The Orangutan SV-168 [http://www.pololu.com/product/1225], SV-328 [http://www.pololu.com/product/1227], and LV-168
[http://www.pololu.com/product/775] robot controllers are complete control solutions for small robots. These units all
have the same form-factor and nearly identical peripheral hardware with matching pin assignments. This makes the
versions interchangeable in most situations, and typically allows the same code to run on any controller.
Note: This guide refers to these controllers as “Orangutans” unless a distinction needs to be made
between the versions.
The Orangutan SV-168 and LV-168 are based on Atmel’s ATmega168 AVR microcontroller, which runs at 20 MHz
and features 16 Kbytes of flash program memory, 1024 bytes of SRAM, and 512 bytes of EEPROM. The Orangutan
SV-328 is based on the ATmega328P, which runs at 20 MHz and features twice the memory of the mega168:
32 Kbytes of flash program memory, 2048 Kbytes of SRAM, and 1024 bytes of EEPROM. The mega328 is
essentially a drop-in replacement of the mega168.
Because the user has direct access to the microcontroller, any development software for Atmel’s AVR
microcontrollers, including Atmel’s free AVR Studio [http://www.atmel.com/microsite/atmel_studio6/] and the WinAVR
[http://winavr.sourceforge.net] GCC C/C++ compiler, is compatible with the Orangutan. An in-circuit programmer, such
as our USB AVR programmer [http://www.pololu.com/product/1300], is required for programming the Orangutan. We
provide an extensive set of software libraries [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J20] that make it easy to interface with all
of the integrated hardware. These libraries come with a number of sample programs that demonstrate how to use
the various components on the Orangutan. These robot controllers are also compatible with the popular Arduino
development platform [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J17].
• buzzer tied to one of the mega168’s hardware PWMs
• 3 user pushbutton switches
• 2 user LEDs
• user potentiometer optionally jumpered to ADC7
Features Specific to the Orangutan LV-168
• An integrated step-up regulator allows for 2 – 5 V input voltage, making the LV-168 ideal for powering lowvoltage, high-current motors and 5V peripheral electronics from 2 – 4 NiMH cells.
• The discrete, low-voltage H-bridge can supply a continuous 2 A per motor channel (5 A maximum).
• A temperature sensor optionally connected to ADC6 gives limited feedback about board temperature.
Features Specific to the Orangutan SV-168 and SV-328
• An integrated 5V switching regulator can provide up to 3 A from an input voltage of 6 – 13.5 V, allowing you
to power servos and other high-power peripherals for which the battery voltage would be too high.
• The TB6612FNG dual motor driver can supply a continuous 1 A per motor channel (3 A maximum) and
supports ultrasonic PWM frequencies (up to 80 kHz).
• Battery voltage self-monitoring is optionally connected to ADC6 through a voltage divider.
You can check the Orangutan SV-328 robot controller page [http://www.pololu.com/product/1227] and Orangutan
LV-168 robot controller page [http://www.pololu.com/product/775] for additional information, including pictures,
example code, and application notes. You can also find a libraries for interacting with the on-board hardware and an
assortment of sample code in the Pololu AVR Library [http://www.pololu.com/docs/0J20].
We would be delighted to hear from you about any of your projects and about your experience with the Orangutan
Robot controllers. You can contact us [http://www.pololu.com/contact] directly or post on our forum
[http://forum.pololu.com/]. Tell us what we did well, what we could improve, what you would like to see in the future, or