Date: 15/09/2009

Microchip's new PIC32 32-bit microcontroller with Digilent's robotics development kit

Microchip has made available of a new PIC32 32-bit microcontroller (MCU)-based on robotics development kit from Digilent. The kit can control up to eight servos and three DC motors using Digilent PMOD H-bridge modules and comes with a free version of Microchip's MPLAB C compiler for PIC32 and an integrated programming/debugging circuit that is compatible with the free MPLAB IDE.

The Digilent Cerebot 32MX4 Robotics Development Kit is tailored more for engineering students and robot building hobbyists.

The Cerebot 32MX4 board has numerous I/O connectors and power-supply options, including USB power, used for a variety of robotics applications. The onboard PIC32 MCU operates at 80 MHz, and features 512 Kbytes of FLASH program memory and 32 Kbytes of RAM memory, and numerous peripherals, such as a USB On-The-Go (OTG), host and device controller, timer/counters, serial-interface controllers, Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) and more. The board inside the kit features two push buttons, four LEDs, eight connectors for RC servos and nine connectors for the Digilent PMOD peripheral modules, including H-bridges, ADCs, and Digital-to-Analog Converters (DACs), speakers, switches, converters for easy connection to RS-232, servo motors and more.

"The Cerebot 32MX4 is an ideal robot-control platform, and is designed to work with Digilent's Robotic Starter kit," said Clint Cole, president of Digilent Inc. "It's our latest entry in the fast-growing robotics engineering education market."

"Microchip's collaboration with Digilent is instrumental to our growth in the robotics and academic marketplaces," said Mitch Little, Microchip's vice president of worldwide sales. "Given Microchip's commitment to education and the growing trend in robotics, the Cerebot 32MX4 kit is an ideal, cost-effective, high-performance solution for academia around the globe."

Price:
Cerebot 32MX4: Normally $79, the kit is being offered at a special price of $59 for a limited time
Availability: Now

For more details visit www.microchip.com