1/30/2012

Today we continued to work on your circuit boards.  I completed soldering all of the components that go onto the board.  I had a couple of issues while putting the board together.  A few times solder would move into holes adjacent to the one I was using.  So I had to take time to remove the solder from those holes.  Also some of the holes on the board were not spaced properly so they had to be drilled out for the parts to fit.  One hole for each of the power terminals had to be enlarged and as well as the holes for one of the diodes.  Also four holes had to be enlarged that will be used to connect an external switch to the board.  Other than those small issues the board went together well.  Next class I will be able to connect external wires and switches to the board and along with assembling the body of the robot.                           

Then LED, switch and power terminals

6 female headers plus 2 diodes added

Top View

Last female header and three resistors added

Underside of completed board

Completed board

Completed board plugged into battery.  LED lights up.

1/25/2012

Today in class went went over the tools we will be using in assembling our circuit board, including the soldering iron, heat sinks, and solder plungers and wicks.  Along with that we discussed proper techniques for soldering components to the board as well as soldering wires together.  We also went over schematic symbols and how to use the color bands on resistors to calculate their their resistance value.  We also had some time at the end of class to begin assembling our circuit boards.  I was only able to get the 40 pin DIP socket in place today.

First look inside our kit

                                   

Kit parts laid out

                                   

Top view of 40 pin DIP socket soldered in place

Bottom view of 40 pin DIP socket soldered in place

Intro/First class

I am Christopher Williams and I am taking Agile Robotics II At California University of Pennsylvania.  This blog will be used as a journal to document projects for this class.  During our first class today we reviewed our syllabus and went over some information on micro controllers.