Hello Everyone,
I was wondering if it is possible to communicate to multiple robots wirelessly using as many Xbees on Arduino boards that are all connected to the same i2c line.
Thanks in advance!
Joe
Usually XBees communicate with the Arduino over the UART interface and not I2C. Please describe how you wanna wire such a thing and what kind of XBees you wanna use. What do you wanna achieve with this? Maybe we have a better solution avoiding this conflict.
Hello Pylon,
Thank you for your reply. I am very new to arduino and have just been experimenting with a Mega for now. Thus, I do not know the specific answers to your question. However, it would be very helpful if you could point me in the right (maybe another) direction to enable the following.
I envision having multiple (Upto 10 or more) robots that are wireless, and controlled by a single Arduino board that has a serial input from the PC (This serial input will control the robots). For instance, depending upon the serial input, I might want to tell robot1 to move forward and after 10 seconds, I might get another input on the serial due to which I'll have to tell robot3 to turn right.. etc..
Please do let me know how I can go about achieving this.
Thank you very much!
Joe
You have to tell a bit more about your setup. What distance do you expect between the robots and the master Arduino at maximum? Is there a line of sight or at least no heavy obstacles like walls? Do you have a cost limit?
Thank you again for your reply, Pylon.
Right now, I don't expect the distance of any of the robots from the master Arduino to be greater than 50 feet (even 30 should be fine). We can assume that the master would be placed a a point that can be "seen" by all the robots and there are no heavy obstacles in the line of sight. As for cost, I do not have a limit as of now. I had done a cost estimate with Xbees and Sheilds which came up to around $1000 for 8 robots. I am willing to spend more on an effective solution.
Thank you!
Joe
I have no experience with that many ZigBees in a network but I know that a Wireless LAN does work with that many clients. You'd have the advantage that you could eliminate the controlling Arduino as you can address the individual robots directly from the PC. All you need is something you probably already have: a WLAN access point (or router, which includes one). The robot side can be a shield or you can use modules in XBee form factor such as the RN-XV (also called WiFly). The distance should be OK, 20 meters are no problem if no heavy obstacles are in the way. Costs should be comparable to a ZigBee installation (I know just swiss prices, US may differ). This would give you a flexible solution and easier ways of debugging (you could run a network sniffer on any PC to see what's going on).
Hello Pylon,
That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much for pointing me in this direction. Earlier I was only groping in the dark.
Thank You!
Joe