PCB Kicad

Nova Micromouse

The next generation of the Futura Micromouse.

Table of Contents

• About The Project
• What Is a Micromouse?
• Repository Structure
• Hardware / PCB Design
  • Major Components
  • Microcontroller
  • Power System
  • Motor Controller
  • Emitter System
  • Receiver System
  • IMU (Gyro)
  • Mode Indication System
  • Display
  • Routing & Layout
• Mechanical Design
• Firmware
• Getting Started
• Acknowledgements
• License
• Contact

About The Project

Nova is a maze-solving micromouse robot, built as a redesign and successor to an earlier build, the Futura Micromouse. The goal of the project is to design, fabricate, and program a small autonomous robot that can explore an unknown maze, build a map of it, and then run the shortest path from start to goal as fast as possible.

This repository currently hosts the electronics side of the project: a custom KiCad PCB that integrates the microcontroller, motor drivers, IR wall-detection sensors, IMU, power regulation, and status/UI hardware onto a single board designed to mount directly onto the mouse's chassis. Mechanical (CAD) design and firmware are in progress and will be added in due time.

What Is a Micromouse?

A micromouse is a small autonomous robot that is able to find the center and "solve" a maze of an unknown layout. Competitors are scored on the time of their fastest successful run, which makes micromouse as much an exercise in embedded systems, control theory, and PCB/mechanical design as it is in pathfinding algorithms. For more info, I would highly recommend this video: (Click the image to open in a new tab)

Repository Structure

Nova-Micromouse/
├── PCB_Kicad/                     # KiCad 10.0 project: schematics, PCB layout, libraries
│   ├── untitled.kicad_pro         # Project file
│   ├── untitled.kicad_sch         # Top-level schematic (hierarchical sheet)
│   ├── untitled.kicad_pcb         # PCB layout
│   ├── Micro_Controller.kicad_sch # STM32G4 MCU + programming header
│   ├── Power_System.kicad_sch     # Battery input, buck converter, LDO
│   ├── Motor_Controller.kicad_sch # DRV8876 H-bridge drive stages
│   ├── Emitter_System.kicad_sch   # IR LED emitters for wall sensing
│   ├── Receiver_System.kicad_sch  # IR phototransistor receivers
│   ├── gyro.kicad_sch             # IMU (ICM-42688-P)
│   ├── Mode_Indication_System.kicad_sch # Status LEDs + push buttons
│   └── Display.kicad_sch          # Display connector
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

Note: firmware/ and cad/ directories will be added as those parts of the project come online (see Roadmap / Status).

Hardware / PCB Design

Nova's electronics are laid out as a single hierarchical KiCad project (PCB_Kicad/untitled.kicad_pro), split into sub-sheets by subsystem so each part of the design — power, motor drive, sensing, control — can be reviewed and iterated on independently.

Major Components

Microcontroller

Nova is built around an STM32G474RE in an LQFP64 package, chosen for its combination of a fast Cortex-M4F core, hardware FPU, and rich set of timers/ADCs needed for closed-loop motor control and simultaneous IR sensor sampling.

Power System

Power comes from an onboard battery via a JST connector, protected and conditioned through:

• A TLV62130RGTR synchronous buck converter for the main logic/motor supply rail.
• A TPS7A20xx low-dropout regulator for a quiet analog rail feeding the IR receivers and IMU.

Motor Controller

Three DRV8876PWPR H-bridge motor drivers provide current-controlled drive to the mouse's motors, with current-sense feedback routed back to the MCU's ADC for closed-loop speed/torque control.

Emitter System

Five SFH 4545 infrared LEDs, switched by DMN3150L MOSFETs, are pulsed to illuminate the maze walls immediately around the mouse without saturating the receivers or wasting battery power.

Receiver System

Five TEFT 4300 phototransistors, arranged around the front and sides of the mouse, detect the IR light reflected off maze walls and feed an analog signal back to the MCU — the core of Nova's wall-detection system.

IMU (Gyro)

An ICM-42688-P 6-axis IMU provides yaw-rate and acceleration data, used for precise turn control and to detect wheel slip during high-speed runs.

Mode Indication System

A bank of 12 LEDs and 4 push buttons lets the mouse indicate its current state (e.g. searching, ready, error) and lets the operator select a run mode or maze configuration without needing a host PC connection.

Display

A 7-pin connector is broken out for an onboard display module (e.g. a small OLED), for showing maze-solving status and diagnostics on the mouse itself.

Routing & Layout

Mechanical Design

CAD design for the chassis, motor mounts, sensor mounts, and wheels has not yet been added to this repository.

Firmware

Firmware (STM32 HAL/FreeRTOS, sensor drivers, maze-solving algorithm, motor control loops) has not yet been added to this repository. This section will be filled in with build instructions and a source layout once firmware development begins.

Getting Started

To open and edit the hardware design:

1. Install KiCad (this project was created in KiCad 10.0).
2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/Nova-Micromouse.git

3. Open PCB_Kicad/untitled.kicad_pro in KiCad.
4. The schematic is hierarchical — open the top-level sheet and click into each sub-sheet (Power, Motor Controller, Emitter/Receiver, etc.) to view individual subsystems.

Acknowledgements

• Built as a successor to the Futura Micromouse
• Thank you to Green Ye for openly sharing his designs and documentation that make projects like this possible.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Contact

Christopher Awomolo — chrisjawomolo@gmail.com

Project Link: https://github.com//Nova-Micromouse