Qfix robot kits are an education tool for teaching

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

. They are used in

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s and

mechatronics Mechatronics engineering, also called mechatronics, is the synergistic integration of mechanical, electrical, and computer systems employing mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering and computer engineering, and also ...

training in companies. The robot kits are also used by hobby robot builders. The qfix kits are often found in the

RoboCup Junior RoboCup Junior (RCJ), sometimes stylised RobocupJunior, is a division of RoboCup, a not-for-profit robotics organisation. It focuses on education and aims to introduce the larger goals of the RoboCup project (creating robots) to primary and seconda ...

competition where soccer robots are built of the kit's components.

Mechanics

Lego mindstorms Lego Mindstorms (sometimes stylized as ''LEGO MINDSTORMS'') is a discontinued line of educational kits for building programmable robots based on Lego bricks. It was introduced on 1 September 1998 and discontinued on 31 December 2022. Mindstor ...

, it is a

robot kit A robot kit is a special construction kit for building robots, especially autonomous mobile robots. Toy robot kits are also supplied by several companies. They are mostly made of plastics elements like Lego Mindstorms, rero Reconfigurable Ro ...

consisting of mechanical parts, a controller, different

sensors A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...

and

actuators An actuator is a component of a machine that produces force, torque, or displacement, when an electrical, pneumatic or hydraulic input is supplied to it in a system (called an actuating system). The effect is usually produced in a controlled way. ...

, and a software environment to

program Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

the constructed robot. Unlike Lego, in qfix the mechanical parts are made of aluminium. Mechanical elements include bars and plates, mounts for motors and sensors, axes and wheels.

Electronics

The qfix controller boards consist of an Atmel AVR controller plus motor drivers, analog and digital input ports, LEDs, buttons, and an

I²C I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit; pronounced as "" or ""), alternatively known as I2C and IIC, is a synchronous, multi-master/multi-slave, single-ended, serial communication bus invented in 1980 by Philips Semiconductors (now NXP Semiconduct ...

bus. The bus is used to connect further PCBs like LCD display, stronger motor drivers or special sensors.

Software

The qfix kits come with the free C++ environment WinAVR for Atmel AVR controllers. Additionally, there is a C++ class library handling all qfix controller board functionalities. Programs can be downloaded to the controller boards via parallel or

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

link using the avrdude tool. Graphical programming is also supported by using qfix

GRAPE A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

(graphical programming environment). With this software, first a flowchart is designed and then the behavior of all flowchart elements is defined.

External links

RoboCup Junior

qfix robotics homepage

qfix Grape
Educational toys Robot kits Electronic toys Soccer robots {{Toy-stub