I've finally taken the time to port MicroBridge to the Arduino/Wiring language. You can use it to make Arduino and Android talk to each other over USB. This is like Google's open accessory toolkit, only it uses a different protocol (ADB), and therefore works on any Android device version 1.5 and up. The phone or tablet does not have to be rooted, and you don't need to upgrade to 2.3.4.

Read more about it here:

http://romfont.com/2011/05/15/microbridge-adb-support-for-arduino/

Google code project page:

http://code.google.com/p/microbridge

http://jeelabs.com/products/jeenode ?

>> N00b alert: this is a C library, and does not use the Wiring language or the Arduino IDE. If you want to use it, you'll have to learn C.

have you tried checking under 'source' ?

If you want your PC to talk to your Android phone, use http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html. If you want your Android phone to talk to your Arduino over USB, you can use my MicroBridge library:

http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/

It gives you bidirectional communication between your Android phone and an Arduino with a USB host shield. Shields can get bought either from SF for $25, or a slightly better designed and Mega compatible shield from Oleg directly:

http://www.circuitsathome.com/products-page/arduino-shields/usb-host-shield-2-0-for-arduino/

N00b alert: this is a C library, and does not use the Wiring language or the Arduino IDE. If you want to use it, you'll have to learn C.

If you're going for PIC24, at least make it one with USB on-the-go support:

http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en536121

MicroBridge supports multiple bidirectional connections. The easiest way to get data from the Arduino to the phone/tablet is for your App to listen on a TCP port (using ServerSocket). On the Android side you can do

Code:

adb_connection * tcpConnection = adb_openConnection('tcp:1234', true, adbEventHandler);

And when you have data to send, just write to the connection:

Code:

uint16_t sensorValue = readADC(0);
if (tcpConnection->status == ADB_OPEN) adb_write(tcpConnection, sizeof(uint16_t), (uint8_t*)&sensorValue);

I added support for 168/328p-based devices like the Uno and Deicimila yesterday.

I posted this in 'other software development', but I guess this may be a better place. Please accept my sincerest apologies if you've received this message twice

I wrote a library to let an Arduino talk to an Android phone over USB using a USB host shield. Basically I implemented the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) protocol. This lets you set up multiple bi-directional pipes, execute shell commands from the Arduino, and catch logcat messages. The goal is to apply commodity smartphone hardware for robotics, home automation, and the like.

http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/

I'm always happy to help a fellow ZTE Blade owner I've implemented an ADB library for the SparkFun USB host shield which lets you talk in both directions.

http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/

I've noticed some instabilities when the Blade is trying to charge off the USB shield, so I'd recommend supplying your own VBUS, or getting Oleg's shield which is a bit better designed (http://www.circuitsathome.com/products-page/arduino-shields/usb-host-shield-2-0-for-arduino/).

If you enable USB host on the blade, you should be able to just load an FTDI driver and connect your Arduino, but you'll need to supply your own 5v.

I've developed a C library to allow an Arduino Mega to talk directly to an Android phone over USB using SparkFun's USB host shield. This library will allow you to drive motors, servos, sensors, etc. from your phone.

The USB protocol is Android Debug Bridge (ADB), which supports multiple bi-directional pipes. Since ADB is a part of any Android device there is no need to root your phone or install custom drivers for this to work, just enable debugging from the settings menu.

If anyone with a USB host shield, an Arduino Mega, and an Android device would be able to test this, I'd be very grateful. Specifically I have been having some stability problems which seem to be electrical, as the phone is trying to charge from the host shield and it may not be outputting enough current

The code is Arduino Mega only right now (that's all I own) but should be trivial to port to the 'smaller' Arduinos, please contact me if you're willing to try to port it for me.

http://code.google.com/p/microbridge/

You can read datasheets to get a rough feel for these numbers. It really all depends on what node you're using.

Afaicr our Mica2 clone uses ~0.5mA while in sleep mode, ~5mA in wake, ~12mA receiving, ~15mA sending. I don't really have timings for you on that so I can't really give you an energy budget in terms of joules/bytes.

If you have access to a university network, just try scholar.google.com.

- Niels

Hi all,

I recently got one of those nifty color LCD screen shield from nuelectronics, and was disappointed to find out it didn't work out of the box because the SPI pins on the Arduino Mega are at a different location. I found some hardware rewiring hacks but I felt a pure software fix would be more elegant.

So I fixed the library so that it makes use of software SPI, using pins 10, 11, 12 and 13 for SS, MOSI, MISO and SCK respectively. I'm pleased to say it works like a charm.

Basically you'll need to go into PCF8833.h and redefine the pins so that it reads:

Code:

#define LCD_CS(x)           PORTB = (x)? (PORTB|(1<<PB4)) : (PORTB&~(1<<PB4))
#define LCD_CLK(x)          PORTB = (x)? (PORTB|(1<<PB7)) : (PORTB&~(1<<PB7))
#define LCD_DATA(x)         PORTB = (x)? (PORTB|(1<<PB5)) : (PORTB&~(1<<PB5))
#define LCD_RESET(x)        PORTH = (x)? (PORTH|(1<<PH6)) : (PORTH&~(1<<PH6))
#define LCD_BACKLIGHT(x)    PORTH = (x)? (PORTH|(1<<PH5)) : (PORTH&~(1<<PH5))

Then in PCF8833.c change the SendColor and SendLCD functions to read

Code:

void SendLcd_color(unsigned char color)
{
      unsigned char i;

      LCD_DATA(LCDData); // set up first bit as command or data

      LCD_CLK(0); // Pull Clock LOW
      LCD_CLK(1); // Pul Clock HIGH

      // clock over the byte
      for (i=0; i<8; i++)
      {
            LCD_DATA(color & 0x80);
            color <<= 1;

            LCD_CLK(0); // Pull Clock LOW
            LCD_CLK(1); // Pul Clock HIGH
      }
}

void SendLcd(unsigned char type, unsigned char dat)
{
      unsigned char i;

      LCD_DATA(type); // set up first bit as command or data
      LCD_CS(0); // Enable device CS

      LCD_CLK(0); // Pull Clock LOW
      LCD_CLK(1); // Pul Clock HIGH

      // clock over the byte
      for (i=0; i<8; i++)
      {
            LCD_DATA(dat & 0x80);
            dat <<= 1;

            LCD_CLK(0); // Pull Clock LOW
            LCD_CLK(1); // Pul Clock HIGH
      }

      LCD_CS(1);
}

This was a quick hack and it's late so I may have messed up somewhere, but I think this should do it.

Cheers,

- Niels

I wouldn't recommend ultrasone rangers for obstacle avoidance as they are quite expensive. Just get a couple of GP2D12 IR rangers. You should be able to pick them up for around ~10-15 usd, and you can plug them straight into the analog inputs of your arduino.

As for structural support, I recommend shapelock/polymorph (it's called shapelock in the USA, polymorph in Europe). It's basically a polymer that becomes soft when heated to ~65 degrees celcius, and solid when cooled. The great thing about it is that you can do this an infinitely. When it's solid you can sand, pain, tap, saw it just like any other soft plastic. Usually I just mold some around a screw and let it cool, so that it forms a nice tapped hole. You can buy this stuff from ebay.

Here's a clip of my tank using GP2D12 rangers (it's noisy, blame the cheap chinese gearbox):



Here's a short video demonstrating polymorph:

@tino: will you be selling the dongles/nodes to the general public and if yes, how much will they be?