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:
- Sorry for my english. It's not my first language.
- 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:
- GND
- DATA
- Clock (CLK)
- Sync
- 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.)
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!