Digilent Introduces New Line of Robotic Development Kits

Digilent has launched a new line of Robotic Development Kits (RDK) which provide the perfect starting point for those new to robotics, yet have the power to be used for advanced designs and applications as well. The new RDK line includes a basic kit, a line-sensor kit, and a remote control kit.

Functions and operations

The kits are each geared towards a different specialty, and each has downloadable assembly instructions and a demo project that make it easy to get a robot up and running quickly. The Basic Robotic Kit provides the components needed to build a simple autonomous robot. The Line Sensor kit can autonomously follow a line, and the Remote Control Kit provides the components need to build a wired remote control robot using an Ethernet cable.

Tools in the kit

Each kit pairs Digilent's powerful Cerebot™ 32MX4 microcontroller development board with a rugged steel platform and all the motors, wheels, sensors and development software needed to build a complete robot. Also, Digilent has a diverse line of peripheral modules (Pmods™) making it easy to  implement countless designs, from basic experiments to more advanced systems.

Microcontroller Development Board

The Cerebot™ 32MX4 features one of the new Microchip® PIC32™ microcontrollers. The PIC32 provides a 32-bit MIPS processor core operating at 80 MHz, 512K bytes of program FLASH and 32K
bytes of RAM memory and numerous peripheral devices, including a USB controller, timer/counters  and more. The board has numerous I/O connectors and power supply options, including USB power.
It also has a built-in programming and debug circuit compatible with the included Microchip MPLAB  development software.

Availability and Pricing

The Robotic Development Kit will be available on Digilent website in November and the list price of each kit is as below:

1. Basic robotic development kit (RDK-Basic): $149
2. Line sensor development kit (RDK-LineSensor): $159
3. Remote control development kit (RDK-Remote):$159