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RS232 - I2C converter for robot project?

AKdaBAOUS

Dec 6, 2012
2
Joined
Dec 6, 2012
Messages
2
Hi everyone! I'm A.K and I'm new to the forum (as you can see :D) and I just wanted to ask a quick question about a circuit I'm designing - but first, some background on the project ...

I design and make robots and normally I'd design a circuit using ICs from the Basic Atom (Pro) series from Basic Micro:

http://www.basicmicro.com/BasicATOM-Pro_c_48.html

But since these are pretty expensive when cost of shipping, etc. is included, I decided to move in a different direction. That's when I found a servo controller chip that's able to control 12 servos ...

http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/robotics/servo-pro-12ch

... which seemed about right for a project I'm currently working on (a 12 D.O.F robot fox).
Anyway, I find out that the chip is a 'slave' so I'm assuming I'd need a 'master' chip to control it but I just wanted to have the slave on it's own so I thought that I would find a way to connect it directly to the serial port of a computer so the computer could become the master. Since the slave chip used I2C, I had to find some sort of adapter/converter so that it'd work.

I found quite a few on the net but I would prefer to build one and there are a fair few tutorials, etc. but finding one which actually made sense to me was pretty difficult (sorry, I'm still improving my electronics knowledge :( ). Then I came across this site and what is supposedly a RS232 - I2C converter:

http://tonerchips.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/toner-chip-reseter-circuit-diagram.html

So now I come onto my question, will this circuit do the job? If not, could someone possibly help me out by providing any links or pointing me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance! :D

AKdaBAOUS

P.S. I'm planning on replacing the serial port side of the circuit board with a bluetooth module so I can control the robot using an app on my android smartphone.

P.P.S. Here's a link to my site if you'd like to check out the robot's I've made so far:
http://kaizoku-robots.co.uk/Robots.html
 

wingnut

Aug 9, 2012
255
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
255
Hi A.K

Sorry I can't help you, but I really liked your Nexus and Infinity Mantis robots.

I dabble in robotics, controlling my motors with either a PIC or Arduino micro-processor. I have no experience controlling things from a PC. Your robots look quite sophisticated. I hope that someone here will be able to help you.
 
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