ROBOTICS 101: HANDBOOK 1: WORKSHOP 1.1 © 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 1 8 M I C H A E L E T T E R S H A N K

https://www.robotscience.co.za

ROBOTICS 101: WORKSHOP 1.1 GETTING STARTED WITH MECHATRONICS AND ARDUINO

Welcome to the ROBOTICS 101 workshops. By working through these practical training sessions, and watching our

videos on youtube, you will learn all about the fascinating world of mechatronics. These notes are for the PRIMO ROBOT

which is built around an Arduino UNO. If you don’t have the robot you will need to build or acquire one.

If you are at a training centre where you have access to a pre-built PRIMO ROBOT then you can do the exercises in this

workshop. If you skip forward to building your own robot you will have to come back and complete these exercises as

the basic knowledge in this section is required later.

BELOW LEFT: PRIMO ROBOT BELOW RIGHT: PRIMO “TOP DECK” ROBOT

In this workshop series we use the FREE Arduino integrated development environment [IDE] software that uses text

code to control the robot to perform autonomous tasks. This is what the Aduino IDE looks like when opened:

To upload the program code you will write to the robot, you will need to learn how to connect the USB cable to the

computer and link it to the robot. With the PRIMO robots, the TOP DECK version in the above image on the right uses a

printer cable to link to the computer. The PRIMO robot on the left requires a USB cable with an inline dongle that

connects to the black five pin connector on the board. Make sure the dongle’s parts side is facing up when you connect.

To upload the program code to the robot you will need to select the Arduino board type and COM port from the TOOLS

menu in the Arduino IDE.

If you can’t see which port the Arduino or programming cable is connected to in the IDE then it’s a good idea to type

‘device manager’ in the Windows search function on the start bar, and as per the image on the next page.

https://www.robotscience.co.za

With the device manager open, as per the image below, look for the COM port the programming cable is connected to.

If there’s more than one COM port active, and you’re not sure which one the robot is connected to, try unplugging the

programming cable and see which COM port vanishes.

If there is an exclamation mark next to the cable, then you may need to install or update the correct driver for your

programming dongle. If you don’t know how, ask your instructor for help or go to YouTube for a solution.

Now when we return to the Arduino IDE as per the image below we can see there’s an Arduino UNO type board

connected to COM3. Make sure there’s a check mark next to COM3 because if the COM port is not selected you will get

error messages when you try upload your programmes to the robot.