Bracerbot Beta UI

Hi there ! I'm back with another update. 

This time I finally focused on sending data from bracerbot to PC via Bluetooth. At the same time I've written small application in Processing that acquires the data and displays them on the screen using controlP5 library, which is great. This application also allow you to control robot. So in next week or so I will finally program gait and make this application look kinda better. Also notice that light sensor is showing 1023 because its not yet soldered to the board.

Bracerbot Beta [update]

Hi ! First of all I want to thank all of you for 15,000 views ! and I just want to show this quick update.

Finally he's walking ! Still need to work on it though. I've also spay-painted legs to black I think it looks much better. I'm still wondering whether I should keep is as it is or create some case for batteries from acrylic. Well gait is currently priority, but I also want to start with data acquisition. Then I want to make Processing app with full movement control and then perhaps I will try to make Android app in eclipse. 

Bracerbot Beta

Hi there ! I am so sorry that it took me so long, but finally Bracerbot is here, Even though it's still in beta mode.

It all began early in July when I was thinking about what should I build next. I was positive that I wanted a quadruped, but there's lot of them, so I wanted mine to be somehow special. Since Iron Man is my favorite hero I always dreamed of building something that I could actually wear. Well what could I wear was question then. I ended up choosing bracelet (sort of). After that I've ordered some servos from ebay and started to draw some ideas in sketchup. It took me a week to make a final design. Then I started to put it all together. It uses 2xNokia batteries (I love those !) for board, bluetooth and sensors and 4x1.5V AAA batteries for servos (one battery in one leg, seemed like a good idea before I had to make wiring). You can see process of transformation in video. Currently I'm programming walking and I think it'll take me some time. I'm also thinking of using some sort of thin plastic as a mask, because as you can see it doesn't look very nice. To be honest I like the idea, but overall I think I failed because robot is too heavy as a bracelet (around 300 grams) and it doesn't look very nice as-well. So there will be some updates as I proceed with programming and Raspberry Pi still haven't arrived yet so I'm waiting.

Voice Controlled Light

Hi there ! First of all Happy Nikola Tesla Day ! And secondly I would like to apologize for not being active for some time.

But since summer is here I will hopefully have more time to work on my projects. Today I want to show you sort of an Intro. Finally I had some extra money so I've bought some relays. For quiet some time I have this idea in my mind. It's an idea to change my room in one big ecosystem, that would preferably be controlled by voice via PC or Android phone. Yes once again this idea comes from Ironman. So I've build simple setup in a box and connected arduino with a Bluetooth module to it and wrote some simple code to look for word “light”. You can see the result in a video. Google voice recognition seems to work pretty fast, but you need to have internet connection in order to use it. That's the reason why I want whole system to be controlled from my desktop. So I need to find right voice recognition software and install a microphone somewhere.

Control Glove as Game Controller

Hi there. Sorry for bit of a delay, but I'm unable to buy new Bluetooth module for dummy and there are few other problems with it. So sadly, I am forced to postpone this project for some time.

But don't worry I'm still working on Control Glove, because I feel that it has some potential. Since I have nothing to control in real world, I've been thinking what different can I control. When I lack creativity (most of the time), I'm playing some classic PC games from my childhood. I've been playing Re-Volt once again and it suddenly hit me, I can create sort of a game controller. Well that's easy to say, but harder to do. For some time I was totally lost. But then I found out that I can trick it. It basically works the way that Control Glove sends data from accelerometer to PC via Bluetooth. That data goes to a Application written in Processing. Processing is great, because you can export application directly for Windows/MAC/Linux. I have used a little trick, when you turn you hand to the left, processing will send (VK_left) via java Robot when you turn hand to the right Robot will send (VK_right). I found this to be the easiest method. Of course is not the best solution. Right now I'm planning to add few buttons to the glove to make proper controller out of it.

 

Control Glove

Hi there. First of all I would like to thank all viewers because recently I hit 40.000 views on videos on my youtube channel and also 10.000 views on this blog. So few weeks ago I showed you beta of dummy, well I haven't been working on it so much since, I just made a PCB, but I've been working on this glove.

You might ask why glove ? Well because I always wanted to make one and I couldn't think of a better way of how to control Dummy. Even this glove is still in sort of beta state. It uses Atmega8 with the bootloader that has BOD (Brown-out detection) level set to 2.7V so this board can easily operate at 3.3 volts. I chose this option because of the fact that I wanted to implement battery to glove and that meant, that battery has to be small and light. I chose a battery BL-5B from an old Nokia. If you have one of these phones just laying around use that batteries, they have lot of power and 3.7 volts is all that you need. Board also have headers for FTDI or Bluetooth module, which operates at 3.3volts. Accelerometer that is for now the only sensor on this glove, operates also at 3.3volts which gave me the opportunity to use that Nokia battery and 3.3v regulator. Remember that when you are using different than 5V power source you have to put power on AREF pin and in the setup of the code declare that you are using EXTERNAL analog reference. In the future I would like to add few more sensors (probably flex). So I hope you like it and once again thanks for your support.

 

Observer 1.4 [update]

Hi there. I am presenting you version 1.4. 

The mayor change is that I’ve added third wheel to the back. I’m still experimenting with that but as you can see in the video observer can now drive over various obstacles without any problems. Also I moved Bluetooth module under the PCB to use the space that was there. Right now I’m drawing new PCB for observer, so that means next update will be version 2.0. I don’t want to spoil it, so I just say there’s going to be multiple sensors and when all will work out well I believe that version 2.0 will be awesome.

Observer 1.3 [update]

Bluetooth module has arrived, so I want to show you pics of another update. 

Reason that version 1.2 is missing is that this version (controller) was build on breadboard. At first I thought that I would put controller in some case, but then I decided to leave it like this. So what’s new? I’ve added analog stick that I’ve desoldered from old gamepad. But there’s still option to control robot via accelerometer. For that purpose I’ve used pushbutton that is part of analog stick. There’s still one breaked-out analog pin on Observer waiting for some sensor. I’ve been trying to add there LM335, but I’m dealing with analog reference issue. I found out that AAA batteries aren’t very good for such robot and that having separate power sources for servos and for microprocessor would be much better.

Observer 1.1 [update]

It took me more time then I've expected, but here's and update.

I have used second Arduino (Duemilanove) as an controller. For now robot is being controlled via laptop, but I have already ordered second bluetooth module for standalone controller. I thought adding LED's as front lights would be cool also.

Arduino wireless sketch uploading via Bluetooth

Few months ago I’ve showed you my Bluetooth Xbee module. Back then I was able to send some commands through it to Arduino. But I wasn’t able to upload code wirelessly. 

I’ve been trying to solve this problem and I was successful. I found out that the issue is resetting the board. Since with this setup I’m not using USB connection I can’t use DTR pin on FTDI chip. So the trick to hold a reset button press upload and when information about size pops up just wait second or two and release the reset button. Right now I’m working on some sort of method (software or hardware) to make it automatic. I also found out that the baud rate of Bluetooth module and com port on your PC must be same as the uploading speed of the board you are using. For instance I’ve been using Arduino Duemilanove for this demonstration. Its upload speed is 57600. So I had to change baud rates of Bluetooth module and com port to 57600 as well. If you’re using laptop with a Bluetooth or pc with some USB Bluetooth module you need to buy only one module for your Arduino. You don’t even need to buy Xbee shield, because this particular one works if you connect just TX,RX,3v3 and GND pins. I was trying to use it with standalone Atmega8 but for some reason it didn’t worked so I’m also working on that. If you’re trying to achieve same thing and you’re having some issues with setup or whatever just contact me. And don’t forget to watch the video.

Arduino communicating with PC via Bluetooth

I like arduino because it has almost limitless potential. One of few a things that I hate is that when you want to control the arduino it has to be connected directly to the PC via USB.

So I’ve decided to buy some hardware to make my arduino communicate with PC wirelessly. There are few options how to achieve that. You can either use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. With Wi-Fi You’ll be using XBee radios. There are few versions of them and they the cost about 30 dollars. But you will also need an arduino XBee shield and XBee usb dongle. So the whole price is about 70 dollars if you’re lucky. Or you can use Bluetooth. There are few options. You can use BlueSMiRF which is pretty expensive or any other Bluetooth modem. I have used really cheap one from eBay. But this Bluetooth modem was in XBee form. So I’ve also bought arduino XBee shield. After you assemble it you have to move switch on a Bluetooth modem to AT position.

Next tricky thing is connecting arduino to PC. Your PC has to have some Bluetooth device that supports Bluetooth serial port communication. Then upload this sketch to arduino :

const int ledPin = 13;
int value;    


void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}


void loop() {
  if (Serial.available() > 0) {
    value = Serial.read();
    if (value == 'H') {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
      Serial.println("ON");
    }
    if (value == 'L') {
      digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
      Serial.println("OFF");
    }
  }
}

Then unplug arduino from PC and put in 9V battery. Search for Bluetooth devices and you should find your device (mine is called WIDE_HK) select pair and then connect. Then just turn on some terminal app (puTTy, Arduino IDE….) connect it to serial port of your Bluetooth device and send it H to turn it ON or L to turn it OFF.

Video :