Ultrasonic Custom 100mil Male Connector
Written by Zachary de Bruyn
Purpose
The 100-mil male connector was necessary in order to incorporate an accessory item, such as a sensor, to one of the 3DoT boards headers. The ideal connector would allow all projects within 400D to utilize a “universal” connector to implement for their respective projects.
Connector Elements
The utilization of a 100-mil male connector was only applicable to the 3DoT board which utilized female header pins as shown below.
Figure One – JP5 Header used for 3DoT board
The 3DoTX, which utilizes the SAMB11 MCU was designed using male header pins, seen here:
Figure Two – 3DoTX male header pins
Due to the two different header stles used for both boards, a “universal” connector pin could not be implemented to be utilized with a sensor, such as the VL6180X proximity sensor shown below. The pins utilized for the breakout board are male header pins, similar to what is shown in Figure Two.
Figure Three – VL6180 breakout board
Therefore, in order to implement a system that would allow the proximity sensor to be used for both the 3DoT and the 3DoTX, a set of female-to-female (f2f) jumpers will be implemented and attached to the proximity sensors male header pins. This will then be used to connect to the initial 3DoTX board, which again, utilizes male header pins in lieu of the female header pins.
Alternative Plan
The best case scenario is that the 3DoTX board performs its mission objectives without incident. However, if an occasion were to arise such as the new 3DoTX board being replaced by the heritage 3DoT board, then the replacement would be a simple “plug and play.” This would be done first by removing the 3DoTX board from the Pete-Bot chassis. Second, a spare set of male header pins will be inserted into the JP5 female header pins of the 3DoT board. Finally, the f2f jumper cable will then be inserted into the respective port. The heritage 3DoT board can then be easily inserted back into the bottom of the chassis, and the robot can then attempt to perform the objectives it was designed for.