Do you Arduino?
- Thread starter Erronius
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Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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I used an Arduino back in school to do some on-board measurements of frisbee throws for some random class project. Worked out awesome; would have used it for other sports but I was too busy at the time.
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My 5-year-old son wanted to "build a robot", so I bought the Parallax tank shield kit. It just goes forward until two whiskers on the front make contact with something, then it backs up and turns 45 degrees before repeating its loop. The kid enjoyed it for a couple of days until the novelty wore off, especially "tricking the robot" with his hand.
I decided to turn the fun up a notch and bought an IR receiver. It is amazing how cheap this stuff is - I think it was like $2-3. Then I found an old programmable remote and had to research how the different manufacturer codes work. It was a pain, but I eventually got it to work where the the volume buttons made it go backward/forward and the channel buttons made it turn left or right (in-place, like a tank). The problem was that IR really sucks - if you aren't pointed right at it then it won't register, which is especially a pain on something that turns.
I debated going to RF, but found that bluetooth receivers were not much more expensive and that sounded cooler. The first one I got was not very good, so I ended up having to buy a second one (Red Bear Labs), which is really easy to setup. They have an iphone app that controls it, which I tested and worked. I also decided to learn Swift and was able to control it from my Macbook. Ideally, if I bought a developers license, I could control it from my iPad as well. The main problem I ran into was that the servos drop the voltage so low that the bluetooth receiver resets and loses configuration. I need to have a separate supply for it or learn how capacitors work I guess... I haven't gotten motivated to solve that problem yet.
I decided to turn the fun up a notch and bought an IR receiver. It is amazing how cheap this stuff is - I think it was like $2-3. Then I found an old programmable remote and had to research how the different manufacturer codes work. It was a pain, but I eventually got it to work where the the volume buttons made it go backward/forward and the channel buttons made it turn left or right (in-place, like a tank). The problem was that IR really sucks - if you aren't pointed right at it then it won't register, which is especially a pain on something that turns.
I debated going to RF, but found that bluetooth receivers were not much more expensive and that sounded cooler. The first one I got was not very good, so I ended up having to buy a second one (Red Bear Labs), which is really easy to setup. They have an iphone app that controls it, which I tested and worked. I also decided to learn Swift and was able to control it from my Macbook. Ideally, if I bought a developers license, I could control it from my iPad as well. The main problem I ran into was that the servos drop the voltage so low that the bluetooth receiver resets and loses configuration. I need to have a separate supply for it or learn how capacitors work I guess... I haven't gotten motivated to solve that problem yet.