I am a PhD student with the School of Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am trying to put together a proposal for some research that involves the use of sensors and some DIY electronics, and hoping that some of the very clever people here can give me some advice.
For this research project I am looking for a way to allow physical objects (for example books) to be able to automatically send predefined sections of text to the web (either as a tweet, SMS or email). So far, I’m considering the following setup:
• Attach an Arduino lilypad + Xbee shield and Xbee module to the object (eg book).
• Within the same environment, set up an Arduino Uno with Ethernet shield (to connect to the Internet) and Xbee shield (to receive data from the lilypad).
• The Arduino lilypad will be programmed to send short sections of text at regular intervals to the Uno (via the Xbee)
• The Arduino Uno will be programmed to tweet, SMS or email the text data received from the lilypad.
Having only some basic experience with Arduinos, I’d like some advice as to whether this is a sensible way to proceed. The data that I’d like to be sent from the objects is pretty simple (just short predefined sections of text, and maybe some simple code to select random sections of it), so I wonder if the lilypad is a bit of an overkill for this? Additionally, this kit adds up to quite a bit (around £170 by my reckoning - uk), and perhaps there is a cheaper way to go about this?
Any advice would be much appreciated, including any other groups or web forums which might be able to provide advice. Also, do let me know if you need to know more information before giving me some advice, or if you’d like to know anything else about my research. Thanks in advance.
I’d like some advice as to whether this is a sensible way to proceed.
It could work. Rather than get stuck in the "I can't tweet" mode, though, use your own server to send data to.
You need different hardware to send SMS. That is not done with an ethernet shield.
The data that I’d like to be sent from the objects is pretty simple (just short predefined sections of text, and maybe some simple code to select random sections of it), so I wonder if the lilypad is a bit of an overkill for this?
I don't think so. Something needs to make the decision as to whether it is time to send more text, and, if so, what test to send. The XBee will send the text, and it has some intelligence, but not enough for your purpose.
Additionally, this kit adds up to quite a bit (around £170 by my reckoning - uk), and perhaps there is a cheaper way to go about this?
'I don't think so. Something needs to make the decision as to whether it is time to send more text, and, if so, what test to send. The XBee will send the text, and it has some intelligence, but not enough for your purpose.
I wonder if the lilypad+Xbee could just deal with timing and sending a simple notification, whilst the Uno+ethernet could deal with selecting the text? Is it possible to program the lilypad to send a simple notification message via Xbee, say once every hour? Does the lilypad have an internal clock? If not, I wonder if anyone might be prepared to suggest something similar - that is small enough to be attached to a book, and is capable of sending a regular pulse wirelessly that could be picked up by an Uno + Xbee? Any ideas to get me started on a search would be much appreciated.
Cheap, good, and fast. You pick which 2 you want. Good and fast....actually, just good will do.
Is it possible to program the lilypad to send a simple notification message via Xbee, say once every hour?
Yes, that is easy. The complicated part will be distinguishing the 2:00 message from the 3:00 message.
Does the lilypad have an internal clock?
A timer, not a clock. It knows how long it has been running, but not how that compares to the time on your watch. Though there is a library that allows you to define the current time relative to 0 on the Lilypad, so it sort of knows the time.
Good and fast....actually, just good will do.