In anticipation of my PINE64 board arriving, I have been trying to identify items I will need for my autonomous robot project (really should come up with a name for this). Since this is pretty much my first project and I don’t have an electronics background, there are no tools nor parts lying around and I have to start from scratch. Here’s an outline of items I will be purchasing over the course of the project with pricing on some of the components to provide a basic budget estimate.
Tools
- Basic pliers
- Drill
- Screwdrivers
- Soldering kit (soldering iron, lead-free solder)
- Third arm
Hardware
- Dagu 4WD Thumper Mobile Platform – RobotShop $174.95
- Lexan 12″ x 12″ polycarbonate sheets – Amazon $3.64; 8 @ $21.59
- Logitech MK270 wireless keyboard and mouse combo – Amazon $23.95
- PCB support pillars / spacers / standoffs
- Screws
Components
- 32GB microSD card – Amazon $10.56 / Aliexpress $12.89
- Dagu 4 channel motor controller for the Rover 5 Chassis – Amazon $21.95
- Flash drive, hard drive or other external USB storage
- LEDs and resistors
- Keyestudio MEGA 2560 R3 (an Arduino MEGA 2560 clone board) – Amazon $14.99 / Aliexpress $11
This provides additional GPIO pins which can be used for better control of the motors using the motor controller. The plan is to connect the Arduino clone board to the PINE64 using the I2C bus.
Male-male, male-female and female-female jumper wires - PINE A64+ with 1GB DDR3 RAM – $19
- RAVPower 16750mAh portable battery pack – Amazon $31.99
- Solderless breadboard (for prototyping)
- USB to TTL cable – Aliexpress $1.75
PINE64 Add-on modules
- 5MP camera module – $15.99
- Real time clock (RTC) battery module – $2.99
- WiFi 802.11bgn / Bluetooth 4.0 module – $12.99