Author Topic: internet controlled robot  (Read 14845 times)

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Offline AdminTopic starter

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internet controlled robot
« on: February 02, 2007, 10:26:26 PM »
anyone know of commercially available (or free) software/hardware for controlling robots through the web? i want something i can put together without much effort. cost and platform doesnt matter, i just need user friendliness. i plan to use my wireless internet connection at home to control a bot.

streaming video options and hackable/customizable interface a plus.

Offline JesseWelling

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2007, 10:46:06 PM »

Offline AdminTopic starter

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2007, 10:51:25 PM »
oh forgot to mention . . .

also looking for hardware recommendations, too.

Offline JesseWelling

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2007, 10:54:48 PM »
Gumstix.
or http://www.logicsupply.com/index.php/cPath/49

I personaly am looking to move to a x86 architecture like the AMD Geodes or the Via c3/c7.
FPU and small (comparet to other x86) power drain.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2007, 10:59:10 PM by JesseWelling »

Offline dunk

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2007, 05:32:38 AM »
so i did this before for a robot in my work office.
the idea was to have an internet controllable vehicle that co workers in other locations could log into and drive around the office.
there was a little LCD display on the front for typing out messages too.

i won't go into the construction of the bot here. suffice to say it was PIC based and was connected to a PCs serial port via a pair of easy-Radio modules. http://www.lprs.co.uk/main/product.info.php?productid=154
(i think there are cheaper options on the market now but i can still recommend the easy-Radio transceivers as being fairly simple to get working.)
it had a camera on there as well that transmitted the picture back to a TV card on the PC via a wireless video sender but i'm only going to talk about the controll aspect of it here.

so once you have a robot controllable over the serial port, here's the theory behind making it web controlled.
you will need a computer running a web server that has a serial port. (duuh.)
you will also need some sort of programming/scripting language that can be executed by your web server as a CGI. (a CGI is just a script that can be run by your web server, producing some effect other than displaying a web page. a script to send an email from a web page would be an example of a CGI. in our case, we are going to send commands to have our bot move from the CGI.)

i was running Linux with apache web server and using python as my scripting language.
i chose these 3 because i knew how to use all 3.
what i'm describing will work with lots of other operating systems, scripting languages and web server packages.
i'd imagine a lot of other people would be happier using windows with the built in webserver (does windows still ship with a web server package?) and PHP as the scripting language.
alternatively, for those running windows, apache and python can be installed on windows and are open source.

so, the first step is to get your web server up and running and able to execute a small "hello world" CGI script.

next, you want to find out how to access your serial port from your scripting language.
as i was using python, i used the pySerial extension. http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/
in other scripting languages you should be able to do similar. i know it's possible form PHP.
note. if you are using Linux you will have to make sure the computer's serial port has the right permissions to be controlled by the web server. windows users should see no such security.

next, write a CGI script to send the same controll characters to your bot over the serial port as you would if controlling it directly.

make up a nice javascript web page that calls your CGI script.

so, the robot's not in my house any more and you guys can't access my work network but here's the webpage that used to controll it when it was in testing at home.
**NOTE THIS IS NO LONGER FUNCTIONAL.**
it's just to give you guys an idea as to the interface i'm talking about.
http://213.79.39.20/robot/

well anyway, if anyone wants more info, i'll write up a proper tutorial eventually.

dunk.

Offline AdminTopic starter

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2007, 09:03:04 AM »
i dont want anything that takes a lot of development time, just plug-n-play for this. i dont want to solder a single wire, if possible. :P

do you guys think the Qwerk can do what I want?
http://www.charmedlabs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29

it appears all i need to do to it is connect my motors, webcam, and battery and i get an instant wireless connection and internet server.

Offline JonHylands

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2007, 09:24:17 AM »
Admin,

From a hardware perspective it looks good, although you'll have to write some code that runs on Linux (probably in C) to do what you need.

- Jon

Offline Steve Joblin

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2007, 02:51:12 PM »
Check out http://www.surveyor.com/SRV.html?gclid=CNaDt8rl8oMCFUsbGgodukv2vQ   I think it just what you are looking for...

Offline gamefreak

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2007, 08:56:02 PM »
if you have a basic stamp or compatable this mght work: "EmbeddedBlue Transceiver AppMod"
its at :http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30068

And its blue tooth, even more connectivity :D
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Offline robot321

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2007, 10:05:48 PM »
DUNK:  What data rates/range were you able to achieve with the "easy-Radio' 433-4MHz FM SIL transceiver" ?

Offline dunk

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #10 on: February 24, 2007, 04:08:36 AM »
Quote
DUNK:  What data rates/range were you able to achieve with the "easy-Radio' 433-4MHz FM SIL transceiver" ?
so i ran mine at 19200 baud but from the product spec at http://www.lprs.co.uk/main/product.info.php?productid=154
Quote
User selectable data rate between 4.8k & 76.8k bps

i found 19.200k bps was fine for my application though as the delay caused by the internet connection was the bottle neck so i didn't see the point in increasing the data rate as that would decrease reliability a little.

dunk.

Offline hobbyrobotics.co.nr

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2011, 04:19:21 PM »
I use Logmein.com to access my ASUS netbook robot. You can check out a video of it at www.hobbyrobotic.co.nr and click on the "current projects" category.
Ben
See more robotics web projects at www.focus4tech.com

Offline newInRobotics

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Re: internet controlled robot
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2011, 06:35:15 PM »
Have a look at Dr. Robot.

I've used it for one of my assignments in uni that required to write software capable of recognising hand gestures to control the robot over WiFi connection. The robot I've used is DRK6080; now only newer version of it is available called DRK8080. All in all, it has 2 webcams, IR, few sonars, tilt/acceleration sensor, human (probably motion) sensor, temp sensor, rotation sensors (for PID velocity or position control), speaker, microphone, LCD. Everything is plug-n-play; software for robot control is developed using VB or VC++.
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