User`s guide

1. Overview

The Orangutan SVP robot

controller [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1325] is a

complete control solution for small and medium-sized

robots running at 6 – 13.5 V. The module is designed

around the powerful Atmel ATmega324PA AVR

microcontroller (32 KB flash, 2 KB RAM, and 1 KB

EEPROM) or ATmega1284P (128 KB flash, 16 KB

RAM, and 4 KB EEPROM) running at 20 MHz and

features a full complement of peripheral hardware to

support robotics applications: dual motor drivers

capable of delivering 2 A continuous (6 peak) per

channel, a demultiplexer for easy control of up to eight

servos with a single hardware PWM, a removable 16×2 character LCD with backlight, a user trimmer

potentiometer, a buzzer for simple sounds and music, three user pushbuttons, and two user LEDs. The board also

provides 21 free I/O lines, of which 12 can be used as analog inputs, and two switching buck (step-down) voltage

regulators—one for the 5V bus and one adjustable from 2.5 V to 85% of VIN—each capable of supplying 3 A,

which means there’s plenty of room and power for adding sensors, servos, and other peripherals.

In addition to the user-programmable AVR microcontroller, the Orangutan SVP features an auxiliary

PIC18F14K50 MCU that supports the main processor and serves as an integrated AVR ISP programmer, which

means that no external programmer is required to use the Orangutan SVP. This auxiliary processor provides a

USB connection that allows direct communication with a PC, and its firmware lets it perform several useful

task in parallel with the main microcontroller. For example, the auxiliary processor can read two quadrature

encoders without burdening the main MCU, or those same four inputs could be used as additional analog

inputs. The ATmega324 or ATmega1284 can read data from the auxiliary MCU over SPI. A USB A to mini-B

cable [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1129] is included with the Orangutan SVP.

Because the Orangutan SVP gives the user direct access to the AVR microcontroller, it is compatible with

all development software for Atmel’s AVR microcontrollers, including Atmel’s free AVR

Studio [http://www.atmel.com/avrstudio/] and the WinAVR [http://winavr.sourceforge.net/] GCC C/C++ compiler. We

provide an extensive set of software libraries [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J20] that make it easy to interface with all

of the integrated hardware, including the auxiliary microcontroller. Using these libraries, it takes just a few simple

lines of code to write to the LCD, read button presses, drive motors, and control servos. These libraries come with

a number of sample programs that demonstrate how to use the various components on the Orangutan SVP.

Specifications & On-Board Hardware

• Overall unit dimensions: 3.70" × 2.20"

• Input voltage: 6 – 13.5 V

• Programmable 20 MHz Atmel ATmega324PA AVR microcontroller with 32 KB flash, 2 KB SRAM, and

1 KB EEPROM (SVP-324 version)

• Programmable 20 MHz Atmel ATmega1284P AVR microcontroller with 128 KB flash, 16 KB RAM, and

4 KB EEPROM (SVP-1284 version)

• Built-in USB AVR ISP programmer (USB A to mini-B cable [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1129]

included)

• 2 bidirectional motor ports (2 A continuous per channel, 6 A maximum per channel)

• 8-output demultiplexer tied to one of the AVR’s hardware PWMs for easy control of up to 8 servos

• 21 free I/O lines

1. Overview Page 2 of 41