robotics News - Page 37 of 38 - CNX Software

March 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

TechNexion Introduces Intel Edison Compatible PICO-iMX6 SoM and DWARF Board

Intel Edison is a board made for wearables featuring an SoC with Intel Atom and Quark CPU cores. TechNexion, an embedded systems company based in Taiwan, has decided to make a mechanically and electrically compatible system-on-module featuring Frescale i.MX6 Solo or Duallite ARM Cortex A9 processor called PICO-iMX6. The company is also providing a PICO-DWARF baseboard that’s both compatible with PICO-iMX6 SoM and Edison board. DWARF stands for “Drones, Wearables, Appliances, Robotics and Fun”, so that pretty much explains what the platform is for. PICO-iMX6 System-on-Module Two version of the modules are available: PICO-iMX6-SD and PICO-iMX6-EMMC, the former with a micro SD slot for storage, and the latter a 4GB eMMC. Both share the followings specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Solo / Duallite single/dual core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1Ghz with Vivante GC880 3D GPU and Vivante GC320 2D GPU (Composition) System Memory – 512MB or 1GB DDR3 Storage – […]

February 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GroBotz Interactive Robot Project is Made of Easy to Assemble Smart Blocks (Crowdfunding)

GroBotz makes me think of Lego applied to robotics. The project consists of modules such as motors, sensors, buttons, switches, or cameras that snap together in order to create a robot on wheels, games, toys, a musical instrument, or whatever idea you may have, and the hardware is then programmed using a graphical user interface. A Raspberry Pi board is used for the brain of the robot, and Microchip PIC MCUs for the smart blocks. The software is programmed in C# using Xamarin, the user interface is based on Unity, OpenCV is used for image processing, and during development a plastic part where printed with Makerbot, and schematics and PCB layout designed with CadSoft EAGLE. The company has now come up with a number of modules as shown in the picture below. Your robot can then be controlled over Wi-Fi with GroBotz app which works on Windows, Mac OS, iOs, […]

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Snappy Ubuntu Core is an IoT Linux Distribution for ARM and x86

Canonical has announced a version of Ubuntu specifically designed for IoT devices running Linux, with a low hardware requirements, and a new package manager called snappy, replacing apt-get for this version of Ubuntu, which provides simpler, faster, and more reliable updates, stronger security, and allows roll-backs in case something goes wrong. Easy firmware updates are something missing in most connected device, which means they are more vulnerable to potential hackers, but with snappy security updates should be able to make it regularly, so that if something like heartbleed occurs again, you know your router, home automation gateway, connected washing machine, or robot will be soon patched automatically. Let’s go through the hardware requirements first: Processor – 600 MHz processor (ARMv7 or greater, or x86) System Memory – 128 MB RAM or greater (The system itself uses 40 MB RAM) Storage – 4GB flash / storage for factory reset and system […]

November 13, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Linux based BPI D1 HD Camera Module Features Anyka AK3918 ARM9 Processor

SinoVoIP BPI-D1 is a tiny 720p30 camera module running Linux, and powered by Anyka AK3918 ARM9 processor. It’s a standalone module that can be powered by micro USB (5V), or an external Lithium battery, and it also includes various GPIOs, a micro USB interface, a micro SD slot to boot Linux, optional Wi-Fi connectivity, and more.. BPI D1 specifications: Processor – Anyka AK3918 ARM926EJ processor @ 400 MHz System Memory – 64MB DDR2 Storage – 16 MB SPI Flash + micro SD flash up to 32GB. Camera: CMOS Image Sensor 720p @ 30fps, visible light with 940 nm two-way infrared lens filter, with infrared night vision function Lens – M7*P0.35 EFL=3.0mm/F.NO=2.8/View Angle=60° Video Recording – H.264 / AVI hardware encoding at 720p 30fps for up to 120 hours of video data on a 32GB micro SD card Audio Formats – MP3/WMA/AAC Audio Input – Microphone Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n (AP […]

November 11, 2014November 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

NXP Introduces LPC54100 Single & Dual Core Cortex M4F/M0+ MCU Family and LPCXpresso54102 Development Kit

NXP has recently introduced LPC54100 Series microcontrollers with a Cortex-M4F core up to 100MHz, and optionally an ARM Cortex M0+ core for always-on sensor processing applications, as well as LPCXpresso 54102 board. Typical applications include mobile, portable health and fitness, home and building automation, fleet management and asset tracking, robotics and gaming. Key features of LPC54100 series MCUs: CPU – 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4F up to 100 MHz, optional 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ coprocessor On-chip RAM – 104 KB internal RAM On-chip Storage – Up to 512 KB on-chip Flash Interfaces 3 fast-mode plus I²C, 4 UART, 2 SPI, 39 GPIO ADC with up to 12-channels, 12 bits, and 4.8 Msps sample rate, full-spec (1.62 V to 3.6 V) Clock Sources – IRC, digital clock input, PLL, 32 kHz XTAL, WWDT Timers – 5x 32-bit general-purpose timers/counters, One-state configurable timer/PWM, RTC with alarm, and WWDT 22-channel DMA with 20-programmable triggers Power consumption […]

November 11, 2014November 11, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

$199 Gizmo 2 Development Board Powered by AMD G-Series GX210HA SoC

There are only a few Intel / AMD x86 embedded development boards on the market, at least for the hobbyist market, namely MinnowBoard MAX based on Intel E3815 or E3825 processors, and Gizmophere Explorer Kit powered by AMD G-Series GT-40E dual core APU + A55E hub controller. Gizmosphere, a non-profit organization, had now released a new version of their embedded board called Gizmo 2 powered by AMD G-Series GX210HA SoC combining a dual core x86 processor, a Radeon GPU, and peripherals. Gizmo 2 development board specifications: SoC – AMD Embedded G-Series GX210HA SOC with a dual core “Jaguar” processor @ 1.0 GHz and a Radeon 8210E GPU @ 300 MHz with support for DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2x and OpenCL 1.2. 153 GFLOPS of performance. 9W TDP. System Memory – 1GB DDR3-1600 SDRAM Storage – mSATA/mini PCIe Connector + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI Audio I/O – HDMI and […]

November 6, 2014November 6, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Robotics News – Hack-E-Bot and RiQ Educational Robots, and Maker Club 3D Printed Robots (Pre-Orders / Crowfunding)

I’ve come across several robotic projects this week, so instead of picking one up, or writing a post for each, I’ll summarize the three products into one post. Two of the projects are educational robots based on Arduino, with the sub $50 Hack-E-Bot, or the more advanced RiQ robot, and Maker Club is a company providing the electronics for robotics kit, and you print the plastic parts with your 3D printer. Hack-E-Bot Robot Hack-E-Bot is an affordable open source robot that hopes to encourage children to learn about engineering, electronics, and programming. The robot is powered by Adafruit’s Trinklet Arduino compatible board, connected to a breadboard, and some add-on boards sensors. The basic version comes with a Sonar sensor, but more add-on boards are on the way including bump sensors, a buzzer, colored lights, a claw, a servo scanner, and so on. The project is listed on CrowdSupply, and has […]

August 25, 2014November 23, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

RPiSoC Development Board Based on Cypress PSoC 5LP Features Pmod, Raspberry Pi, and Arduino Headers (Crowdfunding)

Embedit Electronics, a startup founded by two recent graduates of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, has designed a board powered by Cypress Semiconductor PSoC 5LP ARM Cortex M3 system-on-chip with programmable digital and analog I/Os. The board can interface with all Raspberry Pi models, Digilent Pmod peripheral modules, and supports Arduino shields. RPiSoC specifications: SoC – Cypress PSoC 5 with ARM Cortex M3 core at 67MHz , 256 KB Flash Program Memory, with user configurable write protection, and 64KB SRAM Expansions and I/Os: Arduino shield and ICSP compatible headers. 2x Digilent Pmod compatible headers 58 reconfigurable GPIO pins 26-pin ribbon cable connector for use with the Raspberry Pi 8 SIO (Special Input/Output) pins with higher current sink 5-pin MiniProg3 header for programming via MiniProg3 hardware. USB – 1x micro USB port for power, communication and programming. Misc – Reset push button, User accessible LED, Programming switch Power – 5V via micro […]