The development of autonomous robots is greatly accelerated if software and hardware development occur in parallel. With the STEVAL-ROBKIT1, STMicroelectronics provides a starter kit intended for developers working on tracked vehicles.

After the smash success of the STEVAL-DRONE02, which enabled the design of drones, STMicroelectronics extended the product portfolio with the device shown below.

Sold under the SKU STEVAL-ROBKIT1, this kit provides a ready-to-run tracked vehicle along with several sensors and a high-performance compute core that can also handle autonomous driving and similar tasks.

Welcome to the Drive!

From a technical point of view, the STEVAL-ROBKIT1 consists of three PCBs along with a variety of ancillary features---the complete robot is shown in the figure below.

The most important board is the first one, which provides the computing intelligence required for running a robot. Its CPU is based on an STM32H725IGT6 microcontroller - its ARM core provides ample computing power for challenging situations.

The motor drive is also handled via a microcontroller. In this case, STMicroelectronics opts for an STM32G071CBT6, which has an Arm Cortex-M0+ core, ideally suited to controlling motor signals.

Finally, the board on the front contains both a camera and a time-of-flight sensor. The latter creates a Kinect-like environment map, enabling the robot to detect cliffs and other objects that might harm operations.

Easy to Assemble, Yet Fully Documented

STMicroelectronics intends the STEVAL-ROBKIT1 as a kickstarter for all kinds of robotic projects. Thus, the documentation found at https://www.st.com/resource/en/user_manual/um3457-getting-started-with-stevalrobkit1-stmicroelectronics.pdf contains the complete semantics of the board---the first revision of the actual robot can be started on a platform very similar to the one the software development team uses to prototype.

One interesting aspect involves the connection of the camera - the use of a deserializer chip is documented in the schematics, as shown in the figure below.

As for the actual motor, STMicroelectronics opted to use a DC motor---it reaches approximately 100 RPM in the kit at hand and can be run from a single lithium-ion cell. Of course, the documentation provides further information on the various components.

Bluetooth Interface for Robot Control

Just as in the case of the drone development kit, the STEVAL-ROBKIT1 provides an easy-to-use method for controlling the robot. In particular, STMicroelectronics uses a Bluetooth wireless module based on its venerable BLUENRG-M2SA module. It is connected to the main CPU and can send control information to smartphones, laptops, and similar machines.

Conclusion

If an embedded robotics design needs to start quickly, deploying the STEVAL-ROBKIT1 is an excellent choice. Users get a ready-to-run tracked robot, and the kit comes with full schematics, meaning hardware can be developed on a solid foundation. In short, it is a product that can significantly reduce the time to market for all kinds of robotic applications and, thus, logically deserves our fullest recommendation.