RoboCup Electronics Museum

When I flew home to Atlanta over Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to visit the “RoboJackets RoboCup Electronics Museum”. Really a nice trip down memory lane.

I was on the team from its inception in 2007 till I graduated in 2009. I had the opportunity to lead the team from 2007 to 2009 (system design and integration) and the electrical team from 2008 to 2010.

From my muddled memory, in 2007, Phillip designed the control boards – only to head to an internship – leaving Ben and I to shake out the bugs. In 2007 I designed the kicker boards.

In 2008, I (with firmware by Ben) designed new control boards. These boards boasted an ARM 7, a XILINX FPGA, RF communications, and circuitry to control five brushless motors. In the 11th hour I also redesigned the kicker board – new form-factor and a few new safety features. And in the 12th hour Ben designed new antennas.

In 2009, Ben replaced the Linx modules with some of his own design – using the CC1101 – and replaced the antennas with a stripline design. In 2009, I redesigned the kicker boards – leaving them much too powerful for their own good.

In 2010 and 2011, Ben fixed the bugs in my most recent kicker board and polished up the control board. Man the new ones are sexy.

I have a draft post describing the electrical system (as I designed it) in a bit more depth, but until then, click through for a video tour!