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Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 is an educational robot kit that can be used to easily create up to 10 different types of robots. An Arduino-compatible Mega 2560 MCU board serves as the main controller and there are over 550 mechanical parts and electronic modules. The robot can drive up to 4 encoder and stepping motors, control up to 10 servo motors to work simultaneously, and can also be connected to Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards for more complex projects.
The review/tutorial is fairly long, so if you are short on time, you can jump to different sections by clicking on some of the links below:
The Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 sells for $369.99 on the company’s online store. You can save $10 by using the coupon “save10”.
The chassis and other mechanical parts of the Ultimate 2.0 robot kit are made of high-strength aluminum alloy that’s lightweight, durable, and eye-pleasing. Other components in the kit include rubber wheels, rubber tracks, robot handles, motors, shafts, nuts, screws, and more with over 550 parts in the kit allowing users to create a variety of robots.
MegaPi is the main control board used with the Ultimate 2.0 robot kit and based on the Arduino MEGA 2560. I can be programmed with the Arduino IDE, and simultaneously connect up to 8 motors and various sensors. The MegaPi board can also take a wireless communication module to offer more connectivity options. No matter whether reading a sensor, communicating with a Raspberry Pi board, driving an Encoder, stepping motor, or servo motor the MegaPi controller board is suitable for building robots or other projects. It’s also possible to use the MegaPi board as a 3D printer controller as well.
MegaPi Encoder/DC Motor Driver V1 can drive two DC motors or one encoder motor. It can operate at up to 3A (5.5A peak current), includes over-voltage, over-current, and over-temperature protection, and connects to the MegaPi board through two 8-pin headers.
The “MegaPi Shield for RJ25” module adds Makeblock RJ25 ports to the MegaaPi controller to connect modules such as various detection sensors. The 63x25mm module operates at 5V and comes with 4 ports each with LEDs to make programming easier and more convenient.
The Bluetooth module is used for short-range wireless data transmission with computers and/or smartphones. It’s used as a communication interface for visual programming using Makeblock and mBlock. The Bluetooth 4.0 module support a range of up to 20-30 meters in open space, and can wirelessly control Ultimate 2.0 robots with a Bluetooth controller, your smartphone, or a computer.
The Ultimate 2.0 robot kit uses a holder with six AA batteries (1.5 volts) for power. Connected in series the batteries deliver 9V DC and the holder connects to the DC jack of the MegaPi board.
We will install the mBlock 5 IDE from Makeblock. It is a program used to write programs with various robots similar to Scratch but with the ability to connect to various microcontrollers. Let’s download it and install it on a Windows PC or Mac computer. mBlock is also available as a web-based version and a mobile app.
After the program has been successfully installed, we can start it and click on “Add” as shown in the screenshot below.
and select the Ultimate 2.0 “Device”.
We will get a new Device added to the mBlock IDE showing up as “Ultimate 2.0”. (If there is another Device, click “x” to delete it, and only keep one Device).
Programming the Ultimate 2.0 robot kit can be done with either drag-and-drop visual programming or Arduino C.
Now we’ll connect the USB cable to upload the code to the MegaPi board. Use a USB-A to USB-B cable to connect the computer to the MegaPi board.
We can now click on the “Connect” button at the bottom of the mBlock 5 program.
Now select a port to connect to the computer (it can be seen from the Device Manager in Windows), and click on “Connect”. That’s all, the MegaPi board is now connected to our computer.
There are 3 DC encoder motors included in the Ultimate 2.0 robot kit. Those are 25mm motors, rated at 9 volts, with two units with a gear ratio of 1:46 and a speed of 185 RPS (revolutions per second) and one unit with a gear ratio of 1:75 and a speed of 86 RPS.
Connect all three motor wires to the channel 1-3 connectors of the motor driver boards.
We’ll now make a test program to control all 3 motors so that they rotate clockwise with a speed of 50% for 5 seconds, after which all 3 motors turn counterclockwise at a -50% speed for 5 seconds, and so on in an infinite loop.
Me Ultrasonic Sensor module can measure distances from 3 cm up to 4m and is mostly used for obstacle avoidance. An Ultrasonic Sensor will use sound waves to detect objects. One “eye” will send a signal out, and the other “eye” will receive a signal after a period of time to determine what the distance is. It is the same principle that bats use.
To test the Me Ultrasonic Sensor, we’ve written a program that follows these conditions:
Here’s the code:
As its name implies, the Me Line Follower Sensor is designed to make line-following robots. It consists of two sensor blocks each with an infrared emitting LED and one infrared sensing phototransistor. The Me Line Follower module works both to follow a black line on a white background or a white line on a black background.
We’ve connected the Me Line Follower sensor to the RJ25 jack number 8.
Our program implements line-following as follows:
The Me 3-Axis Accelerometer and Gyro Sensor module enables the sensing of the robot’s movements and gestures. It includes a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis angular gyroscope, and a motion coprocessor. It connects to the MegaPi board over I2C, and is suitable for balancing robots and drones.
Again we’ll connect the module to the RJ25 channel-8 port for testing.
Our program reads the value from the axis from the Gyro Sensor and creates X, Y, and Z variables to store the values of each axis.
The Me RJ25 adapter module converts an RJ25 port to two 3-pin connectors (VCC, GND, S1, S2, SDA, and SCL) that enable MakeBlock ports to use common electronic modules such as a temperature smoke sensor or a small servo motor.
Before we can make use of the module, we need to add the “Maker’s Platform” add-on by clicking on “extension”.
Now select “Maker’s Platform” and click on “Add”.
The Maker’s Platform add-on will be installed giving us access to extra programming blocks.
We’ve plugged a servo motor into slot 1 of the Me RJ25 adapter and an RJ25 cable to channel 8 of the MegaPi Shield for RJ25.
The program does the following:
The Me Shutter is a special module used to remotely trigger DSLR cameras either to take photos or shoot videos at a specified time.
In order to test the Me Shutter, we will use an ultrasonic sensor plugged into port 8 and the Me Shutter plugged into port 6.
The test program works as follows:
Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 robot kit can also be programmed with a visual programming drag-and-drop app on your smartphone or tablet. The mBlock app can be installed from the Apple AppStore (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android).
After starting the app, click on “+” to add the Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 “Device”.
Switch on the robot and establish a wireless communication connection by tapping “Connect”.
After successfully connecting to the robot, you’ll be able to write a program just like on a computer.
We can control the robot using the mobile application on a smartphone, but we’ll first need to upload the Firmware to the robot. Open the mBlock5 program on your computer, connect a USB cable, and click on “Setting”.
At this point, the Device Firmware Updates window will appear, and you can click on “Updates”.
Then wait until the firmware update is complete.
Once completed, you can start the mobile application and select the Device “Ultimate 2.0”.
Now let’s select the “Play” section.
and waiting until your smartphone is connected to the Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 robot.
After that, the mobile app interface offers joystick control.
We can select the “Create” section to customize the joystick interface.
Now drag and drop the buttons as you like and give your joystick a name.
The Robot Arm Tank consists of a movable crawler frame and a robotic arm that can lift and lower. You can check out the assembly manual for all ten models of the Makeblock Ultimate 2.0 robot kit and download the Robotic Arm Tank sample code for mBlock 5.
Once the program is running you can control the robot using the Makeblock mobile app.
150w Wheel Chair Inwheel Motor That’s a mobile beverage-serving robot. The angle can be adjusted up and down so it can freely pour the drink into the glass and deliver a glass of drink to you. You can check out the aforementioned assembly manual and download the sample code for the mBlock 5 IDE.