DEV-13310 Datasheet, PDF (1/2 Pages) SparkFun Electronics – Ludus Protoshield

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SparkFun Ludus Protoshield
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Description: The SparkFun Ludus Protoshield is an Arduino compatible shield
designed to make connecting motors and sensors to your Arduino-based
development board as fast and easy as possible. Each Ludus shield has been
equipped with a small prototyping area for quick integration of Arduino projects
without the need of a separate breadboard. Simply assemble what you need in the
prototyping area, attach this shield to your Arduino, and you will be up and running in
no time. The SparkFun Ludus Protoshield was developed by our Education
department to help teach any interested individual the dynamics of motor control
through the Arduino IDE and was lovingly named after their very own mascot.
The heart of the Ludus ProtoShield is an H-Bridge Motor Driver. This allows the
ProtoShield to drive two DC motors at once in both directions and brake
electronically. The TB6612FNG H-Bridge Driver is rated up to 1.2A per channel at
13V which means it will drive a fair variety of hobby motors ranging in power. This
Ludus board also features PWR and GND rails alongside the GPIO pins. Not only
does this help you to avoid the common inconvenience of running out of GND and
PWR pins, but because the pins are arranged with PWR in the center, plugging in
servos is a snap! The PWR rail can even be switched between 5V (from the Arduino’s
voltage regulator) and Vin using the on board slide switches. These features make
the SparkFun Ludus Protoshield ideal for small rover-style robots.
This specific Ludus Protoshield includes an I²C header that has been laid out so that
you can plug in a device such as a magnetometer or a 9DOF sensor. With these
sensors it’s possible to set up a a nice a reliable navigation system.