Red Box Robot Hookup Guide

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Contributors: Nick Poole
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Wiring the Motors

Now that our robot friend has a body (and maybe even a face) it's time to start wiring things together. To ease assembly, we'll be jumping everything together on a breadboard. Before we can do that, though, you'll need to solder headers to the RedStick and the Motor Driver Board. I won't cover that process here; if you're just getting started with soldering, then check out this tutorial. Once everything has headers attached, press the parts into your breadboard as pictured below. Pay close attention to how many rows are free on either side of the breadboard; you'll need them for the motor connections.

Parts placed on a breadboard

Having a hard time seeing the circuit? Click on the wiring diagram for a closer look.

Now that everything is in place, let's add jumper wires to complete our circuit. There's a spool of solid core wire included in your kit, which you'll cut into short lengths and strip on either end. We're going to make a lot of connections here, so the diagram might get messy. To make things easier to follow, I've broken it into stages. In case following a diagram isn't your flavor, I've put together a table that outlines all of the connections. You can find it at the end of this section.

Heads Up! I've colored the wiring in these diagrams to make them easier to follow. You only have one color of wire in your kit, but don't worry; the color doesn't matter.

wiring diagram

Having a hard time seeing the circuit? Click on the wiring diagram for a closer look.

A quick note about the connections above: the motors and battery pack come with wire leads attached, which you should be able to press directly into the breadboard without having to add your own wire.

wiring diagram

Having a hard time seeing the circuit? Click on the wiring diagram for a closer look.

Notice in the diagram above that there are two wires connected to the battery terminals on the RedStick. You may be tempted to connect these wires to VCC and GND instead, but don't do it! The battery connector actually passes through a booster circuit, so as your batteries drain, the RedStick won't power down prematurely.

wiring diagram

Having a hard time seeing the circuit? Click on the wiring diagram for a closer look.

Motor Driver Pin RedStick PinOther
VM Battery +Battery Pack +
VCC VCC
GND GND Battery Pack -
A01 Left Motor +
A02 Left Motor -
B01 Right Motor +
B02 Right Motor -
PWMA 10
AIN2 4
AIN1 2
STBY Any VCC connection
BIN1 5
BIN2 7
PWMB 6
A4 10mm LED Anode
GND 10mm LED Cathode