Hope everyone's been well and is having a happy 2012 so far. I just wanted to drop a question for you guys about wirelessly connecting two arduino's. On the first side I want an arduino to display a number on a 7 segment display that was sent to it from the second arduino. I want to then send a voice command from the first arduino to the second to control an output. I am planning on using an "EasyVR" module for the voice commands.
Is the first arduino capable of both receiving an input from the xbee and digital pin outing that as well as recieving voice commands and sending them to the second arduino which is at the same time sensing and producing the number the first arduino is displaying... wheew...
Don't see any show-stoppers. Arduino itself is not capable of voice recognition, but it looks like the EasyVR board does all the heavy lifting there and just gives the results to the Arduino over a serial interface.
Not sure what your level of experience is, but I'd work on each piece, each interface, understand them and get them working individually before trying to put it all together.
Sounds cool, post it in the exhibition section once it's working! Good luck!
oh its gonna be totally cool. I have a Mega board and I have built a relay board and done a lot of coding for that so I'm not a total noob but using serial is a bit daunting in this case because arduino #1 will have both a voice board and an xBee connected to serials. Also the sensor numbers from arduino #2 are to be constantly refreshed and displayed on arduino #1's display.
You're right though, getting all of these to interface is the tricky part. I can do all of the parts but not the whole.
sammyjeans:
oh its gonna be totally cool. I have a Mega board and I have built a relay board and done a lot of coding for that so I'm not a total noob but using serial is a bit daunting in this case because arduino #1 will have both a voice board and an xBee connected to serials.
Opps, missed that. Is Arduino #1 a Mega? The XBee definitely needs to be hooked to hardware serial. Not being familiar with that VR board, I'm not sure about that, but if it needs or works best with hardware serial then a Mega is definitely in order.
the only purpose of keeping the voice module with arduino #1 is because i can't figure out a way to wirelessly remote the microphone from the voice board, I'm also worried about the interference of multiple signals. If I could I think everything would work well. That would mean arduino #2 is responsible for a couple sensors and sending that to arduino #1 for display as well as outputting commands from the voice board to the relay controller. If there was someway to simultaneously transmit an analogue signal from the microphone through the xbee to the other side that would be cool.
Thanks for spit balling this with me by the way. Feel free to join in visitors.
sammyjeans:
the only purpose of keeping the voice module with arduino #1 is because i can't figure out a way to wirelessly remote the microphone from the voice board, I'm also worried about the interference of multiple signals. If I could I think everything would work well. That would mean arduino #2 is responsible for a couple sensors and sending that to arduino #1 for display as well as outputting commands from the voice board to the relay controller. If there was someway to simultaneously transmit an analogue signal from the microphone through the xbee to the other side that would be cool.
Thanks for spit balling this with me by the way. Feel free to join in visitors.
You're welcome. What's the overall aim of the project, if I might ask?
I think your block diagram is basically good. XBees are not high-bandwidth critters, so trying to digitize the voice and transmitting it isn't a great approach IMHO. Not sure what you mean by interference. How far apart are the two ends? Seems like there should be some analog transmitter/receiver that could basically just extend the microphone. Would probably want something fairly high quality, FM or whatever. But I'm not sure what problem that solves, it just moves the job of dealing with the VR board to the other end, adds another variable (radio link) and cost. Still need the XBees for the data to drive the display.
Actually, depending on the number of relays, the type of sensors, sample rates, etc., Arduino #2 might not even be necessary. XBees can sample simple analog and digital inputs, and drive outputs like relays (although some interface circuitry will be necessary, an XBee is not going to drive a relay directly).
This project is for a motorcycle helmet with a heads up display that consists of a 3 digit "7segment display" for MPH and a ten sement led bar graph for RPM. It will also need 3 status led's for Low oil, Blinker on, and High Beams on. I plan on reflecting the small displays into the inside of the face glass. Thats not ambitious enough so I want the entire bike to be voice controlled (start, Stop, right left blinker, high beams). With that VR module I can play back responses to random stuff too.
arduino #2 would be counting the pulses from an infrared gate to calculate MPH and display that. Tachometers can be measured through voltage i believe.
