A 32 bit MCU as the STM32F101VB has plenty of internal resources (RAM, ROM, peripherals, etc.) useful to performs of the tasks needed to drive this kind of robot.

The LCD graphic display requires a lot of control I/O pins to be addressed and a lot of refresh RAM too to work smoothly. To save this precious resources from the MCU the designer decided to add the LCD driver HT1621v320 directly connected to it.

To control motors that require some power, the MCU must be interfaced with them trough H-bridges. This kind of device can be realized with discrete components or integrated in a single, simple to use chip. For this robot vacuum cleaner they decided to use the integrated power mosfets contained in the AP4511GM chip.

Each motor used in the cleaner must be controlled with a dedicated H-bridge. Here is the power mosfet used to drive the motor for the cleaning brush.

Another kind of power mosfet used to control a device that requires more current, the STD10PF06 device.

To remotely control the robot from any direction, even in an environment crowded with infrared rays because of the obstacle avoidance sensors and charging dock finder the designer decided to use a 2.4GHz radio system instead of the classical IR remote control as used in TV sets. A ready to use board, based on the A7105 2.4GHz FSK/GFSK Transceiver is connected to the MCU via the SPI bus.

Even in a completely digital system like this one, some analog signal has to be amplified, filtered conditioned. Maybe to measure some current flow or to adapt the level of some sensor, an ubiquitous Operational Amplifier like the LM124-n is very often needed.

To avoid problems with mechanical switches that can faults in a dirty environment, the control panel is realized with touch sensors.

On Rino robot one single LM298 integrated double H-bridge is enough to control both motors.

On Lino robot the 4 motors are controlled through four of the more powerful LMD18200 integrated H-bridges.

All the electronic issues of this kind of delicate input device are solved with a specialized integrated circuit like the touch sensors interface TCH601