WIRING: a low cost alternative to Arduino

I was using an Atmega32 based Arduino  clone for the low level hardware control of  my personal robot Chippu. But soon ran  into problems  as the code size increased and  the inbuilt RAM of 2kb overflowed often, and it caused the ROS node running on Arduino to go out of sync. Also I needed to drive about 16 servo motors , and my Arduino permitted only a maximum of 12.  So the only alternative was to go for a powerful Arduino Mega 2560.

Wiring Board V1.0

DIY CHEAPEST USB TO SERIAL CONVERTER

Missing a serial port (RS232) on your brand new power-packed laptop?, or just want to add an extra serial port to your pc for experimentation, due to the fear of burning the motherboard by sending wrong signals to the inbuilt serial port?. Here is the cheapest solution I have found out accidentally.

My home-made USB to Serial converter