MiniX

The is a project made around project 1 in my Microcontrollers Programming class. As the first project of the semester, we were asked to each design a printed circuit board (PCB) that works with the new Raspberry Pi Pico board in order to get familiar with PCB designing. Since I already have some experiences designing PCBs, I decided to make a special board with a design twist. As shown from the images below, I designed a Pico hat that directly plugs into an existing robot car chassis, replacing the wires from the motors to the controllers with pin headers. This significantly reduces space and complexity of the robot, making it more compact and reliable.

Through this project, I learned how to design a boost converter circuit to supply stable, constant 5V power from a single-cell, LiPo battery. I also got to explore various smart ways a PCB can be better integrated with the mechanical structure of a robot.

image gallery 1

video

Building Process

PCB Layout

Rendered v.s. actual PCB

Reflow soldering

The Raspberry Pi Pico was design to be mounted upside-down on the actual assembly, so as most of the other components on the PCB. This results in a clean finish on the top side of the robot, as well as allowing me to mount or connect other accessories on top if needed.

Motor and encoder leads connection

Mechanical assembly of the robot