BEAMod Index

BEAMod -Modular building blocks for BEAM robotics

The BEAMod system is designed round a size and shape standard that allows boards to be tiled together by soldering the corners or stacked one on top of the other to form more complex designs and assemblies.

All the boards are based on squares 20 x 20 mm in size. Larger circuits are built on boards that increase in length or width in units of 20mm making boards that can be 20x40, 40x40, 40,80 etc. Each has a 2mm copper border pattern isolated from the rest of the PCB for making mechanical/structural connections and each corner has room for an M4 hole so you can screw them to things or stack them up.

Files are in PDF format, each is a single A4 page containing a large component layout diagram plus the track side so you can print it out onto a transparency (or get it photocopied) and produce the PCB. On some of the designs I've included single and multiples of the track side of the board tiled together so you can produce several at a time.

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Nv network PCB's
	74xxx240 Nv Plugboard 2.0 - 40x80mm - Designed for easy experimentation with Nv neurons using strip sockets or 14 pin DIL sockets so you can plug in various components to create different configurations. Based on the 74240 IC this board provides 8 Nv neurons with status LED's aranged visually as four bicores that can be either grounded or suspended. Just completed but yet to be fully tested - an earlier version was tested sucessfully and this one only has minor changes so it should work fine.
	74xxx14 Nv Plugboard 1.0 - 40x40mm - Designed for easy experimentation with Nv neurons using strip sockets so you can plug in various components to create different configurations. Based on the 7414 IC this board provides 6 Nv neurons with status LED's.
	Phototropic Bicore 1.0 - 20x40mm - For maing light tracking heads using the 74240 IC directly driving a motor.
Almost Complete Bots
NEW!	SHOK Popper/Head 1.0 - 20x60mm - Can be used to make a Photopopper style Bot or a light tracking head - Needs the Miller SE.
Motor drivers and reversers
	74240 Motor driver 1.0 - 20x40mm - Uses one 74240 IC to control a motor. Can be driven directly from a Bicore.
	74240 Bicore and motor driver 'Motor Neuron' - 20x40mm - Similar to above but two of the inverters are available to use as a bicore and can be configured as grounded or suspended.
	Servo board - 6 transistor H-Bridge - 20x40mm (Approx) - A replacement board for the Tower Hobbies Servo using the six transistor H-Bridge. Currently untested
	IC Servo board - 20x40mm (Approx) - A replacement PCB for the Tower Hobbies servo that makes use of the IC from the origional servo PCB. Provides On/Off foreward and reverse controll but not speed control. Currently untested
	SMD six transistor H-Bridge - 20x20mm - A minature motor driver using SOT23 SMD transistors. Symetric and stackable so you can build up powerful controllers.
	SMD four transistor H-Bridge - 20x40mm - A motor driver using SOT223 SMD transistors. Probably yhe simplest h-bridge using only four components and designed for high currents.
	74240 reverser - 40x40mm - A standard reverser multiplexer for walking robots. Both enable lines are available with space for reverse timing components. Six inverters are available for reversing and the other two power status LED's Currently untested
Solar Engines and power supply / regulators
	1381 Solar Engine - 20x20mm - A compact 1381 SE, ideal for powering vibrobots, magbots, flagwavers etc, or use two together to make photovores. The PDF contains two versions, one with the BEAMod border at 20x20mm and one even smaller without.
	Dual 'Popper' 1381 solar Engine - 20x40mm - A photovore ready to go, just attach motors, solar cell, capacitor and sensors to make a bot.
	Miller Solar Engine - 20x20mm - A compact Miller SE, ideal for driving non inductive loads like Nv networks or the BEAM Sonics circuit. Currently untested
	1381 'Popperhead' - 40x40mm - Wilfs variation on the photovore that uses two solarengines to drive a single motor in either direction. Good for light tracking heads or use two to make a bi-directional photovore.
	Voltage Regulator - 20x40mm - Takes standard 78xx and 79xx voltage regulators.
Sound effects / processing
	BEAM Sonics 2.0 - 40x80mm - Listens for noises and replies with it's own - multi purpose board can accept Electret or dynamic mic and photodiode inputs and outputs to a Piezo element or a coil to drive magbots. Also includes a small prototyping array, isolating links and pin sockets at convenient points for interrupting or injecting signals. This is the latest version of the board and has not yet been tested.
	BEAM Sound effects - 40x40mm - Complex unpredictable sounds for your bot - interfaces with BEAM Sonics to respond to other noises.
Misc
	Plain Stripboard - 40x40 and 40x80 mm - Stripboard style aranged so you can fit IC's down the middle with positive and negative power rails at the top and bottom.