Pololu Corporation Orangutan SVP User manual

Pololu Orangutan SVP
User's Guide
1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.a. Supported Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Contacting Pololu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. Schematic Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Module Pinout and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.a. Installing Windows Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.b. Using the Demo Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.c. Programming Your Orangutan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.d. Assembling the kit version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6. AVR Pin Assignment Table Sorted by Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7. AVR Pin Assignment Table Sorted by Pin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8. Using the USB Communication Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
9. Using the TTL Serial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
10. Motor Driver Truth Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
11. USB Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
12. Upgrading Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
13. Related Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
Page 1 of 37

1. Overview
The Orangutan SVP robot
controller [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1325] is a
complete control solution for small and medium-sized robots
running at 6 – 13.5 V. The module is designed around the
powerful Atmel ATmega324PA AVR microcontroller (32 KB
ash, 2 KB RAM, and 1 KB EEPROM) or ATmega1284P
(128 KB ash, 16 KB RAM, and 4 KB EEPROM) running at
20 MHz and features a full complement of peripheral
hardware to support robotics applications: dual motor drivers capable of delivering 2 A
continuous (6 peak) per channel, a demultiplexer for easy control of up to eight servos with a
single hardware PWM, a removable 16×2 character LCD with backlight, a user trimmer
potentiometer, a buzzer for simple sounds and music, three user pushbuttons, and two user
LEDs. The board also provides 21 free I/O lines, of which 12 can be used as analog inputs,
and two switching buck (step-down) voltage regulators—one for the 5V bus and one
adjustable from 2.5 V to 85% of VIN—each capable of supplying 3 A, which means there’s
plenty of room and power for adding sensors, servos, and other peripherals.
In addition to the user-programmable AVR microcontroller, the Orangutan SVP features an
auxiliary PIC18F14K50 MCU that supports the main processor and serves as an integrated
AVR ISP programmer, which means that no external programmer is required to use the
Orangutan SVP. This auxiliary processor provides a USB connection that allows direct
communication with a PC, and its rmware lets it perform several useful task in parallel
with the main microcontroller. For example, the auxiliary processor can read two quadrature
encoders without burdening the main MCU, or those same four inputs could be used as
additional analog inputs. The ATmega324 or ATmega1284 can read data from the auxiliary
MCU over SPI. A USB A to mini-B cable [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/130] is
included with the Orangutan SVP.
Because the Orangutan SVP gives the user direct access to the AVR microcontroller, it
is compatible with all development software for Atmel’s AVR microcontrollers, including
Atmel’s free AVR Studio [http://www.atmel.com/avrstudio/] and the
WinAVR [http://winavr.sourceforge.net/] GCC C/C++ compiler. We provide an extensive set of
software libraries [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J20] that make it easy to interface with all
of the integrated hardware, including the auxiliary microcontroller. Using these libraries,
it takes just a few simple lines of code to write to the LCD, read button presses, drive
motors, and control servos. These libraries come with a number of sample programs that
demonstrate how to use the various components on the Orangutan SVP.
Specications & On-Board Hardware
• Overall unit dimensions: 3.70" × 2.20"
• Input voltage: 6 – 13.5 V
• Programmable 20 MHz Atmel ATmega324PA AVR microcontroller with 32 KB ash,
2 KB SRAM, and 1 KB EEPROM *
• Programmable 20 MHz Atmel ATmega1284P AVR microcontroller with 128 KB ash,
16 KB RAM, and 4 KB EEPROM *(SVP-1284 version)
• Built-in USB AVR ISP programmer (USB A to mini-B
cable [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/130] included)
• 2 bidirectional motor ports (2 A continuous per channel, 6 A maximum per channel)
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
1. Overview Page 2 of 37

• 8-output demultiplexer tied to one of the AVR’s hardware PWMs for easy control of
up to 8 servos
• 21 free I/O lines
◦ 17 free I/O lines on the main MCU, of which 8 can be analog inputs
◦ 4 input lines on the auxiliary processor, which can be either 4 analog inputs or
dual quadrature encoder inputs
◦ 2 hardware UARTs
• Removable 16-character × 2-line LCD with backlight
• Primary 5V switching regulator capable of supplying 3 A
• Secondary adjustable (2.5 V – 85% of VIN) buck (step-down) voltage regulator
capable of supplying 3 A
• Buzzer tied to one of the AVR’s hardware PWMs
• 3 user pushbutton switches
• 2 user LEDs
• Power (push-on/push-o) and reset pushbutton switches
• Power circuit makes it easy to add extra power buttons and provides a self-shutdown
option
• Auxiliary processor (connected via SPI) provides:
◦ Battery voltage reading
◦ User trimmer potentiometer reading
◦ Integrated USB connection
◦ In-System-Programming of the main processor
◦ Ability to read two quadrature encoders
Orangutan SVP kit. Orangutan SVP fully assembled.
For a Spanish version of this document, please see Orangutan SVP Guia de
Usuario [http://www.pololu.com/le/download/OrangutanSVPGuiaUsuario.pdf?le_id=0J328]
(1725k pdf) (provided by customer Jaume B.).
1.a. Supported Operating Systems
The Orangutan SVP’s USB connection works under Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista,
Windows 7, and Linux. The Orangutan SVP’s USB connection can be used to program the
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
1. Overview Page 3 of 37

AVR, communicate directly with the AVR from a computer, or communicate with TTL-level
serial devices from a computer.
Under Linux, the three virtual COM ports created by the SVP should appear as devices with
names like /dev/ttyACM0, /dev/ttyACM1, and /dev/ttyACM2 (the numbers depends on how
many other ACM devices you have plugged in) and you can use any terminal program (such
as kermit) to send and receive bytes on those ports.
The Orangutan SVP’s USB connection is not compatible with any version of Mac OS.
Note: You may not need to use the Orangutan SVP’s USB connection. If you have
an AVR ISP programmer, then you can program the AVR on the Orangutan SVP
by connecting your programmer to the 6-pin AVR ISP header located near the
SVP’s USB connector. In that case, the operating system of your computer does not
matter, as long as your programmer works.
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
1. Overview Page 4 of 37

2. Contacting Pololu
You can check the Orangutan SVP-324 robot controller
page [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1325] or Orangutan SVP-1284 robot controller
page [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1327] for additional information, including
pictures, example code, and application notes. You can also nd libraries for interacting
with the on-board hardware and an assortment of sample code in the Pololu AVR
Library [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J20].
We would be delighted to hear from you about any of your projects and about your
experience with the Orangutan Robot controllers. You can contact
us [http://www.pololu.com/contact] directly or post on our forum [http://forum.pololu.com/]. Tell
us what we did well, what we could improve, what you would like to see in the future, or
anything else you would like to say!
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
2. Contacting Pololu Page 5 of 37

3. Schematic Diagrams
Schematic diagrams of the Orangutan SVP are available here: Orangutan SVP schematic
diagram [http://www.pololu.com/le/download/org06a02_schematic.pdf?le_id=0J265] (99k pdf)
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
3. Schematic Diagrams Page 6 of 37

4. Module Pinout and Components
sThe Orangutan SVP contains a programmable AVR ATmega324PA or ATmega1284P
microcontroller connected to two motor drivers for direct control of two DC motors, a 16×2
character LCD, a buzzer, three user pushbuttons, two user LEDs, and a demultiplexer for
servo control. The AVR is also connected to an auxiliary processor (a PIC18F14K50) that
provides access to the battery voltage, a 10 kilo-ohm user trimmer potentiometer, and four
additional input lines. The auxiliary processor also serves as a programmer for the main
processor, meaning that an external programmer is not required, but you can use one if you
want to. The auxiliary processor also allows for USB communication between the AVR and a
personal computer, and acts as a USB-to-serial converter.
These and the rest of the main features of the module are labeled in the pictures above. Most
of the connection points are also indicated on the silkscreen on the back side of the PCB, as
shown below. The overall unit dimensions are 3.7” × 2.2”, and four 0.086” mounting holes,
suitable for #2 screws, are located 0.1” from the corners of the board.
Orangutan SVP fully assembled PCB with pins labeled.
Power & Motor Connections
The power and motor connections are in the lower-right corner of the unit. The Orangutan
SVP’s input voltage (VBAT) should be 6 – 13.5 V, from which the on-board regulator
generates the 5 V supply (VCC) that is used to power the logic.
The Orangutan SVP has one TB6612FNG motor driver for each motor output. Each motor
driver can deliver a continuous 2 A, and can briey deliver up to 6 A. If you are not
taking extra steps to keep the motor driver cool, such as using a heat sink, exceeding this
continuous current rating for too long will cause the motor driver to heat up and trigger its
built-in thermal shutdown.
By default, the motor drivers are powered from the external power supply (VBAT). However,
you can disconnect the external power supply from the motor drivers by cutting the labeled
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4. Module Pinout and Components Page 7 of 37

traces on the bottom of the board (VBAT-VM1 and VBAT-VM2). This allows you to connect
some other power supply to the motor drivers, such as VADJ (see below). The motor drivers
have an operating range of 4.5 – 13.5 V, so your power supply should be in that range, and
should be capable of supplying all the current that your motors might draw.
USB Power
When connected to a computer, the USB connection provides a 5 V power supply. If an
external power supply is present, the unit will run o of the external supply and not draw any
power from USB. If only the USB power is present, then by default the auxiliary processor
will be powered from USB, but the AVR and the VCC power pins on the board will not be
powered. An option is available for powering the entire board from USB. See Section 11 for
more information.
Motors
The motor drivers are controlled by two of the AVR’s hardware PWM outputs from eight-
bit Timer2 for speed control, along with two digital outputs for direction control. This lets
you achieve variable motor speeds using hardware PWMs rather than processor-intensive
software PWMs on the motor control lines. You can control the motors using the functions
in the OrangutanMotors [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J18/7] section of the Pololu AVR C/C++
Library.
For each motor, the Orangutan SVP has a current-sensing circuit that produces an output
voltage proportional to the current the motors are using (850 mV/A). The respective outputs
of these circuits are labeled CS1 and CS2, and they are accessible near the center of the
board.
User I/O & Power Outputs
Sixteen user I/O lines can be accessed via the four 4×3 0.100” female headers along the
lower edger of the board, as shown below. Each I/O line has associated power and ground
connections for easy connections to sensors: the exterior (bottom) pin is ground, the middle
pin is power, and the interior (top) pin is signal and connects directly to an AVR I/O line.
For each four-pin bank of I/O lines, you can congure which power voltage is supplied to the
power (middle) pins. By default, the power pins are connected to VCC (5 V). You can cut a
trace on the bottom of the board to disconnect them from VCC. This will leave the power
pins connected to one through-hole, which can be connected to a dierent power source,
such as VBAT, which is available elsewhere on the board.
The total current available on the VCC (5 V) line is 3 A, meaning you can power servos and
other high-power peripherals directly from your regulated voltage.
LCD
The Orangutan SVP is supplied with a removable 16×2 character LCD with backlight
that uses the common HD44780 parallel interface [http://www.pololu.com/le/download/
DMC50448N-AAE-AD.pdf?le_id=0J71] (109k pdf). A dierent LCD can be connected with an
appropriate cable. The AVR has four I/O lines connected to LCD data lines DB4 – DB7 (i.e.
is congured to use the LCD in 4-bit mode) and three I/O lines connected to the three LCD
control lines RS, R/W, and E. Please note that the LCD data lines are also shared by the user
pushbuttons and the green user LED. You can print to the LCD using the functions in the
OrangutanLCD [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J18/5] section of the Pololu AVR C/C++ Library.
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4. Module Pinout and Components Page 8 of 37

The LCD’s backlight can be turned o by driving the BACKLIGHT line low. Adjustable
dimming of the LCD can be achieved by connecting the line to a free PWM output.
The AVR’s AREF pin is available next to the backlight pin.
Pushbuttons
The Orangutan SVP has ve total pushbuttons: a power on/o button located on the right
side of the bottom edge of the board, a reset button located on the left side of the top edge
of the board, and three user pushbuttons located along the left edge of the board. Please
note that the power button disconnects the external power supply from the entire board,
while the reset button connects directly to the AVR’s RESET pin and does not disconnect the
power supply.
The user pushbuttons, from top to bottom, are on pins PC5, PC3, and PC2. Pressing one
of these buttons pulls the associated I/O pin to ground through a resistor. You can detect
button pushes using the functions in the OrangutanPushbuttons [http://www.pololu.com/docs/
0J18/8] section of the Pololu AVR C/C++ Library. The library takes care of conguring the
pins as inputs, enabling the AVR’s internal pull-up resistors, and debouncing (accounting for
the fact that pushbuttons physically bounce when pressed).
Buzzer
The Orangutan SVP comes with a buzzer controlled by pin PD4. If you alternate between
driving the buzzer pin high and low at a given frequency, the buzzer will produce sound
at that frequency. You can use the functions in the
OrangutanBuzzer [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J18/3] section of the Pololu AVR C/C++
Library to play notes in the background (using hardware PWM) while the rest of your
processor performs other tasks.
Trimpot
The Orangutan SVP comes with a 10 kilo-ohm user trimmer potentiometer, located between
the USB connector and the LCD connector. The trimpot is connected to the auxiliary
processor, which measures its output voltage and reports it to the AVR.
You can disconnect the trimpot from the auxiliary processor by cutting the labeled trace
between POT and ADC/SS on the bottom side of the board. This gives you two options for
that line: you can use it as a general-purpose analog input by connecting some other output
to it, or you can connect it to one of your AVR’s free I/O lines and use it as the SPI slave-
select line for the auxiliary processor, allowing you to communicate with some other SPI
peripheral.
Programming Connector
The Orangutan SVP has a 6-pin programming connector on the upper left side. This gives
you the option of using an AVR ISP in-system programmer from Atmel or a compatible
programmer, such as our Pololu USB AVR Programmer [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/
product/1300] to program the AVR. This is not necessary, though, because the Orangutan
SVP’s auxiliary processor can serve as an AVR ISP programmer for the AVR.
By default, pin 5 of the Programming connector, which is labeled by an asterisk (*), is
connected to the AVR’s RESET line, which is necessary for ISP programming by an external
device). However, you can disconnect those two pins by cutting a labeled trace on the
bottom of the circuit board. This gives you the option of using that line for some other signal.
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
4. Module Pinout and Components Page 9 of 37

Auxiliary I/O & Power Outputs
The Orangutan SVP has ve auxiliary I/O lines that are connected to the auxiliary processor.
Each I/O line has associated power and ground connections for easy connections to sensors:
the exterior (top) pin is ground, the middle pin is power (VCC), and the interior (bottom)
pin is signal and connects directly to an auxiliary processor I/O line. The TX line is the
serial transmit line. It transmits TTL-level serial bytes received from the computer on the
“Pololu Orangutan SVP TTL Serial Port”. The lines A,B,C, and D/RX can be congured
to do dierent things. They can function as three analog inputs plus a serial receive
line, as four analog inputs, or as the inputs for two quadrature encoders. See the
OrangutanSVP [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J18/12] section of the Pololu AVR C/C++ Library
for more information.
Servo Demultiplexer
The hardware in the upper-right corner of the Orangutan SVP allows you to control up
to 8 servos without sacricing a large number of I/O lines or processor cycles. You can
control servos using the functions in the OrangutanServos [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J18/
10] section of the Pololu USB AVR C/C++ library.
The input signal of the demultiplexer is connected to pin PD5 on the AVR. If you are not
using PD5 to control servos, you can use it as a general-purpose digital I/O line or PWM
output.
The three output-selection pins of the multiplexer (SA,SB, and SC) are available in the
header near the multiplexer so they can be wired to free I/O lines on the AVR, allowing you
to switch between servos. The output-selection pins have pull-down resistors, so if you have
four servos or fewer you can leave some of them disconnected.
The eight output pins of the multiplexer are available in two 4×3 headers. These lines have
current-limiting resistors on them. Each multiplexer output line has associated power and
ground connections for easy connections to the servos: the exterior (top) pin is ground, the
middle pin is power. For each bank of servos, you can congure which power supply is
connected to the power pins, using the provided headers and jumpers. You can power the
servos from VCC, VADJ (see below), or a separate power supply.
Orangutan SVP with key integrated hardware labeled.
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4. Module Pinout and Components Page 10 of 37

Adjustable Voltage (VADJ)
In addition to the 5 V regulator that supplies VCC, the Orangutan SVP comes with an
adjustable voltage regulator. Both regulators can supply a current of 3 A. The adjustable
voltage regulator draws current from the external power supply (VBAT), and produces an
output voltage called VADJ. The trimmer potentiometer in the upper right corner of the
board determines VADJ. If you turn the trimpot all the way counter-clockwise, VADJ goes
down to about 2.5 V. If you turn it all the way clockwise, VADJ rises to 85% of VIN.
In general, it is advantageous to power servos and other high-power devices from VADJ
(instead of VCC), because if the peripherals draw too much current for the power supply to
handle the AVR will not be aected.
LEDs
Orangutan SVP LEDs.
The Orangutan SVP comes with 9 LEDs:
• A blue power LED is located next to the power button.
• There are four motor indicator LEDs located near the motor outputs. A green LED lit
indicates that the corresponding motor is being driven “forward” (the voltage on output
B is higher than the voltage on A). A red LED indicates that the corresponding motor is
being driven in “reverse” (the voltage on output B is lower than the voltage on output
A).
• A red user LED is located near the AVR I/O banks. The LED is connected to the
user I/O line PD1. It will light if you set PD1 as a low output. Since PD1 is the serial
transmit line for UART0 (TXD0), the LED will icker whenever serial data is being
transmitted from the AVR. The LED can be disconnected from PD1 by cutting a labeled
trace (PD1-LED) on the bottom of the board.
• A green user LED is located between the trimpot and the buzzer. It will light if you
set PC4 as a high output. Note that PC4 is also used as an LCD data line, so you will see
the green LED icker when you update the LCD.
• Another green LED is located near the USB connector. This LED is controlled by the
auxiliary processor and indicates the status of the USB connection. When the USB is
disconnected, or the device is in the USB Suspend state (because the computer went to
sleep), the green LED is o. When you connect the device to a computer via USB, the
green LED will start blinking slowly. The blinking continues until it receives a particular
message from the computer indicating that the drivers are installed correctly. After the
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4. Module Pinout and Components Page 11 of 37

programmer gets this message, the green LED will be on, but it will icker briey when
there is USB activity.
• Another red LED is located near the header for the auxiliary processor’s TX line.
This LED is tied to the TX line, so it will icker whenever the auxiliary processor is
transmitting TTL-level serial bytes from the computer. This LED will also blink when the
auxiliary processor powers up to indicate bad startup conditions. Two blinks indicates
that a brown-out reset was triggered: the processor’s VDD dropped below 3.0 V. If this
happens to you, check your power connections and battery voltage, and make sure you
are not drawing too much power from the board.
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
4. Module Pinout and Components Page 12 of 37

5. Getting Started
5.a. Installing Windows Drivers
If you use Windows XP, you will need to have either
Service Pack 3 [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=68C48DAD-
BC34-40BE-8D85-6BB4F56F5110] or Hotx KB918365 [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/
918365] installed before installing the drivers for the Orangutan SVP.
Before you connect your Pololu Orangutan SVP robot controller to a computer running
Microsoft Windows, you must install its drivers:
1. Download the Pololu USB-to-serial driver for Windows [http://www.pololu.com/le/
download/pololu_usb_to_serial.inf?le_id=0J234] (4k inf)
2. Right click on pololu_usb_to_serial.inf and select “Install”.
4. After selecting “Install”, Windows will warn you that the driver has not been tested
by Microsoft and recommend that you stop the installation. Click “Continue Anyway”
(Windows XP) or “Install this driver software anyway” (Windows Vista).
Windows Vista users: After the INF le is installed, your computer should automatically
install the necessary drivers when you connect an Orangutan SVP, in which case no further
action from you is required.
Windows XP users: After the INF le is installed, follow steps 5-9 for each new Orangutan
SVP you connect to your computer.
5. Connect the device to your computer’s USB port. The Orangutan SVP shows up
as three devices in one so your XP computer will detect all three of those new
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5. Getting Started Page 13 of 37

devices and display the “Found New Hardware Wizard” three times. Each time
the “Found New Hardware Wizard” pops up, follow steps 6-9.
6. When the “Found New Hardware Wizard” is displayed, select “No, not this time” and
click “Next”.
7. On the second screen of the “Found New Hardware Wizard”, select “Install the
software automatically” and click “Next”.
8. Windows XP will warn you again that the driver has not been tested by Microsoft and
recommend that you stop the installation. Click “Continue Anyway”.
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5. Getting Started Page 14 of 37

9. When you have nished the “Found New Hardware Wizard”, click “Finish”. After
that, another wizard will pop up. You will see a total of three wizards when plugging in
the Orangutan SVP. Follow steps 6-9 for each wizard.
If you use Windows XP and experience problems installing the drivers, the cause of your
problems might be a bug in older versions of Microsoft’s usb-to-serial driver usbser.sys.
Versions of this driver prior to version 5.1.2600.2930 will not work with the Orangutan
SVP. You can check what version of this driver you have by looking in the “Details” tab
of the “Properties” window for C:\Windows\System32\drivers\usbser.sys. To get the xed
version of the driver, you will need to either install Service Pack 3 [http://www.microsoft.com/
downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=68C48DAD-BC34-40BE-8D85-6BB4F56F5110] or
Hotx KB918365 [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918365].
After installing the drivers, if you go to your computer’s Device Manager and expand
the “Ports (COM & LPT)” list, you should see three COM ports: Pololu Orangutan SVP
Programmer (Section 5.c), Pololu Orangutan SVP USB Communication Port (Section
8), and the Pololu Orangutan SVP TTL Serial Port (Section 9). In parentheses after
these names, you will see the name of the port (e.g. “COM5” or “COM6”).
Windows XP device manager showing the Pololu Orangutan SVP.
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5. Getting Started Page 15 of 37

Windows Vista device manager showing the Pololu Orangutan SVP.
Some software will not allow connection to higher COM port numbers. For example, AVR
Studio can only connect to COM1 through COM9. If you need to change the COM port
number assigned to one of the COM ports, you can do so using the Device Manager. Bring
up the properties dialog for the COM port and click the “Advanced…” button in the “Port
Settings” tab. From this dialog you can change the COM port assigned to your device.
5.b. Using the Demo Program
The Demo Program
The Orangutan ships with a demo program pre-loaded which demonstrates most of its
features and allows you to test that it is working correctly. When you rst turn on your
Orangutan, you should see the red user LED blinking about once per second. If you have
soldered a buzzer in to your SVP (or bought the assembled version), you will also hear
a beep. If you have connected an LCD, you will see the words “Pololu Orangutan SVP”,
then “Demo Program” appear, indicating that you are running the demo program. If you
see the blinking red LED but do not see any text on the LCD, you may need to adjust the
contrast potentiometer in the lower left corner of the board. When the program has started
successfully, press the Middle Button button (marked PC3 on the underside of the board)
to proceed to the main menu. Press the Top Button (marked PC5) or the Bottom Button
(marked PC2) to scroll forward or backward through the menu, and press the Middle
Button to make a selection or to exit one of the demos. There are nine demos accessible
from the menu:
1. Analog Inputs: This demo displays voltage readings from the Orangutan SVP’s 13
analog inputs as a bar graph. The inputs are in this order: PA7, PA6, PA5, PA4, PA3, PA2,
PA1, PA0, trimpot, A, B, C, D. You can press the top button to enable/disable the pull-up
resistors on PA0—PA7.
2. Battery Voltage: This demo displays the battery voltage in millivolts.
3. Digital Inputs: This demo displays the digital readings from some of the user-
accessible digital input lines. The pull-up resistors are enabled, so each line should read
1 if they are not connected to anything. If you connect a wire between one of these lines
and ground, you should see its reading go to zero (be careful not to cause a short circuit).
4. LEDs: Blinks the red and green user LEDs.
5. Trimpot: Displays the position of the user trimmer potentiometer, which is located
in the upper left corner of the board, as a number between 0 and 1023. While displaying
the value, this demo also blinks the LEDs and plays a note whose frequency is a
function of the current reading. It is easiest to turn the trimpot using a 2 mm at-head
screwdriver.
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5. Getting Started Page 16 of 37

6. Motors: Hold down the bottom or top buttons to run motors 1 or 2, respectively, or
hold down both buttons to run both motors simultaneously. The motors will gradually
ramp up to speed; in your own programs, you can switch them on much more suddenly.
Tap the bottom or top buttons to switch the corresponding motor to reverse (the button
name becomes lowercase if pressing it will drive the corresponding motor in reverse).
7. Music: Plays a song while scrolling a text display. This demonstrates the ability of
the Orangutan to play music in the background.
8. Timer: A simple stopwatch. Press the bottom button to start or stop the stopwatch
and the top button to reset. The stopwatch continues to count while you are exploring
the other demos.
9. USB: Demonstrates the USB connection between the Orangutan SVP and a
computer. Plug the Orangutan SVP in to USB. Any bytes you send on the Pololu
Orangutan SVP USB Communications Port (Section 8) will be displayed on the screen,
and echoed back to the computer so you can see them in your terminal program. The
red LED indicates the state of the DTR handshaking line, and the green LED indicates
the state of the RTS handshaking line.
The source code for the demo program is included with the Pololu AVR C/C++
Library [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J20]. After downloading and unpacking the library zip
le, the demo program can be found in the examples\atmega324p\svp-demo-program or
examples\atmega1284p\svp-demo-program directory, depending on whether you have the SVP-324
or SVP-1284.
5.c. Programming Your Orangutan
To program your Orangutan SVP’s on-board ATmega324 or ATmega1284 microcontroller,
you need a compiler and AVR ISP programming software.
1. Compiler: If you are running Windows, we recommend you download and install
WinAVR [http://winavr.sourceforge.net/]. WinAVR is a free, open-source suite of
development tools for the AVR family of microcontrollers, including the GNU C/C++
compiler for AVRs (avr-gcc). Please follow the installation instructions on WinAVR’s
sourceforge.net page.
To program your Orangutan under Linux, you need to install four software packages,
which can be downloaded from their respective websites. Under Ubuntu Linux, these
packages are provided in the “Universe” repository.
1. gcc-avr: the GNU C compiler, ported to the AVR architecture
2. avr-libc: a library giving access to special functions of the AVR
3. binutils-avr: tools for converting object code into hex les
4. avrdude: the software to drive the programmer
2. AVR ISP programming software: Atmel oers a free integrated development
environment (IDE) for programming AVRs called AVR Studio [http://www.atmel.com/
avrstudio/]. This software package works with the WinAVR C/C++ GCC compiler and
contains built-in support for AVR ISP programming. Please follow Atmel’s installation
instructions for AVR Studio. Another alternative is a free command-line programming
application called avrdude, which comes as part of the WinAVR package.
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5. Getting Started Page 17 of 37

As a rst test, we recommend you try to program your Orangutan with a simple program
that blinks the red user LED on pin PD1. Download the le below that corresponds to your
particular Orangutan SVP model:
• Orangutan SVP-324: BlinkLED_m324.zip [http://www.pololu.com/le/download/
BlinkLED_m324.zip?le_id=0J235] (7k zip)
• Orangutan SVP-1284: BlinkLED_m1284p.zip [http://www.pololu.com/le/download/
BlinkLED_m1284.zip?le_id=0J326] (8k zip)
In Linux , you can move the Makele from linux/ in to the top directory, compile using the
make command, and program using the make program command.
In Windows, you can use AVR Studio to program your Orangutan. Open the AVR Studio
Project by double clicking on BlinkLED.aps. Connect your Orangutan SVP to USB. Turn on
your Orangutan SVP using the power button (the blue LED must be on). In the Tools menu,
select Program AVR > Connect…. Select the AVRISP platform. Select the COM port of
the “Pololu Orangutan SVP Programmer” port as seen in your device manager in the “Ports
(COM & LPT)” list. Click the Connect… button. If AVR Studio successfully connects to the
Orangutan SVP’s programmer, it should bring up an STK500 dialog box. Under the Flash
section of this new dialog’s Program tab, navigate to the project’s hex le (which is created
in the default directory when you build the project). Make sure that your AVR is powered
(the blue power LED should be on). Now click the Program ash button. If everything has
worked correctly, you should see the Orangutan’s red user LED blinking around once per
second.
As a second step, we recommend you install the Pololu AVR C/C++
Library [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J20], which provides functions for interacting with all of
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5. Getting Started Page 18 of 37

Hardware included with the Orangutan SVP partial kit.
the Orangutan’s integrated hardware, including the auxiliary processor, and many demo
programs that show how to use these functions. For an overview of how to program your
SVP using the library, see Section 6.l of the Pololu AVR C/C++ Library User’s Guide. This
should make it easier for you to get started with your Orangutan.
For a more detailed account of how to get started using AVR Studio, including screenshots,
please see our Pololu USB AVR Programmer User’s Guide [http://www.pololu.com/docs/
0J36]. The user’s guide is specic to our USB AVR programmer, but much of the section
on using AVR Studio is relevant to using the Orangutan SVP’s built-in programmer. One
notable dierence, however, is that the Orangutan SVP’s built-in programmer ignores AVR
Studio’s ISP frequency parameter and always programs at 2 MHz. Also, the Orangutan
SVP’s programmer prevents you from setting any of the fuses controlling the AVR’s clock
settings. This is to prevent you from accidentally using an invalid clock setting and rendering
your AVR unprogrammable.
If you have an external AVR ISP programmer, then you can program the AVR on the
Orangutan SVP by connecting your programmer to the 6-pin AVR ISP header located near
the SVP’s USB connector.
5.d. Assembling the kit version
This section is a guide to the connection points where you will likely want to solder hardware
on to the kit version of the Orangutan SVP.
The Orangutan SVP kit version comes with these parts:
• Six 3×4 male header blocks
• Six 3×4 female header
blocks [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/
product/1034]
• One 3×7 male header block
• One 3×7 female header block
• Three 2-pin 3.5mm terminal blocks
• Five blue shorting
blocks [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/
product/968]
• Two 2×3 female header
blocks [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1023]
• One 2×3 shrouded box header [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/854]
• One 2×8 shrouded box header [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/898]
• One buzzer
• Five pushbuttons
• One 2×20 breakaway male header [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/966]
• One 1×20 breakaway male header [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/965]
• Five 1×2 female header blocks [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1012]
• Two single-pin female headers
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5. Getting Started Page 19 of 37

The labeled photo below shows possible locations for installing these parts:
Orangutan SVP kit PCB showing possible locations for included buzzer, pushbuttons, headers, and
terminal blocks.
1. Power button
To turn on your the AVR, you need to connect a power button (or a jumper at location 11).
The Orangutan SVP PCB has two parallel sets of holes for the power button. You can solder
a pushbutton between the wider set of holes, and/or you can make your own connection to
the narrower of holes using an included 1×2 header or direct soldering. If the Orangutan is
not easily accessible inside your robot, this allows you to install a momentary power switch
in a more convenient location.
2. Power input
There are two parallel connection points provided for the 6–13.5V power input. You can
install a 3.5mm terminal block on the large holes to accommodate large wires. You can
also install a 1×2 male header on the smaller holes and plug a battery
pack [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/54] directly in to it.
3. Motor outputs
You can install two 3.5mm terminal blocks to accommodate your motor leads.
4. User I/O blocks
The AVR user I/O pins are divided in to four blocks. The kit comes with enough 3×4 headers
so that you can choose for each block whether to make its pins female or male. You can also
mix the genders together within one block using the other included headers.
5. Backlight and AREF header
If you want to be able to turn your LCD’s backlight o or use an external voltage reference
source, you may want to solder a 1x2 header on to this location.
6. LCD connector
The pins in the LCD connector area are arranged so that the AVR can control an LCD
using the standard 4-bit HD44780 protocol and optionally power an LCD backlight. On
the assembled (non-kit) version of the Orangutan SVP, we solder a 2×8 shrouded header
in to the 16 pins highlighted in the diagram. Then the 16×2 character LCD with
backlight [http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/772] (included with the assembled version,
but not the kit version) plugs in to the lower 7 rows of the connector, as well as the A
and K lines on the other side of the board. If you have a dierent kind of LCD, consult its
Pololu Orangutan SVP User's Guide © 2001–2010 Pololu Corporation
5. Getting Started Page 20 of 37