From HBRC WIki

Contents 1 Resources 1.1 Software 1.1.1 CAD Software 1.1.1.1 Mechanical CAD 1.1.1.2 Electronic CAD 1.1.2 Embedded Software Compilers and Interpreters 1.1.2.1 For Atmel AVR processors 1.2 Hardware 1.2.1 Batteries 1.2.2 Sensors 1.2.2.1 Infrared 1.2.2.2 Ultra Sonic 1.2.2.3 Vision 1.2.3 Actuators 1.2.3.1 Rotary 1.2.3.1.1 Brushed DC Motors 1.2.3.2 Linear 1.2.4 Fasteners 1.2.5 Power Transmission 1.2.5.1 Gears 1.2.6 Surplus Parts 1.2.6.1 Santa Clara Valley Surplus Electronics Dealers: 1.2.7 PCB Fabrication 1.3 Robotics Papers

Resources

Software

CAD Software

Mechanical CAD

QCadis a cross-platform 2D drafting package. The free community edition is available for Linux and OS X, and a low cost Windows version is also available. The non-free version supports splines and scripts. HBRC members that use QCAD include: Chris Palmer, Dave Curtis.

Electronic CAD

gEDA is the Gnu EDA suite. Licensed under the GPL, versions for *NIX and OS X are available. It includes gschem for schematic editing, pcb for pcb design, the Gerber viewer gerbv, simulators for Spice and Verilog, and associated tools. HBRC members that use gEDA include: Dave Curtis.

Embedded Software Compilers and Interpreters

For Atmel AVR processors

The GNU tool chain for AVR's includes avr-gcc, avr-libc, avrdude, and avarice. The AVR architecture is well supported by avr-gcc. Avrdude is host software that supports a wide variety of programmers for downloading code to AVR's. Avarice is a debug server that allows source level debugging using gdb. HBRC members that are users include: Dave Curtis.

Hardware

Batteries

see also Batteries from the Builders Book

  Tenergy Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA - Batteries, cables and connectors

Sensors

see also Sensors from the Builders Book

Infrared

Ultra Sonic

PING))) Ultrasonic sensor from Parallax: PING))) As simple as it gets... just two commands with the Stamp. Pulsout and Pulsin... the Pulsin variable contains the raw time-of-flight. The sensor handles all the timing details. HBRC members who use the BASIC Stamp and Ping Sensor include: Camp Peavy.

Vision

Actuators

see also Motors from the Builders Book

Rotary

Brushed DC Motors

Linear

Fasteners

The Olander Company at 144 Commercial Street in Sunnyvale stocks over 10,000 types of fasteners and related hardware. They fulfill small quantity orders by credit card through their web site. If you are in the Bay Area, you can pick up your order in person the same day (M-F, 9am-5pm). You will find all sizes of screws, nuts, bolts, adhesives, knobs, hinges, locks, spacers, shafting, and springs.

Power Transmission

Gears

SERV-O-LINK Corp.

http://www.servolink.com/gearspec.htm

They sell a whole range of 32p and 48p Delrin gears. They have a $30 minimum order, so you need to order quite a few, because the prices are between 50 cents and $2.00 for a gear. Anyway, I ordered a whole assortment from them last week, using their online purchasing interface and they just showed up. I like getting stuff where I don’t have to talk to a human to get it. They are really nice. Impressive quality.

McMASTER-CARR

http://www.mcmaster.com/#gears/

Also has good online tools. Low prices and no minimum order.

SmallParts

http://www.smallparts.com/b/16412081?searchRank=salesrank

I can not speak about relative pricing. Hopefully, the pricing is competitive.

SDP/SI

http://www.sdp-si.com/

Sheldons Hobbies

http://www.sheldonshobbies.com/

I can't say for sure, but the hobby place in San Jose had a number of different gears for small mechanisms, RC cars, etc., some time back. Web site doesn't show that.

Maxx Products International, LLC.

http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-10a.html#GearMotors

http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-99.html

In college I designed a test hover test platform for a senior project. I looked all over for lightweight electric motor/propeller assemblies and found a few that packet quite a punch for how small they were. But not all were cheap. Just a search idea for small durable motor/gearbox/gear sets. I remember running across a lot of stuff with the pager motor in mind. Some guys also used micro-rc car parts. The best stuff was used in contests to stay air born the longest.

Ted Larson wrote:

What I found with both smallparts.com, and mcmaster, is that none of them have small, 48p plastic, or Delrin pinion gears, with small bores. Mcmaster has some brass ones for like $12 each....ouch....but that is about it. This was the first place I could find with gears that could be suitable enough to build a Micromouse with.

Alan Federman wrote:

I am continuing to make progress in laser cutting small gears in Delrin. I've been using Google Sketch-up. Talking to Ted and other memebrs- I got wind of the fact you can boost prescision to over a 1000th of an inch - and I was working at 1/32 of an inch! I believe the Epilog is capable of 1/100th of an inch precision. I still need to experiment to account for the beam thickness. I am guesing that the beam removes about 2/100th so I'll see if a .22" diameter hole will accept a .25" shaft.

Dave Curtis wrote:

The Epilog can move the X/Y positioner with much better resolution than 0.01". But it does cut with a kerf... somewhere between 5 and 10 thou in my experience, depending on material, laser power setting, dwell time, material thickness, etc. The edge cut is not perfectly square in thicker material, the kerf will typically be smaller on the "back" side than on the front because the laser has a longer effective dwell time on the front of the material. Multiple pass cuts can mitigate that somewhat.

A while back I did some experiments cutting servo horns in 1/8 acrylic. Not that 1/8 acrylic is a good servo horn material too brittle but it was an exercise in trying to cut the 24-tooth spline for the servo output shaft. The spline teeth are very small. I found that with an old, cranky laser cutter I could get about 80% yield. 4 in 5 parts would be totally usable, and on about 20% I would get melty goo instead of teeth so that resolution is near the limit, but the newer laser cutter at the TechShop is probably much better I haven't repeated the experiment.

Surplus Parts

Santa Clara Valley Surplus Electronics Dealers:

  Advanced Electronics
  1810 Oakland Rd, Suite C
  San Jose, CA, 95131

  Excess Solutions
  156 S. Milpitas Blvd. 
  Milpitas, CA 95035

  Weird Stuff
  384 West Caribbean Drive
  Sunnyvale, CA 94089

  HSC (Halted)
  3500 Ryder Street
  Santa Clara, Ca 95051

  San Jose State Links 
  Mechatronic Components Suppliers

PCB Fabrication

Getting professional quality PCB's in prototype quantities has never been easier. You upload your file, and a few days later boards come back. Prices, features, and design rules vary among vendors. Here are some prototyping services that have been used by HBRC members:

AP Circuits Quick.

BatchPCB Minimum order 1 square inch! Great for one-off.

PCB Express/Sunstone Quick. Fine line design rules.

Olimex Fill a panel for best price, you can do multiple designs in your panel.

See Dave's common drill rack for a table of drill sizes that will give you the same result from several PCB vendors.

Robotics Papers

  NASA Papers on AI 
  by Dave Wyland 
  Autonomy Without Independence: Animal Training as a Model for Robot Design 
  Reasonable Machines: Analogical Reasoning in Autonomous Agent Design 

  Fuzzy Logic Solutions in Robotics 
  by Ed Katz, Ph.D.
  Extending the Teleo-Reactive Paradigm for Robotic Agent Task Control Using Zadehan (Fuzzy) Logic