HydroBot: Prototyping New Modules

ProtoModule is a HydroBot module designed to easily develop and test new monitoring or control functions that may someday go into a HydroBot module. It has 11 GPIO pins and the power rails broken out on a 0.1” pin header for easy breadboarding or interfacing with ribbon cables. The provided pins give access to a variety of digital and analog I/O, as well as digital communication peripherals, to allow for many flexible design options.

ProtoModule Features:

• STM32F0 microcontroller
• 11 GPIO Pins
• 0.1″ Pin Header Breakout
• 3 LEDs to indicate device status
• 6-30V input works with 12V and 24V systems
• JST-PA series connectors
• Parallel bus connections for daisy-chaining
• Protofusion pogo programming interface
• Open source design

Since it is intended to be used as a development board, this module has no predefined behavior. The 11 GPIO pins were selected to provide a broad range of functionality and can be used as analog, digital, or frequency inputs, digital, or pwm outputs, SPI, I2C, or UART communication ports, timer/counter channels, and more. This flexibility enables interfacing with a variety of sensors and actuators, which will be useful in testing out new HydroBot features before integrating them into dedicated modules.

All source can be found in the HydroBot repository, including firmware source code and hardware files. The BOM and generated gerber files are also included for easy replication.

About Matthew Reed

Matthew is a computer engineer who enjoys designing hardware for embedded control systems. His hobbies include photography, gardening, coffee, and anything DIY.