Introduction: Rokenbok-ArduinoRemote

Some notes before starting:

  • This tutorial is only for the old Rokenbok toy (1997 version i my case).
  • This will be a quick-and-dirty tutorial. Maybe I will expand/clean it when I have more time.

Intro:

I had to make a little project for school and tought about my old rokenbok toy.

So i came up with the idea to control it from a cortex-M3 using the default-remote connector.

As the cortex-M3 is not that user-friendly, I reworked the project afterwards to use the well known arduino boards.

PS:

  1. Sorry for my english. It's not my first language.
  2. Understand that using this tutorial is at your own risk! Don't blame others if you break something...

Step 1: Rokenbok Pinout & Protocol

The Rokenbok station only uses the 5 upper pins from it's connector.
The 4 lower pins are not connected.

I named those pins as follow:

  1. GND
  2. DATA
  3. Clock (CLK)
  4. Sync
  5. VCC (+5V)

If you are interested how the communication protocol works.

Look at the second image of this part (the one with the charts on it).

  • Each cycle starts with the sync pin being pulled low for a very short moment.
  • Following the sync there are 16 clock pulses.
  • If you put the data line high on pulse 5, then the car drives forward, pulse 6 = backwards, ...

Step 2: Arduino Pinout & Software

If you want to use my arduino code, remember to use the correct one.

Pinout for arduino Leonardo:

  • VccIn = 3 (I use this one to detect if the Rokenbok station is powerd on).
  • sync = 2
  • clk = 1
  • data = 0
  • GND = GND on arduino.

Pinout for arduino Mega:

  • VccIn = 18 (I use this one to detect if the Rokenbok station is powerd on).
  • sync = 19
  • clk = 20
  • data = 21
  • GND =
    (To use the same protoboard i configured A6 & A5 as digital pin LOW.)
    (     It is not possible to use the same pinout on the Mega as the TX/RX on pin 0 and 1 are used for usb communication.)

Attachments

Step 3: Windows Control Software:

To easly control the cars I have made a little form application.

For arduino Leonardo leave DTR & RTS checkbox enabled.
For arduino Mega disable them.

Select COM port and press connect. (The textbox should now show some information.)

Drive controls:

  • Steering: Z,S,D,Q (azerty keyboard, sorry). (To change this download visual studio and go to code line 50.)
  • Extras: X,Y,A,B = Numpad: 8, 2, 4, 6.
  • Select: Numpad: 0 (The ID number shown on the screen is probably not the correct one)!

BUGS:

  • Selected ID is not the correct one!

Attachments

Step 4: Video: