Posted on by Ben

Open Dynamic Robot Initiative’s Custom Electronic Procurement

Progress update

I have successfully built an actuator and using Code Composer I have successfully run the “spring test”. I will post some of the idiosyncrasies I encountered later. With a successful actuator build completed as a proof-of-concept, so to speak, it is time to order the Open Dynamic Robot Initiative’s Custom Electronics. Accordingly, I have built a complete BOM for Bolt and am actively fulfilling it.

Current subgoal

Given the chip shortage and general supply, chain disruption sourcing parts is more difficult than when the project was originally published 18 months ago. Securing the Open Dynamic Robot Initiative’s custom electronics is a priority.

Originally I hoped I could develop a prototype using only the Texas Instrument motor-boards. However, the cost of necessary CAN boards for real-time communication as well as the PC tower, I would have to build, end up costing more than the ODRI custom electronics. Therefore, is makes economic sense to pursue the custom electronic option.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have spent time researching cost-effective means of procuring the customer electronics required. To be expected, I guess, U.S. PCB assembly and printing services are quite expensive. After collecting pricing, printing, and assembly with SEEED seems to be the most cost-effective approach. I have priced with:

  • Beta Layout could provide the board only at $75 USD for the microdiver. The Masteboard is an additional $63. However, they are unable to assemble for U.S. customers.
  • A local PCB assembler which was about 4-5x more expensive on the assembly when compared to SEEED.
  • Macrofab was about 5 times more expensive than SEEED. the ultimate conclusion is to use SEEED
  • Another supplier option that I did not price was https://jlcpcb.com/

Through the process I did find a few neat resources, as an alien in the customer electronics world:

  1. https://octopart.com/ for hunting down replacement parts in stock.
  2. https://www.pcbdirectory.com/ for finding PCB service providers.

Also, SparkFun’s PBC Primer, https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pcb-basics/all , was a useful.

Ultimately I am at a standstill. Finding suppliers for the Masterboard and MicroDriver is far tougher than expected. Long lead times are resulting in an elongated critical path. A couple of components are not readily available until November 2022.