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Case
09-07-2006, 04:54 AM
http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/misc/charmedlabs_qwerk.jpg

Well I have been doing some research on basic robotics but with eithet Atmel based chip or better so I stumbeled onto Qwerk Board. Launched a year ago, the TeRK project spent much of its first year designing its robotic controller board, which it calls "Qwerk." The Qwerk board (described further, below) was designed in collaboration with board supplier CharmedLabs, which is now shipping the product direct from its website, priced at $330.

In addition to new Qwerk-based robot recipes, the project intends to release an open cross-development toolchain for firmware development, as well as "infrastructure to enable direct, point-to-point communication between TeRK robots and client computers," it says.

Support for "telepresence" and "teleoperation" using Microsoft's Robotics Studio is also planned. The Qwerk is powered by a 200MHz ARM9 RISC processor, along with a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA (field-programmable gate array) "for custom I/O peripherals," CharmedLabs says. The board has 32MB of SDRAM and 8MB of flash memory.

Qwerk I/O listed by CharmedLabs includes:

* 4 x closed-loop 2.0 Amp motor controllers (supports both quadrature encoder and back-EMF "sensorless" feedback)
* 16 x RC-servo controllers
* 16 x programmable digital I/Os
* 8 x 12-bit analog inputs
* 2 x RS-232 ports
* USB 2.0 host ports for connecting standard USB PC peripherals
* 10/100 Ethernet port
* Built-in audio amp for playing MP3 and WAV files

The Qwerk comes with a 4-amp switching power supply that accepts inputs from 7-30 Volts. It is housed in a rugged aluminum enclosure, and measures 5.1 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches.

http://www.terk.ri.cmu.edu/recipes/index.php
http://www.charmedlabs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29

Any one know of simmiler project boards or options?

micsaund
09-07-2006, 07:13 PM
Wow - that's a hot setup. It's not that often that you find a board with high-current drives, servo outputs, etc. pre-configured.

I can think of a couple projects I'd like to do with something like this, but alas, I'm cheap and would design my own stuff (with fewer features) for each project to avoid the $330 pricetag.

However, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable price for what you're getting - especially with FPGAs and all. I might have to pick one up just for rapid prototyping and screwing around.

Mike

Case
09-08-2006, 07:06 AM
Yea its very nice... Ive located a off the shelf platform that you can build ill link up soon with a linux distro they have created for easy programing and controll seems very nice and also linux based but requires you to get one of thoes EPIA Mini ITX Via boards...