Each coil is driven by a dedicated relay, and a PC power supply feeds the system juice, while a programmable logic controller does the work. Since it's just a matter of triggering the coils in order, the PLC could be easily replaced by a micro controller.
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More contributors: Mark Frauenfelder (Editor-in-Chief, MAKE magazine), Kipp Bradford (Technical Consultant/Writer), Chris Connors (Education), Diana Eng (Guest Author), Peter Horvath (Intern), Brian Jepson (O'Reilly Media), Robert Bruce Thompson (Science Room)
Weekend Project: Beetlebot
Simple robot from your parts bin that avoids obstacles. Thanks go to Jerome Demers for the original article in MAKE, Volume 12. To download the Beetlebot video, click here or subscribe in iTunes. Check out the complete Beetlebot article...
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