Zabaat good job. Have known tons of info from you .Thanks

I think you need a stepper motor library to handle the stepper's speed. Recently I am working on a project that handle four stepper motor. The AccelStepper library works just perfectly. You can control the motor through it not only to set the specified speed, but also the "acceleration" and "deacceleration".
But the hardware side I can not much to say.
 

Cause I wanna the Balance to balance as a definite proportion between four different things . So I've changed the motor controller from Adafruit Motor shield to four A4988 Stepper Driver from Pololu.
And the result is pretty tricky.Till to three steppers, the Arduino code that written like the above works still well beside the low speed range. But if I defined four "AccelStepper" in the code.they seemed like they just block them from each another,and the motors stay still.
I searched Youtube the installation from other Guys. There is mainly two types of solution. One is use something like "A Big Chip, which have so many Pins" and the other changed the Arduino by a Board named ChipKit, which have a 80MHz work frequency.

I thought the Problem over, and decided to try ChipKit. But I'm not sure the circuit wired up right. So please check out the Picture. Thanks!!

Code:

void loop() {
   unsigned long currentTime = millis();

   // If it's time to step Motor 1...
   if (motor1Stepping && (currentTime - lastMotor1Time > motor1Interval))
      stepMotor1();

   // If it's time to step Motor 2...
   if (motor2Stepping && (currentTime - lastMotor2Time > motor2Interval))
      stepMotor2();

    // Do other stuff like figuring out which way and how fast to step the motors.
    }

   

Thanks！！
After reading your codes and some sample, Last night I've really getting startted.

Hier is the little sample to share.

Code:

// AFMotor_MultiStepper.pde
// -*- mode: C++ -*-
//
// Control both Stepper motors at the same time with different speeds
// and accelerations.
// Requires the AFMotor library (https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Motor-Shield-library)
#include <AccelStepper.h>
#include <AFMotor.h>

// two stepper motors one on each port
AF_Stepper motor1(200, 1);
AF_Stepper motor2(96, 2);

// you can change these to DOUBLE or INTERLEAVE or MICROSTEP!
// wrappers for the first motor!
void forwardstep1() { 
  motor1.onestep(FORWARD, SINGLE);
}
void backwardstep1() { 
  motor1.onestep(BACKWARD, SINGLE);
}
// wrappers for the second motor!
void forwardstep2() { 
  motor2.onestep(FORWARD, SINGLE);
}
void backwardstep2() { 
  motor2.onestep(BACKWARD, SINGLE);
}
// Motor shield has two motor ports, now we'll wrap them in an AccelStepper object
AccelStepper stepper1(forwardstep1, backwardstep1);
AccelStepper stepper2(forwardstep2, backwardstep2);
void setup()
{ 
    stepper1.setMaxSpeed(300.0);
    stepper1.setAcceleration(100.0);
    stepper1.moveTo(240);
   
    stepper2.setMaxSpeed(300.0);
    stepper2.setAcceleration(100.0);
    stepper2.moveTo(240);
   
}
void loop()
{
    // Change direction at the limits
    if (stepper1.distanceToGo() == 0)
        stepper1.moveTo(-stepper1.currentPosition());
    if (stepper2.distanceToGo() == 0)
        stepper2.moveTo(-stepper2.currentPosition());
    stepper1.run();
    stepper2.run();
}

Hello, Geeks!

I am working on a projekt, that need control two Steppers with two Potis. The Model is something like a balance. Ja as the topic say, the two stepper should work simultaneiously.

I look up so much much info. on the site.like
the Kritzler(http://tinkerlog.com/2011/09/02/der-kritzler/), accelstepper(http://www.open.com.au/mikem/arduino/AccelStepper/),
Interrup(http://www.uchobby.com/index.php/2007/11/24/arduino-interrupts/)
Adafruit Motor shield(http://www.ladyada.net/make/mshield/use.html)

Some of them really done a perfect deep research. But I can still not get the very idea how to control them.
So, is anyone can share a tutorial about how to control two stepper simultaneously with accelstepp library(cause I am not a programmer, the C and C++ code is not that easy for me). Or just make a small sample here.
BTW. must I use the Interrupt to control the two motor?

gfast

I've found a tutorial in youtube "Tutorial: How to Setup configurate Xbee Devices (Hard and Software) with an Arduino". Follow that one, I've successful configured Xbee. Perhaps it will help.

Thank you so much Pauls. Now my Robot works wirelessly really really sweet! ; )

But some part of the Serial communication I still can't understand. I mean, I just let arduino give a feedback to processing(just character "?" each loop), in oder to tell processing that the process in Arduino is over.if I use a cable, the "arduinoport.read();" can get the number "63",but if I use one pair Xbee. It can be "63","13","10". At the same time, If I turn off the Power of Arduino, Processing can still feed back these numbers, even if I've get off the Xbee from my MAC. What kind of reason can it be?

Thanks

Ok Pauls,thanks so much. But I have to ask, "That statement is NULL terminating the array " means the "NULL" is actually equal to "inData[index+1] = 0" ?

to nescivi:

LED? not yet, but I've tried to see the LEDs of RX and TX. And I'm sure I've seen something happened when new Data comed. Just as Pauls said, perhaps I just need to rewrite part of my code to fit the "Wireless Control".

Wow,for me is that really a great new solution! Pauls, thank you so much.
As a program starter I still don't understand the meaning of " inData[index] = '\0'; ", Is that means make the "inData[index]" as the end of the Array,but the value is still the "inChar" or something?
and you said I should speed up the Serial port. But I do care about the power consumption of different speed of the Serial port. Cause I just plan to let the Robot take "Time-lapse". So I have to do all you can to save the Batteries.By the way, is there any one can give me a input about the power consumption of the Serial port and the Xbee in different speed?

Thank you so much!!

I just work on a project that use Processing control a small robot drived by Arduino Dumelianove with 2 Xbee. This robot have 4 steppers, 4LEDs and two relays. Every 5 Second will the Processing send a message "#1001001000", after the beginning '#' every 3 charactor means the info. for each stepper,'1' means direction of the stepper and the following 2 means the steps. The last charactor means the control of two relays. With cable works the robot pretty good. But if I try to use two xbee the Stepper moved weird.most time work each step right, but about each 10 Time will a Error step appear. sometimes moved more sometimes the relays didn't work and so on.

I used paar "XBee 2mW Series 2.5 Wire Antenna" and a "XBee Explorer USB" from sparkfun to connect one xbee to my MAC. I think must be something wrong with the xbee part.

Code:

//Here is the prototype of the Communication between MAC and robot, Processing part

import processing.serial.*;
Serial arduinoPort;

long previousMillis = 0;

int i = 0;

void setup(){
    arduinoPort = new Serial(this , Serial.list()[0], 9600);
    delay(2000);
}

void draw(){
 
  long currentMillis = millis();
 
  //port.available() can direct store the value when possible
  //then the value of the port is once more empty
//  while (arduinoPort.available() > 0){
//  int inByte = arduinoPort.read();
//  println(inByte);
   
    if(currentMillis - previousMillis > 5000){
      arduinoPort.write("#0101001001001");     
      previousMillis = currentMillis;
      print("Now is ");
      println(i);
      i++;
    }
  //} 
 // arduinoPort.clear();
}

than Arduino part

Code:

#define ST1 2  //ST1 means "Steppermotor 1's step number"
#define DI1 3  //DI1 means "Steppermotor 1's step direction"
#define ST2 4
#define DI2 5
#define ST3 7
#define DI3 8
#define ST4 12
#define DI4 13
int SL1 = A1;  //SL1 means "Steppermoto 1's sleep mode"
int SL2 = A2;
int SL3 = A3;
int SL4 = A4;

#define LED1 6  //LED1 is the control Pin of one of four LED that put on the Robot
#define LED2 9
#define LED3 10
#define LED4 11

int FOCUS = A0;  //the control Pin of the Focus function on the camera
int SHUTTER = A5;  //the control Pin of the Shutter on the camera

char buffer[14];  //store the Sequence that followed by "#" as the input from the Serial port
byte inByte = 0;  //detect if the input is the "#"
int  pointer = 0;  //to store the number of the buffers' arrays

int motor1 = 0;  //store the move amount for each motor from Serial
int motor2 = 0;
int motor3 = 0;
int motor4 = 0;


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void setup(){
  pinMode(ST1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(DI1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ST2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(DI2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ST3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(DI3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ST4, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(DI4, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SL1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SL2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SL3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SL4, OUTPUT);
 
  pinMode(LED1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED4, OUTPUT);
 
  pinMode(SHUTTER, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(FOCUS, OUTPUT);
 
  Serial.begin(9600);
  //Serial.println("OK, all Pins' define are done"); 
 
  digitalWrite(SL1, 0);
  digitalWrite(SL2, 0);
  digitalWrite(SL3, 0);
  digitalWrite(SL4, 0);
 
  digitalWrite(FOCUS,0);
  digitalWrite(SHUTTER,0);
 
  //this part let Smaker warm up
  for(int k=0; k<256; k+=5){
    analogWrite(LED1, k);
    delay(30);
  }
  for(int k=0; k<256; k+=5){
    analogWrite(LED2, k);
    delay(30);
  }
  for(int k=0; k<256; k+=5){
    analogWrite(LED3, k);
    analogWrite(LED4, k);
    delay(30);
  }
 
}

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void loop(){
  inByte = Serial.read();
  if(Serial.available() > 0){
    if(inByte == '#'){
      //store the info. from Serial
      //Structure is #0FF0FF0FF0FF, 0s are the direction of each motor, 0 = LOW
      //FFs are the amount of the steps that stepper should go
      while(pointer < 13){
        buffer[pointer] = Serial.read();
        pointer ++;
      }
 
    motor1 = hex2dec(buffer[2]) + hex2dec(buffer[1]) * 16;
    motor2 = hex2dec(buffer[5]) + hex2dec(buffer[4]) * 16;
    motor3 = hex2dec(buffer[8]) + hex2dec(buffer[7]) * 16;
    motor4 = hex2dec(buffer[11]) + hex2dec(buffer[10]) * 16;
   
   
    pointer = 0;  //reset the pointer so can be reuse the buffer
    }
  }else if(Serial.available() == 0){  //when there is no input, set all value to zero
    motor1 = 0;
    motor2 = 0;
    motor3 = 0;
    motor4 = 0;
    buffer[12] = 0;  //when there is no Serial input, take no foto
  }
 
  if(buffer[0] == '0'){    //this part can set the direction of each motor
    digitalWrite(DI1, LOW);
  }else if(buffer[0] == '1'){
    digitalWrite(DI1, HIGH);
  }
  if(buffer[3] == '0'){
    digitalWrite(DI2, LOW);
  }else if(buffer[3] == '1'){
    digitalWrite(DI2, HIGH);
  }
  if(buffer[6] == '0'){
    digitalWrite(DI3, LOW);
  }else if(buffer[6] == '1'){
    digitalWrite(DI3, HIGH);
  }
  if(buffer[9] == '0'){
    digitalWrite(DI4, LOW);
  }else if(buffer[9] == '1'){
    digitalWrite(DI4, HIGH);
  }
 
  //take the Photo first than make the movement
  if(buffer[12] == '1'){
    //cause the structur is not very stable,
    //so wait a moment till the vibration stop
    delay(2000);
    foto();
    //write something to tell processing give the next info Data
    delay(500);  //time for the camera's exposure 
  }else if(buffer[12] == '3'){
    delay(2000);
    foto();
    delay(500);
    foto();
    delay(500);
    foto();
    delay(500);
   
  }
 
  go(1, motor1, 1);  //this part can give each motor steps number
  go(2, motor2, 1);
  go(3, motor3, 1);
  go(4, motor4, 1);
 
  delay(50);  //balance the Arduino's speed to save battery
  Serial.print('?');
  led();  //blink the LED on board 
   
}

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
int hex2dec(byte c){
  if(c>= '0' && c<= '9'){
    return c - '0';
  }else if(c >= 'A' && c <= 'F'){
    return c - 'A' + 10;
  }
}

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void go(int stNumber,int stAmout,int stSpeed){
 
  int selected = 0;  //to assign the StPin's number
  int i = 0;   //to Set the counter variable
  /*
  Serial.print("Stepper ");
  Serial.print(stNumber);
  Serial.print(" is moving: ");
  Serial.print(stAmout);
  Serial.println(" steps");  //show all movements of four motors, println = print+return+newline meaning
  */
 
  switch(stNumber){
    case 1:
      //digitalWrite(DI1,stDir);  //set the direction of the rotation of the Stepper
      selected = ST1;  //assign the ST1 as aimed operate object
      digitalWrite(SL1,HIGH);  //awake the aimed Stepper
      while(i < stAmout){  //in full step situation, stAmout means how many rotate
        digitalWrite(selected,LOW);
        digitalWrite(selected,HIGH);
        delayMicroseconds(1600/stSpeed);
        i++;
      }
      digitalWrite(SL1,LOW);  //let the stepper go to sleep
      break;
   
   
    case 2:
      //digitalWrite(DI2,stDir);
      selected = ST2; 
      digitalWrite(SL2,HIGH); 
      while(i < stAmout){ 
        digitalWrite(selected,LOW);
        digitalWrite(selected,HIGH);
        delayMicroseconds(1600/stSpeed);
        i++;
      }
      digitalWrite(SL2,LOW);   
      break;
     
   
    case 3:
      //digitalWrite(DI3,stDir);
      selected = ST3; 
      digitalWrite(SL3,HIGH); 
      while(i < stAmout){ 
        digitalWrite(selected,LOW);
        digitalWrite(selected,HIGH);
        delayMicroseconds(1600/stSpeed);
        i++;
      }
      digitalWrite(SL3,LOW); 
      break;
     
   
    case 4:
      //digitalWrite(DI4,stDir);
      selected = ST4; 
      digitalWrite(SL4,HIGH); 
      while(i < stAmout){ 
        digitalWrite(selected,LOW);
        digitalWrite(selected,HIGH);
        delayMicroseconds(1600/stSpeed);
        i++;
      }
      digitalWrite(SL4,LOW); 
      break;
  }
 
}

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void foto(){
  digitalWrite(LED1,LOW);
  digitalWrite(LED2,LOW);
  digitalWrite(LED3,LOW);
  digitalWrite(LED4,LOW);
 
  digitalWrite(FOCUS, HIGH);
  delay(50);
  digitalWrite(SHUTTER,HIGH);
  delay(500);
  digitalWrite(FOCUS, LOW);
  digitalWrite(SHUTTER,LOW);
   
}

boolean ledState = LOW;
long previousMillis = 0;
long interval = 900;

void led(){
  unsigned long currentMillis = millis();
 
  if(currentMillis - previousMillis > interval){
    previousMillis = currentMillis;
   
    if(ledState == LOW)
      ledState = HIGH;
     else
     ledState = LOW;
     
     //ledState = LOW ? HIGH : LOW;
   
    digitalWrite(LED1, ledState);
    digitalWrite(LED2, ledState);
    digitalWrite(LED3, ledState);
    digitalWrite(LED4, ledState);
  }
}