Atmel powers Black & Decker Gyro Screwdriver

A recent teardown by the Hacked Gadgets crew confirms that Black & Decker’s Gryo Screwdriver is powered by Atmel’s ATxmega16D4 microcontroller (MCU).

“Opening the unit was very simple since there are just 5 phillips screws holding the unit together,” writes Alan Parekh of Hacked Gadgets.

“The battery and circuit board are press fit into one half of the housing and all connection on the PCB have are connectorized which is quite nice. Looks like they wanted to keep it as modular as possible so they could service it easily. The microcontroller is Atmel’s ATxmega16D4, it has 16K of flash and 34 IO pins.”

According to Parekh, the dual axis Invernsense ISZ-650 gyroscope is tasked with position sensing. Meanwhile, four devices at the bottom of the rear of the board by the battery jack turned out to be 4899NF Power Mosfets, which are likely configured as an H-Bridge to run the motor.

“I think this device would make for a great remote operated motor for some DIY projects like a wire winder,” Parekh added. “You could mount the motor to the winding drum and mount the drill to anything. I am thinking one of those old ship speed controls.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out a fullreview of the Black and Decker Gryo Screwdriver here and additional teardown information here.