Introduction: Beginners Guide to Building Arduino Robots With Bluetooth and Android

By Zagros Robotics
In this tutorial we are going to go over building a Arduino robot that can be controlled via bluetooth with an Android phone/tablet. This is a beginners guide that is going to briefly go over the process of wiring and programming your robot.  

Step 1: Build List...

The following is the list of components we are going to use:

1.   Pololu Zumo chassis              http://www.zagrosrobotics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=884
2.   DRV8833 dual motor driver    http://www.zagrosrobotics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=879
3.   Arduino Uno or compatible     http://www.zagrosrobotics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=868
4.  Bluetooth modem                    http://www.zagrosrobotics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=883
5.  Android phone or tablet

Along with that list of parts for the robot you are going to need these basic things to build and program your robot

1,   Computer with the Arduino IDE    http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
2.   Soldering iron
3.   Some solder and wires

Step 2: Assembly...

After you have assembled your robot chassis and solderd your motor driver and modem, the next step is to wire up your Arduino Uno to the motor drivers and chassis. Here is the wiring diagram


Arduino PIN      GND   --    DRV8833      GND
Arduino PIN         10    --    DRV8833      ain2
Arduino PIN         11    --    DRV8833      ain1
Arduino PIN           5    --    DRV8833     bin1
Arduino PIN           6    --    DRV8833     bin2
Arduino PIN      GND    --    DRV8833    GND
Arduino PIN        VIN    --    DRV8833     VIN

Arduino PIN     (TX)1    --    Silvermate    RX
Arduino PIN     (RX)0   --    Silvermate    TX
Arduino PIN          5V    --    Silvernate VCC
Arduino PIN       GND   --    Silvernate GND
Silvermate           CTS   --    Silvermate  RTS

Step 3: Arduino Sketch...

Download the attached sketch and flash it to your Arduino. If you are new to Arduino you can always reference their home page and or the Playground for ideas and insight into everything Arduino.

Robots sketch download link  https://www.box.com/s/25c8f3c14c8b0217759e 

Home page  http://www.arduino.cc/

Playground    http://arduino.cc/playground/

Step 4: Testing Our Robot...

Now that we have flashed our Arduino Uno with the attached sketch, we can use USB to communicate with the Uno to send motor commands based on string commands. In order to do this we use the Arduino IDE serial monitor. Make sure that your baud rate set on your serial monitor window is the same as the baud rate in our sketch (115200).   Now we can send commands like 

f   ( Forward ) ,  b  ( Back ) ,  l  ( Left ) ,  r  ( Right )



Step 5: Android App...

Here is a basic Android app that sends string commands via bluetooth to our Arduino Uno. Of coarse you can always write you own .apk to Incorporate a more advanced interface using your phones accelerometer, or touchscreen using sliders for motor speed and direction. Transfer the .apk to the sd card on your phone or tablet and use an app like ES file explorer to gain access into the SD card and install the .apk.


ES FIle Tutorial -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myOW8YrcSzg



Max_Control App --     https://www.box.com/s/8b06bcee9ec84ec70a72



Step 6: Conclusion...



This hopefully has helped you get a basic understanding of how to incorporate Arduino with Bluetooth and Android. I have also included a printable robot that you can print on card stock at home or at print shops like Kinkos. Take notice of the page size as it is 10' x 16', if this is too big for your printer use a photo editor to break up the images to a printable format. There are 2 files one blank cutout that you can edit and the other that is pictured in this tutorial. Enjoy your new wireless robot and now you can start planning your next modification to your robot with sensors,servo arms, cameras or higher level programming control with a PC over Bluetooth.

Robot Images  https://www.box.com/s/012d79de3373d3133706