Flexible controller for educational robot kit

Abstract

The long term use of Parallax Boe-Bot robots in teaching has brought out some problems of the kit. To further use the robot's hardware platform, we made some modifications of the controller unit. In the process we developed a PCB with XESS XuLA FPGA board and Bluetooth module to replace the kit's initial controller. The Bluetooth module adds wireless programming functionality for the FPGA, which in turn is running on MicroBlaze soft-core processor. The outcome of the work is an over-the-air and in C language programmable Boe-bot robot kit. Simple tests were conducted to make sure the robot's power consumption can stand for one session of handson exercises.