Hi folks. I'm doing a school project and was hoping to get a little advice.

I'm designing a motorized lens cover for the guidance telescope at my uni's observatory. My professor wants to open/close the cover from a computer via RS-232 serial communication to a microcontroller that controls a stepper motor. I would also like some sort of feedback possibly to know when the motor has over-torqued and not actually stepped, and certainly to know when the cover has reached full closed and full open position.

I used the motorola 68HC11 in a course at school, and from what I can tell, the 8051 assembly language looks fairly similar. I am leaning towards using the 8051 for that reason.

I can do the serial control and the mcu programming, but I really have no context for evaluating the various hardware options. Our resident control systems guru is never in his office and doesn't answer his email, so I'm more or less on my own.

It would greatly simplify my life if I could find a pre-made board with all the components I need. I have looked at a lot of boards on the internet, but most of them seem to be all-in-one boards with features I don't need and don't want to pay for. I was hoping someone with more experience might be able to suggest a hardware solution.

Basically I need:

MCU
RS-232 serial input port
Light weight (will probably be mounted to telescope)
Motor driver or easily connectable to motor driver (The lens will be plastic and the lever arm short, so I won't need a lot of torque, probably current/voltage to drive a 1 ft*lbs stepper would suffice)

Any advice anyone can offer on where I can find a board like this is greatly appreciated. Also, any general advice is welcome.

Thanks very much,

Gerald Keller