Parallax Kittybot V2 with Android App

iostreamh

Hi all, I've been playing again with the Parallax Kittybot. I decided to make an Andoid Phone App for it and made a few changes to the Kittybot project.
I how to show it to a robot club of kids this fall, hopefully to inspire them into tech.

To make the Android Phone App I used The MIT APP Inventor online program, its simple to use; just connect the blocks no real coding.

Heres a short video on what it does....
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uz90D21KMNXrJmkiVV55QIIyLpSNcXUT/view?usp=sharing

Cheers...

RS_Jim

Iostreamh,
So demo your control by having the bot do Erco’s figure 8 challenge!
Jim

iostreamh

RS_Jim,

Erco's figure 8 challenge is do-able, but I cant do it with the music going on, because these simple 8-bit microcontrollers do one task at a time; when I play the music the direction stay put as long as the music plays, unless I program my code with the millis() command but thats out of my league, I'm more of a hardware guy than a programmer.

And then I got to dog-sit a family members dog this week, I cant practice Erco's figure 8 Challenge unless the dog attacks kittybot. In the mean time I'll work on Erco's figure 8 challenge from my desk where the dog cant get kittybot.

this is not going to be easy.....

cheers..

RS_Jim

Are you using an Arduino or propeller?
Jim

iostreamh

Jim,

I'm using an Arduino, but depending on how complex or how many programs I place in the Arduino I might have to upgrade to a 32bit microcontroller; Adafruit M0 Arduino clone. Also I'm thinking of placing a Servo shield on the robot so it takes the task of the Arduino from making the PWM signal, that leaves the Arduino free to handle just the simple command to just signal the MP3 shield and the Servo shield.

RS_Jim

Consider switching to a Parallax Propeller. You can run the music concurrently with the figure 8 challenge by running the music in a separate cog that is independent of the motion control. Using RossH’s C you can do the programming in that language instead of Spin.
Jim

iostreamh

Hi JIm,


I have a Parallax Propeller, but I'm too busy to learn how to use it; I'm also learning how to program in Python since its starting to be used everywhere. The next board I'm thinking of learning is the Raspberry Pi platform, I think these small 32/8 bit micros are good, but I think its time to learn about Single Board Computers (SBC's).

The dog keeps me busy but I manage to work on Erco's Figure 8 Challenge...

Cheers...

erco

For ~$4 you can add a Catalex MP3 player, micro SD card & amplified speaker to any microcontroller setup. The microcontroller sends serial commands to control the MP3 player, which has its own micro to handle playback. Offloading the music playing lets your micro handle navigation.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113783638447

Genetix

iostreamh,

I went to Micro Center to buy a Raspberry Pi kit but ended up with a cheap programming laptop instead.

The Propeller's Spin language has elements of Python in it and depending on what you want to do the code might already exist or be easily modifiable.

iostreamh

Erco, nice hack on the speaker. I didn't know it was possible to hack these low cost speakers, was the SMD soldering hard to get into the speaker?

Genetic, I also agree that Raspberry Pi's are not powerful cpus, I rather stick with a modern gaming laptop for cpu vision applications that's were I'm heading hence why I'm learning python because even tho C++ is better there's that python community making stuff for the python community.

I started my microcontroller adventure with the Basic Stamp 2 with their book series which was great but I haven't seen too much development on the Propeller; like using Neopixel LESs with the Propeller. To see what I'm talking about later on I'll post a Neopixel project I have with the Arduino... Lights are a great way for beginners to learn and have fun..

Cheers...