PC and 4 ARDUINO's in network

Hi all!
I need recomendation for my project. A document describing the project is attached.
I would be very grateful for your recommendation.
Whitch software can I use for visualization?
Thanks in advance.

Doc1.doc (225 KB)

I would be very grateful for your recommendation.

Recommendations for what? An Arduino with an LCD, two LEDs, and two switches are all that is needed at each machine, if the Arduinos are all wired to the PC. All that is needed is for the PC to have 4 USB ports available.

Wireless is a different story. Knowing something about the kinds of machines (home sewing machine, industrial sewing machine, 500A 440VAC forge?) and the distances (10 feet? 100 meters? 1000 miles?) would be needed to make any useful recommendations.

Thanks for your answer...
It is wood working machines, making parts for furniture. But it does not matter.
Distance from the PC to the machines is about 50m. (Like star)
Wire connections is difficult.
My question is:
what kind of visualization
what type of network (see pictures)

Thanks,
Predrag

what kind of visualization

On which end? At the Arduino end, a LCD can display text, like part number and number of parts to make.

On the PC end, your imagination is the limit.

what type of network

I think you mean what kind of radios to create a network. That depends on whether any two Arduinos need to share data, or whether the data is only Arduino to PC to Arduino.

If the Arduinos are completely independent, Series 1 XBees offer the range that you have in mind and are easy to use with the Arduino. I like the XBee shield from Sparkfun, rather than the one from Arduino. Being able to use either the hardware serial port or a software serial port to talk to the XBee is an advantage over being forced to use the hardware serial port.

ARDUINO would have 16x2 LCD and 2 buttons.
Not require communication between the arduino's, just between the PC and Arduino.

I have WiFly shield from Sparkfun. Is it useful for this?

I have not expiriance vith visualisation. Is there a way to make a visualization on Excel, maybe with VBS.
Because the data is stored in Excel spreadsheets.

Thanks.

I have WiFly shield from Sparkfun. Is it useful for this?

You'd need 4 of them - one for each Arduino. But, that could work.

I have not expiriance vith visualisation. Is there a way to make a visualization on Excel, maybe with VBS.
Because the data is stored in Excel spreadsheets.

VBA (Visual Basic Automation) has capabilities to interact with a variety of Microsoft products, including Excel. It can also draw forms, with buttons, blinking lights, text fields, etc.

How would you solve this problem?
Please see the picture: Example 1 or Example 2? Which is better?