Arduino
Contents |
About
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Use MyRobots to monitor the status of any devices connected to the digital and analog pins on your Arduino, from room temperature and lighting conditions, to making your own internet connected security system and much more!
What to Buy?
If you want to have the robot or device connected to the internet via a computer, you only need an Arduino microcontroller and USB Cable.
For the unit to be stand-alone (i.e. connected to the internet directly without the need to tether to a computer), you will need an Arduino microcontroller that can connect directly to the internet via either LAN or WiFi.
Ethernet Shield
The Ethernet Shield and its PoE (Power Over Ethernet) version, allow a regular Arudino-compatible microcontroller to connect to a wired LAN network.
Arduino Ethernet
Arduino Ethernet and its PoE are basically the combination of the Ethernet shield and the Arduino microcontroller and can connect directly to a wired LAN.
Another interesting version of this module is the DFRobot XBoard which includes XBee headers as well which makes it ides for use with remote sensors.
WiFi Shield
The WiFi shield is similar to the Ethernet shield since it connect directly to an Arduino-compatible microcontroller to provide network connectivity. It differs by the fact that it provides WiFi connectivity instead of LAN.
WiFi Enabled Arduino
The Arduino RedBack and DiamondBack have WiFi connectivity built-in.
How to connect Arduino to MyRobots.com
The first step is to Sign Up for a MyRobots.com account, and add your Arduino device to your account as explained in the Get Started section. You can also view this tutorial by RoboGrrl.
You can connect an Arduino microcontroller in several ways to MyRobots.com:
- Using a wired LAN Connection
- Using a WiFi Connection
- Using a computer as an Serial Internet gateway
Wired LAN Connection
In order to connect to a LAN network via an Ethernet cable, you can use the Arduino Ethernet, the Ethernet Shield, use the XBoard, or use the MyRobots Connect.
In either case, you can use this code: MyRobots_Gateway.ino
You can use the serial gateway to relay sensor readings transmitted wireless viz XBee from remote sensor nodes that are running this code: MyRobots_SensorSample.ino
You can read data feeds from MyRobots by using this sample code that will blink the Arduino LED according to the period specified in Filed #1 of your robot (the code also includes an HTML page to help you update your fields): MyRobots_SensorSample_Read
You can then create as many remote sensors nodes as you would like by using XBee modules for serial wireless communication and this code.
For each remote sensor, you will need to add an an Arduino device to your account and replace the API key in the code by the corresponding API key provided to you.
WiFi Connection
If you have a Wifi shield or a WiFi-Enabled Arduino-compatible microcontroller, you can use the same procedure used for the Ethernet connection described above.
The code to use the WiFi communication is comming soon. Be patient!
In order to create additional remote sensor nodes, you can use the same code and procedure as described above.
Computer Internet Connection
In order to use a personal computer as a serial gateway, you can use the follosing sample Python code: SerialGateway.py
