slap a hurking battery on the frame and your motors will do the rest. But your microcontroller (MCU) needs a much better power supply if you want decent performance. Here are some tips to keep your ‘bot and its brain happy. First, pick the right battery. For larger machines, where the battery is usually set deep inside the robot’s guts, choose a lead-acid gel-cell battery. They are cheap on the surplus market, take plenty of recharge cycles, and provide a fairly good power to weight ratio. Continue reading →