Posted September 22, 2011 by Chris

This week’s PyroElectro article dives into the PS/2 protocol. Using a PIC microcontroller and a standard PS/2 keyboard, learn how to make your own keyboard interface that translates keypresses and outputs them to a 7 segment LED display. The article explains the theory and has all the hardware schematics and software used in the design available for download.

Posted September 15, 2011 by Chris

Last week we looked at an intro to interrupts on the PIC and this week we’ll delve even deeper into priority interrupts on a PIC. Interrupts are not all created equal. Some are more important than others and should always be executed while others should wait their turn in line. This article explains how to build a simple system to implement high and low priority interrupts.

Posted September 9, 2011 by Chris

This Week’s PyroElectro tutorial takes a look at PIC interrupts vs. polling techniques for fast input/output systems. Polling for input usually means a lot more overhead and redundant code, so we turn to interrupts for event driven systems to minimize overhead. This tutorial uses a learn-by-example approach to show how interrupts work and how we use them.

Posted September 1, 2011 by Chris

SPI is one of the more prevalent serial communication interfaces for low speed devices like sensors, motor controllers and even LCDs. This tutorial shows you how build an SPI master using a PIC, and interface it to an SPI slave, also a PIC. The final system, is a simple Master-Slave relationship with LED flashing proof.

Posted August 25, 2011 by Chris

And now to finish off Robotics Week strong: This week, we’re adding an Animatronic Neck to the grand Animatronic Head that we’ve been building. A Pan and Tilt system will be used with 2 servo motors actuating the system. Pictures and demo videos document the construction and testing process for the final chapter in PyroElectro’s robotics month.

Posted August 19, 2011 by Chris

Continuing with the Animatronics Tutorials for August, this week brings us to Animatronic Mouths. The tutorial shows you two unique methods for building mouths. One mouth is articulated with a hobby servo and the other mouth uses a 16×2 LCD display. The process for building each type of mouth is detailed out with many pictures, descriptions and demonstrations.

Posted August 11, 2011 by Chris

Ready for the next Animatronics Tutorial for robotics month? This week, we’re building Animatronic Eyes using an improvised 2-axis gimbal system. Realistic robotic eyes are difficult to build but this pair of eyes creates quite a decent illusion. Pico/Micro Hobby Servos are used as actuators and standard MDF board for building material.

Posted August 4, 2011 by Chris

Finally, Robotics Month is here! To celebrate, a host of Animatronics Tutorials will be released starting today: Animatronic Eyebrows. This tutorial gives you an intro to some basic animatronic terminology while also building a system capable of expressing emotion. Mini Hobby Servos are used as actuators and a microchip PIC 18F452 performs the digital control.

Posted July 28, 2011 by Chris

Wireless infrared systems are unique because of their ease in design and low cost. This week’s PyroElectro tutorial builds a system to transmit 9600 baud serial data from a PIC over IR to a receiving PIC. The wireless infrared link acts as if the Tx and Rx pins on the two PICs were connected with a wire. If you’re looking to make your own wireless system, don’t miss this article!

Posted July 21, 2011 by Chris

Moving away from the more popular L298 this week’s PyroElectro tutorial looks at how to use the SN754410 to control speed and direction of two DC motors. The example system uses a PIC MCU and some trimpot inputs to control each motor independently. If you’re looking to get started with reliable motor control, it doesn’t get any easier than this.