Frequently Asked Questions

Who is icefisher designed for?
We aim to serve beginners and experienced hardware designers alike. The icefisher hardware builds onto the iCE ecosystem which offers open-source toolchains. Icestudio even offers a graphical design environment with visual drag-and-drop elements. No need to write even a single line of Verilog! There are endless options and we do not even know them all!

Does icefisher cost anything?
icefisher is free of charge, it is licensed as open hardware and open-source software.
That said, you may choose to purchase hardware from us to get started immediately. Other than that, we do appreciate any type of (financial) support.

Can I use icefisher commercially?
icefisher is licensed as open hardware and open-source software. You may use it for any purpose you like. However, we do ask you to respect the open-source license agreements, which require you to give credit and share derived work under compatible, that is, similar, licenses.

There are many controllers for fischertechnik available: ROBO Interface, ROBO LT, TX, TXT, Arduino/ftDuino, RaspberryPi/Pi-F5-HAT, ft-HAT, ... why should I care about icefisher?
The controllers available from fischertechnik construction kits emphasize mechanical aspects of robotics and aim to simplify programming. Community projects such as ftDuino and ft-HAT are more rigorous and offer industrial-grade programming of microcontrollers.
Note that FPGAs have unique strengths that are complementary to those of microcontrollers, for example true parallel processing without a need for interrupts. Such strengths are at the core of icefisher:

1. Unite mechanical prototyping with hardware design of logic circuits, i.e. make the power of FPGAs available to the versatile fischertechnik ecosystem.
2. Use open-source toolchains to leverage education and use of logic hardware design at introductory as well as advanced levels.

Are there other community projects, that offer advanced electronics?
Yes, there are several options. Most projects focus at microcontrollers or replace parts that fischertechnik no longer offers. The following list is a non-exhaustive overview of community projects:

• ftDuino can be used interchangably and combined with fischertechnik's original TX/TXT controllers, both with regard to electronic pin-out as well as mechanical integration into fischertechnik's original construction manuals. However, the microcontroller is directly programmable and does not rely on fischertechnik's graphical programming interface RoboPro, that is, behaves like an Arduino. Graphical programming options are available.
• ftControl uses an Arduino and a motor shield, and can be considered a low-cost version of the ftDuino. Note, however, that PWM-signals have to be generated by the Arduino. This demands program memory and interrupts. The number of outputs to 4 DC-motors or 2 step-motors is the same as for the ftDuino.
• Electronic modules by Hans-Christian Funke are a continuation of the original modules that fischertechnik introduced in the 1970's. There exist various alternatives, all of which focus on analogue circuits and simple digital circuits such as a flip-flop. Manufacturing or even buying these is involved and costly.