ASURO is a mobile mini-robot, completely programmable in C and especially developed for education at the German Aerospace Centre DLR, department for Robotics and Mechatronics. Assembly is easy for experienced electronic technicians and feasible for a novice. Except for the printed circuit boards (PCB) only standard parts for assembly will be used.

For programming we use freeware only. Therefore ASURO is exceptionally suitable as an introduction into processor-controlled hobby electronics, for projects in schools and universities, for studies and adult education centres. Special tools, which are freeware for private users, have been used for all electronic development phases and software design, proving how robots can be designed without
using expensive tools or machnes.

ASURO is equipped with a RISC-processor and two independently controlled motors, an optical linetracer, six collision-detector switches, two odometer-sensors, three optical displays and an infraredcommunication set for programming and remote control by a PC.

 A CD will be included including the user manual and software, examples.

Sample code:

http://home.planet.nl/~winko001/Asuro/Software/AsuSfwPagBod.htm

Use Arduino to Control it: 

 http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/Asurino

Bootloader:

http://home.planet.nl/~winko001/Asuro/Bootloader/AsuBtlPagFrm.htm

Visual programming:

http://www.arexx.com/arexx.php?cmd=goto&cparam=p_asuro_downloads

Download:

     Assembly and Operation Manual

Arduino and the Asuro Robot

http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/Asuro

Assembling the Robot

Start with the main robot PCB (the big board); you won't need the IR trasmitter for now. Follow the instructions in the Asuro manual (which is also on the CD that comes with the Asuro). A few notes:

• the oscillator (the little brown guy with three legs) has no polarity; you can put it in either way.

Replacing the ATmega8

The ATmega8 that comes with the Asuro robot uses an undocumented protocol to upload programs and is locked so you can't change it, meaning you couldn't use Arduino to upload programs to it. Fortunately, you can use the ATmega8 from any Arduino board instead. Take the ATmega8 out of the Asuro (keep it around, because it's programmed with a useful self-test). Pop the ATmega8 out of an Arduino board and place it in the Asuro (make sure it's the right way around).

Changing Arduino Preferences

Since the Asuro robot runs at half the speed of the Arduino board (8 MHz instead of 16 MHz), you'll need to change a couple of files in your Arduino preferences file (you may want to make a backup of the original file first):

• c:Documents and SettingsUSERNAMEApplication DataArduinopreferences.txt (Windows)
• /Home/USERNAME/Library/Arduino/preferences.txt (Mac OS X)
• ~/.arduino/preferences.txt or something similar (Linux)

Change: serial.download_rate from 19200 to 9600 and build.f_cpu from 16000000L to 8000000L.

You need to solder a couple of extra wires onto the Asuro to program it. The wires soldered to the adjacent pins go to the RX and TX on the Arduino board (pins 0 and 1). The other wire goes to ground on the Arduino board.