FAQ

Please post any questions you have in a comment, below. We will answer it, and add it to the page.

  • What is an FAQ?
    • A list of Frequently Asked Questions
  • Where can I buy one?
    • We're working on getting a kit together. It will contain all the parts needed to build a Formica robot, including the motors, wheels, battery, PCB, everything. You'll need to solder it together. If there's a lot of demand for assembled robots, we'll have some built by an assembly company and sell them at a higher price.
  • How much will the kit cost?
    • Probably around £20-25.
  • You've been saying that a kit is coming out for ages, but nothing has yet emerged.
    • I know, I'm a terrible person. Nobody is paid to work on the Formica project, and we don't have much spare time. It will happen, I promise.
  • I want one right now, what can I do?
    • If you've got a bit of experience with electronics distributors and PCB companies, there's nothing stopping you downloading the PCB design, buying some parts and making up your own kit. 
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Hardware Costs

Submitted by Alexander (not verified) on Sat, 12/27/2008 - 15:40.

What are the costs for the parts for one of these robots?
Do you have a list of the parts?

Bill of materials

Submitted by Dale (not verified) on Wed, 12/31/2008 - 00:34.

A previous comment ask for costs. There is a nice Bill Of Materials (bom) in the hardware download file. I has price estimates (in pounds) for several lot sizes. [RTFM: Read The Fine Materials]

retailer?

Submitted by Epokh (not verified) on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 20:52.

Where can I find a retailer of the formica bot?
Cheers.

Hi Epokh, see above.

Submitted by jeff on Tue, 03/24/2009 - 11:59.

Hi Epokh, see above.

I have an MSP430 running on

Submitted by Paolo (not verified) on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 16:10.

I have an MSP430 running on a robot as well and trying to add a communication protocol like your.
I was checking the calculation for the high pass filter but I don't understand why is 1kHz.
I thought should be fc=1/(2 pi R C) where C=330p F and R=10 KOhm, that give us fc=48 KHz the other resistor of 100 KOhm is pulled up to 3.3 V.

Re: I have an MSP430 running on

Submitted by Rob Spanton (not verified) on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 14:25.

Hi Paolo,

The high pass filter is actually formed by the two 1M resistors and the 330pF capacitors. The resistor divider formed by the 1M resistors provides both the DC offset for the signal, and a 500k input impedance, which should give it a 964 Hz break frequency.

The 10k and 100k resistors convert the current through the photodiode into a voltage.

Cheers,

Rob