A PIC18 robot-centered microcontroller systems laboratory

A required junior-level introductory course in microcomputer systems for electrical engineering majors was the basis of a three-year project to enhance student abilities to design microcontroller-based systems. A new PIC18-based circuit board was developed by the authors to serve both as an evaluation board and as a robot controller. A series of five laboratories were developed using the new circuit board, named Trogdor, as an evaluation or test board. The initial series of laboratories had microcontroller interfacing and programming learning objectives related to developing student abilities in assembly language programming, higher-level language embedded systems programming, sensor interfacing, analog-to-digital conversion, and motor control. Following the lab series, this same board was plugged into a low-cost commercially available robot, and served as the robot´s controller for a project to design a robot that would autonomously solve an unknown maze. Students were provided with a robot that had working sensors of two different types, and were encouraged to independently add new sensors and adapt the kit while developing their own solutions.