I'm working on a design for the NXP/mbed contest, and would appreciate a clarification:

Is it considered bad form to hack up enhance the mbed module by, say, adding a header to bring out some additional signals from the CPU?

Or should contest entrants stick to using a straight-from-the-factory mbed?

Thanks,

hb

I looked at the rules and could only find these relevant points:

The Project must use commercially available components only.
The object/executable code must be created with the mbed online “Cloud” compiler and must be able to be recreated by a third party.
[...]
Note: If the Participant uses an mbed NXP LPC1768 demonstration/development board, then the schematic only needs to show the connections to the board and any circuitry added by the Participant.
[...]
All Contest entries will be judged by the Contest Administrator and a panel of judges selected by the Contest Administrator on the following: technical merit, originality, usefulness, cost-effectiveness, and design optimization of the mbed NXP LPC1768 prototyping board with use of the mbed online “Cloud” compiler.

From the way I'm reading it, it can be a completely separate design as long as it runs the code compiled with the online compiler, though it seems you'll get extra points if you do use the module.

P.S. The winning entry of the Stellaris challenge a couple years ago (an oscilloscope) did make some modifications to the original board (LM3S811) to enable running from batteries. So I think there shouldn't be an issue with modifying mbed if it's necessary for the project.

Hexley,

Hacking up the mbed hardware is not a problem for the contest. As long as the hardware can be handled by the cloud compiler there's no issue.

John Gorsky
Circuit Cellar