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Amoeba Robotics’ Boarditto – An Affordable Pick and Place Machine

Posted on by Tope Oluyemi

Hong Kong-based Amoeba Robotics is set to launch a pick and place machine for engineers, designers, and makers to conveniently automate the assembly of their PCBs ontop of their desks, with a more affordable price range going for $1,950. This is incredible because most pick and place machines are incredibly expensive, with the desktop models running into thousands of dollars or more.

Founded in 2010, Amoeba Robotics is a Hong Kong-based research, engineering, and design company that focuses on advanced robotics and automation. The company says that their Boarditto is suitable for rapid prototyping and small-batch manufacturing, boasting of more than 15 components placed per minute. The device has an extensive feature set for a desktop machine and includes a dual camera setup, one above, and one below, which automatically detects fiducial markers that compensate for PCB misalignment, and corrects the position of each component during the pick and place process. Users have the option of up to 16 feeders loaded at any time and supports both JEDEC and custom trays.

The Boarditto doesn’t need a connection to the internet to function, this is due to its built-in computer (no specifics as to type), enabling you to add a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to program the machine using the Boarditto V1.0 app. “Amoeba” equipped the pick and place machine with a built-in vacuum pump to keep things neat, also has an automatic nozzle changer, and can accept PCBs at up to 160mm x 100mm.

Video

The Boarditto helps to free up your time and energy by leaving the repetitive task of assembling PCBs to a machine. It also helps in avoiding inaccuracies and mistakes that can easily occur when hand-soldering, such as bridging pins of fine-pitched components or placing a component on the wrong spot. Amoeba Robotics is currently accepting pre-orders for the Boarditto, and also some add-ons — including automatic tape feeders ($95), manual tape feeders ($20), aluminum tray holders ($190), and a soon-to-be-released “dittoReal,” which appears to be a giant part dispenser. If you pre-order before June 15, Amoeba will include a pair of auto-feeders and manual feeders free of charge.

AP738x Wide Input Voltage Micropower LDO Regulators

Posted on by mixos

Diodes’ AP738x regulators maximize system run time with extremely low quiescent current

Diodes’ AP7383 and AP7384 regulators feature ultra-low quiescent current (micropower), wide input voltage range (AP7383 up to 30 V, AP7384 up to 40 V), and low dropout (LDO). This, combined with their high accuracy (1% tolerance), makes them ideal for use in various USB and portable devices.

The AP7383 is available in 1.8 V, 3.0 V, 3.3 V, 3.6 V, 4.15 V, 4.4 V, and 5.0 V fixed output voltage versions. All variants are available in the space-saving SOT25 (with and without enable) and SOT89 (without enable) packages in green molding and are RoHS compliant.

The AP7484 is available in 2.8 V, 3.3 V, 5 V, and 7 V fixed output voltage version.

All variants are available in the space-saving SOT23, SOT89, and TO92 packages in green molding and are RoHS compliant.

Features

  • Wide input voltage: 3.5 V to 30 V for AP7383 and 3.5 V to 40 V for AP7384
    • Covers 5 V, 9 V, and 12 V power rails
  • Wide output voltage: 1.8 V to 5 V for AP7383 and 2.8 V to 7 V for AP7384
    • Covers standard I/O voltage levels
  • Low quiescent current at 1.8 µA for AP7383 and 2.5 µA for AP7384
    • Extends battery life in battery operated products
    • Minimizes standby power in low-power systems
  • Two pinouts in SOT25 and SOT89 for AP7383; SOT23, SOT89, and TO92 for AP7384
    • Matches industry standard footprints
    • Enable function extends battery life even further
  • 1.0% output accuracy at room temperature
    • Maintains accuracy under all conditions
  • Built-in overtemperature protection (OTP) function
    • Protects system from overtemperature conditions

Applications

  • Battery-powered equipment
  • Tablets
  • Ruggedized PCs
  • Notebook computers
  • Portable information appliances
  • Meters

Avnet Silica WiFi Shield based on AW-Cu300A module

Posted on by mixos

Based on AW-Cu300A module, providing Arduino pinout connectors.

Arduino Connector provides ultimate flexibility, leveraging on huge ecosystem of compatible boards, choose the microcontroller board that best fits your application and mix with sensors and other peripherals boards.

The board comes with Pmod connectors for extended compatibility with additional boards. The module is based on the 88MW300 WiFi SoC processor from Marvell and supports easy programming through commands send via UART interface. It can also be used as a processor board, where 88MW300 will implement the user application (SDK provided under NDA by Marvell). For single chip application, it provides full support for JTAG emulation.

Features

  • IO Interfaces
    • UART
    • JTAG
    • GPIO
    • SSP
    • I2C
    • GPT
  • Internal Memory
    • 2M Byte QSPI flash
  • Wireless 
    • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Integrated Printed-Antenna / uFL connector
    • High Integration and Low-BOM
    • Single 3.3V Power Input
  • Package 
    • LGA Module – 28 mm x 15 mm x 2.35 mm 74 pin

How to shrink your USB Type-C battery charger [PDF]

Posted on by mixos

Maxim’s app note on a highly compact Type-C charger solution.

A highly integrated solution, as seen with the MAX77860 USB Type-C 3A switch-mode charger, dramatically reduces system complexity by integrating the charger, the power path, the Safeout LDO, ADC, and the USB-C CC and BC 1.2 detection in a small 3.9mm x 4.0mm, 0.4mm pitch, WLP package. OTG functionality is seamlessly integrated without the need for an extra inductor. This level of integration simplifies the design, enabling the delivery of more power and more functionality in minimal PCB space.

How to shrink your USB Type-C battery charger – [PDF]

Mini-ITX form factor board has four video outputs with up to 6-core performance

Posted on by mixos

WADE-8211-Q370 Scalable Processing Power Gives Design Flexibility and Is Ideal for Industrial Automation, Medical Equipment and IoT Applications.

Portwell , a world-world-leading innovator in the Industrial PC (IPC) market and an Associate member of the Intel Intelligent Systems Alliance program, today announces the release of the WADE-8211-Q370, a new Mini-ITX form factor embedded system board based on the 8th Generation Intel Core™ processor (formerly Coffee Lake) and Intel Q370 Express chipset. Along with four independent video outputs, the WADE-8211 also utilizes the 8th Generation Intel Core Processor, built on 14nm process technology utilizing 3D Tri-gate transistor technology, resulting in increased performance and improved energy efficiency. The Mini-ITX Board includes Intel Turbo Boost Technology for faster processing, Intel vPro™ Technology for superior remote configuration capabilities and Intel Hyper-threading for multithreaded processing. These features translate into reduced manageability cost and improved security, making the WADE-8211 an ideal solution for Industrial Automation, Medical Equipment, Transportation and Retail Systems.

Based on Mini-ITX form factor, the WADE-8211 is right-sized perfectly for applications with small footprint computer and supports the powerful Intel Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 (8th gen.) and the Intel Pentium® / Intel Celeron® processor series. It is equipped with the highly performant Intel Q370 Express Chipset and guarantees highest functionality on a small-sized surface with Intel AMT 12.0 and vPro support, 2x Intel GbE LAN and BIOS configurable PCI Express Lane. It is designed and tested for enhanced operating temperature range up to 60°C and 24/7 continuous operation.

The WADE-8211-Q370 supports up to 32GB Non-ECC DDR4 memory up to 2133MHz on two 260-pin SO-DIMM sockets making it faster than its predecessor. Its expansion interface supports one PCI Express x16 Gen3 (8.0GT/s) for enhanced video performance and support one Mini-PCIe and two M.2 slots (one M.2 Type E socket (2230) for Wireless, one M.2 Type M socket (2242/2260/2280) for SSD).

The board supports four type independent displays, dual DP (Display Port), VGA and 24bit LVDS with greater 3D performance compared to its previous generation. Running with a low TDP CPU (35 watts), the WADE-8211 can provide superior performance in various environments. Moreover, the enhancement in flash playback, rich 2D/3D graphics quality, security and power efficiency enables a fascinating visual experience in a variety of market segments such as Industrial Automation, Medical Imaging, Retail Automation, Transportation, and Digital Signage.

Superconductivity at –23 degrees Celsius?

Posted on by mixos

Researchers at the University of Chicago have managed to beat the previous world record for high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) by 50K. This new material reaches superconductivity at –23 °C (under very high pressure conditions). by Thomas Scherer @ elektormagazine.com

Even though the material needs to be under extreme pressure at this temperature for superconductivity to occur, Vitali Prakapenka and Eran Greenberg of the ANL (Argonne National Laboratory) see this as a significant step towards superconductivity at room temperature.

Superconductivity and energy saving

The use of Superconducting electrical conductors which do not need such extremely low temperatures to become effective would allow the design of a new generation of super-efficient wind turbines and slash costs for other applications such as maglev trains, MRI scanners and particle accelerators. Keeping these superconductors at their superconducting temperature uses so much energy that the practical application is almost always uneconomical.

The previous world record is –73 °C but this material is not ductile and cannot therefore be drawn into flexible wires to make windings for electric motors or electromagnets. At the moment this is also not possible with this latest superconducting compound, but the researchers hope that practical use could be made possible in the future. Practical superconducting materials in use today only work at –240 °C.

… read more

New Tinker Boards with RK3399Pro and Features Google’s i.MX8M

Posted on by Tope Oluyemi

Asus displayed two new open-spec Tinker boards at Computex last week, the “Tinker Edge R” SBC with a RK3399Pro, the  “Tinker Edge T,” and “CR1S-CM-A” variants of Google’s i.MX8M and Edge TPU equipped Coral Dev Board. They also unveiled an 8th Gen Core-based “PN60T” mini-PC with an Edge TPU.

The Tinker Edge R has a larger 100 x 72mm Pico-ITX form factor than the Raspberry Pi-sized Tinker Board S or Asus’ new Coral Dev Board variants. It’s in league with other open-spec SBCs equipped with Rockchip’s RK3399Pro like the Vamrs Toybrick RK3399Pro and the Geniatech DB3399 Pro SBC. The RK3399Pro incorporates a hexa-core RK3399 with a 3.0-TOPS performing Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU) which supports Tensorflow, Tensorflow Lite, Caffe, and other deep learning models.

Asus Tinker Edge R

The Tinker Edge R is equipped with 4GB LPDDR4 plus 2GB LPDDR3 dedicated to the NPU. The board Is further equipped with 16GB eMMC, a microSD slot, a GbE port, and 802.11ac with Bluetooth 4.2. Available also are 4x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, one is a Type-C with DisplayPort support. Media support features include an HDMI port, 2x MIPI-DSI, 2x MIPI-CSI2, and an audio jack. The board has a 40-pin GPIO header with similar pinout as the Tinker Board, and also a mini-PCIe slot with a nano-SIM slot that enables 4G/LTE “extended.” Other features include a 12-19V input and an RTC battery header.

The Tinker Edge T and CR1S-CM-A boards are the products of a collaborative effort between Asus’s new AIoT business unit and the Google Coral business unit. The boards integrate the same 48 x 40mm Coral SOM module present in Google’s $150 Coral Dev Board. The SOM module runs Debian Linux on the quad-core version of NXP’s 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 i.MX8M. The Coral SOM incorporates the Edge TPU chip, which connects with the i.MX8M via PCIe and I2C/GPIO. Available also is a crypto coprocessor, 1GB LPDDR4, and 8GB eMMC. The sandwich-style Tinker Edge T and CR1S-CM-A have the 85 x 56mm dimensions as the Tinker Board S and the Coral Dev Board. The Tinker Edge T is built for AI-powered projects like cameras, game emulators and smart home devices, while the CR1S-CM-A is aimed at AI solutions for business intelligence, signage, and security applications.

Asus Tinker Edge T

The Tinker Edge T is presumably open-spec, at least for the carrier board. The Tinker Edge T is fitted with 1GB LPDDR4, 8GB eMMC, a GbE port, and 802.11ac with BT 4.1. 2x USB 3.0 ports and a USB Type-C port are available without the DP support. There are also dual MIPI-CSI2 camera interfaces with support for stereoscopic applications. An HDMI port, a MIPI-DSI interface, and a 40-pin header with Raspberry Pi compatibility is available.

The 115 x 115mm PN60T mini-PC has several Intel 8th Gen Kaby Lake Refresh chips and includes a 1.8GHz/4GHz, quad-core, octa-threaded Core i7-8550U, a dual-core, quad-threaded 2.2GHz/3.4GHz Core i3-8130U, and a 1.8GHz, dual-core Celeron 3867U. The system integrates the Edge TPU via Google’s PCIE-E Accelerator card. The PN60T is also equipped with dual-channel DDR4 up to 32GB and features a SATA SSD and an M.2 slot. No Likely OS support includes Linux and/or Windows. No pricing or availability information is available for the Tinker Edge R, Tinker Edge T, or CR1S-CM-A SBCs. The PN60T is expected in 4Q 2019.

More information can be found in the Asus Tinker Edge T and CR1S-CM-A announcement.

Record-smashing Snapmaker 2.0 3D printers now available for website pre-orders

Posted on by mixos

The modular 3D printer line, available in 3 models, is now available for pre-order from Snapmaker.com after becoming the most-funded technology project on Kickstarter

After breaking multiple records with the Snapmaker 2.0 Kickstarter campaign, Snapmaker is today announcing that the 3D printer line is now available for pre-orders on Snapmaker.com. The Snapmaker 2.0 raised $7,850,866 USD by 7,388 backers on Kickstarter, making it the most funded-technology project ever on the platform, and one of the top ten most-funded projects on Kickstarter overall. The Snapmaker 2.0 is available for pre-orders on Snapmaker.com starting at $799 USD. Orders will ship worldwide and will be delivered in March 2020.

Snapmaker first launched the Snapmaker Original 3-in-1 3D printer on Kickstarter in 2017, ending the campaign with over $2 million in pledges and fulfilling all orders. With feedback from the community, the Snapmaker team began to work on even more innovative improvements for the Snapmaker 2.0, pushing modularity to the next level and giving creators even more flexibility. To achieve this goal, Snapmaker adopted CAN (Controlled Area Network) bus expansion, a technology that allows microcontrollers to ping information without the need for a wired connection. This enables Snapmaker to add new features to the Snapmaker 2.0 with just software – no hardware upgrades necessary. Snapmaker 2.0 is the first 3D printer using the CAN bus protocol.

The Snapmaker 2.0 garnered the attention of thousands of backers on Kickstarter by combining a 3-in-1 functionality, top-notch manufacturing, and an affordable price point. Key features include:

  • Improved 3-in-1 capabilities for 3D printing, laser engraving and cutting, and CNC carving
  • Compatibility with dozens of everyday materials such as leather and food items, to popular 3D printing materials like wooden PLA
  • A modular design so users can easily and quickly change between modes and set up the product in just 10 minutes
  • High quality metal construction with aerospace-grade aluminum alloys
  • A large workspace with each model of different sizes so you can make large projects or multiple smaller objects at once
  • Intuitive touchscreen and software to control the printers, and also select and preview your projects
  • CAN bus protocol for future upgrades means Snapmaker 2.0 buyers can take advantage of future upgrades via software downloads

“Since their first campaign on Kickstarter, Snapmaker has had a deep focus on building a true community with their backers from the ground up,” said Heather Corcoran, Director of Design and Technology, Kickstarter. “That community clearly came out in force to help them break this record. The best part about it is that the product is such a powerful creative tool – those thousands of backers will in turn bring a whole new wave of ideas and inventions to life using Snapmaker 2.0. When you’re building tools like this alongside a community, the potential for impact is kind of exponential. We can’t wait to see what all these backers are going to make with Snapmaker 2.0.”

“The Snapmaker team has been blown away by the public response to the Snapmaker 2.0 so far,” said Daniel Chen, CEO, Snapmaker. “We were proud to see that not only was the Snapmaker 2.0 the fastest Kickstarter campaign to ever reach $1 million in just seven minutes, but we finished our campaign with another record, becoming the most funded technology project on the platform. We are excited to start accepting pre-orders on our own website, expanding the reach of the Snapmaker 2.0 even further.”

Snapmaker 2.0 Technical Specifications:

About Snapmaker

Snapmaker is a tech startup team of passionate engineers and designers with working experience in the fields of aviation, robotics, and 3D printing. Snapmaker creates products designed to bring innovative technology into daily life. It focuses particularly on the 3D printing technology, starting with the Snapmaker 3D Printer — the all-metal and all-in-one 3D printer that can do more at a lower cost. Snapmaker is dedicated to creating a set of modules to allow everyone to build easy-to-use and budget-friendly fabrication machines.

For more information, visit snapmaker.com

Next-generation IoT wireless modules accelerate development

Posted on by mixos

Radio modules using STMicroelectronics’ STM32WB55 wireless microcontroller are available from Arrow Electronics. The Sharky modules were co-developed with Italian designer, Midatronics. By Caroline Hayes

The microcontroller integrates a 2.4GHz RF transceiver supporting Bluetooth 5 (including Bluetooth Low Energy), Thread, and ZigBee stacks. Its dual Arm Cortex-M core architecture enables real-time secure application performance running on the 64MHz Cortex-M4F core, and concurrently manages the radio subsystem and security tasks on the integrated but independent Cortex-M0+

The MDX-STWBP-01 and MDX-STWUP-R01 Shrarkypro modules have an on-board PCB antenna or a UFL connector, respectively, for attaching an external antenna. Balun circuitry for connecting the antenna is integrated in the microcontroller. There is also the MDX-STWBC-R01 and MDX-STWBW-R01 modules, with a choice of a chip antenna or no antenna, respectively.

The power-efficient modules draw 13nA in shutdown mode and 600nA in standby with the microcontroller real-time clock and RAM powered up. Receive sensitivity is -96dBm and RF output is programmable, with low active current at 4.5mA receive and transmitting at 0dBm.

For security, the microcontroller’s hardware-based encryption consists of public key authorisation (PKA) and random number generator (RNG), with customer key storage to keep keys hidden.

The modules are supplied with the RF (32MHz) and 32.7kHz crystals required by the microcontroller, already fitted. Developers can use ST’s STM32Cube development ecosystem, with configuration tools, middleware, and new extensions for the microcontroller, including peripheral drivers, connectivity libraries, and a monitoring tool for RF testing.

The Sharky modules measure 16mm x 27.25mm and the Sharkypro variants are 14.6mm x 23mm or 14.6mm x 14.6mm.

Open hardware SBC module based on AT91SAM9260 @200MHz with 128MB RAM

Posted on by mixos

The second installment in the embedded Linux hardware development learning exercise. The board is an updated version of the previous AT91RM9200_SBC. Detailed documentation and resources can be found in the docs and resources folders.

Note: the CPU comes in two variants, 208 pin PQFP and 217 pin BGA. The PFQP version is pin compatible with AT91SAM9XE. The BGA version is compatible with the improved AT91SAM9G20 and has its own board.

Features

  • CPU – AT91SAM9260 processor (ARM926EJ @ 200MHz)
  • RAM – 1Gb SDRAM max ( 3V3 and 1V8 types supported)
  • NVM – AT45DB dataflash for U-boot
  • microSD card slot
  • microUSB client interface
  • USB host breakout
  • RMII interface for Ethernet
  • standard Apollo.IoT expansion header

Resources

You can find all necesary information to build or evaluate the module here:

Current status and changelog

  • v1.1.0 sent to factory, expected to be ready for assembly and testing in mid June.
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