This report describes the construction and development of a control box, which is a tool for testing and verifying a certain model of Rapid’s built in staplers (model A6102). Basically the function of the control box is to interpret any errors that may occur in the stapler and to make it possible to test fire the stapler.

The control box should be able to communicate with the stapler using a specialized communication protocol. The different data such as errors, firmware etc. from the stapler is presented in plain language on a display. Additional functions worth mentioning is the possibility to choose between several different firing modes and strengths of the stapler using two multiswitches.

Our ambition with the control box was to create a construction that was suitable to build in small series, provide a good documentation and to write a program that would be easy to modify in case someone would like to add new functions in the future. Since we focused on making the box as easy as possible to assemble we have not prioritised to find the cheapest possible solution using cheap components. Instead we have chosen multifunctional components that individually can do as much of the work as possible such as the display and the microprocessor.