Electronic Components for BEAM Robots

B.E.A.M stands for Biology Electronics Aesthetics Mechanics. The founder of B.E.A.M robotic is none other than Dr.Mark Tilden. He chose the word BEAM to summarize the concept he thought were the most important in building a self guiding robot. You can find a lot more detail of BEAM robot by reading the following book:

JunkBots, Bugbots & Bots on Wheels by Dave Hrynkiw and Mark W. Tilden.




Anyway, I won’t be discussing what each letter mean, However I will be going through the important components used in building the BEAM robotic instead.

Apart from using the usual resistors and capacitors, below are the most commonly used transistors to build BEAM robot:

a) 2N3904 (NPN) or 2N3906 (PNP),
b) PN2222 (NPN) or 2N2907 (PNP)

Both of these transistors can drive some small DC Motors (we will be discussing the DC Motors later on). To fully utilize their usages, it’s important to read and understand the functionality of these transistors (by referring the Data Sheet supplied by the manufacturer of the transistor).

The other most useful and frequently used component is the integrated Circuit or IC. The project we plan to do later in building BEAM robots will use the following ICs:

a) 74(AC/ACT/H/HC/HCT/LC) 240 – Octal Buffer Inverter Chips.
b) 74(AC/ACT/H/HC/HCT/LC) 14 – Hex Schmitt Inverter Chips.
c) 74(AC/ACT/H/HC/HCT/LC) 245 – Octal Driver Chips.
d) 555 – Multipurpose Timer.
e) LM386 – Audio Power Amplifier.
f) LM 324 – Quadruple Operation Amplifier.
g) 7805 – Positive 5V Voltage Regulator.

Caution: Be very careful not to subject the above ICs directly to 9V battery, otherwise it may cause damage to the IC.

Again, it is advisable to read and understand the functions of each of the above ICs by reading their respective Data Sheet. You can search for electronic data sheets at http://www.cytron.com.my/

For now, let us start familiarize these components.