Arduino connects to LEGO Mindstorms NXT via I2C

June 18th, 2009

A LEGO Mindstorms NXT connects to an Arduino via I2C.

This enables all kinds of new (intelligent) sensor / actor combinations. Also - the NXT provides Bluetooth wireless connectivity.

Symbian S60 Nokia E71 connected to an Arduino Mega via Bluetooth

June 7th, 2009

A Symbian S60 Nokia E71 connected to an Arduino Mega via Bluetooth.

The E71 may also be used as a “gateway” with an uplink via WLAN or GSM - which basically make the LEDs switchable from everywhere in the world. This photo illustrates a potential usage scenario with a remote controlled vehicle.

Arduino controlled vehicle

June 5th, 2009

Using the standardized Arduino boards and development environment can speed up things - while still being cost-efficient and flexible.

This is work in progress - the vehicle will soon be controlled via a Bluetooth link.

Zeemote controls servo motor - work in progress

June 3rd, 2009

Just to give an idea.

Integration of Bluetooth and servo control code still to be finished.

DisplayLink USB LCD with Linux devices

May 31st, 2009

The DisplayLink display also works with an NSLU2 (running Debian) and a beagleboard.

displaylink_on_nslu2

The beagleboard can use the binaries generated on the NSLU2.

beagleboard_displaylink_lcd

The photos have notes on Flickr.

ASCII LCD display - connected to NSLU2 running Debian

May 30th, 2009

As part of attaching a full graphic LCD display via USB / DisplayLink - I made some experiments with an ASCII only version, aka
SlugTerm.

slugterm_in_operation_01

The FTDI USB245BM provides parallel output to its data lines and is e.g. supported by the lib-ftdi library on Debian.

ftdi_usb245bm_bitbang

The photos have notes on Flickr.

External displays via USB

May 28th, 2009

Adding external displays via USB is a quite flexible option.

displaylink_usb_lcd_on_osx

Started with the original support on Win and OSX - but aim to use this on Linux with e.g. a beagleboard.

Bluetooth control - no PC involved

May 13th, 2009

A Bluetooth enabled zeemote JS1 controls a servo - no PC involved - there’s just an ATmega8 micro controler coordinating things.

zeemote_controls_servo_over_bt_01

The photo has notes on Flickr.

Incoming Bluetooth RFCOMM connections with Linux / Bluez

May 9th, 2009

Whereas originating an RFCOMM connection from a Linux system using the Bluez stack was familiar to me - I never did things the other way round.

The screenshot shows how a serial connection gets advertised with sdptool, a OSX system connects using minicom and finally there is a duplex connection with the “screen” utility on the Linux side.

incoming_rfcomm_with_bluez_01

Best viewed on Flickr in “original size”.

Robotic vehicles using mobile phones

May 9th, 2009

Assembled two versions of a robotic vehicle that uses a mobile phone (Android G1 or Symbian S60 Nokia E71)

g1_controlled_vehicle_02

The first version uses an Android G1 - may communicate via its serial port or Bluetooth.

g1_controlled_vehicle_01

The second version makes use of Python running on recent Symbian S60 devices. It may use Bluetooth or IrDA for the “phone 2 motor control” communication path.

python_s60_e71_vehicle_01

The photos have notes on Flickr.