I just got a Raspberry Pi 2 in my hands and hope with its help to add some cool features to my new robot projects, beyond the capabilities of the trusted Arduino. The specific goal, besides just tinkering around with something new, is to get basic computer vision working, using OpenCV and a webcam, or the Raspberry Pi Camera board. Here is a great project by Samuel Matos for inspiration: ...
In one of my rather frequent eBay visits, I came across a nifty little joystick module, much similar to the analog thumb-stick on the PlayStation 2 controllers. The module is very easy to use with an Arduino uno and only costs a few dollars. Several different versions are available from eBay, Adafruit, Sparkfun and other vendors, but they essentially work the same. Overview The module has 5 pins: Vcc, Ground, X, Y, Key. Note that the labels on yours may be slightly different, depending on where you got the module from. The thumbstick is analog and should provide more accurate readings than simple ‘directional’ joysticks tat use some forms of buttons, or mechanical switches. Additionally, you can press the joystick down (rather hard on mine) to activate a ‘press to select’ push-button. ...
Breadboards and hook-up wires are great for prototyping and testing out basic circuits. At some point though, you will want to create something more permanent and robust. Robots move around, bump into things, shake and vibrate and wires tend to disconnect way to easy. Soldering will help fix that! The best part is that even though it may look a bit intimidating, soldering is actually quite easy. All it takes is some practice and using the right tool for the job. Below is a collection of soldering videos and tutorials that helped me get from an absolute beginner to being relatively comfortable making custom boards with through-hole, and even SMD components (most of these even work!). ...
Purpose: Create a simple and easy to control drive system for a small robot with minimal number of parts and connections. ...
My order of ATTiny84 chips from Mouser arrived yesterday, so it is time to load the Arduino Blink example sketch onto it. I made a small line follower using the ATTiny85 a while back, and quite liked the idea of having a smaller, cheaper IC that can run simpler Arduino sketches. The ATTiny84 comes with extra 6 I/O pins (see datasheet), so it should be an even better replacement of an Arduino for smaller projects. Here is a beautifully rendered mapping of the ATTiny84 / ATTiny44 pins courtesy of Alberto (PighiXXX): ...
The purpose of this tutorial is to cover the basics of setting up a connection between Arduino Uno and an Android phone via Bluetooth. Smart phones pack a ton of cool features (camera, accelerators, speakers, microphone, a nice screen to show data from your sensors, wi-fi adaptor…) that will make an excellent addition to a robot, or any other Arduino project. I will use Blueterm a basic free Android terminal emulator app to send a single digit (zero or one) from a phone to a BlueTooth module connected to the Arduino Uno via a serial connection. The Arduino Uno will read the data and will turn an LED on, or off accordingly. After that it will send a status message back, which will be displayed on the phone’s screen. This will essentially confirm we have a two way communication between the Arduino and the Android phone over Bluetooth. The same approach can be used to interact with anything connected to your Arduino (like motors, servos and sensors) or the cool goodies in your smartphone (camera, accelerometer etc.). So let’s get stared! ...
This is the second part of the tutorial on how to program an AVR ATTiny85 chip with Arduino Uno. All the hard work has already been covered in Part 1, so make sure that you have completed the steps in that section before you continue! By default, the ATtiny85 runs at 1 MHz. You need to do an extra step to configure the microcontroller to run at 8 MHz. This is a requirement for using some popular libraries (like Software Serial), as well as to take full advantage of your chip. ...
UPDATE, November, 2015: The article below was written for Arduino IDE versions, prior to 1.6.4. If you are currently using Arduino IDE 1.6.4, or later, follow the instructions in blog post instead. This tutorial is based on the steps I took to program an ATTiny85 with my Arduino Uno and use the nifty little chip for a small line following robot. The idea for using the ATTiny came from the MAKE magazine and more specifically their “How-To: Shrinkify Your Arduino Projects” YouTube video. The ATTiny libraries for the Arduino IDE come from the High-Low Tech group at the MIT Media Lab. They have some other interesting materials for Arduino on their site as well. Step 1: Collect all necessary hardware components An Arduino Uno (or compatible board) An ATTiny85 IC One 10 uF capacitor Breadboard and jumper wires ...
Coursera is a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. One of the courses included in 2013 is “Control of Mobile Robots” by Magnus Egerstedt, a Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. According to the course summary, you will learn how to make mobile robots move in effective, safe, and predictable ways, avoid collisions while reaching target locations, as well as dabble with robots that fly, or walk. Sounds pretty cool! The next session starts on January 28th, 2013… ...