Emotibot With Arduino UNO

make your own, super-basic AI with this super simple arduino project. you can get creative with the Matrix and animate your own faces or icons!

its cheap, and easy to understand and assemble.

Step 1: Getting Your Parts and Assemble Them

for this project you will need the following parts:

an Arduino UNO

a 8x8 LED Matrix with a MAX7219 or MAX7221 chip

a bluetooth module for arduino HC-05 or HC-06

it's pretty straightforward, the bluetooth module goes as followed:

RX to TX

TX to RX

GND to GND

power to 5V

the led matrix goes like this:

CS to pin 10

CLK to pin 11

DIN to pin 12

VCC to 5V

GND to GND

Step 2: Upload and Test the Code

first, get this library:

https://github.com/wayoda/LedControl

then:

download the app AMR_Voice from the play store on your Android phone. (sorry mac users, I share your pain.)

what this app does is sending the voice input you give as a string to the arduino. he does this in the format (*stringvoice#). now the original writer of part of this code managed to get rid of the '#' but remember to always keep the * mark in front of the string commands.

then upload the code. !!! REMEMBER to disconnect the Rx and Tx pin on the arduino before uploading. the arduino uses these pins while uploading, and it could disrupt your process. !!!

get some power up your Arduino, and try to connect to a HC-05 or 06 robot. when connected, try some of the commands as seen in the void loop() function. (my android phone only understood dutch, so they're in dutch, but you can change them to english, it wont change anything as long as the function names stay the same)

i used a little program you can find on the second link of this page: http://www.educ8s.com/Arduino/LEDMatrix/

this program lets you make an image on a 8x8 matrix and then convert it to a byte for your code.

(it is once again, not for mac users. use bootcamp or a friends' windows machine.)

you can replace the string inputs, and the bytes, but try to understand how the code works before you modify it.

Step 3: Experiment!

if all goes well, you now know how to control a Led Matrix with your voice. you can make your own emotibot, or something else, and build an encasing out of LEGO like me, or do something entirely different. it's up to you,

have fun!