working on the robot again. Today's post shows the Ultrasonic Range Finder using the Freescale KL25Z experimenter's board and the HC-SR04 Ultrasonic range finder.  This experiment uses a post found on http://mcuoneclipse.com.   You can find all about this here.  The LCD display shows the range in both US and Centimeters.   We will be using what is learned here to provide distance sensors for the ALFRED 1 robot.  
 

Alfred 1 Robot Chassis Design

A few months ago I finished the chassis prototype for the Alfred 1 robot.   The chassis is made from a cheap cutting board from Walmart, some spare erector set parts and an old back up tape plastic case.  

The only purchased components are two plastic gear motors and some wheels from Pololu electronics.
The robot will be using a Freescale Freedom KL25Z development board for CPU power, a Pololu Arduino Motor shield for controlling motion, HC-SR04 sonic range finder for distance sensing.   Wireless communication remains to be determined.