The Baby Orangutan is a complete control solution for small robots, all packed into a tiny 1.2" x 0.7" 24-pin DIP package. Its compact design eliminates bulkier components such as the LCD and switches while retaining the most essential features of the Orangutan robot controller line: a programmable ATmega48 or ATmega328P AVR microcontroller and a dual H-bridge for direct control of two DC motors. This integrated motor driver sets the Baby Orangutan B apart from similarly-sized microcontroller boards from other manufacturers. Two on-board indicator LEDs, a trimmer potentiometer, a 20 MHz resonator, and reverse battery protection round out the basic hardware features of the Baby Orangutan.

The removal of the larger Orangutan components also allows for a significantly improved manufacturing process that allows Pololu to offer the Baby Orangutan B at a very affordable price. Because the Orangutans are based on Atmel’s powerful AVR microcontrollers, the Orangutans deliver significantly higher performance than other similar controller boards. The availability of free development software, such as the Atmel Studio IDE and the WinAVR GCC C/C++ compiler, and low-cost programmers, such as the Pololu USB AVR programmer, make the Baby Orangutan B a truly outstanding value. We offer a combination deal that lets you save when you buy a USB AVR programmer with your Baby Orangutan

Features

• overall unit dimensions: 1.2" x 0.7"
• input voltage: 5-13.5 V (15 V absolute maximum)
• two bidirectional motor ports can deliver ~1 A continuous (3 A peak) per channel
• programmable 20 MHz Atmel ATmega48 AVR microcontroller (4 KB flash, 512 bytes SRAM, 256 bytes EEPROM) or Atmel ATmega328P AVR microcontroller (32 KB flash, 2 KB RAM, 1 KB EEPROM)
• 18 user I/O lines, 16 of which can be used for digital I/O and 8 of which can be used as analog input channels
• 1 user LED
• user potentiometer tied to ADC7
• 20 MHz external resonator
• pinout is compatible with the Orangutan SV-328, Orangutan LV-168, and 3pi robot, so the same code will generally work on all of these devices
• comprehensive user’s guide

ATmega48, ATmega168, and ATmega328 comparison

The Baby Orangutan B is available with either the ATmega48 or ATmega328P AVR microcontroller (the ATmega168 version has been discontinued). The main differences between the mega48 and mega328P are memory size, boot loader support, and interrupt vector size. The mega328 can also run at lower voltages than the mega48 and mega168 for frequencies below 10 MHz.