Learn how your Android cell phone can control a robot using an Arduino board. The phone takes commands via telnet from another phone or a PC, so you can control the robot remotely. This project will not otherwise modify the G1 so you can continue using it as your normal phone after undocking it.
Why?
By using cheap electronic components such as Arduino boards, you can pair them with your $400 phone to make an awesome robot. It would cost hundreds of dollars to add GPS, LCD's, motion sensors, wi-fi, cellular connections, speakers, and more to a hobby bot, but your phone already has these!
Together, the Android G1 and Arduino board allow you to use inexpensive electronics such as simple servos and sensors, to build powerful devices such as robots, remote telepresence, or fun toys for kids. More information at Cellbots.com.
Notice: This project currently requires an Android G1 with root access to use serial output from the phone to the Arduino robot. You can add a $20 BlueTooth module to your Arduino board to have the phone talk to it over serial BlueTooth if you want to use the commercial Android software.
Special thanks: We have the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, CA to thank for putting us in touch, helping with some tricky issues via their mailing list of awesome members, and for having 74LS04 chips in stock. Most of the assembly was done at the Tech Shop in Menlo Park.
Why?
By using cheap electronic components such as Arduino boards, you can pair them with your $400 phone to make an awesome robot. It would cost hundreds of dollars to add GPS, LCD's, motion sensors, wi-fi, cellular connections, speakers, and more to a hobby bot, but your phone already has these!
Together, the Android G1 and Arduino board allow you to use inexpensive electronics such as simple servos and sensors, to build powerful devices such as robots, remote telepresence, or fun toys for kids. More information at Cellbots.com.
Notice: This project currently requires an Android G1 with root access to use serial output from the phone to the Arduino robot. You can add a $20 BlueTooth module to your Arduino board to have the phone talk to it over serial BlueTooth if you want to use the commercial Android software.
Special thanks: We have the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, CA to thank for putting us in touch, helping with some tricky issues via their mailing list of awesome members, and for having 74LS04 chips in stock. Most of the assembly was done at the Tech Shop in Menlo Park.
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Signing UpStep 1: Items needed
To complete this tutorial you will need the following:
Hardware:
- Android G1 Dev Phone (or other Android device with root access and serial output)
- Arduino (I'm using a Freeduino SB but any one should do)
- 3.3v to 5v converter if you aren't using a 3.3v Arduino (I'm using a 74LS04 chip for under $1 but other options are available)
- HTC USB break-out board for the G1
- Soldering equipment for two quick connections
- A robot body with micro servos (cardboard, acrylic, treads, wheels, anything will do)
Software:
- Android Scripting Environment (ASE)
- Telnet client for your PC (I'm using PuTTY on Windows)
- Arduino development environment
- (optional) Serial client for your PC (I'm also using PuTTY on Windows for this)
- (optional) Android SDK
If you can follow instructions you can complete this tutorial with little knowledge of Python, Arduino, Android, or electronics. You'll want to know those things if you want to go beyond a blinking LED but this will get you started.
Hardware:
- Android G1 Dev Phone (or other Android device with root access and serial output)
- Arduino (I'm using a Freeduino SB but any one should do)
- 3.3v to 5v converter if you aren't using a 3.3v Arduino (I'm using a 74LS04 chip for under $1 but other options are available)
- HTC USB break-out board for the G1
- Soldering equipment for two quick connections
- A robot body with micro servos (cardboard, acrylic, treads, wheels, anything will do)
Software:
- Android Scripting Environment (ASE)
- Telnet client for your PC (I'm using PuTTY on Windows)
- Arduino development environment
- (optional) Serial client for your PC (I'm also using PuTTY on Windows for this)
- (optional) Android SDK
If you can follow instructions you can complete this tutorial with little knowledge of Python, Arduino, Android, or electronics. You'll want to know those things if you want to go beyond a blinking LED but this will get you started.
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I'll try it with my Samsung Galaxy Mini. Many thanks !
I am trying to use an HTC Thunderbolt with my Arduino project. I have rooted the phone, I have cellbot.py running on the phone. But when I try to send a command to the Arduino, the phone freezes up. The command is never relayed to the Arduino. Any suggestions on how to cure this. I read in another blog that multithreading the python program will help. Not sure if that is true. I am not that familiar with Python. I am trying to learn multithreading on python now. Am I wasting my time?
Much thanks in advanced.
Keep getting "Operation not permitted".
I am rooted and running Cyanogenmod 6.1.0 on my G1.
Would love to get this working for a personal project.
Could you not just have the phone do all the processing (after all, they do have pretty good processors) and have the micro-controller just relay the commands to the motors etc,
connect it to the arduino... please reply
What some android phones do have is the usb port used for connection to a computer, can be used the other way by the phone. This means that you take a special plug (the HTC usb break-out board) that lets your phone talk to a micro-controller.
So google your phone and see it if has a "proper" usb port. Mine doesn't, and I think they are quite rare, but you may be lucky.
(I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong)
Is it possible to built with this phone?
A. S. Bhasker Raj
Secunderabad
India
Mobile: +919247332574
does android has a serial ttl port ?
sorry, because i only have symbian s60 5th
But just got a question before i build that
1) i just have a look on the datasheet of 74ls74, isnt that the 74ls04 have a output level of 3.3v but not 5v???So are we converting 3.3v(from phone) to 3.3v(to aridno) agian using the 74ls04?
2) And will G3 and upper version not works with that? since they are using the standard usb again and separate the audio(tx) + Switch(rx) pin to an 3.5mm jack ?
Thank You
See more here - http://wp.me/pCAFq-h5. Links to his google code solution are in the post.
A direct link to the google code repository is here: http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/
Chow.
Schematics / demo video here: http://www.pocketmagic.net/?p=1398
Besides ultrasonic sensors, the robot is about to be equipped with a homemade geiger counter sensor to detect "exotic" environment parameters
like the dangerous ionizing radiation. There are quite a few possibilities since the robot has an ATmega microcontroller that can easily
support additional sensors.
The data is sent back to the Android device, via bluetooth.
are there ways to control the bot through satellite instead of using cellphone service. that way you wouldn't be dependent on a service.
Is there any way to bypass the use of cell phone towers all together???
and i've been looking into flying bots, it's been hard to find anything here on instructables.
how hard is it to send live video and sound feed from the bot to your PC??
i'm trying to gather info for a different project i'm working on??
Feel free to start a thread here with ideas: http://groups.google.com/group/cellbots
I did a bit of research as well and found out that Arduino sees 3,3V from the Phone as valid "high" state, so you would not need the 74LS04 in between for sending the data to the arduino.
This is of course different in the other direction - there you have to reduce from 5V to 3,3V :)
Cheers
code.google.com/p/android-serialport-api/
Glad you like the tutorial and hope you make something cool with it.