Shield template

As previously mentioned, I have used a shield template as a starter board for both the Photovore and motor controller, this ensures that all the board headers line up and connect correctly. I generated the template from the Edgebot board.

The shields are composed of two six pin headers, one with 3 power connections; battery voltage (Typically between 5.6v and 6.4v), a ground connection - this connects to all required grounds on all levels, and a regulated 3.3v output, which is provided by the motor controller main module and can deliver up to 800ma. All other the header pins, nine in total, are used for signal transfers between boards, such as the upper left pins being used for logic interfacing with the Edgebot from the Photovore.

The headers are standard, 6-pin Arduino stackable headers therefore they are breadboard friendly with pin spacing of 0.1". Likewise, I have positioned the headers to be exactly 0.9" apart, thus meaning that you can plug the boards into a breadboard if you desired.

The template schematic connections

The bare template PCB

The latest shield template (v0.1 - works with all current shields) can be downloaded from Dropbox.