Attention everyone placing orders: due to being short-staffed, the shipping cutoff time tomorrow, January 16th, will be noon. All orders placed after this will be processed and shipped the next day.
You want a simple Photovore? This very tidy design by Solarbotics' own Grant McKee is based on a technique developed by Mark Tilden - Shok architecture:
Here's video of the test robots being tuned as a 177kB Windows Media Format (WMV) file or as a 168kB RealMedia (RM) file.
ShokPopper V1.0 (click for circuit diagram) - GrantM Aug 2001
Theory of operation:
"Shok" architecture is a technique pioneered by Mark Tilden describing controlled state changes of Bicore style circuits via chip power or enable toggling. When a Bicore circuit is powered on, it will resume a state opposite to what it was when it was powered off, this effect can either be duplicated by pulsing the enable line or by pulsing power to the chip itself. This is called "shoking" the Bicore. The power-on state can also be pre-determined by biasing the voltage across the Bicore capacitors. A photodiode attached directly across the Bicore charge capacitor will pre-bias the shoked output. The addition of tactile sensors is easily implemented by attaching a switch from the input of the Bicore to +Vdd. When the switch is closed, it forces that side high, presetting the state of the Bicore on the next pulse cycle.
Probably one of the simplest photovore circuits to date, the core circuit consists of a 6 part count and a solar-engine. Either 74AC240 or 74HCT240 will work but we recommend using the AC series for better output drive current. The ShokPopper will not work under battery power unless the enable line is pulsed.
Solar Engine to use with Shok:
The best solar-engine to use is the Miller engine. For the ShokPopper Photovore we used a Miller engine consisting of:
The Bicore Circuit Consists of:
The Miller engine switches the ground line of the circuit.
The theory of operating is very similar to that of the shok popper except that the head now only uses one motor, the photo head does not "lock" on but will continually seek for the brightest source of light. Nice effect if you want a continually seeking, dynamic device on a stationary base.
Attention everyone placing orders: due to being short-staffed, the shipping cutoff time tomorrow, January 16th, will be noon. All orders placed after this will be processed and shipped the next day.
Hmmm, April first has come and gone, and we've missed a chance to pretend we are now switching to selling electric squids powered by rabid honey badgers on brooms. To compensate for that disappointment here's an overview of the best April first stories. Underwater Basketweaving This is a new course where students explore the ancient […]
Solarbotics is happy to introduce a new distributor in Toronto, Canada - Bug'n'Bots. Owner Steve Jones have been involved with BEAM for a while now, and is d
We're working on some new Arduino projects. It's fun working on open-source hardware. Both these projects are out for manufacture now, so hopefully it will only be a few weeks until they are ready. Project One: The GVS Shield We love Phidgets. They have all kinds of useful sensors, to which most subscribe to a […]
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.