Robotics System Learning Kit Max
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The second generation of the Texas Instruments Robotics System Learning Kit brings dramatic improvements over the first one.
Both versions are part of the MOOC Systems Thinking with Texas Instruments Robotics System Learning Kit. The kit was sampled by Texas Instruments University. |
Hardware
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The kit comes in a big box, with all the component to build the robot.
Compared to the previous generation, the major update is the kit is now solder-less, while featuring the same set of sensors. The only safety measure consists on removing the +5V jumper on the MSP432 LaunchPad. |
Pins Maps
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There are four pins maps for the RSLK-MAX:
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Software
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As for the previous generation, the Energia-RSLK-Library provides a high-level interface for all components and brings basic examples for bumper switches, encoder motor and line follower.
The example for the Sharp GP2Y0A21IR distance sensor only needs a minor adaptation of the pins. |
My Own Experience
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Building the kit took me less than 15 minutes from start to finish. I followed the instructions from the TI-RSLK-MAX Kit Construction Guide and faced no difficulties in assembling the kit.
Then, I used the basic examples to test each component: bumper switches, encoder motors and line follower. When tested with macOS, the USB ports weren't correctly enumerated. Removing the additional +3.3V jumper on the MSP432 LaunchPad solved the issue. |
Conclusion
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This second generation is a welcome update of the Robotics System Learning Kit. Thanks to the solder-less design and the basic examples, the robot is up and running is 15 minutes.
The wire-less expansions for the robot include the BLE CC2650 BoosterPack and the WiFi CC3100 BoosterPack. However, only basic telemetry is possible. Using the moving robot with an USB cable isn't easy. Let's hope for an OTA implementation along the existing basic telemetry. |
Pros
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Cons
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Wrap-Up
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