Genesis Arduino Robot Controller Board (1st Version - Discontinued)

Technical Specs:

• Vin: 8V – 24V (Max 28V)
• Current at Idle: 5ma (All Board)
• Motor Currents: Continous 4 Ampere x2, Bursts 6 Ampere x2.
• 5V Regulator Output Current: Maximum 1 Ampere
• Built-in temperature, current and overvoltage shutdown circuits at motor controller ICs.
• Built-in short circuit protection at power lines.
• Just 98mm x 38mm x 18mm sized.
• 4 Mount holes have 3,2 mm diameter, suitable for M3 sized screws.
• Board weight is 33 grams.

Main Purposes of Genesis

• Mini sumo robots (As usual)
• Line Following Robots
• Small – Middle size robots
• Arduino Uno based robots (Arduino Uno & Nano models use same microcontroller)

If you want to use Arduino Nano at your robot project (Minisumo, line follower etc…). This board must be your first choice.Small size and high power in your hand.

With high-quality components and strong infrastructure; Genesis will be your favorite board.

Here how we connected Arduino Nano’s pins to mainboard. It will help you while you are programming. (By the way, we have ready made program)

Loud Buzzer

We didn’t used moderate buzzer at Genesis. We choosed highest quality buzzer for clear & loud sound.

Start Module Button & Input

At the board, it has one start button which is parallel connected to start module input pin. The board is fully compatible with start modules.

Dipswitch

Genesis Board contains 2×3 pin dipswitch for total 8 starting tactics (for mini sumo robots) Except mini sumo, the dipswitch can be used for any purpose.

Leds

Genesis contains 4 motor direction leds (2 Right, 2 Left), 1 Power led and 1 Mode Led. With indicator leds you know the robot’s behaviour easily.

Sensor Inputs

Each sensor input has 3 pins (-,+,s) and clearly written name. You can plug female cables directly. Signal pins connected to Arduino Nano with small value series resistors for safety.

3 Trimpots for Fine Tuning

We added 3 Bourns SMD trimpots for fine tuning, on-board programming with your robot.

SMPS Regulator + Capacitors

At the Genesis’s heart, we use 570 kHz high-speed switching mode regulator. With combined multilayer ceramic capacitors, electrolytic capacitors and tantalum capacitor, Board’s voltage output is pure 5V for adding sensors. Voltage Regulator also has short circuit protection. 

High Current Mosfet Drivers

Genesis uses 4 Mosfet driver for giving high current to motors. Thanks to modern MOSFET bridge design; power sent to motors have nearly zero loss. Each motor driver connected with 2 PWM channel. So in total Arduino Nano’s 4 PWM channel is used for controlling 2 dc motors up to 4 Ampere each.

On-Board Programming

We inspired from Japan sumo robots while creating that board. That robots use multiple trimpots for saving important variables for working program. Also Genesis include 3 trimpots for same purpose. That trimpots directly connected to Arduino Nano’s analog pins (A5, A6, A7). And for Mini sumo robot they serve as Idle Speed, Starting Turn Time, and Edge sensor seen Turn time changers. SPD: Idle Speed while not opponent seen, TRN: Starting Turn Time, Angle Trimpot, ETRN: Edge Turning Time, Angle.

Based On Arduino Nano

At the heart of Genesis, it uses Arduino Nano for micro controlling unit. Which is miniature version of Arduino Uno. You can easily upload, debug programs by open source Arduino community. Learning Arduino is very easy. If you plan to use that board for minisumo we have well written, commented Arduino program for you also.