Improvement idea for master circuit board: Add circuit on master board to entering in flash mode

Electronics
1

I would like to contribute an modification idea to the master circuit board to make the master board flashing easier. This should hopefully replace the self-made WeMos flash adapter.

As described in "Flashing the firmware (master-board/README.md at master · open-dynamic-robot-initiative/master-board · GitHub), the esp chip needs the RST and GPIO-0 pins lowered to enter the flash mode. On the WeMos D1 mini board, this is done by two transistors shown here: https://escapequotes.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2020-02-10_12-06-36.jpg. This circuit could be directly implemented on a new generation of the solo’s master board. With this, it should be possible to program the master board without any additional hardware and just using the DTR and RTS pins from a standard usb-serial-connector.

I don’t know if this is feasible, so feel free to comment the idea. I am also not sure how to prevent the board with the proposed modification entering the flash mode when not intended.

2

Hi,

This is totally doable, but we will need to alter the PROG pinout and loose compatibility.

We could also include the usb/uart chip directly onto the masterboard and program it via USB if we manage to find enough room on the board.

The priority on the electronic design at the moment is the new version of the motor driver (GitHub - open-dynamic-robot-initiative/open-motor-driver-initiative at LAAS) and a power distribution and monitoring board to use batteries on our robot (GitHub - thomasfla/power-board: Power Management and distribution board for Open Dynamic Robot Initiative Robots)