26 Nov
2009
26 Nov
'09
7 p.m.
Whatever, I do like to design with microcontrollers :) Call me lazy! :oD
A few years ago, an alectronics shop over here was selling off some
educational rootics kits. One was designed in England (and was a thing
that reversied if it umped into something), another 2 were Far-Eastern
and did much the same thing, except that they used a microphone to detect
sound or impact, rather than a microswitch to detect impact only.
The English one came as a pre-assembled PCB containing a PIC
microcontroller and a motor driver IC. A coupleof pre-assembled
motor/gearox units. And the instructions were just to screw the bits to
the baseplate and connect the wires. No explanation of how it works or
what you were doing. IMHO, Educational value : 0
The 2 Far-Eastern kits came as a bare PCB, a bag of components, a back og
gears and axles, and so on. You had to assemble everything. And the
instructions explained what the various bits did and why (OK, the
explanations were at a simple level, but still fairly accurate). And
there was no pre-programmed microcontroller. In fact no ICs at all. Just
10 discrete transsitors, and assocaited passives (the 2 kits, although
quite different mechancially, were very similar electroncially).
Educational value : Lots.
And I find 10 transistors to be a lot more elegant a design than the
thousands of transistos in a microcontroller...
-tony