Low-Cost Alternatives to Arduino for Radio Receiver and Servo Motor Control

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to improve my current setup for a project. Currently I have a radio receiver shield connected to my arduino and I have one servo motor connected to that. When the radio receives a signal, the arduino outputs an analog signal to the motor.

The problem with this setup is that I'm not even using the rest of the Arduino, so I feel like it's a waste and inefficient to use the Arduino. Is there any other product and/or something that I can build that will simplify and reduce the cost of this?

Thanks,
Jason

* PIC uController [www.microchip.com/pagehandler/en-us/products/picmicrocontrollers]
* PICAXE [www.picaxe.com/]
* BasicStamp [www.parallax.com/tabid/295/default.aspx]
* Other uController (I'm only familiar with the PIC but there are other -- perhaps _better_ ones out there).
* http://blog.thomnichols.org/2011/05/four-arduino-alternatives-you-should-try [haven't read it, but looks informative]

If you're not going to build your own board, then the question is simplified by what you can get that's ready to use and has an inexpensive programming interface. I'd look for simple kits, rather than pick a processor. A good library of routines, including a good debug monitor (in software or built into the processor) would be good.

I program in assembler because I often need a very simple and customized operating system to get what I need (optimized software so I can use a dumber and cheaper processors), That's somewhat important if you are building bunches, but not an issue in your case. You probably want to look for a good processor that comes with a higher level language you're comfortable with.

I design boards and build simple controllers so I pick a cheap and dirty processor that meets my requirements. I favor 8051's as I have been using Intel family micro's since the 70's so I'm real familiar with them, I have a big library, programming tools and they're cheap. I don't know that I'd use them if I started fresh.

I have used some PIC processors and dislike them. The very simple ones have an odd instruction set. If I remember correctly one of the simplest had a subtract instruction but not an add instruction. The larger ones are very configurable but that means you have to become quite familiar with them to write a simple program. I recently used a fairly high rent one for a customer. The processor manual was over 400 pages and poorly organized so I spent lots of time just searching through the manual to get the I/O right.

However, if you're just doing a single project, and don't have to build on it, I'd go with what you have.

A simple 12F675 will do the job with an h-bridge circuit connected to a 433mhz reciever All parts available from maplins The you can also controll the direction and speed using pwm out to your H_ bridge circuit

Coudnt be easier than that to be honest with you

Also, check out Linx and Lemos International

Thanks I'll definitely look into the 12F675. Looks promising!

Both seem pretty interesting. Thanks!

Perhaps I should consider building my own board? I'm really looking for the best way to reduce production costs on these.