Checkpoint 9: Waterproof your Arduino-UNO or Arudino-Mini

In a previous version of this class we used an Arudino-Mini microcontroller as the brains for our ROV. The advantages of the Mini was that it is less expensive, much smaller and still could do the same job. The disadvantage of the Mini was that it doesn’t have as many data ports and it is very easy to accidently destroy.

If you are feeling adventuresome and don’t have any major finals looking on the horizon, I will give you a Mini. All of your UNO programs can be transferred to the Mini and it will work in the same way.

The Arduino-Mini vs. the Arduino-Uno

Reversing the polarity of the supply voltage to the Mini is the most common way people have fried their Mini’s in the past – I thus strongly suggest that, before you do anything, you put a diode in on the power supply line to help protect against mistakes.

This term (Fall 2013) we also have supplies for you to make an AUV instead of an ROV. It might be fun to purchase a few extra motors and accelerometer so that your ROV can go up, down, forward, backward, right and left. If you want to be an ROV team developer, I might purchase some parts for you.